Meeting transcript
Board of Selectmen Budget Workshop
February 5, 2024 · Watch on YouTube · All meetings
So thank you. Alright. So we're gonna call to order today's board of selectmen special meeting budget workshop for Monday, 02/05/2024, and we're gonna get started promptly at 07:01. First item on the agenda is the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag, The United States Of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Right? Public speak. So Jed, I know you're here probably for your segment of the budget, but you're the only person here from the public. So would you like to say anything for us?
Well, I didn't know if this was the right place to chime in on that or not, but, I did hear that there was a tentative $50,000 to be discussed about adding to the budget. And from the Planning and Zoning Commission's perspective, we used to put $50,000 a year in the budget. And when the budget got kind of tough there for a while, we took that out. And $50,000 today isn't what it was a couple of years ago. So the commission thought that $50,000 was a good number. The state's goal is to have 21% of our area open space. As of the drafting of our last plan of conservation and development, we were about two
thirty some acres short. The POCD talked about how that should be an easy goal to meet over the next ten years, and we haven't made an awful lot of progress of doing that. The last survey that the town took in 2018 for the long term planning committee, the public indicated there were three things they were willing to pay more taxes for, one of those three being open space funding. And then lastly, the last time we tried to buy some open space, I think the state was ponying up 80% of that with the town only having to come up with 20%. So I do think it's a good bargain time while the state has the money for us to go out and pursue open space if the suitable lot becomes available. And that was my pitch on open space funding. Okay.
Thanks, Jen. Thank you very much. So I know, Eric, you sent us a couple documents. Certainly. I I would probably sit there and say, let's let's let's go with your spreadsheet. If you can post it up there, the 10 most, increased items, unless the board has any issues related to looking at that and focusing on those items right now. Anybody? Nope. Okay.
Okay. With a little luck, you're looking at it right now. Yes. Alright. So I can blow that up, I think, just a little bit. Okay.
So, Eric, if I I have the numbers right and I'm trying to scroll down on your other spreadsheet, We have,
no. It doesn't really say what it is because you don't do that. What's your question? Maybe I can answer it.
Well, I'm trying to look at the spreadsheet that you provided, your working copy, and I'm trying to determine what the total increase is related to the budget. The total dollar increase. Don't
600. You mean in the in the town's portion of the budget? No. The total budget.
If you go to the mill rate calculation, it's ballpark a half million more. The total expenditure goes from 12,469,000 to 12,997,000 as proposed. Alright. So you say 12,000,000. 12,997,000.
Yeah. One second. But you have offsets that I'm trying to calculate. So 12,997,000. So the difference between this year's and last year's is, if I look at it carefully, ballpark. Oh. 528,000.
Yeah. I was gonna say 535,000, 540,000, but your number is probably righter. More correct, I should say.
Then you're basically estimating revenue to be up $175,000 And I know that when we estimate revenues, that's problematic, but
and then you're Well, but but remember, of that, a $150,000 is what we know we're taking in currently from the steep or from the stiff account. So the majority of that revenue increase comes from what we know we're we're currently getting for interest. Will that stay the same?
Depends how the economy goes. I mean, I that that that's fine. Fine. And then you're sitting there saying abatement abatements are gonna stay the same. Sure. Right? Is that correct? That's on your mill rate tab.
Right. Correct. Well, I mean, about the biggest single abatement, you know, that we have is Hop River Homes. Yeah. And that we've set, So that we know. And then the firefighter abatements and exemptions. So between those two, it doesn't change a whole lot from year to year. Is that number exact? Probably not. But it's a pretty good ballpark. It's not going to be off a lot. Shouldn't the community center be included in this list? I think it is. It is. It's the number two item on there. Oh, budget all around right here. Yep.
Now remember that total number is actually bigger because that community center budget does not include the health and dental insurance for whoever's gonna run it. So that portion of that gets rolled into the health and dental, which is item number four on the list.
So basically these numbers then do add up. So just so we're all playing on the same thing, we have a $528,000 total increase in expenditures, 113,000 as a preliminary number from Andover Elementary, dollars 198,000 decrease from the town and from the RAM budget and a $613,000 increase from the town budget. Then these these items here represent the significant portion of what we're we're talking about increasing in total dollars. Correct. So if we attack these and look at these and say, should we include them or should we not include them? We'll be most of the way there to our total budget. Correct.
