MINUTES OF THE CUMBERLAND TOWN COUNCIL

SECOND BUDGET HEARING AND VOTE FOR FISCAL YEAR 2007-2008

MONDAY, JUNE 2, 2008 AT 7:00P.M.

CUMBERLAND PUBLIC LIBRARY, COMMUNITY ROOM

1464 DIAMOND HILL ROAD, CUMBERLAND

 

The meeting was called to order at 7:09 p.m. by Council President Higgins.       

 

The meeting opened with the pledge of allegiance to the flag.   

 

MEMBERS PRESENT:

 

Council President Higgins, Councilors Mutter, Ackerman, Lemois, Morris and Kirkpatrick    

 

Also present Mayor Daniel J. McKee, Thomas E. Hefner, Town Solicitor, Thomas Bruce, Finance Director, Pat Anderson, Deputy Finance Director and Sandra M. Giovanelli, Town Clerk 

 

MEMBERS PRESENT:

 

Councilor Albuquerque

 

PUBLIC HEARING:

 

1.  #08-16 – An Ordinance Establishing the Operating Budget for the Town of Cumberland for the Fiscal Year 2008-2009 

 

Council President Higgins stated that he was going to read each line and open it up for comments.  He began by reading the Revenues from General Fund through Total Revenue and hearing no comments proceeded to read Expenses for General Government and no comments were made.  He continued with the Community Development expenses. 

 

Jim McLaughlin, 15 Garden Street, stated he heard a rumor that he hoped wasn’t true that as part of the Broad Street Revitalization that they are planning on putting a Taco Bell and Kentucky Fried Chicken near the Blackstone.

 

Councilor Morris asked John Aubin, the Planning Director, to explain why there was an increase in the Planning Board’s training.

 

Mr. Aubin replied that last year money was ear marked for Grow Smart training for the Board members, which they went over that amount so he slightly increased that amount to cover the overage for that training for the next year.    

 

Councilor Morris also asked if he could also explain the Planning Board consultant line item.

 

Council President Higgins asked Mr. Aubin if he knew what the Special Services line item is for in the Zoning Board.     

 

Mr. Aubin stated that he wasn’t familiar with their budget.

 

Council President Higgins continued to read into the record of the expense line items for Financial Administration and Public Safety.

 

Jim McLaughlin stated that it has come to his attention by some students at the High School that there is a major drug problem at the High School and suggested that there be another School Resource Officer put at the High School to address that problem.

 

Council President Higgins read Public Works, Other Department, Other Expenditures and other Financial Expenses. 

 

Councilor Lemois asked Mr. Bruce for a quick reference as to what the Capital Improvement for the School Capital Improvement Leases is for.

 

Tom Bruce, the Finance Director, explained that in the detail page of debt service it shows an amount of $369,000 approximately for next year’s budget and the breakdown on that is approximately 20 percent is school based equipment and computers in the middle and elementary school and the remainder is associated cost wise with the elementary school project at Cumberland Hill and Ashton in terms of the lease that they recently approved.      

 

Councilor Mutter asked Mr. Bruce that in the budget the line item is actually $111,600 and added that the difference between the $369,102 and $111,600 is going up to debt service Town.

 

Mr. Bruce replied that was correct.

 

Councilor Mutter asked that in the ordinance that they are eventually going to vote on asked if the number under School Capital Improvements/Lease is $111,600.

 

Mr. Bruce replied that is the correct number under adjusted budget 2007-2008.

 

Councilor Mutter asked what the proposed amount is for School Capital Improvements/Lease.

 

Mr. Bruce responded that number is $369,102.

 

Councilor Mutter asked why that is because the $111,600 is the amount that they put in for 2007-2008, the difference there is actually what they recently approved which was to take the technology portion out of Phase III.   

 

Mr. Bruce answered yes and explained that the difference came out to approximately $1.2 million.

 

Councilor Mutter asked when they financed that through the Master Lease was that a separate Master Lease what they did for last year’s budget.

 

Mr. Bruce replied yes and added that both sides of this Lease, School and Town, are slightly less than $1.6 million but it is one transaction that combines everything and is currently being executed by the Administration and the Lease Firm.

 

Councilor Mutter explained that the only difference he was referring to is that last year when they made that move for the budget they put the $111,600 in which was intended to be combined with $100,000 for the B.F. Norton School roof so that now when it says $369,102 that kind of combines it and he would have preferred it to be on a line item itself.  He further explained that putting that in its own line item is a cleaner way where people wouldn’t think that $369,102 is not an additional master lease with the School Department.   

