Town of Atkinson
Budget Committee Meeting Minutes
December 8, 2009
Attending: Jim Blackadar – Chairman, Steve Giangregorio - Vice Chairman, Dave Paquette, Valerie Tobin, Fred Thompson, Bill Bennett ex-officio
Jim called the meeting to order at 7:08 PM. Jim stated that the plan for the evening is to go through the budgets starting at the top and finalize what can be done and table the rest for future meetings. The Board had a brief discussion on revenue and how it may impact the budget this year. The Board reviewed the minutes from the December 1, 2009 meeting.
Fred motioned to accept the minutes as presented/Seconded by Dave/Unanimous 5-0 (Steve Abstained).
The Board began reviewing the budgets as follows:
41301 – Board of Selectmen
Fred motioned to final accept the Board of Selectmen budget in the amount of $34,996/Seconded by Valerie/Unanimous 6-0
41302 – Town Administrator
The Board adjusted the Rental /Lease line to be level funded at $1,700.
Fred motioned to final accept the Town Administrator budget in the amount of $104,364/Seconded by Valerie/Unanimous 6-0
41304 – Clerical – Tabled
41305 – Conflict of Interest
Fred motioned to final accept the Conflict of Interest budget in the amount of $326/Seconded by Valerie/Unanimous 6-0
41306 – Committee Support
Fred motioned to final accept the Committee Support budget in the amount of $100/Seconded by Valerie/Unanimous 6-0
41401 – Town Clerk – Tabled
Jim will contact the Town Administrator and Moderator to clarify their printing and binding lines.
41402 – Moderator – Tabled
41403 – Election
Fred motioned to final accept the Election budget in the amount of $3,000/Seconded by Valerie/Unanimous 6-0
Accounting – 41501
Fred motioned to final accept the Accounting budget in the amount of $83,438/Seconded by Bill/Unanimous 6-0
Auditing – 41502
Fred motioned to final accept the Auditing budget in the amount of $15,497/Seconded by Valerie/Unanimous 6-0
Assessing – 41503 - Tabled
Tax Collector – 41504 – Tabled to look into Deputy Tax Collector line
Treasury – 41505
Fred motioned to final accept the Treasury budget in the amount of $3,700/Seconded by Bill/Unanimous 6-0
Computers – 41506 – Tabled
Budget Committee – 41509
Fred motioned to final accept the Budget Committee budget in the amount of $1,019/Seconded by Steve/Unanimous 6-0
Legal – 5153 - Tabled
Personnel Admin – 41552
Fred motioned to final accept the Personnel Admin budget in the amount of $48,413/Seconded by Valerie/Unanimous 6-0
Planning – 41911
The Board reduced the OPS line to $9,000. The line had been increased in past years to cover the master plan which is now completed.
Steve motioned to final accept the Planning budget in the amount of $20,908/Seconded by Valerie/Unanimous 6-0
Zoning – 41913
Fred motioned to final accept the Zoning budget in the amount of $4,715/Seconded by Valerie/Unanimous 6-0
General Government Buildings – 4194
The Board reduced the maintenance line for the east road building to $1.
Fred motioned to final accept the General Government Buildings budget in the amount of $87,744/Seconded by Valerie/Unanimous 6-0
Cemeteries – 41951
Fred motioned to final accept the Cemeteries budget in the amount of $41,881/Seconded by Valerie/Unanimous 6-0
Other Insurance – 41969
Fred motioned to final accept the Other Insurance budget in the amount of $70,348/Seconded by Valerie/Unanimous 6-0
Advertising/Regional – 41974
Fred motioned to final accept the Advertising/Regional budget in the amount of $5,992/Seconded by Valerie/Unanimous 6-0
Police – 4210X – Tabled – Steve will contact Phil to get the job descriptions. Jim asked what the status of the Lt’s Salary line is. Bill stated they are still awaiting information.
Elderly Affairs – 42151 - Tabled.
Ambulance – 42153
Fred motioned to final accept the Ambulance budget in the amount of $1/Seconded by Valerie/Unanimous 6-0
Fire – 4220X - Tabled
Building Inspections – 42401
Fred motioned to final accept the Building Inspections budget in the amount of $47,060/Seconded by Bill/Unanimous 6-0
Homeland Security – 42901
Fred motioned to final accept the Homeland Security budget in the amount of $650/Seconded by Valerie/Motion carries 5-1
Dispatch – 42992 - Tabled
Highway – 4311X
Fred motioned to final accept the Highway budget in the amount of $403,132/Seconded by Steve/Unanimous 6-0
Street Lighting – 43163
Fred motioned to final accept the Street Lighting budget in the amount of $34,100/Seconded by Bill/Unanimous 6-0
Recycling – 43234 – Tabled for further discussion on hours of operation.
Solid Waste Disposal – 43241
The Board reduced the Disposal Contract line by $20,000. Last year the Town Administrator was able to reduce the contract price by $25K. The Board felt that a $20K adjustment this year was feasible.
Jim motioned to final accept the Solid Waste Disposal budget in the amount of $578,501/Seconded by Valerie/Unanimous 6-0
Health – 44111
Steve motioned to final accept the Health budget in the amount of $6,859/Seconded by Bill/Unanimous 6-0
Health Agencies – 4415X - Tabled
Dave proposed the notion of funding all the requested amounts from the health agencies by using monies contained in the General Assistance budget keeping the overall Health and Welfare line level funded. The Board agreed that this was a good approach. When Dave updates the budget we will have corrected numbers to finalize. The plan is to remove the needed funding from the rent line within General Assistance.
The Board agreed to stop reviewing the budgets at this point since they had made good progress. Jim indicated that if the Board makes good progress next week that the Board would not meet Christmas week. Everyone agreed.
The next meeting is scheduled for December 15, 2009 at 7:00 PM.
Fred motioned to adjourn the meeting/Seconded by Bill/Unanimous 6-0. Jim adjourned the meeting at 9:20 PM.
Respectively submitted,
kjb