BRUNSWICK TOWN COUNCIL MINUTES
Municipal Meeting Facility
7:00 P.M. Vice Chair Galloupe called the meeting to order and asked for the Pledge of Allegiance.
Councilors Present: Vice Chair Robert A. Galloupe, W. David Watson, Jacqueline A. Sartoris, Douglas A. Rice, Louise V. Ansari, Barbara A. Desmarais, Ralph L. Tucker, and Joanne T. King.
Councilors Absent: Forrest Lowe.
Town Staff Present: Donald H. Gerrish, Town Manager; Elin M. Gould, Deputy Town Clerk; Patricia Harrington, Assistant Town Manager; John Eldridge, Finance Director; Cathy Donovan, Town Assessor; Tom Farrell, Director of Parks and Recreation; Mary Reindl, Human Services Director; Clark Labbe, Fire Chief; James Ashe, Superintendent of Schools; James Oikle, Business Manager, School Department; William Dana, Chair, School Board; Steve Podgajny, Curtis Memorial Library Director; and the TV video crew.
Correspondence: None.
Manager’s Report: None.
Adjustments to the Agenda: None.
The Town Council will consider adopting the 2005-06 Budget Resolution(s) for the Town and will take any appropriate action.
Finance Director John Eldridge reviewed the Property Tax Cap Calculation for the Town of Brunswick and said Brunswick will be under the limit by nine thousand three hundred seventeen dollars ($9317). He said LD1 is not an easy law to interpret and that Brunswick has used a reasonable and conservative approach, well within the spirit of what was intended. He also said the budget resolution sets the due date for property taxes, which will be October 17, 2005, and April 18, 2006, and sets the interest to be charged on delinquent accounts at 7.75%, as allowed by law.
Councilor Desmarais said a good job was done by town departments, as well as the school department, but the realignment process, the increase in fuel fees and the uncertainty in the state budget need to be kept in mind.
Councilor Rice moved, Councilor Sartoris seconded, to adopt the 2005-2006 Budget Resolution, as presented.
Councilor Desmarais moved, Councilor King seconded, to amend the motion to subtract the following four items: Parks and Recreation Administration Professional Services, thirty thousand dollars ($30,000); Teen Center Program, five thousand dollars ($5,000); Library Grants, six thousand eight hundred fifty dollars ($6,850); and Town Commons paving, four thousand two hundred fifty dollars ($4,250), for a total of $46,100.
Councilor Ansari moved to amend the amendment to vote on each of the four (4) items individually. The motion received no second.
Councilor Tucker urged rejection of the amendment. He is optimistic about Brunswick’s future; a symbolic rejection of a few items at the end of the budget process is not something he would want to support. He also said that in the budget public hearings and elsewhere there have been comments about bad faith, trickiness or conspiracy in the way the budget was put together, as well as accusations that the Council does not care and is not listening. Councilor Tucker assured the public that the Council has been listening, but that reasonable people can disagree about this. He praised and thanked the staff for the work they did, at the Council’s request, to put the budget together.
Vote on the amendment. The motion failed with two (2) yeas: Desmarais and King. Councilors Watson, Sartoris, Rice, Galloupe, Ansari, and Tucker were opposed.
Councilor King said she will vote against the budget resolution because she would like to have seen at least a one percent (1%) tax cut. She is pleased with some of the things that are in the current budget, such as those addressing facilities issues.
Councilor Ansari said for the sake of the Council and the taxpayers she would like to have seen what a one percent (1%) and a two percent (2%) reduction in the town budget would have looked like.
Vote on the main motion:
Councilor Rice moved, Councilor Sartoris seconded, to adopt the 2005-2006 Budget Resolution, as presented. The motion carried with six (6) yeas. Councilors Desmarais and King were opposed.
(A copy of the 2005-2006 Budget Resolution and the Property Tax Cap Calculation for the town will be attached to the official minutes.)
The Town Council will consider adopting the 2005-06 Budget Resolution(s) for the School Budget and will take any appropriate action.
