A budget meeting on the 2004 Tentative Budget was held by the Town Board of the Town of Moreau on October 8, 2003 at 6:00 p.m. in the Town Office Building, 61 Hudson Street, South Glens Falls, New York.
Supervisor Gutheil opened the budget workshop at 6:00 p.m.
Town Board Members Present:
Harry G. Gutheil, Jr. Supervisor
Rich Hewlett Councilman
Niki Baker Councilwoman
Todd Kusnierz Councilman (arrived approx. 6:05 p.m.)
Bob Prendergast Councilman (arrived approx. 6:10 p.m.)
Town Board Members Absent:
None
Also Present: Jeanne Fleury, Town Clerk; Fran Thibodeau, Bookkeeper/Payroll Clerk; Ed Tracy, Town Justice appeared before the Board for a portion of the meeting.
Some of the highlights of the budget that Supervisor Gutheil pointed out to the Board were:
The general fund tax rate in the tentative budget is the same as the past two years.
The tentative budget proposes elimination of the highway tax rate.
Health Insurance & Retirement Benefits are the main focal point of the budget. The amount the town is project to have to pay in 2004 to the NYS Retirement System is approximately $127,000.00 vs. $50,000.00 in 2003 and $11,194.00 in 2002. Supervisor Gutheil and Fran Thibodeau was of the opinion that this drastic increase is due in part to the stock markets conditions, economy in general and employees in certain tiers not having to contribute anymore.
(Councilman Kusnierz arrived)
The increase in the personal service line of the highway budget is due to the new contract plus the retroactive pay when the contract was under negotiations.
The library tax has increased from $.72 in 2003 to $1.00 in 2004. Supervisor Gutheil asked Fran Thibodeau to look at this figure again and she did and was sure it was correct. Supervisor Gutheil said the voters would get a chance to vote on the library budget.
There is a fund balance still in the Sewer District Fund; however, we may have to start charging for sewer again in 2004.
The Water District 1 budget has been balanced, but is very tight and in 2004 the board will have to consider increasing the rates in that district.
Water District 2 has a large fund balance. There is a question on how real this figure is, a loan was booked to Water District 2.
(Councilman Prendergast arrived)
The Water District 3 budget is tight. It is unknown at this point how much fund balance there will be.
It was the consensus of the board that the salaries would all be done at one time.
Ed Tracy, Town Justice, arrived and asked to speak to the board about the Court Clerk’s salaries.
Supervisor Gutheil advised Judge Tracy that the board had decided to go through the whole budget first and then address salaries, but he was welcome to address the board as long as he was here.
Ed Tracy thought his clerk’s salaries were grossly unfair. They do an extraordinary job and his court is bringing in $30,000.00 more in revenues than projected. He sees other employees being treated differently and this perturbs him. His clerks require an expertise and it takes three years to train someone for the position. If every clerk got a $1,000.00 increase across the board then he wouldn’t be here. They feel down at court that they have been pushed aside, out of sight, out of mind. Ed Tracy said he understood the county salary survey was done and understood that the Supervisor was in possession of it. He thought the board should be in possession of it and know what is in it.
Supervisor Gutheil stated that the survey was in draft form and not complete. The personnel office at the county told him that the draft was not for distribution. He did intend to distribute it to the Town Board at this meeting. His first impression of the draft is that the board won’t agree with it. As Town Supervisor he sits on the county board and this salary survey was being done for him at his request in an attempt to save the town some money. The board is free to commission an independent consultant if they want to.
A motion was made by Councilman Hewlett and seconded by Councilwoman Baker to adjourn to executive session at 6:35 p.m. to discuss personnel and Ed Tracy was invited into the executive session.
Roll call vote resulted as follows:
Councilman Hewlett Aye
Councilman Prendergast Aye
Councilwoman Baker Aye
Councilman Kusnierz Aye
Supervisor Gutheil Aye
The Town Clerk did not sit in on the executive session.
A motion was made by Councilwoman Baker and seconded by Councilman Hewlett to adjourn the executive session at 7:15 p.m. and re-open the budget meeting.
Roll call vote resulted as follows:
Councilman Hewlett Aye
Councilman Prendergast Absent
Councilwoman Baker Aye
Councilman Kusnierz Aye
Supervisor Gutheil Aye
(Councilman Prendergast stepped out of the meeting briefly.)
Ed Tracy left the meeting and the board continued on with the tentative budget.
Supervisor Gutheil stated that the fund balance and how much sales tax to use towards the budget are the biggest items to concentrate on.
It was the consensus of the board to make the following changes to the tentative budget:
Put the request of $6,000.00 for minute tracking software back in the Town Clerk’s budget under A1410.476, for now.
There will be no increase in the voting machine custodians per machine stipend.
Add in $650.00 under A1620.416.1 for a phone line for the computer modem.
Councilman Hewlett stated he would like to see a new Town Hall built. There was brief discussion on this and it was consensus of the board that nothing would be added into the budget for this.
Councilman Hewlett stated there should be consideration given to expanding the Town Highway Garage. There is equipment out doors that should be stored inside.
There was a $40,000.00 line item in the highway budget for fuel tanks. This line item has been in the budget for the last three years and Councilman Prendergast wanted to know when the tanks were going to be replaced. Supervisor Gutheil said the only thing good about having a line item for this was that if the money isn’t spent then it becomes a type of contingency for that account. It was agreed to leave it in for now.
The Recreation Department’s Budget was discussed. Supervisor Gutheil took out the $10,000.00 request for a gator, because there was no explanation or justification given why this request was in there. The board agreed that a request should be accompanied by justification.
The Recreation Director also requested a new truck and it was the consensus of the board that the Recreation Department should purchase Mike Montgomery’s truck at highway when they replace it with a new one.
The following changes were made to the Recreation Tentative Budget:
A7140.401 Mileage/Meals/Schools/Conferences increased to $500.00
A7140.472 Building Repairs increased to $3,000.00
A7140.462 Port-o-Potties increased to $1,200.00
Supervisor Gutheil noted for the board that the additional cost to the town for employee benefits projected for 2004 is $42,577.00. Along the way the board may want to discuss increasing the insurance buy-out in hopes of attracting more employees to take the buy-out in lieu of the insurance. [amended 10/23/03]
The year-to-date revenues from Town Court are $78,719.00.
A motion was made by Councilwoman Baker and seconded by Councilman Hewlett to adjourn to executive session at 9:00 p.m. to discuss all personnel services relative to the budget and it will have nothing to do with consultants’ services.
Roll call vote resulted as follows:
Councilman Hewlett Aye
Councilman Prendergast Aye
Councilwoman Baker Aye
Councilman Kusnierz Aye
Supervisor Gutheil Aye
The Town Clerk did not sit in on the executive session.
A motion was made by Councilwoman Baker and seconded by Councilman Kusnierz to adjourn the executive session at 9:15 p.m. and re-open the budget meeting.
Roll call vote resulted as follows:
Councilman Hewlett Aye
Councilman Prendergast Aye
Councilwoman Baker Aye
Councilman Kusnierz Aye
Supervisor Gutheil Aye
No action was taken as the result of the executive session.
A motion was made by Councilwoman Baker and seconded by Councilman Kusnierz to adjourn the budget meeting for the evening at 9:15 p.m.
Roll call vote resulted as follows:
Councilman Hewlett Aye
Councilman Prendergast Aye
Councilwoman Baker Aye
Councilman Kusnierz Aye
Supervisor Gutheil Aye
Meeting adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
Jeanne Fleury
Town Clerk