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Advisory Committee
Meeting Minutes
Town of Hingham
Advisory Committee
February 23, 2010 Meeting Minutes
Hingham Town Hall
Present: Committee Members Seelen, Manning, Asher, Dwyer, Eldredge, Ellison, Innis, Johnson, Lauter, MacCune, Mooradian, O’Meara
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- Call to order
Chair Jerry Seelen called the Advisory Committee meeting to order at 7:12 PM.
- Approval of Minutes for February 9th
The Committee reviewed and unanimously approved the minutes for February 9th.
- Budget Hearings
Department |
% Change from FY10 |
Comments |
Engineering |
N/A |
YTY decrease results from move of Town Projects Engineer to DPW. |
DPW |
-0.5% |
YTY percentage decrease is based on normalization of Projects Engineer salary and Snow & Ice budget with FY10.
Current YTD Snow & Ice expenditure is ~$530K.
Committee recommendation: Increase FY11 Snow & Ice budget by an additional $110K over the $390K requested in order to approximate the 10-year average expenditure of ~$506K/year. |
Landfill/Recycling |
-6.9% |
Liaison-supported additional requests:
> $17,795 for Salary of potential part-time employee to ensure adequate Landfill load inspections. Position will be utilized only as necessary.
> $69,301 for Trash Removal Services to reflect anticipated FY11 SEMASS charge of $104/ton. Four years remain on current 15-year contract with SEMASS. |
Sewer Commission |
+1.3% |
Rate-payer funded budget, two-thirds of which is the non-negotiable MWRA assessment.
Committee recommendation: benchmark sewer rates with other similar towns and ascertain pension, workers’ compensation, and property insurance costs currently borne by the Town. |
South Shore Country Club |
-0.5% |
SSCC is adroitly managing its planned expenditures to its actual revenues. The restaurant ‘grand re-opening’ will occur on April 7th.
Committee recommendation: ascertain pension costs currently borne by the Town. |
- Reserve Fund Transfers
Two Reserve Fund Transfers from the Assessors department were unanimously approved:
- $327.35 – brake replacement for department vehicle
- $500.00 – to fully fund personal-property revaluation services vendor fee
- General Business
- In response to a February 11, 2010 letter from the Hingham Education Foundation regarding SMART boards in the schools, the Chair recommended that the Capital Outlay Committee request a five-year Total Cost of Ownership projection from the School Committee.
- The Chair requested Karen Johnson to study and render her opinion on the need for an annual Allocation Plan report by the HAHT.
- The Chair informed the Committee that the Rules have been reviewed by the Moderator and Town Counsel with minor modifications incorporated. The now-final version will be posted to the Committee’s web site.
- Town Finance Director Ted Alexiades signaled that the latest Five-Year Forecast now shows a $115K surplus, based on:
- reduction of the projected State Aid cut from 10% to 5%
- inclusion of harbor mooring fees in Local Receipts
- increase of ambulance receipts from a higher fee
- elimination of the originally-forecast Regional Dispatch savings of $200K.
The request was made that a summary of the projected new-revenue increases included in the budget be assembled.
- Adjourn
The meeting was adjourned at 10:10 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Jonathan R. Asher, Secretary