Finance Committee Meeting Minutes 2/3/21

Finance Committee Meeting   February 3, 2021

This was a joint meeting with the Select board 

Jon Sylbert, Michele Miller, and Rebecca Wolin present

Agenda joint meeting with the selectboard

Budget

Council on Aging

Conversation ensued about the Outreach worker proposal.  Ilene has already written the grant, it just needs to be submitted to the state with another town.  A motion was made by the Select Board to approve the COA budget as presented with the $6,048 to be placed on the town meeting warrant pending final budget approval by the Finance Committee and Select Board to allow them to do research.  The motion was seconded. 

John argued that the Select Board had no jurisdiction in approving budget items and abstained as he didn’t feel he had the right to vote.  Steve and Don both voted yes. 

Rebecca and Jon Sylbert mentioned that this was not the policy that was approved at the beginning of the budget process which was not to make a final vote on anything.  Steve and Don reiterated that the vote was to “pencil in” the request and not finalize it.

Clerk

Terry is requesting an extra 1 ¾ hours a week for a total of 19.75 hours per week. She stated that the extra hours will allow her to get the office 100% ready for her retirement on June 30, 2024.

The elections budget has been reduced as there are fewer elections in the coming year than there were last year.

Treasurer

Changes made to the proposed budget include additions for a bond rating consultant fee.  The town will only need a bond rating if we will be taking out a loan over $1million.  Having a bond rating usually gets more banks interested in bidding and lower interest rates.  If the Board and Fin Comm decide to do one more one year note this additional expense will not be necessary. Rebecca mentioned again that she did not believe Monterey should purchase anything with a bond, and that we should pay for what we purchase with an extended state loan – or cash. 

Next week will conclude all department heads that the Board and Fin Comm wanted to meet with.  After the final presentation it was agreed to begin the joint discussions on the budget as a whole.  John W stated that he would like to review the town counsel survey of surrounding towns and Rebecca said that we are still waiting on additional information