budget worksession Minutes
April 12, 2010

The meeting was called to order at 7:02 p.m. Present were Mayor Calvo, MPT Lofgren,  CMs Ahrens, Dennison and Wilkinson. Also present were TA Murphy and Clerk Harper.

1. Mayor

Announcements: CM Dennison was chosen for a professional development program at her workplace.

2. Budget discussion

TA Murphy provided documents on the Council's changes to the proposed budget, the cost of a police officer, and the cost of promoting an officer from Private First Class to Corporal. Mayor Calvo said that one police officer is currently eligible for promotion to Corporal, which would cost approximately $2,900. Further, an officer needs to be reassigned to fill the currently vacant position of Public Safety Taxing District (PSTD) officer, which would create a little more flexibility in the general fund.

The Council proceeded to discuss the budget department by department and identified the following funding priorities and adjustments:

• Town Administration - Upgrading the audio/video equipment in the Council chamber with  funds from the cable TV reserve was proposed by Mayor Calvo. Upgrading the website to enable it to service electronic payments of fees and fines was proposed by CM Wilkinson. TA Murphy was asked to check the cable agreement to see if funds from the cable reserve could be used for the website. The capital equipment appropriation is used mainly for computer-related expenses.

• Town Center - Replacement of light fixtures in the Senior Center has been requested. Setup of a Town Center capital reserve was proposed to be funded by Town center rental receipts. CM Wilkinson moved to shift $500 from the gas to the repairs and maintenance appropriation, and $200 from the telephone appropriation into a kitty. CM Dennison seconded. The motion passed 5 to 0.

• Police Department - One promotion to corporal was designated as a funding priority. Funds may become available when the final insurance numbers have been ascertained. With Chief Murphy's retirement, $10,600 is needed to pay out his unused annual leave. In addition, money is needed for the search of a new Chief. As one-time expenditures, these expenses could be taken from surplus.
  
  Mayor Calvo said he is opposed to paying for any of these expenses with a salary lapse, as proposed by TA Murphy. He favors a seamless transition and plans to ask Chief Murphy to help with the search. CM Ahrens said he would be opposed to having the current Chief select the new chief. Mayor Calvo clarified that he would have Chief Murphy help establish a process and criteria for the selection of the next chief. The selection would be the responsibility of the next Council. However, the appropriation of money for the search has to occur now.
  
  MPT Lofgren noted that the current chief was hired without a search firm. Instead, money was spent on a thorough background check. Mayor Calvo said he is inclined to use a search firm for the initial interviews and proposed to set aside $6,000 for that. He would also limit the search to Maryland because such applicants would be familiar with Maryland law.
  
  CM Wilkinson moved to take $5,002 (equivalent to 500 gallons of gas at current prices) from the gas & oil appropriation to set aside for the search, leaving another $998 to be set aside. CM Dennison seconded. The motion passed 5 to 0.
   

• Code Compliance - Department has 1% overall budget increase due to salaries and postage. CM Ahrens said that the enforcement officers will spend more time enforcing trash regulations when the Refuse Ordinance has been amended. Council agreed to add  2.5 hours per week or the equivalent of $2,500 on the wish list. Part of the funding could be derived from increased fine revenues due to stricter trash disposal enforcement.

At 8:15 p.m., the Council took a 10 minute break.

• Public Works, Streets & Sanitation - The proposed gasoline & oil appropriation greatly exceeds this years actual expenditures. CM Wilkinson moved to shift $2,000 from gas & oil to snow & ice removal, which is underfunded. MPT Lofgren seconded. The motion passed 5 to 0. CM Dennison said that the Council may have to allocate extra funds for ice melt in the future.
  
  Mayor Calvo said that the maintenance & repairs estimates are too low and need to be revised. He suggested that it may be possible to skip the purchase of a police car this year and use the savings to purchase needed snow removal equipment. CM Wilkinson cautioned that this would age the police fleet. Mayor Calvo said he believes that the police fleet has had a year of light usage because the department has not been fully staffed for extended periods of time. In addition, the department will have a new resource vehicle. However, he will have to look more closely into the issue before recommending to skip the purchase of a vehicle.
   

• Parks & Recreation - The Council earlier shifted $500 from youth services and $200 from BHHC events to the Recreation Council special events appropriation.

• Cable - This budget contains $31,000, some of which may be set aside for upgrading the A/V system in the Council chamber and possibly for streaming the meetings on the Town website.

• Debt Service - FY 2011 is the last year for paying down the bond issue. CM Dennison raised the possibility of issuing another bond to pay for street renovations. Mayor Calvo said that might be done after the State reinstates payment of Highway User Revenues (HUR). The previous bond issue was largely paid off with HUR. Another possibility is to raise the tax rate.

• Capital Projects - The Council earlier shifted $120,000 from surplus into the Public Works vehicles appropriation to purchase a new dump truck.

Mayor Calvo noted that the Council also decided to transfer $10,000 from surplus into the vehicle replacement fund to make up for not fully funding it in a previous year. TA Murphy was asked to include a clear statement on the surplus in the budget for introduction. He summed up that tonight's budget review yielded $200 for the kitty and put additional code enforcement hours, a corporal promotion, and snow clearing equipment on the wish list. CM Dennison noted that CM Wilkinson had asked earlier for  $1,000 for bleachers at the Pontiac Street field, which might be funded from Parks & Recreation equipment appropriation.

Signed: Kerstin Harper, Town Clerk

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