Town of Berwyn Heights

Budget Worksession Minutes

March 13, 2006

The meeting was called to order at 7:03 p.m. Present were Mayor Calvo, CMs Dennison, Gourley, CM Laughlin and McNulty. Also present was Clerk Harper and citizens. TA Murphy had an excused absence.

1. Announcements

Mayor Calvo requested the Council's permission to add his name and title to a letter of the College Park Neighborhood Preservation Commission requesting local realtors not to advertise single family homes as investment properties. There were no objections.

2. Budget

Mayor Calvo proposed to discuss each departmental budget individually, allowing for moving funds around within the budget or to a kitty from which priorities can be supplemented. He said that TA Murphy made several changes to his introduced budget: He 1) funded a 3% COLA; 2) revised revenue projections upward; 3) reduced the infrastructure fund contribution by $28,000; 4) set aside $26,000 for salaries and benefits; and 5) recalculated the appropriation for Public Works vehicles for a cost savings of $30,000.

Revenues: The budget includes a 9% higher recycling fee that is passed on to residents as part of their County tax bills. The real property tax rate remains unchanged at 48.6 cents per $100 of assessed property value as does the personal property rate at $1.215 per $100 of assessed property value. Most license and permit fees are projected to remain at last year's level, with rental license fee revenues based on 140 rental units. Dividend income is projected to go up from $12,000 to $24,000 as the Town's savings are moved into a higher yielding state fund. The Council tagged business licenses, rental licenses and dumpster fees for possible increases.

Expenditures-

Mayor and Council: Conferences & Training was tagged for a possible increase. However, Mayor Calvo was opposed. The Emergency Preparedness budget line was moved back from the Public Safety to the Mayor and Council budget.

Town Administration: Mayor Calvo proposed to cut $500 from Dues & Conventions. Copier Rental, Payroll Processing and Town Council Dues were tagged for possible increases.

Municipal Building: This budget is flat with exception of custodial wages and maintenance of grounds. Electricity and Gas appropriations were tagged for possible increases.

Town Center: The Repairs & Maintenance appropriation has been increased by 47% due to the proposed renovation of Senior Center bathrooms and kitchen floor.

Police Department: The largest increases are budgeted for Salaries & Wages, Gasoline & Oil and Postage. Capital Outlay greater than $500 was tagged for a possible increase to allow for the purchase of rifles.

Volunteer Fire Department: CM McNulty moved to leave the Volunteer Fire Department appropriation at the current level. CM Gourley seconded. The motion passed 3 to 2 with CMs Dennison and Laughlin opposed.

At 8:25 p.m., the Council took a 5 minute break.

Emergency Preparedness: CM McNulty moved to reduce the Emergency Preparedness appropriation by $1,000. CM Laughlin seconded. He explained that the Committee raises its own funds and is seeking non-profit status that will qualify it for more grant money. Mayor Calvo and CM Dennison were opposed. CM McNulty withdrew the motion.

Code Enforcement: CM Laughlin submitted an addendum to her budget. She requested an increase in hours for the code assistant from 6 to 10 hours/week and for the part-time code officer from 8 to 12 hours/week. This is instead of the hourly increase originally requested. TA Murphy will be asked to calculate a dollar amount. Further, Mayor Calvo requested an explanation of usage for the Communications appropriation, which covers cell phones and a blackberry.

Public Works Building: The Director's request for a $9,000 air conditioning system for the crew area was not funded in the FY 07 budget. It may be funded with leftover funds from the FY 06 budget. A breakdown of costs was requested for the Communications appropriation.

Public Works Streets & Sanitation: Increases in this budget are driven by hourly wage increases and an increase of the Temporary Help Service appropriation. CM Gourley submitted a cost estimate for a 9^th full-time employee for Council's consideration but said that the ability to hire more Temporary Help on an as needed basis will suffice. Maintenance & Repairs costs should be reduced with the purchase of a new trash truck and dump truck. Tree Service was tagged for a possible funding increase of $2,000.

Street Lighting: The Street Lighting budget was tagged for a possible funding increase due to increased cost of electricity.

Parks and Recreation: CM Dennison offered to cut $1,000 from the Youth Services appropriation and $500 from Pop's Park equipment. The Council agreed to cut Youth Services.

A storage shed for Recreation Council supplies is no longer in the budget. Instead supplies could be stored in a renovated Town Center attic.

Miscellaneous: Mayor Calvo said that insurance costs are projected to increase by 5% due to workers compensation and unemployment compensation claims. Employee benefits are projected to increase by 21% due to increased employee participation in retirement funds, merit increases and increases in health insurance. Additionally, an undesignated $26,000 has been set aside in this budget with which the Council could fund new employee benefits, including an employee salary plan, a defined retirement plan or others. This topic is to be discussed in more detail at an upcoming worksession.

Capital Budget: The Council agreed to fund the cash purchase of two new Public Works vehicles from the surplus at a cost of $176,000 and to establish a Vehicle Replacement Fund for future vehicle purchases. This will reduce future debt service costs. The contribution to the Infrastructure Reserve Fund was left at $80,000, $28,000 less than originally budgeted. Future contributions will mostly come from highway user fees and cuts from other budget items. Mayor Calvo noted that reserve funds serve to set aside money for specific long-term expenses and prevent surplus from being used for operating costs.

Total money cut from the proposed budget amounted to $1,500.

The meeting was adjourned at 10:10 p.m.

Kerstin Harper, Town Clerk