Budget Committee Meeting ~ January 27, 2025

2025-01-27 · Budget Committee · 1:24:44 · watch on YouTube →

This was the Budget Committee's first meeting of the budget year, held to elect officers and to work out how it would handle a budget that covers 18 months rather than 12. Members introduced themselves, elected Milt Simon chair and Jill Gastonguay (?) vice chair, and went through the committee's bylaws, holding a vote on revised wording over to the next meeting. Most of the discussion was about the 18-month budget: why the town is moving from a calendar year to a July-to-June fiscal year, the use of the fund balance to hold the property tax levy increase to 3.5 percent, and members' difficulty reconciling the figures the town manager presented. The committee agreed to let the select board chair present the whole budget with minimal interruption and then go back department by department. It confirmed three meetings, on the following Tuesday and on the 10th and the 24th, starting at 6:30 with a 9:30 cut-off, and adjourned.

No written minutes could be matched to this meeting. The transcript records that the speaker changed but never who was speaking, so any name attached to a statement below is inferred from context and is marked (?).

What was discussed

1. 0:07
   Opening and introductions

   Milt Simon opened the first meeting of the new budget year and said John Talbert (?) was under the weather. Members introduced themselves: Milt Simon of Stackpole Road, a resident since 1982 and on the committee since 1999; Jill Gastonguay (?) of Stackpole Road, about 10 years; Neil Barry of Stackpole Road, 41 years in Durham and eight on the committee; a second-year member on Brookside Drive whose name the recording renders only as "Dyis Brandon" (?); Donna Church (?) of Old Brunswick Road, 60 years in town and in her second year; Jane Rice (?) of Bowie Hill, in Maine since 1986 and in the last of her three years; Alan Pingon (?) of Day Road, over 30 years on the committee and over 70 in Durham; and a first-term member of nearly four years whose name the recording drops.

2. 0:07
   Election of chair and vice chair

   The committee elects a chair and vice chair each year rather than rolling the positions over. Milt Simon was moved and seconded as chair, and Jill Gastonguay (?) as vice chair; she was asked to accept only after the vote was called.

3. 5:44
   Why the budget covers 18 months

   The town is moving from a calendar-year budget to a July-to-June fiscal year, so this budget covers 12 months plus the first six months of 2026 and ends June 30, 2026. The transcript renders that date once as "June 31st". Members noted that under the old arrangement the April vote covered four months that had already passed.

4. 5:44
   The committee's role and its bylaws

   Milt Simon (?) described the committee as advisory: it reviews the budget the select board presents, and where the two disagree both sets of numbers go to the town for a vote. He said the committee's own bylaws, written by an earlier committee, can be kept or changed by the committee itself. A member said the version posted online has eight or ten typos and that the handout Milt Simon distributed is the correct one; the committee agreed to ask the select board to pass that on, with Deon (?) in the town office mentioned as the likely person.

5. 11:13
   Proposed bylaw wording change

   Section three requires the committee to make recommendations on each warrant article, which members said is no longer what happens now that the town presents the budget in a single article. The discussion settled on replacing that with the proposed select board budget, plus other financial matters coming before the town.

6. 16:34
   Bylaws held over, and how to take the budget

   Neil Barry (?) offered to retype the bylaws with the revised wording and an updated date and membership list for the next meeting. The committee then discussed whether to have the budget presented as a whole and then reviewed by department, or presented department by department with discussion at each stop. Members noted the select board took it department by department at its own meeting, with the town manager presenting and department heads there for support.

7. 21:53
   Difficulty reconciling the 18-month figures

   Donna Church said the committee had been promised a clean 12-month budget and instead got an 18-month one she cannot make the arithmetic work on, and that she would rather see a clean 12-month budget and a separate six-month one. She said the town manager applied a CPI figure she recalled as 3.7 or 3.9 percent; the figure is later given as 3.5 percent in the same discussion. Other members said the flat lines appear to have been built by taking the current year's number and adding half again for the extra six months, and that some costs are only paid once in the 18 months.

8. 26:55
   Fund balance, the tax levy and spending

   Members said the select board's target is to hold the property tax levy increase to 3.5 percent by drawing on the fund balance, and that Mark Roy (?), the consultant serving as financial director, had told the town a year ago that the fund balance had been built up well beyond what was needed. Milt Simon (?) said the difficulty is that using the fund balance shows a lower tax increase while covering up increased spending. A member said the fund balance had reached about $3 million and objected to drawing it down further given uncertainty about state and federal funding.

9. 32:56
   Presentation format and two tax bills

   The committee agreed to let the select board chair present the entire budget with only general questions, then go back department by department for detailed questions. Milt Simon (?) said the committee should also ask how the select board plans to present the budget to town meeting, since last year all the funding was in a single article rather than separate ones. Neil Barry (?) said the 18-month budget will be split into two tax bills for cash flow, with the extra mailing cost added.

10. 38:33
    Meeting conduct and how questions are routed

    Milt Simon (?) asked members to keep to one speaker at a time and to send follow-up questions to him so they reach the select board chair from a single source rather than from nine individuals; he said he would forward them unedited and copy the whole committee on questions and answers. He said members should not approach select board members or the town manager individually on committee business, and should say they are speaking as a resident if they do.