 

Mr. Bruce stated that they can do that.

 

Council President Higgins read the total Town Expenses and there were no comments and proceeded to read the School Department Budget. 

 

Kelly Konnerton of 36 Dexter Street was present to urge the Council to approve the School Department’s requested budget for their schools.  She mentioned how last years’ budget resulted in elimination of the kindergarten teacher’s aides, which also resulted an unsafe environment for the children as well as a frustrating learning experience because of the class size ration per teacher.  She continued by stating that she understands that no one wants increased taxes especially now given the state of the economy however she believes the long term health and prosperity if the Town is directly tied to the health and success of their schools.  She concluded that she is aware that granting this money is only going to be a quick fix but she is fearful to see what more will need to be cut from their schools without the additional funding.        

 

Robert Thurston of 69 Tower Hill Road was present and stated that during the budget process the Finance Sub-Committee heard presentation and which time Councilor Mutter asked what could improve the educational process to which one of the principles answered lower class sizes which he believed with this budget and Dr. Morelle’s proposed budget they are going in the wrong direction and he doesn’t know how that is going to improve their test scores.

 

Jim McLaughlin of 15 Garden Street was present and stated that they need to find money to bring back the custodians, nurses, fine art teachers and teachers aids that have been cut and suggests that this Town needs to start granting writing full time on a State and National level. 

 

Councilor Mutter asked Mr. McLaughlin in terms of this years budget is he advocating supporting the Superintendent’s budget or level funding the budget and he also asked him when he was campaigning for the Phase III, $30 million dollar bond was it his belief that was an extra charge on the tax bill.   

 

Mr. McLaughlin replied that he is not in support of level funding because if they have money for Charter Schools and municipal pay raises than they can find money to support their schools.  He replied that his understanding of the Phase III, $30 million dollar school bond campaign that it would cost .39 cents a day would cover the cost of the building but he didn’t think that there were any provisions in there for teachers or custodians to run the school.  He recalled questioning that at the time but to say that it was due to the budget of a prior Administration is not fair.

 

School Superintendent, Dr. Morelle, reflected that before attending this meeting she met with a group of 20 community members consisting of faculty, administrators, and parents who are embarking on strategic planning for the School Department.  She added that over the past month they have had an opportunity to discuss with the courtesy of the Town Council and Finance Sub-Committee school improvements and the desirable outcomes that the community has for the students.  She pointed out that the motivated group are going to meet over the next month and set the District direction for the next 3 years in terms how they are going to identify a shared vision, how they are going to improve accountability to the community, how they are going to establish the learning outcomes and having the resources to meet those expectations is critical.  She stated that she was very confident that she had laid out for them in the past several meetings with no equivocation that level funding is unacceptable an option for the School Department.  She mentioned that she feels that Mayor and she are in an untenable situation in the district and that she has every reason to believe that the Mayor has a strong belief system in the public education system and that the financing options are something that he doesn’t feel comfortable with.  She also believed that the Mayor has a strong belief system in the students that are in our school system and she doesn’t envy the situation that he is in right now.  She stated that she knows that as Superintendent of Schools she has only one position that she is comfortable in and that is to continue advocating for those students who are in those seats who need to be educated now and she will continue to do that for as long as she is the Superintendent of Schools because she feels passionate about it, she believes in this mission, she believes in the vision for the School System and she feels privileged to be in this position.  She continued to state that she also doesn’t envy the position of the Town Council charged with finding what maybe an equitable funding plan for all the Departments and the School Department.            

 

Councilor Lemois question the variance in Other Sources between the School Departments proposed budget and the Mayor’s budget.   

 

Alex Prignano, the School Business Manager, replied that he believed that the Town side of the budget includes all sorts of School revenues whether they are general fund revenues or restricted revenues.  He further explained that their budget is not showing any of the unrestricted portions but when they do show the positions they pay for.  He pointed out that if they were to go to their personnel supplement they can look at any School and see minus the grants so where there is a Special Ed teacher that is being paid with a grant, they will show the full grant but then they take it out.  He concluded that their reason for leaving it in there is to let you know where they are spending the money.         

