1989-FINANCE COMMITTEE - Laserfiche WebLink

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Finance Committee Page 2. February 14, 1989 Town Clerk - The Finance Committee would like to ask the Clerk some questions regarding the voting machines and the ballot booths. Also they would like her to address the $600 request in mileage and travel. Engineering - The town to date has no town engineer. The Committee would like to know when he is expected to come on board. Also it was noted that should he begin, the engineering money requests would have to be broken out of other budgets. Elections and Registrations - The elections expenses were noted by the Committee, $2,890. They conceded that it is difficult to predict the required funds due to override quesitons. Personnel - Does the Board Secretaries Account reflect the cost of living? Chairman Heller noted that there is a 99 increase in this account. Members felt it necessary to check out the PAP, Police, Clerical, DPW, and Fire with the Personnel Department. Also does the employee education account mean the cost of the course? Ed noted that there are educational incentives built into the Fire contract. Note was also made of the large increase in the cost of psychological testing and personnel expenses. Personnel also has an article for $5,411.26 to fund a part-time clerk position for 15 hours per week. Planning Board - If an engineer is hired there is a possible savings of $13,000 in this budget. There was some question regarding their $2,000 request for mapping and whether this couldn't be combined with some other mapping project or coordinated. Planning - Finance Committee needs to know exactly what "field services" are. Also the salaries do not seem to reflect the cost of living and there Diem questions about the 53rd week. Bill Towner noted that it would be interesting to know exactly how much the Planning Department has brought into the Cenral Fund from the sale of maps. He also suggested that it would be helpful to know exactly how much of last year's appropriation has been expended. Selectmen - Members questioned the $72,081 in Personnel Services. Why is the Town Report less this year? Mr. Towner noted that he felt there should be a fee charged for the town report. Why are the municipal board expenses in the Selectmen's budget? Shouldn't the postage request have dropped more in view of the fact that there will be less mailings for tax billings this year? Chairman Heller would like to see a breakdown of the Labor Counsel and Arbitration $15,000 request. There was concern about the $15,000 request for appraisals in view of the fact that conservation is also seeking funds for appraisals. What is the $30,000 marked Special Litigation for? Committee members also questioned the cost and need of the fax machine. Members wanted to know, now that the Davis School is in the Town Hall who is responsibile for custodial work. What about the regular custodians at Town Hall has their workload increased or decreased? Ed noted that the police/fire indemnification seems to appear as two line items, as it is also included in the Town Insurance total of $275,000.