Town of Halifax, Vermont
SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES
November 17, 2012
Call to Order
A special meeting of the Selectboard began at 9:04 am at the Town office. Board members in attendance were Lewis Sumner, Edee Edwards, and Earl Holtz. Member of the public present was Jessica Bruno, Selectboard secretary.
FY2014 Budget
The purpose of the meeting was to update the town budget for FY14. Edwards started by suggesting the Selectboard come up with objectives and a policy for budgeting for FY14. In the past they have tried to maintain services and developed the budget realistically in order to maintain those services. She noted that there are some unusual expenses to anticipate for FY14. There is a chance we will be done with Irene clean-up, but this would be a challenge. The town gets paid last for contributions we made, therefore we need to factor this into the overall plan. Edwards noted that the budget has gone up every year. While it was necessary to get the town to a realistic place, it is her suggestion that we try to level fund the budget to what we had last year, even if that means we may have to cut something out. Sumner suggested going through each line item to determine if there are things that need to be cut. Holtz noted that many people are complaining that the budget keeps going up and their taxes keep going up. He noted that it would be great to maintain and finish the Irene issues. Holtz agreed that level funding the budget should be the goal. It was noted that controls need to be put in place to control overspending.
The Selectboard discussed each line item of the budget in detail. A DRAFT of their work can be found in theattached document. Only part of the budget has been completed in draft form. The Selectboard will meet again on Saturday December 1, 2012 at 9am to continue working on the budget.
Items that were noted for follow-up are:
-Town Clerk Assistant Wages- how was this estimated in the past?
-Listers Wages
-Town Procurement- verify some was not for highway
-Work with Patty Dow regarding some of the names of accounts so we can re-use them in the future.
-Irene Project Manager
-Town Auditors- are we paying the going rate?
-Health Insurance- update when actual rates are known
-Find NEMRC contract
-Find All Service copier contract
-Telephone- look into a package with remote voicemail so that messages can be left when he phone is busy.
-Office Supplies
-EOC Emergency Supplies & Exp- Need RERP grant- be sure to include the town portion of grants to improve EOC internet.
The meeting adjourned at 12:13 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Jessica Bruno
Selectboard Secretary