Discussion of Transfer Requests
The deputy town manager and the town accountant presented two transfer requests.
The first was for $177,362 to cover legal expenses. This included $62,362 for negotiations with the police union, $100,000 to settle an injury claim, and $15,000 for employee buyouts and overtime costs due to a departure.
The second request was for $16,867 from the Deferred Compensation Fund to cover the retirement buyout for a long-tenured employee retiring in July.
In total, $177,362 would come from the reserve fund and $16,867 from the Deferred Compensation Fund. This would leave around $1.55 million in the reserve fund.
The committee unanimously approved both transfer requests. They also unanimously approved giving the chair and vice chairs authority to approve any additional transfer requests up to $25,000 individually or $50,000 jointly before the fiscal year ends.
Discussion of Future Plans
The chair brought up several topics for the committee to work on over the summer:
- Follow up on the composting warrant article
- Communications subcommittee to summarize FY23 accomplishments and promote the override vote
- IT subcommittee meetings to improve reporting
- Analyze transitioning the Council on Aging from an enterprise fund
- Recruitment subcommittee to fill open seats
- Analyze the motor vehicle equipment repair division
Members volunteered for subcommittees in their areas of interest. The chair asked the subcommittees to start meeting over the summer and report back when budget planning resumes in the fall.
Feedback on Meeting Format
The chair asked for feedback on the mix of in-person and remote meetings this year. Most members preferred more in-person meetings going forward, but wanted to keep a hybrid option available both for flexibility and for remote participation when needed. The chair agreed to try to optimize for more in-person meetings next year.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRJAadpkD-0