Finance Director John Eldridge explained each of the articles of the School Budget Resolutions. The explanations are written in the Resolutions, as required by law.
Councilor Sartoris moved, Councilor Tucker seconded, to adopt the 2005-2006 Budget Resolution for the School Budget.
Councilor Ansari said there had been a statewide vote for the state to fund education at fifty-five percent (55%). She said the state must find the money and it must be used for taxpayer relief. She sees no tax reform in the school budget.
Councilor Watson asked Superintendent Ashe the percentage of state participation.
Superintendent Ashe said that it must be remembered that the state is currently funding only eighty-four percent (84%) of the fifty-five percent (55%); the state has not provided the funding that it is supposed to. In this budget, the town’s share is down, and the state’s share is up. He did not have the exact percentage on hand.
(Later in the meeting, Mr. Eldridge responded that thirty-nine percent (39%) of the total school budget is funded by the State. He cautioned that this is a raw number as funding comes from several different sources.)
Councilor Watson asked Mr. Ashe to explain the teacher’s salary structure and how the recently agreed upon increases affect that structure.
Mr. Ashe responded that the contract increases the salary scale overall by 6.3%, amounting to about seven hundred twenty-two thousand dollars ($722,000). Without anything done to the salary structure at all, the amount would have gone up by 1.7% due to teachers moving on the salary schedule, so the overall increase is 4.5%. The goal was to have new teachers become competitive with other communities. Mr. Ashe passed out a salary comparison that showed Brunswick at twenty-seven thousand eight hundred dollars ($27,800), however, there is a beginning teacher adjustment of 5% at the first experience raise which raises that to a competitive thirty thousand dollars ($30,000). Mr. Ashe said he thought the School Board did a very good job because even with the salary adjustments there were some savings. Most of the teachers will be paying a larger share of their health insurance which will save forty-eight thousand dollars ($48,000) and the School Department changed disability insurance carriers which will save over sixteen thousand dollars ($16,000). There will be a cap on the amount of money for course reimbursement. There is also a clause that for the next two (2) years the Superintendent can waive the Masters Degree requirement for a teacher. The teachers gave up leave days, as well as paying a higher percentage of their health insurance.
Councilor King said she will not vote for this based on her desire to have had a one percent (1%) tax decrease. She thought there were non-academic areas that could have been cut. She was pleased that the new teachers pay was adjusted and the salary has become competitive.
Vote on the motion:
Councilor Sartoris moved, Councilor Tucker seconded, to adopt the 2005-2006 Budget Resolution for the School Budget. The motion carried with five (5) yeas. Councilors Ansari, Desmarais and King were opposed.
Mr. Eldridge explained that the amount of money that the town contributes toward the education of students at St. John’s School has been put on a separate resolution this year. In the past, those resolutions have been tacked on to the School Budget resolutions. This change is to clarify that these appropriations are under the Municipal Officer’s direction as they are authorized under Title 30A M.R.S.A., not under school law. There are three (3) articles totaling thirty-one thousand six hundred eight dollars ($31,608).
Councilor Tucker moved, Councilor King seconded, to adopt the St. John’s School Assistance Budget Resolution.
Responding to Councilor King’s question, Mr. Eldridge said there is no longer any reimbursement from the state for this assistance. The town is still allowed to provide the assistance under Title 30-A but part of LD1 repealed the 1985 Education Act, which called for reimbursement of a portion of these funds.
Responding to Councilor Ansari’s question, Mr. Eldridge said the law gives the Council the discretion to provide assistance in four (4) areas, and, historically, Brunswick has provided this assistance in the areas of transportation, textbooks and nursing.
Mr. Eldridge went on to point out that the first resolution adopted this evening encompassed everything, so a change in one of these particular resolutions would necessitate a change in the initial resolution that was adopted for the overall municipal budget.
