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Advisory Committee
February 3, 2009 Meeting Minutes

Town of Hingham
Advisory Committee

Hingham Town Hall
Present:  Committee Members Lauter, Seelen, Asher, Dwyer, Eldredge, Farrell, Friedman, Innis, Johnson, MacCune, Manning, Marwill, Mooradian, O’Meara
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1. Call to order

Chair Irma Lauter called the Advisory Committee meeting to order at 7:12 PM.

2. Approval of minutes for January 28, 2009 and January 31, 2009

The Committee reviewed and approved minutes from the meeting on January 28th as well as amended minutes from the meeting on January 31st.

3. FY 2010 Budget Presentation

The following departments each presented their budget options.  No budget votes were taken.

• Library.  Dennis Corcoran, Library Director

Dennis presented a prioritized list of actions necessary to achieve Level-Funded and 5%-Reduced budgets.  Either of these two budgets would require eliminating Sunday openings, an FY10 capital expenditure of $115K-$120K for replacement boilers to enable FY10 operating savings on natural gas, and reductions of library staff hours.  

Eliminating Sunday openings has the greatest budget impact for the fewest hours of closure, since all Sunday hours receive double-time compensation (29 Sundays @ 4 hours/Sunday = 116 hours = 4% of total library hours); this option is the only option that does not require a reduction-in-force.  Dennis assured the Committee that—were Sunday openings to be suspended—he and the Library Trustees were committed to reinstating them as soon as finances permitted and/or reorganization efforts enable more cost-effective Sunday operation.
Volunteers currently perform the duties of two Full-Time Equivalents.  However, volunteers don’t work at customer-service points in accordance with existing labor agreements.

For other than a Level-Services budget, the library will need to request a waiver of certain Municipal Appropriation Requirements from the State Board of Library Commissioners in order to retain eligibility for State Aid; Dennis does not anticipate any difficulty receiving this waiver.

• Planning Board.  Katy Lacy, Town Planner

Katy indicated that a Level-Funded budget could be achieved with a reduction of clerical hours.

The Committee discussed the department’s Consultant Services Expense category.  It was agreed that Katy would seek the Committee’s approval prior to spending money from this category, and that unexpended Consultant Services funds would be returned to the General Fund at the end of each fiscal year.

Katy and the Zoning Administrator are examining the feasibility of combining two part-time administrative positions into a single, shared full-time position, potentially saving 10 hours/week or ~$12K/year, excluding benefits.

• Board of Appeals.  Sue Letizia-Eddy, Zoning Administrator

Sue informed the Committee that none of the budget options reflected potential savings from the administrative consolidation under consideration with the Town Planner.

• Historical Commission.   Historic Districts Commission.  Andrea Young, Administrator

Andrea highlighted that a 5% budget reduction would necessitate a 35% cut in the Commission’s $5.5K expense budget—a big percentage reduction of a relatively small budget.

• Conservation Commission.  Cliff Prentiss, Conservation Officer

              * The Finance-Recommended budget is predicated on the transfer of $42,190 from the
                        Wetlands filing fees account, resulting in a total departmental budget of
                        $198,079-- Level-Services.

Were the Commission directed not to utilize Wetlands filing fees to supplement Payroll, Cliff indicated that hours would have to be reduced substantially, resulting in slower response times and reduced project oversight.

• Assessors.  Lane Partridge, Director of Assessing

Lane explained that a Level-Funded budget would entail reduced hours for two part-time employees, potentially delaying final calculation of new-growth figures required for tax-bill issuance by the Treasurer/Collector.

Were a 5%-Reduced budget to be implemented, the Board of Assessors has voted that the Assessor’s office would close to the public on Fridays.  In addition, potential delays in performing the State-mandated inspection of each Town property at least once every nine years might result in greater abatement activity and a consequent need to increase the Overlay budget.

Lane concluded by requesting that the Committee provide at least two-week advance notice of budget hearings to enable sufficient time for thorough preparation by department heads.  Irma agreed to take the matter up with the Board of Selectmen and Town Administrator.

The budget review concluded with a brief discussion of two issues:

• the propriety of adding or increasing taxpayer user fees in lieu of an operational override to adequately fund the Town budget
• the need for the Committee to require—at a minimum—Level-Funded budgets from all Town departments

4. Warrant Article Discussion

Irma made initial warrant article assignments as shown on the attached FY2010 Warrant Article Status Summary.
She also requested that the Community Preservation Subcommittee work with the CPC to determine which of the current 12 warrant-article candidates will actually be recommended by the CPC.

5. General Business

Dennis Friedman reported that work on a $3.287M contract for Plymouth River and Foster renovation will begin in the spring.  $367K is budgeted for site work to address additional accessibility requirements.  Only $123,315 in Change Orders has been committed against a $1,230,693 contingency for work that is now 57% complete.  July 17th is the targeted date for ‘substantial completion.’

Irma signaled that the Committee will meet both on Tuesday, February 10th, and Thursday, February 12th.

6. Adjourn

The meeting was adjourned at 10:57 PM.

Respectfully submitted,
Jonathan Asher, Secretary