 

Tom Bruce stated that Mr. Prignano’s comments are absolutely accurate but he added that under Charter requirements the Town Council has to appropriate every dollar regardless of the source, which is why they include it in their presentation. 

 

Councilor Lemois stated that he appreciated the School Department providing the Council with their annualized numbers which included 10 months of actual numbers and two months of projected numbers. 

He asked why Capital Improvements for the first 10 months averaged $2,800 a month and then the last two months it spikes up to $35,000 a month and there is a similar pattern with Capital Equipment.     

 

Alex Prignano explained that the $100,000 difference in the Capital Improvements they have spent that money.  He added that they know the pressure that both the School and Town budget are under so they have absolutely gone slow in spending that money and there are a couple of project that they want to complete as the year ends but not until they are confident they will be able to balance the budget.  He also explained that as far as the Capital Equipment side, as they know, a good portion of their Capital Equipment is coming out of the Master Lease this year and the biggest piece of that Maser Lease was $238,000 for computers so they wanted to make sure that the Master Lease was passed and approved before they made that commitment.      

 

Councilor Lemois asked for an explanation regarding the spike in the projected amount for the last two months for Library Books and Workbooks.  

 

Alex Prignano started by stating that they just took a delivery today $135,000 of math textbooks that do not show up in these reports but in the areas of the educational supplies the schools and their principles take the budget serious and they are trying to buy just what they can.  He explained that if they do have any money left they do not want to use that money in fund balance, they would hope to do something like they did last year where they put some money aside for additional text books and library books.

 

Councilor Lemois questioned if it was the fuel gas or whether it was heating gas and why the projected amount spiked to $100,000 a month from the prior average of $31,000 a month. 

 

Alex Prignano explained that they are seeing 10 months, April 30^th numbers, but doesn’t necessarily mean 10 months of bills actually at best they could is 9 months of bills paid at 10 months in the year because you pay this month’s bill is for last months.  He also added that they have numerous meters throughout the district and they don’t get the bills in one batch they get them at all different times, so some of the bills might be paid right up to 9 months and other might not be.     

 

Council President Higgins read the Total General Fund Expenses read and no comments were made.

 

Public Hearing closed at 7:57pm

 

Councilor Mutter explained that he had asked the Finance Director to prepare some different tax levy worksheets that reflected possibilities based on the tax cap and debt service which he has done and distributed to the Council today, he asked Mr. Bruce to explain them.  

 

Mr. Bruce explained that he has provided them with 3 levy worksheets as well as the debt service increase.  He continued to explain the three different levy worksheets and their corresponding collection rate and amount.  He informed that if the Council were to decide to override the State cap, Municipal Affairs has informed him that they would need to approve it and once they did approve it they would have to pass resolution and have two more public hearings.      

 

Council President Higgins pointed out that early today it was mentioned that there would be a need for a majority of the vote if the Council were to vote to override the cap.

 

Mr. Bruce stated that was correct based on Senate Bill 3050 which terms of that involve a four-fifths majority of the governing body so in regards to the Town Council that would require 6 out of 7 votes to approve the usage of the override of the State cap. 

 

Council President Higgins stated that per Mr. Bruce’s presentation the most revenue that they could generate is $1.17 million dollars that would involve an increase of $1.13 per thousand.  He also mentioned that doesn’t include any potential salary arbitration that was quoted at $500,000 per year.    

 

Councilor Mutter explained that on the levy worksheet that Mr. Bruce explained they are using 43.34 Percent collection rate which is mandated by the ordinance but they are missing the rate which they will base it on but asked if there is any sense if as of today they are ahead or behind of the 2007 collections.

 

Mr. Bruce replied that as of Friday of last week they are slightly stronger by 2 points versus the year before.  

 

Council President Higgins requested a brief recess at 8:10pm and they returned from recess at 8:15pm.

He continued by calling for any amendments or motions on the budget.

 

Councilor Mutter stated that they have spent a lot of time trying to become knowledgeable on this School Department budget and the reason that he asked Mr. Bruce to come up with these number was to give them an idea of what that means and what the affect of adding any extra dollars would mean.  He continued to state that he knows people want them to be comfortable with those numbers right now but he knows that he is not ready to do that right now.

 

Councilor Lemois asked what the procedure is if they do not vote tonight.

 

Council President Higgins explained that they are required to have two hearings which they have had and two voted with the second vote taken 48 hours after the first vote.  He asked the Town Solicitor if they would have to advertise the new date.       