Manager Gerrish said that historically the Town of Brunswick has assisted with certain aspects of the costs of St. John’s School. The town pays the School Department the approximately twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) that it costs for the school buses to transport St. John’s students. As for the books and the school nurse, these funds were the result of a request a number of years ago, that the town agreed to pay. The theory is that if these students were in the public school system there would be a cost to educate them; since they are not, the Town realizes a savings.
Vote on the motion:
Councilor Tucker moved, Councilor King seconded, to adopt the St. John’s School Assistance Budget Resolution. The motion carried with seven (7) yeas. Councilor King was opposed.
(A copy of the 2005-2006 Budget Resolutions for the School Budget and a Salary Comparison will be attached to the official minutes.)
The Town Council will consider adopting the 2006-10 Capital Improvement Program and will take any appropriate action.
Manager Gerrish read the CIP resolution and reminded the Council that this does not appropriate any funds.
Councilor Rice moved, Councilor Tucker seconded, to approve the 2006-2010 Capital Improvement Program.
Councilor Sartoris said she will vote against this. She is concerned that the town is obligating itself to a long term series of expenditures which impact operational expenditures, based on short term dollars, such as the contract with the private contractor for housing at the Naval Air Station.
Councilor Desmarais moved, Councilor King seconded, to amend the item under old high school entitled Demolition, year 2006-2007 in the amount of one million dollars ($1,000,000) to say Demolition and/or Renovation of the old high school.
Mr. Eldridge asked that it be either demolition or renovation as that will determine where other items need to be changed, such as operating costs that are reduced with demolition but not with renovation.
Responding to questions from Councilors Sartoris and Rice, Mr. Gerrish and Mr. Eldridge further explained where the changes in the CIP would need to be made depending on the choice of action. The debt service for the one million dollars ($1,000,000) would remain whichever option is chosen.
Councilor Desmarais said it was implied in this that if part of the one million dollars ($1,000,000) available was spent, such as for roof repair, then there would be money left for operating costs.
Mr. Eldridge reiterated that without a definitive course of action he would not know what amounts to put in where.
Councilor Sartoris said right now there is an internally consistent document, which she disagrees with in many places, but tonight is not the night to make a big decision about whether to renovate or demolish the old high school.
Councilor King concurred with Councilor Desmarais.
Vote on the motion. The motion failed with four (4) yeas: Councilors Watson, Ansari, Desmarais, and King. Councilors Sartoris, Rice, Galloupe, and Tucker were opposed.
Councilor Tucker urged the Council to pass the CIP as written, saying it would be a serious mistake to throw out the whole CIP process. It makes sense to have a plan, but that plan can be changed along the way.
Councilor King said she was supportive of the 05-06 much needed infrastructure work, but she has difficulty with the one million dollars ($1,000,000) for demolition of the old high school and the three and a half million dollars ($3,500,000) for renovations to the Times Record building in the second year. She will not support the CIP as it stands.
Councilor Watson asked what happens next if the Council chooses not to support the CIP.
Manager Gerrish said it would have to come back to the Council as the Charter states there must be a CIP adopted each year.
Mr. Eldridge said that given what is going on with the local economy he would caution proceeding slowly on some of these projects until there is more of an understanding of some of the ramifications. He said the current thought is to go forward with the plan, as is, and have further discussion prior to specific action, with up to date information on where the BRAC process stands and how it would affect the capital and operating budgets.
Councilor Sartoris said she changed her mind and will vote for the CIP.
Councilor Galloupe said this plan leaves options open; it is not cast in stone but is a reminder of the whole picture and he will vote for it.
Councilor Ansari, who is on the CIP committee, said it is important to have a plan and move forward. She has major problems with the Times Record building, realizes it is not cast in stone, and will vote for the CIP.
Councilor Watson said he is also in favor of the plan. The 2005-2006 year is taking the initial step and as the following years are gone through there will need to be some serious discussions following resolution of the BRAC issue.
Manager Gerrish said he will come back to the Council in the very near future to talk about where the town stands on a number of these issues.
Councilor Rice moved, Councilor Tucker seconded, to approve the 2006-2010 Capital Improvement Program. The motion carried with six (6) yeas. Councilors Desmarais and King were opposed.
