Special Selectboard Budget 11/12/24
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Tuesday,
November 12, 2024
7PM – 9 PM
Minutes
Approved on: Monday, November 18, 2024
Minutes
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Web version
Town of Richmond
Special Selectboard Meeting
Minutes of November 12, 2024
Members Present: Bard Hill, David Sander, Jay Furr, Lisa Miller
Absent: Adam Wood
Staff Present: Town ManagerJosh Arneson;Assistant to the Town ManagerDuncan Wardwell; Town Clerk Linda Parent; Finance Director Connie Bona, Fire Department Chief Dennis Gile, Highway Department Chief Pete Gosselin, Library Director Kathy Templin.
Others Present: MMCTV Tom Astle, MMCTV Angelike Contis, June Heston, Jim Feinson, Chris Granda, Executive Director OCCC Susanne Parent
MMCTV Video: Recorded by MMCTV by Tom Astle
https://youtu.be/e_rQUtvo7dg?si=MRp4Rz78obVBJADx
Call to Order: 7:01 pm
Welcome by: Sander
Public Comment: None
Additions or Deletions to Agenda:
Sander suggested adding as an item for discussion: reviewing the Special Town Meeting held last Saturday. Which Furr and Miller concurred with.
Items for Presentation or Discussion with those present
Review of Fourth Quarter FY24 financials
Timestamp: 0:01
People who participated in discussion: Sander, Arneson, Bona, Hill, Furr, Heston
Arneson explained how it takes time to close out the fiscal year. Bona has been going over the financials and adjusting entries. Certain expenses, and some of the FEMA reimbursements for the 2023 flood are included in the budget status report. Everything is available online. Bona added that there was nothing unexpected in the budget from last year, other than the 2024 flood in July. Hill wanted to highlight the biggest over/unders. Police was the biggest overage. Highway came in under but that was because of the 2024 flood.
Arneson continued that the highest revenue source was the CDs the Town invests in which netted $203,000, much higher than the estimated $14,000 that was in the budget. Tax revenue came in exactly as projected at 100.24%. There are also fewer delinquencies in Tax interest. Furr discovered that the heading for Planning and Zoning should read Police. Bona stated this was one of the reasons she wants to revamp the chart of accounts. Police revenue was higher because two cruisers were sold. Salaries went over a tiny bit, as did Election expenses. Benefits also went up a bit for Town employees. There was a cost increase in Office supplies. The total budget was over by about 5%.
Hill added that he was amazed that a smoke alarm system had never been installed in the building. Vacancy savings in Police represents the largest savings. Furr asked if we have a depreciation schedule for the computers and when they are scheduled to be replaced. Arneson stated that a replacement plan for computers across Town is in effect and an inventory of those computers does exist. The Fire department had more calls than usual, but they stayed on budget. Heston commented that restroom and concession stand repairs post-flooding was nearly four times what was budgeted. Buildings and Grounds came in 146.42% over budget. Hill asked how much do we really use the concession stand? Arneson replied that it is used only occasionally. Hill wondered if we could only offer restrooms and no longer keep the concession stand. Expenses that are reimbursable by FEMA are not listed on this account overview.
Bona expounded that under capital vehicle debt, you'll notice there's a budget of zero and an actual $93,000, that is because at the end of the fiscal year, the auditors require that we move money out of fund 42 and over there, but that's only an end of the year adjustment. Heston asked, “it’s not there during the year, but at the end of the year it is?” To which Bona responded it shouldn't be under capital vehicle debt, again, that goes back to a very poorly planned chart of accounts, which she simply inherited and has tried to make work.
Heston asked that the Selectboard look closely at Our Community Cares Camp which is at risk of closing because of funding. Hill responded that the form that is sent out is intended for people to give us information about their respective budgets, and some of them are much better than others at filling it out and expanding on the number of people served throughout the year. The nuances of these agencies are different. Furr concurred that we should focus more on the services that are integral to Richmond citizens, and not just the ones we just think are nice. OCCC asked for $6,000 this year and they got $3,000 last year. Parent confirmed that the next OCCC meeting is next Monday, Nov 18.
Review of First Quarter FY25 financials
Timestamp: 0:36
People who participated in discussion: Sander, Arneson, Bona, Gile, Miller
Arneson elaborated there are some one-time bills that don’t get paid until later in the year. Bona said that the current report was only through Sept 30, 2024. Furr pointed out that re-fixing the Library elevator would be under Town Center Funds and not reflected here. The Fire Dept is up in salaries because of the increase in calls. Chief Gile said they are at 210 calls at this time, which is higher than last year by a lot. Gerry explained that the brush truck had to be repaired because of a call on Wes White Hill and when the truck was coming back down the road was washed out. Arneson explained that the Fireworks must be paid a year ahead of time. Miller wondered if she subsidized a drone show, was that of interest, because a drone show costs double what fireworks cost.
