Finance Committee

FINANCE Tuesday, March 10, 2026 – 6:45 p.m. Council Chambers – Olean Municipal Building Present: Members: Chairman McCall, Vice Chairman Crawford, Alderman Bennion, Alderman Keary, Alderman Forney, and Alderman Robinson. Others: Mayor Amy Sherburne; Mike Morgan, City Attorney; Jennifer Fairbanks-Black, Chief of Staff; Lens Martial, City Auditor; Stephanie Olson, Principal Account Clerk; Eric Maurouard, Fire Chief, and Tiffany Taylor, Managerial Confidential Administrative Secretary. 1. Roll Call Alderman McCall called the meeting to order at 6:45 p.m. and asked that the record show that all committee members were present except Alderman Anastasia, who was excused. 2. Approval of Minutes of the Previous Committee Meeting (Thursday, March 5, 2026) 3. Unfinished Business a. PL #15-26: (Sherburne) Budget 2026 – 2027. Alderman McCall explained she understands going line by line through the budget and making recommendations and changes in the moment, but there were confusion and errors during the last couple of presentations that need to be clarified before presentations. She explained the Council appreciates that challenges we have but it is confusing, muddies the waters and erodes the trust of residents in the process. Ms. Olson explained she did confirm that numbers on spreadsheets for salaries will not match OpenGov, as there is no way to show a split for a prospective new position, only if the position is actually included in the budget. Alderman McCall asked that these be included as positions instead of as proposed positions, and then if they are not approved they can be pulled out. Fire Department Chief Maurouard explained his 100 line item does include a new Municipal Training Officer position that he has talked to the Council about for several years. He explained this was not funded in the past, but his overall budget this year is net neutral for the City. He explained there is a $435,000 increase to the 100 line; however, the auditors are requiring the full amount of the grant funded positions be included in this line, and explained we will see that on the revenue side of the budget. He explained that closes the gap quite a bit, and this will get us to fully staffed with no vacant positions. He explained the extra people the grant is allowing us to hire will help decrease overtime. He explained he can’t stop overtime completely as we can’t control when fires happen, but a majority of overtime is due to sickness, vacation, and being thin staffed. He explained we can probably decrease the overtime line farther, but he might have to ask for an increase mid-year should something happen such as a few firefighters being hurt at a fire. He explained $150,000 is a conservative estimate to be safe. Alderman Bennion asked how much grant funding we are receiving for the personnel, and Chief Maurouard explained we are receiving $231,000 the first year, and $108,000 for the second and third years. He explained this amount is for both salary and fringe for the new positions. Alderman Crawford asked how many positions the grant is for and Chief Maurouard explained it is for four positions. He noted the 100 line item also has a built-in raise for the firefighters for the upcoming budget year. Alderman Bennion asked what the City’s share of the four positions is and explained it should be around $72,788. Alderman McCall explained when you back out the revenue there is still an increase of $204,000 in the 100 line item. She asked if this includes the match and then funding for a new position and raises and Chief Maurouard explained it does. Alderman Keary explained the Training Officer is really not the newly funded position as there is currently a firefighter that will take that position, and his position will be backfilled with an entry level position. Chief Maurouard explained this is correct, and noted there is no change in pay for the Municipal Training Officer. Alderman Bennion asked about replacements and Chief Maurouard explained there are two people retiring and one officer will be taking the Municipal Training Officer position. He explained with the grant funded positions, this means we will potentially be hiring seven people. Alderman Bennion asked how the Municipal Training Officer will help increase other revenues, and Chief Maurouard explained right now the firefighter acting in this position goes on days for 18 weeks of the year and there will be a reduction in overtime as we will be permanently backfilling this time instead of temporarily having it covered. He explained there are other potential revenues we can seek and explained we will be able to trail other fire departments, both career and volunteer. He explained we would be able to charge those departments for training. He explained we also teach CPR classes, and although it does not generate a lot of income, this position would prevent an officer being paid overtime to do the training. He explained when the training officers goes to days for the recruit program they are paid a $2,500 stipend, and we will not need to pay this anymore. He explained in addition, this is a needed position. He explained we have a very busy department with call volume and we need to sustain training. He explained he has also had a conversation with the ambulance billing company and the Council will see a resolution brought forward to raise those rates. He explained between this and the grant funding, his revenue projections are a very good estimate. Chief Maurouard explained he decreased the 102 line item. He explained this covers some contractual things such as holiday pay and paying out accruals at retirement, He explained this amount was decreased based on projected retirements. He explained communications increased as this line repairs and replaces portable radios. He explained this amount has decreased over the years and it is time we catch it back up. He explained this is the same for the Public Safety line item. He