K. Alright. Let's start with number one, the AES Capital Fund. So I'm assuming everybody looked at the information that the school sent Eric related to their projects that they potentially have sitting there. Yeah. The primary one being the plumbing one for the upper school that could potentially run upwards of $200,000. Right.
So while it's a significant amount of money, it's probably something that we as a community are gonna have to deal with. Yeah. So I don't necessarily argue with that one.
Number two, the community center that was our priority. My one argument with AES Capital Fund is it probably needs to be more than that because we have not had a capital fund and just the plumbing is gonna be 200,000. And do we wanna wait two years or more before they can do that?
Well, the assumption, Ann, would be that we would take the money that is potentially designated for the parking lot and we would redirect that money that they have to the plumbing because it's more of a priority. We're we're gonna be in a situation where then we can sit there and say, hey, let's put the AAS Capital fund at $500,000 and we're gonna get tremendous pushback from the community as to what we're doing. So what does everybody on this board want to come up with? I would love to be spending a lot more money, but I don't think it's practical or prudent. Are we asking the residents to come up with, I mean, this is a significant increase as it is. I think we need to look at all of the items and say, what's the most important and do we want to press the residents for the money because that's gonna be the question.
Yeah, well, I know that it was just a year or two ago, they finished paying off the last addition. I don't remember what the amount annually was for that, but now we have to be maintaining the school that we have there. And this is a major expense.
Well, remember, not very long ago, like about five years ago, the town spent about a half $1,000,000 on the roof for the school. So it's not that the town has not been putting maintenance money into the school. I mean, to me, the biggest problem in this is that the school should be presenting the town with a ten year capital plan, you know, in laying out what their true capital needs are so that we can properly fund them. I mean, now, you know, we know of two things that they've made us aware of, but they also want both parking lots done. You know, there's some definite issues with some of the walkways out back. One of the entrances is where there's a concrete patio above a lower door, is definitely leaking inside the building. You know, so there are definitely some structural problems with that school that should be taken care of. But, so, but at this point, the only thing we can really do is respond to the things we've identified at this point. That's what I'm trying to do is split the difference and saying, okay, you know, the town can contribute to this fund annually, and then the school can put in whatever excess funds it has on the end of the budget year, especially if there's more than what's going in the non lapsing account, and we can build that fund up enough to deal with capital issues as they come up. Cause right now, we had a, you know, if we had an emergency,
you know, we're talking about taking that out of the unexpended fund balance to deal with it. So there should be some kind of capital. And to be clear, Eric is a 100% right, Anne. I've been on the board for over eight years, and I've never seen a capital analysis,
anything done by my education to with this, though. That's a good start.
So But So and I and I'm not disagreeing with you that that amount of money might be low, but we're pumping, we're, you know, we've never asked for this amount of money from the community. It's a big It's not a capital fund. It's a big,
no. Like Eric said, we've never roof five years ago. That was a big chunk.
Well, of course it was, but we had planned for that. We knew that was coming and we planned for it. You know, and I'll be really honest. I was reading Eric's information today and the school just got new lights for the gym. Did Did we know that, Eric? I didn't I didn't know that. I I found out about that on Saturday. No. I did not.
Yeah. There's a lot of stuff that goes on that is not communicated back to the town. So while it's great that they got new LED lights for the gym, and I, as a coach, am extremely happy they got new lights for the gym, it would probably be more appropriate that we find out about that and the town administrator is notified that these things are going on. So they put in their their list that they need lights, but it's would be nice. It would be nice to know. I hope they got a grant for it. I don't know where they got the money for it. It's it's a it's a communication issue. And I agree we gotta put some money away because we have to take care of the single largest asset that the town owns. How big that number is is a different story. So, item two. So we're gonna go back and we're just gonna talk about each one of them and then we'll go back and we'll sit there and see what we're looking at. But, Anne, I'm gonna just sit there and come to you. There's nothing here that I'm adding to. There's only things that I'm saying we should take away to be really blunt. You just wanna go through this. You gotta go to the community center. This is what we talked about. We have a new building. We have a new, we have an aging population. We need to take care of
those needs and we need to be a better, but we need to make this position a revenue generator as much as possible to pay for themselves. So hopefully we can increase our revenue side on the opposite side, but I look at that $82,000 as money that we need to spend to make that building as available to the community as it possibly can be. And it will help us in all different areas, recreation, seniors. So I look at that as needed. The culvert fund, and this is a really, this is a problem. You talk about the school being a problem, this one's also a problem. Mean, Eric has Lake Road as cost potentially costing the town. How much, Eric? Up to 950,000.
