Town of Littleton Committees

Budget Committee Meeting Dec 7, 2010

Budget Committee Meeting, December 7, 2010
4:00 PM Community Center Heald Room

MEETING CONVENED AT 4PM IN THE HEALD ROOM:
BUDGET COMMITTEE MEMBERS--PRESENT(Milt Bratz, Greg Eastman, Ed Haines, Linda Warden, Jessica Daine, Steve Kelley, Darryl Louis) ABSENT(Billy Kittridge, Stan Fillion)

BOARD OF SELECTMEN(Ed Boynton, Ron Bolt, Marghie Seymour)

TOWN EMPLOYEES(Chuck Connell Town Manager, Karen Noyes CFO)

The meeting opened at 4pm with Steve Kelley asking Ed Haines to go over his updated handout covering the increase in the Town Budget and the resulting property tax increases dating back to 2004 and projected to 2013. Ed had previously done a similar handout based on his personal property tax experience. This handout, with information provided by Karen Noyes, broadened the handout to cover town wide numbers over the same period of time. The town wide numbers paralleled very closely Ed's own personal property tax experience and reflected the extreme growth in town spending over the period in question.

Next on the agenda, Jessica Daine was asked by Steve Kelley to go over the handout she had prepared covering the expanding town budget with particular attention to the indebtedness the Town will be facing into the future based on current obligations.(page 59 of the budget shows debt service for the Dam Bonds)

Next on the agenda was a joint presentation by Chuck Connell and Karen Noyes with regards to the tax implication of the current proposed 2011 budget as presented along with a list of warrant articles under consideration by the Selectboard plus a list of "historic social service articles" that have a great possibility of being present on the warrant for Spring 2011 voting. Karen explained her handout with regards to how we arrive at the $8.07 tax rate and the dollar figures(or not) associated with the various warrant articles. A rather lengthy discussion was held regarding all of the articles as listed, pros, cons and moidfications being recommened by the Budget Committee. At the end of this discussion, Select Board Chairman asked the Committee to take a formal vote on the articles(with modifications as indicated) so that the Slectboard could use the information in their meeting on the next day Wednesday December 8, 2010. The following warrant articles involving the spending of money were discussed, ammended and voted upon. Jessica Daine made note that a vote by the Budget Committee approving an article as presented or ammended should NOT be considered as an affirmative vote for final inclusion in the warrant as approval of an article in its final form with budget impact cannot be done until all of the budget numbers both Town and School are known. With this caveat, each article was again considered(ammended) and voted upon as follows:

HIGH STREET RECONSTRUCTION-------------NO 7-0
TOWN OFFICE COMPUTERS-------------------YES 7-0
EMERGENCY GENERATOR FD-----------------YES 5-2
EMERGENCY RADIO CONVERSION 2012-----YES 7-0
REPAVE TOWN ROADS($220,000.00)-----------YES 6-0
RECONSTRUCT GRAVEL ROADS---------------TIE 2-2-2
INSTALLATION OF CROSSWALK--------------NO 6-0
PURCHASE OF 1-5 TON TRUCK
PURCHASE OF DUMP TRUCK
THE ABOVE WERE APPOVED WITH AN EITHER-OR POVISION---WHICHEVER IS DETERMINED BY THE DEPARTMENT HEAD TO BE THE MOST NECESSSARY
VOTE-----------------------------------------------YES 6-0
RETAINING WALL MAINTENANCE FUND----YES 5-1
PROVIDE TRAFFIC CONTROL------------------YES 5-1
CRF PUMPER-TANKER TRUCK-----------------YES 4-2

With the voting finished and the lateness of the hour, it was decided to continue discussions with regards to staffing levels and level of service at the next meeting on Thursday December 9, 2010.

Respectfully submitted, Steven M Kelley

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