explained this replaces any tools or equipment damaged at fires, and there is a lot of equipment that has an end of life according to industry standards that we need to replace. Alderman Robinson explained year to date we are at $10,600 and asked why we are increasing to $30,000 instead of $15,000 to $20,000. Chief Maurouard explained we budgeted $7,000 and that has already been overspent. He explained we need to replace hazmat suits that are very expensive, as well as rope that we purchased in 2016 and 2017 that has a ten year life, He explained we will be switching to lighter rope that is better for injury reduction. Alderman Bennion asked if SCBAs need to be purchased from this line item and Chief Maurouard explained these are done under a lease agreement that has been broken out into a different line item. Chief Maurouard explained Uniforms and Protective Clothing is going up $20,000. He explained it was historically always $75,000 and went down the last several years. He explained $25,000 of this line pays for contractual uniform allowances, and it also pays for water rescue suits, ear protection, eye protection and other personal protective equipment. He explained the big cost is for turnout gear, and he is shopping for a new vendor as costs have gone up. He explained we will also have new hires and the old gear we have does not always fit properly. Alderman McCall asked if we anticipate all four new positions coming on this year, and Chief Maurouard explained we are awaiting civil service test results from January 10th. He explained we are hoping to have all positions hired and graduating from the academy in July. Alderman McCall asked if the officers are paid at a lower rate while at the academy and Chief Maurouard explained they are contractually at the lowest rate in the contract, although there is no specific training rate. Alderman Robinson asked what the graduation rate is from the academy and Chief Maurouard explained in the last few academies we have done, we have lost one per academy. Alderman Robinson asked about getting turnout gear for people who do not make it through the academy. Chief Maurouard explained they are put in old gear for training as it gets very beat up during the academy, and they do not get new gear until they graduate. Alderman Bennion asked when the grant starts, and Chief Maurouard explained it will start when they start at their date of hire. Alderman Robinson asked if we will be shortchanging what we can recoup in grant funding and Chief Maurouard explained he had not considered that. He explained the grant starts March 19th, but we will not have hires by then. He explained he does not have clarification on how it will work if those positions are not filled by then. He explained he was previously paying for natural gas out of Light and Power, so that has been separated into Fuel for Heat to properly appropriate costs. He explained Miscellaneous Contracted Services is for testing for the ladders, pumps, aerials, air packs, and air quality testing. He explained that was overspent this year so he increased the amount for next year. He explained Repairs to Equipment and Property was increased, but he is not sure why. Alderman Bennion asked about façade improvements and Chief Maurouard explained the façade was done at Station 1, where we were able to paint a wall that was having issues. He explained an ADA bathroom was completed and a back entrance was done in hopes of one day getting a rear parking lot done. He explained there is still $10,000 in the capital fund and he is hoping to paint the other two exterior walls this spring or summer, as well as replacement of the heating system. Alderman Bennion asked if the balance can be used towards those things, and Chief Maurouard explained it can be. Alderman McCall asked if the HVAC Specialist can do the heating system work, and Chief Maurouard explained he believes he can as it is a pretty simple forced air furnace. Chief Maurouard explained Travel and Training is up $2,000, and explained they plan to do the academy in-house this year. He explained there is a decrease in Miscellaneous because they separated the SCBA lease into its own line item for $36,000. Alderman Robinson noted for the server cost he’d like to see a comparison for cloud-based storage, and Mr. Wells explained he believes the Fire Department is mostly cloud-based and that cost is for cloud-based storage. Alderman Robinson asked if this had a $1,000 annual cost increase, and Mr. Wells explained this is correct. Chief Maurouard explained under Safety Inspection, increases to the 100 line item are contractual and overtime remains the same. He explained Other Equipment was paying for iWorQ and it is now listed under Computer Equipment. He explained Uniforms increased, and explained this is for safety items for the employees. He explained they will be submitting for things they need before the end of this fiscal year such as boots, hard hats, and ear and eye protection. Alderman Robinson explained most hard hats have a five to seven year life expectancy and Chief Maurouard explained employees keep track of this and he is unsure where the ones they currently have are with their life expectancy. Chief Maurouard explained he is reducing Contracted Services by $27,000, and explained this is the line that pays for cleanups around the City and for when we contract out mowing and garbage. He explained we are taking this money out because we created a Capital Fund for Code Enforcement cleanup. He explained when we talk about the capital fund, he needs to ask for this money for a startup to go into the fund. He explained once we start collecting back on bills and liens with administrative fees, the fund should be self-sufficient. Mayor Sherburne explained it may be a reserve rather than a capital fund, but it is the same idea. Alderman Bennion asked if we take this out now, where the transfer will come from for the startup money. He asked if