11. 44:28
    Motions, revisiting votes and Robert's Rules

    Milt Simon (?) explained that a motion needs a second to open discussion, that a vote can be revisited only by a further motion that is seconded and approved, and that a member can raise the point again at town meeting as a resident. Members established that the committee does not use Robert's Rules and that they are not mentioned in the bylaws; the suggested wording, attributed to Bill Schneider (?) from the Union Church committee, was that Robert's Rules "shall guide us" rather than bind the committee.

12. 50:02
    Level of detail and transparency

    A member said the committee used to see salaries and raises line by line and no longer does, and that successive select boards have merged lines so that one line now covers what used to be several. Milt Simon (?) said the committee only controls a department total and that reductions it recommends can be taken anywhere within that department. Members agreed it is fair to ask what a line includes.

13. 55:20
    What the select board asked the town manager for

    Milt Simon (?) said the select board's direction to the town manager was a baseline budget with increases only for wages and cost-of-living adjustments, plus moving the office from a three-person to a four-person staff, and that a member said that staffing point has since changed. He said that is not what the town manager presented back to the select board. Another member noted the select board has not voted on anything yet.

14. 1:00:45
    Figures from the town manager's presentation

    From one member's notes: a target tax levy of 3.5 percent held by using $580,000 from the fund balance, payroll up 3.5 percent, overall spending down 1 percent, general government up 13 percent, public works up 2.9 percent, total funding requirements down 6 percent, and minimum wage up 50 cents an hour. The figures the transcript gives for the administrative department and for public safety both come out as 133 percent and appear garbled. The member said the statement that municipal spending decreased is not correct; another member said the reduction in total funding requirements comes from the fund balance draw.

15. 1:06:29
    Getting the budget, and how to divide it

    Milt Simon (?) said members should expect an email later in the week telling them the budget is available, and that it is sent as a PDF rather than printed; he agreed to ask for a CSV spreadsheet as well. A member described dividing the 18-month figures by three and multiplying by two to get a 12-month comparison, and another warned that this misleads for Public Works because paving appears only once in the 18 months.

16. 1:06:29
    Scholarship fund and the ball field

    A member suggested redirecting some of the scholarship money toward the little league field. Others said the committee cannot move money that way: it can only approve, reject or change the amount of a request that is made, and funding for the field would have to come in as a separate request. Last year's community services donations line was given as $16,700.

17. 1:11:36
    Freedom of information training

    Members said the select board has stated that all committee members and select board members should complete the training, which they were told is required by state law. The committee has not yet been told which course or form the select board wants, so members agreed there is nothing to act on until that comes.

18. 1:16:43
    Meeting plan and how to frame motions

    Milt Simon (?) said three meetings are scheduled and that the third exists so the committee can review any further changes the select board makes and revisit votes if it wants to. He asked members not to go line by line in motions but to do that work beforehand and move a single dollar figure for a department, since a recommended reduction can be taken anywhere within that department.

19. 1:22:31
    Schedule and adjournment

    The next meeting is the following Tuesday at 6:30, then Monday the 10th and the 24th, also at 6:30. Members agreed to aim to finish by 9:30, as in past years, and the meeting adjourned.

What was decided

• 0:07
  Milt Simon elected chair of the Budget Committee.passed
• 0:07
  Jill Gastonguay (?) elected vice chair. The transcript records the call for and against but not the count; she is treated as vice chair for the rest of the meeting.passed
• 16:34
  Hold the vote on the revised bylaws to the next meeting, with Neil Barry to retype them and members to email any further wording to him or to the chair.tabled
• 32:56
  Have the select board chair present the entire budget with minimal interruption, then review it department by department. Reached by agreement in discussion; no vote is recorded.outcome unclear
• 1:06:29
  Ask the town to send the budget as a CSV spreadsheet as well as a PDF. Agreed in discussion; no vote is recorded.outcome unclear
• 1:22:31
  Meetings to run from 6:30 with a 9:30 cut-off, on the following Tuesday and on the 10th and the 24th. Agreed in discussion; no vote is recorded.outcome unclear
• 1:22:31
  Motion to adjourn.passed

An outcome reads "unclear" where the recording does not state it plainly. The recogniser drops short words, and "the motion does not carry" is one missing word from its opposite.

Worth knowing

• 5:44
  The budget being voted on this year covers 18 months and ends June 30, 2026, because the town is moving from a calendar-year budget to a July-to-June fiscal year. Milt Simon (?) said that to his knowledge the select board has no plan B if the committee objects.
• 26:55
  The select board's budget draws $580,000 from the fund balance to hold the property tax levy increase to 3.5 percent. Earlier in the same discussion the figure is given as 558, and the two do not agree.
• 21:53
  Members could not reconcile the 18-month figures. The CPI the town manager applied is given in the discussion as 3.7, 3.9 and 3.5 percent, and one member said she had tried every way of dividing the budget without arriving at the town's numbers.
• 32:56
  Because the budget covers 18 months, the town plans to send two tax bills rather than one, with the extra postage added to the budget.

Motion language found in the transcript

Located by pattern matching, with no model involved: "I move that", "I'll second", "all those in favour". This is an independent check on the summary above: 6 passages of motion language, against 7 decisions summarised.

Elsewhere

← 2024-03-04 Budget Committee2025-02-04 Budget Committee →All meetings