Review of Draft Audit statement on Unassigned and Restricted funds, and FY25 projected cash flow
Timestamp: 0:52
People who participated in discussion: Sander, Arneson, Furr, Hill, Heston
Arneson suggested he start with Unassigned and Restricted funds that have been put into the budget every year since 2019, the trend being an increase in those funds. In 2024 and 2025 approximately $500,000 has been used to off-set the tax rate. Furr pointed out that in 2023 the amount was very high at $919,930 which was mostly due to an understaffed police department. And we had not had a lot of flooding yet, Arneson added. He continued that $293,000 should be coming in from FEMA, at a rate of 75% reimbursement. An additional $126,000 will be reimbursed because FEMA last week decided to raise the reimbursement rate to 90%, for the 2023 flood. All told we have $565,000 coming to us from FEMA for the 2023 flood. Arneson elaborated that the 2024 flood cost $1.89 million and if we subtract the FY24 numbers of $340,123, we have a loss of negative $1.36 million in Highway funds from the 2024 flood expenses. It’s possible we will get some money back FY25 for the flood, but he does not want to project due to the slow reimbursement procedures of FEMA. Furr pointed out, because of this deficit we do not have any funds to put toward the budget to reduce the tax rate. Hill described how money that paid for Town staff time in previous years is now finally getting reimbursed: “This now becomes sort of gift money, paying you for something you already paid for five years ago.” Arneson concurred and continued that Unassigned funds are at a deficit of $461,783 if everything else comes in on target for the remainder of the year. Hill added that this is a choice we made to use these funds to repair roads and clean up after the flood, which is reimbursed by the State, it’s not an unavoidable problem. Heston does not understand why you're taking a loan from one fund and paying it into a different fund. Then when it is reimbursed it should go back to Unassigned funds where it came out of. To which Bona replied, “What we're doing right now is we used the cash from four specific reserves to pay all those expenses (from the July 2024 flood). And this is what we've been legally told we can do, when we get that money back, from FEMA, we must put the money back into those same reserves.” FEMA reimbursement cannot be counted on into the future because we haven’t gotten that money yet. Arneson said another place we can borrow from is Highway reserves, we could borrow $700,743. Bona said we can also get a loan from the Bond bank. She added that our attorneys have pointed out that we can only use cash related to specific reserves, namely accounts that were designed to do the type of thing that the flood impacted, like Highway capital or bridge or culvert cash, not for example money for the Conservation Commission.
Review of draft FY26 Budget
Timestamp: 1:31
People who participated in discussion: Sander, Arneson, Hill, Furr Feinson, Granda, Heston
Arneson described the tax rate increase for FY26 as being 21.81% as presented. If $433,186 of unassigned funds are used, the tax rate increases drops to 10.83%. If the three additional staff requests are denied the tax rate increases will be 17.08%. If both the funds are used and the staff increase is denied the tax rate increase drops to 6.10%. If the staffing request is denied and you remove a new police cruiser purchase ($80,000) the tax rate drops to 15.05%. If you use all of the above, the tax rate will be increased by only 4.07%. If we keep all expenses the same as last year and take out voted on Appropriations and Conservation Reserve Funds and not include the $433,186 the tax rate will be 8.55%. Furr said that we do not have money to use to reduce the tax increase. Feinson suggested that we borrow against a FEMA reimbursement to reduce the tax increase. Hill thinks this is a clever idea to explore in order to not raise taxes. Heston concurs, getting a loan at an exceptionally low interest rate is a promising idea. Bona explained that loans against FEMA reimbursements do not yet exist; a loan through the Bond bank is at 1.3% interest presently, but it’s uncertain if we would qualify for that. Hill wanted to know what commercial bank interest rates for a loan are. Feinson queried what would a 3-to-5-year loan be to help smooth out tax rates in future years. Granda wanted to bring up that there is a certain level of uncertainty, especially since there will be a new administration. Arneson suggested having a special meeting on Nov. 25th to discuss this further, plus investigate a $750,000, $1 million or $1.5 million loan. The budget needs to be ready to go for the January ballot.
Reviewing the special Town meeting held last Saturday
Timestamp: 1:59
People who participated in discussion: Arneson, Hill, Heston
Hill stated that at the end of the day the vote was 62 to 57. Do we want to ask by Australian ballot to move Town Meeting to our Australian ballot, or the Budget? Arneson said it’s a two-step process. Heston said that only 5 people made this vote.
Adjourn
Furr moved to adjourn. Hill seconded.
Roll Call Vote: Hill, Furr, Miller, Sander, Wood in favor. Motion approved.
Meeting adjourned at: 9:02 pm
Chat file from Zoom:
00:47:16 June Heston: The OCCC Annual Meeting will be on Wednesday, November 18 from 6:30-8:00 at CHMS.
Agenda
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Special Meeting of the Town of Richmond Selectboard
TUESDAY, November 12, 2024
Richmond Town Center Meeting Room, 3rd Floor – 203 Bridge Street, Richmond, VT.
Meeting may also be joined online or by phone
Join Zoom Meeting Online:https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86423746594?pwd=N6AskhkWO347Xz8rBP4hlwgyxqLbJX.1
Join by Phone: +1 929 205 6099 Meeting ID: 864 2374 6594 Passcode: 335748
7:00 PM 1. Welcome and Public Comment:
7:03 PM 2. Additions, Deletions, or Modifications to Agenda
7:05 PM 3. Items for Presentation or Discussion with those present
a) Review of Fourth Quarter FY24 financials # (10 min)
b) Review of First Quarter FY25 financials # (10 min)
c) Review of Draft Audit statement on Unassigned and Restricted funds, and FY25 projected cash flow (20 min)
d) Review of draft FY26 Budget (90 min)
9:15 PM 4. Adjourn
Time is available at each meeting for public comment. Documents related to this meeting are available at
www.richmondvt.gov/documents/selectboard-meeting-documents/ If you would like to schedule a time with the Board or need assistance to participate in the meeting, please call Josh Arneson, Richmond Town Manager at 434-5170 or email jarneson@richmondvt.gov. Links to videos of Selectboard meetings can be found at mtmansfieldctv.org
*Denotes Action Item # Indicates documents in the packet