January 10, 2022  |   

SUTTON BUDGET COMMITTEE MINUTES  1-10-22

 

The meeting was opened by the chair, Robert DeFelice, @ 6:00 PM @ the Sutton Fire Station..  Present were Gail Guertin, Pete Thompson, Mark Peterson, John Mock and Samantha Gordon.  Representing the Sutton BOS as liaison was Dane Headley, and also T. A., Ellie Phillips.  Charles Forsberg was also in attendance.

 

It was moved by Guertin and 2nd by Thompson to accept the minutes of 1-3-22.  There were two corrections on page 2 of the minutes:  (1) effective 12-23-21 the TA’s salary would be increased to $75,000 and not $70,000 as indicated in those minutes.  (2) Non public session – the word Budget Committee replaced BOS. With those corrections, the motion passed w/o dissent.

 

It was moved by Thompson and 2nd by Peterson to accept the non-public minutes of 1-3-22.  This too was amended for clarity.  The chair will provide that information to the scribe.  Upon that  direction, the non-public minutes were accepted w/o dissent.

 

Report of BOS:

  1. Acceptance of ARPA federal funding to offset Corporation Hill embankment costs.
  2. A request to limit department and committee attendance to public hearings, and include only the chair and the vice-chair. This is a response to the conditions created by the corona virus pandemic.
  3. The time of the budget committee public hearing shall be @ 7:00 PM on Thursday, February 10th at the Town Hall. If snow, then next Thursday (17th) will be used – same time and same location.

 

T A revenue presentation. Prior to her presentation, Ms. Phillips thanked the budget committee for their hard work and dilgence  Ms. Phillips passed out the following information to assist the committee:  2021 and 2022 estimated revenues and 2021 actual revenues.  Each member has this information and is deemed part of the minutes.  2022 estimated highlights are listed below.

 

Income from Capital Reserves (2022 contribution)        $452,399

 

Amount from the fund to offset Warrant Articles              148,000

 

The amount used to offset town tax rate                            250,000  Under DRA reserve rules, the town must retain a reserve in event of emergency needs.

 

The sources of funds are as follows:    Taxes*   $55,009,  Licenses/Permits/Fees**  $459.000,

NH***  $247,949,  Charges for Service  $26,100. Misc. Revenue  $21,150

 

*timber, Int./penalties/excavation

**$450,000 from MV permit fees.

***Room & Meals, Highway Block grant, Sate Forest land, FEMA, & state grants.

 

  1. Increased revenues $200,000 + $400,000 in unspent funds eenhanced the bottom line.
  2. $148,000 for warrant articles: Mastin Road, Grist Mill parking lot, CR for Master Plan, Corporation Hill Road.
  3. Monies for highway block grant are determine by miles, percentage paved and percentage gravel.
  4. 2

 

  1. Room & Meals return are based on population, now 1978.
  2. Income from departments are broken down by item, not by department. An example: the tipping fee is from Solid Waste, but the money goes into the general fund as an offset against that specific cost.
  3. Wetland inspection has been discontinued; now using map overlays; set backs remain.
  4. Cable fees to the town is from TDS and based on their franchise fees received by their customers. Eversource pays a stated property tax based on their value.
  5. Some suggestions: allow (require) departments to report on money received outside of their income received from taxes.  Examples:  Library, Solid Waste.  Also, equipment inventory to include cost, usage, value (if any) @ sale.

 

Upon the completion of her report, Ms. Phillips left @ 6:41 PM.

 

The chair introduced and passed out the following:

  1. (a) Actual & Budgeted Expenses & Encumbrance dated 1-10-2022  (b) Budget Worksheet – Expenditures.  Dated 1-10-2022.  The latter to be retained and used for budget review
  2. Warrant articles are being put together. Once completed, they are reviewed by DRA and town counsel.  The completion date goal is February 6.
  3. Chuck Nelson, Solid Waste @ $15 an hour, but $17 deemed appropriate. The BOS had increased the income also the the department head, but he turned it down.  The BOS will review.
  4. The highway department income increase was a result of COLA and not a specific parity or merit. This information was gathered from the weekly expense reports from September 2021 to present.
  5. Solid Waste doors – The BOS was bit notified until 12 days before the BOS took action.
  6. The chair expressed concern regarding the regular BOS liaison as the liaison would offer personal opinions rather than speaking for the board. The budget committee does and can only deal with numbers and facts as it prepares its budget projections.
  7. CR for dumpster, currently $86,000. It requires a town vote to expend funds for a new container $20,000.  Should the BOS have the authority to act as agents for the town and not require a town vote. Does this expand the authority of the BOS to a situation that could be problematic?  Too much power should not be vested to the BOS, the chair thanked Mr. Forsberg for this comment.
  8. The chair urged the committee members to carefully consider the nature, scope and purpose of each warrant article. For example:  warrant articles use to include the phrase ‘up to’, but regarding the new police cruiser the amount was $48,000 and did not use the phrase ‘up to”. The cost of the cruiser was $49,000.  The ‘wording’ of an article is very important.  If a warrant article is written in such a way, it cannot be changed, but the budget committee can and may vote not to recommend if the wording appears circumspect.

 

The meeting adjourned @ 7:45 PM.  Our next meeting will be @ 6:00 PM on Monday, 1-17-2022 @ the Fire Station.

Respectfully submitted,

 

Robert W Wright Jr.

Scribe