it makes more sense to leave $27,000 in this line item and then move the funds into the capital fund later so then it is accounted for in the budget. Chief Maurouard explained we can do this, and asked that the line item be increased to $30,000 so $27,000 can be transferred after June 1st. Alderman Robinson asked how much is in the capital fund for cleanups, and Chief Maurouard explained we are expecting to get $45,000 this month for liens but we overspent by $40,000, so it will not be a big positive for the City. He explained it is all a part of the process to try to switch and get this out of the operating budget and into its own self-sustaining line item. Mr. Martial explained the current balance in the capital fund is $80,643 from money that came back from the County. Alderman McCall asked if this could be the seed money, and Chief Maurouard explained he feels we need to pay for something big out of there, but he will check into that and see if there is something we need to be prepared for. He explained the current line item has a negative balance of -$43,000, and we were going to use funds from the capital fund to balance this line item. Alderman McCall explained Mr. Martial should move the funds from the County to where the bills were originally paid from to make the line item whole. She asked $30,000 be left in this line and explained we can make adjustments later if we need to. Alderman McCall explained she feels we are not getting the value we expected from the iWorQ system and asked if there is anything the Council can do to further fund that and ensure the program is fully utilized by Code Enforcement. Mayor Sherburne explained we are working on a plan for the software to better utilize it moving forward. Alderman Bennion asked if the Revolving Fund was for the zombie properties, and Chief Maurouard explained it was. He explained the related grant is over so he took these funds from the budget. Alderman Bennion asked if these funds are needed related to vacant properties. Ms. Taylor noted there is a separate capital fund for vacant properties and funds were not used from this fund for those. Chief Maurouard explained there is no change to Emergency Preparedness. He explained he is told this budget is not used for anything unless we have to spin out an emergency operations center. Mr. Wells explained there was one done a few years ago in the police station when we had to set up a separate area for dispatch to work out of. He explained Demolition of Unsafe Buildings is being kept the same, and explained we have not used it as Code Enforcement has gotten creative working with the Land Bank when we need them. He explained this is mainly for emergency demolitions. Alderman Bennion explained it shows $28,600 has been used year to date and Chief Maurouard explained he will look into this. He explained he wants this line item for emergency demolitions only and when a building is unsafe and has to come down as soon as possible, or needs repairs to stabilize the structure as soon as possible. He explained there are hazardous structures that are not considered in immediate danger, and those we will have separate discussions about taking down and funding the demolition. Chief Maurouard explained the Ambulance Budget is directly correlated to the call volume, so when there is an increased call volume there is an increased cost. He explained oxygen costs going up is call volume related, and Supplies and Materials has increased based on the cost of materials and what we are spending today. He explained we are also keeping the fourth ambulance stocked, which has been very useful especially when other ambulances are out due to mechanical issues. He explained the Phone increase is for the cell phone on the fourth ambulance which is used for photos at the scene and to call the hospital. He explained billing is going up $5,000 due to the call volume. Alderman McCall asked where dollars are set aside for a new ambulance, and Chief Maurouard explained that is removed before the revenue goes into the budget. He explained 12% of that revenue is taken off the top and deposited into Capital Fund #118. Alderman Bennion noted that fund was expanded to purchase other fire vehicles earlier this year. Alderman McCall asked if, for accounting purposes, this should be shown somewhere in the budget. Alderman Robinson noted the capital fund will need to be changed to a restricted fund. Alderman McCall explained all of the money coming in and going out should be accounted for, and the 12% being taken off the top needs to be shown somewhere in the budget. She asked how we capture this in the budget. Mr. Martial explained every month 12% of what we collect goes straight in the capital fund and the rest goes into the revenue line. Alderman McCall explained that should be in here somewhere. Mr. Martial explained the entire amount goes into the revenue line and then 12% is moved over, and Alderman Bennion asked if this should be reflected in an expense line, and explained this is not being accounted for in the actual budget. He explained if $1 million comes in for revenue and we transfer $120,000 into the capital fund that leaves a $120,000 gap in the general fund. He explained we need to show it at 88% or have 100% revenue and a 12% inter fund transfer. He explained we are either underfunding the budget with a gap or not accounting for revenue accurately. Alderman McCall asked the Mayor and Mr. Martial to look into this and determine how to capture the 12%. Chief Maurouard explained his only other budget portion is for Zoning, and he increased Travel and Training as we will have three new members to the board that will need to do required trainings. 4. New Referrals for Consideration None 5. Committee Reports None 6. Adjournment A motion to adjourn was made by Alderman McCall, seconded by Alderman Forney. Voice vote, ayes all. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned at approximately 7:45 p.m.