 

Mr. Hefner replied that the Council can only do what they can do so if they have the time they can get it into the newspaper if not knowing that it is on the agenda on June 4^th at 7:00 p.m. everyone is on notice to show up that night at which point they would find out the additional meeting dates.

 

Councilor Lemois clarified that it is Councilor Mutter’s feeling that he is at odds with this but feels that there could be an opportunity for some kind of compromise or solution.

 

Councilor Mutter replied that it is his feeling that they are trying to link all available resources towards a very important problem and he is committed to at least exhausting all available means to do so.  He concluded that it is too important for them to vote something back and move forward and there is a little more that he is looking for that says that both sides of the government are going to do their part in improving student proficiency.     

 

Councilor Lemois stated that at this point he would be willing to take a vote.  He added that at this point with everything in front of them he would vote for a level funded budget but he has the utmost faith in the Finance Department, the Administration and the Finance Sub-Committee that if the Chair of the Finance Sub-Committee has some hopes that they can find a better compromise than he would be willing to come back whenever possible. 

Councilor Morris stated that she is not comfortable with voting tonight because they can’t provide at least the same level of service to the School Department with level funding.  She concluded that they need to find more money to at least provide level services to the District and they need to take the time to do that.   

Council President Higgins agreed that this is important and they should take as much time as they feel they need but he wished that he was as confident that they would be able to find that money.  He added that having done these budgets on both sides this is by far the worse for a number of factors, especially the economic climate.  He stressed that he has concerns about these unbudgeted and unanticipated potential costs that are looming out there in a fiscal year where they can go over the tax cap and still not meet the School Department’s needs.  He went on the record by saying that he will not support a 9 percent increase.  He agreed that it isn’t fair that the School Department shouldn’t pay all the debt service.  He concluded that he is willing to take more time.

 

Councilor Kirkpatrick stated that he keeps going back to what Brian Kelly said the other night that infrastructure in this Town benefits the Town as a whole.  He also stated that a good school system is basically the foundation of a Town and is why 10 years ago he moved to the Town.  He concluded that this is bigger than just the School, it affects the Town. 

 

Councilor Mutter clarified that they are not going to find more money instead the question is whether they are going to appropriate more money. 

 

MOTION BY COUNCILOR MUTTER, SECONDED BY COUNCILOR MORRIS AND IT IS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO CONTINUE HEARING TO JUNE 4, 2008 AT 7:00P.M.  VOTE

6/0.

 

2.  #08-17 – An Ordinance Establishing the Water Department Budget for the Fiscal Year 2008 – 2009 

 

Council President Higgins stated that the Administration has requested to have a separate hearing date.

 

Mayor McKee wanted the record to show that Alan Brodd, the Water Department Superintendent was unable to attend because he was ill.  He also wanted to point out that the room is empty for probably one of the most important issues that this Council and Administration has to deal with in the next 24 months.

 

Public Hearing at 9:00 p.m.

 

MOTION BY COUNCILOR MORRIS, SECONDED BY COUNCILOR MUTTER AND IT IS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO CONTINUE HEARING TO JUNE 4, 2008 AT 7:00P.M.  VOTE 6/0.

 

3.  #08-18 – An Ordinance Establishing the Sewer Department Budget for the Fiscal Year 2008 – 2009  

 

Council President Higgins stated that the Administration has requested to have a separate hearing date.

 

Public Hearing at 9:01 p.m.

 

MOTION BY COUNCILOR LEMOIS, SECONDED BY COUNCILOR MORRIS AND IT IS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO CONTINUE HEARING TO JUNE 4, 2008 AT 7:00 P.M.  VOTE 6/0.

 

4.  #08-19 – An Ordinance Establishing the Recreation Department Budget for the Fiscal Year 2008 – 2009

 

Public Hearing at 9:02 p.m.

 

MOTION BY COUNCILOR MUTTER, SECONDED BY COUNCILOR MORRIS AND IT IS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO CONTINUE HEARING TO JUNE 4, 2008 AT 7:00 P.M.  VOTE 6/0.

 

ADJOURNMENT:

 

MOTION BY COUNCILOR ACKERMAN, SECONDED BY COUNCILOR MUTTER AND IT IS UNANIMOUSLY VOTED TO ADJOURN AT 9:03 PM.  VOTE 6/0.

 

            ____________________________________

            Sandra M. Giovanelli, Town Clerk