(A copy of the 2006-2010 Capital Improvement Program and the Resolution will be attached to the official minutes.)
The Town Council will consider adopting supplemental budget resolutions for the 2005-06 budget year to fund certain projects contained in year one of the 2006-10 Capital Improvement Program and will take any appropriate action.
Mr. Eldridge said these two (2) resolutions are for the actual implementation of two (2) of the projects in the CIP. The school department is paying back the town early on a previous loan (see agenda item #89) so the Longfellow air quality project will be a wash monetarily, and for the sand and salt shed for Public Works the town will be expending two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000). He asked that each resolution be acted on separately.
Councilor Sartoris moved, Councilor Desmarais seconded, to adopt the Supplemental Budget Resolution Advancing and Appropriating $375,000 from the Unreserved Undesignated Balance of the General Fund to Fund an Air Quality Improvement Project at Longfellow School. The motion carried with eight (8)yeas.
Councilor Tucker moved, Councilor King seconded, to adopt the Supplemental Budget Resolution Appropriating $250,000 from the Unreserved Undesignated Balance of the General Fund to Fund the Construction of a Salt and Sand Storage Facility(ies) for the Public Works Department.
Councilor Watson said there would be a savings in both the short and long term having the sand and salt under cover, and he was in favor of the motion.
Manager Gerrish said better quality product could be purchased, with less used, if it was under cover.
Councilor Rice said it was the right thing to do because of run-off near the river.
The motion carried with eight (8) yeas.
Manager Gerrish said he will be coming to the Council with two (2) more projects at a later date: the computer system and the Jordan Avenue project. The Jordan Avenue project is over five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) so it must have a public hearing and be done by ordinance.
Councilor Ansari asked about the process and time frame for the Jordan Avenue project.
Mr. Gerrish and Mr. Eldridge said Public Works was not prepared to bid this during the summer; it would be done in the fall and winter, with construction expected to begin in spring 2006. They also said they may reconsider a bond rather than using fund balance for this project.
Councilor Rice asked about phasing and other work to be done with this project.
Mr. Eldridge said there would be no phasing of the project, just of the payment. He also said that soon there should be another discussion of all the capital projects depending on the outcome with the naval air station.
Councilor Galloupe asked if there would be an opportunity for the Sewer District to get in and Mr. Eldridge answered the Public Works Director, John Foster, was good at coordinating with all the utilities.
Manager Gerrish said the Sewer District does have work to be done this summer in anticipation of the municipal project.
(A copy of the supplemental budget resolutions will be attached to the official minutes.)
The Town Council will consider “A Resolution to Authorize the School Department to Expend up to $337,500 More Than its 2004-2005 Gross Budget Appropriation for the Purpose of Reimbursing Advances Made from the Town to the School Department for the purpose of reimbursing the Town’s General Fund for advances made to the School Department for an Air Quality Project at Jordan Acres School” and will take any appropriate action.
John Eldridge gave a brief explanation saying that for the School Department to reimburse the town for monies advanced, they must exceed their 2004-2005 budget appropriation. In order to exceed the appropriation, there must be Council authorization.
Councilor Desmarais moved, Councilor Watson seconded, to approve “A Resolution to Authorize the School Department to Expend up to $337,500 More Than its 2004-2005 Gross Budget Appropriation for the Purpose of Reimbursing Advances Made from the Town to the School Department for the purpose of reimbursing the Town’s General Fund for advances made to the School Department for the purpose of reimbursing the Town’s General Fund for advances made to the School Department for an Air Quality Project at Jordan Acres School”. The motion carried with eight (8) yeas.
(A copy the Resolution will be attached to the official minutes.)
The Town Council will consider any other matters related to the adoption of the 2005-06 Budget and will take any other appropriate action.
There were no other items for consideration.
The meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m.
Elin M. Gould
Deputy Town Clerk
June 17, 2005
July 5, 2005
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Date of Approval
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Council Chair