Yeah. We need to be pressing the state for every grant availability that we can get on those. We should probably get a meeting with MD to sit there and down and really discuss and lay out all of the culverts and all of the road issues that we have to sit there and see what's potentially available to help us because, you know, they gave the trip grant money, but they didn't give the trip grant money to assist. So now what did you apply just so I can, I'm gonna step off. What did you apply for the trip grant money for?
So I applied for the trip grant money to reconstruct, a little over a mile of town road, included Hendy and, a section of Long Hill and Skinner Hill Road.
So we had been, if I remember correctly, you you had they had ranked the grants?
So the the grants first went to the Capital Regional Council of Governments. In each government, each CROG or COG ranked the grant applications to them, and they were only allowed to pass on a certain number. So I think our COG got eight grant applications, of which four they passed on. We were one of the ones that got passed on. But the problem came in is that the scoring criteria that the COG used was kind of completely different than the scoring criteria the state used, and the state did not fund any reconstruction projects. Or actually, I think they funded one out of the ten, nine out of the 10 they funded were kind of multi use either sidewalk projects or standalone pathway projects, or they funded, you know, a million something dollars to, resurface part of the airline trail, in one of the towns. So Good transportation dollars.
Yeah. I mean, there's no question right now that the state has kind of got religion about pushing up, you know, all aspects of transportation, and they've made kind of a 180 in the last year about about including things other than just trying to make cars go as fast as they can from point A to point B.
So with that being said, that and so that was Hendi and
what was that? Long ago. Was that Hendi? And Long ago and
So we were talking about in our last budget meeting doing the drainage on that road. So now we're we're we don't have any money to do the road now.
Well so we need to do the drainage one way or the other. So the only difference is now we're gonna do the drainage. We can do it I don't wanna say a little more casually, but it doesn't have to. If we had gotten the trip grants, pretty much we would have committed public works for the entire summer to do the drainage first. Now we can do as much of the drainage as we can fit in with other projects that we have. So and when we're done, you know, we will just repave the areas where we've disturbed the drainage, and that section of Long Hill and Skinner will get chip sealed. So it won't be ideal, but, you know, we'll put end up with a workable surface.
So how much money do we currently have in the culvert fund?
So I was trying to figure that out. It's somewhere around $350,000 currently.
Okay. So you're at the the budget budget is currently proposed to $75,000. That's an increase of 75,000. So it's up to a $175,000. Correct.
Looking at the wrong one. I'm sorry. Can you slide up on that that one? Because can you Sure. Can you can you put in your your spreadsheet, lock the top column? Lock lock the top row. So you go to file. Nope. Get it out there. Go nope. I don't know how to do that. I know. I'm gonna tell you how to do it. Okay. Where it says a s AES Capital Fund. Click on it. Yep. Click on it. And then go up to view Up top, over to the right, view. View. Go to freeze panes. It's, over to the right. Free it says freeze panes. I can't it's above column k. Quarters the way over. Above column k. Above column k. Above column k. Up. Up. Got it. Click on it. Yep. Alright. Alright. Click on it. Alright. Then hit the top on freeze panes. Hit the top on I did that. Above that. Up above it. Above it. Oh my. It says freeze panes. It has a star in the upper corner. Click that. You wanna do freeze panes, not freeze top row. That's right. Freeze panes. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Alright. So now as you slide down, we'll be able to see the items at the top so I can sit there and see that this is the delta increase and this is what we got. Got it. Okay. So so the increase in the AAS Capital fund is a $100,000 because we hadn't done anything last year. The increase to the community center is 82,967 plus the benefits. So it's another $100,000 for the community center if everybody's aware of it.
Correct. The culvert fund, had funded a $100,000 last year. Now we're asking for a $175,000 and that's a $75,000 increase. They're increasing the 16% increase in the health insurance and dental for the self insured. It's not a captive, but what is that group called? It's not a captive. What do they call themselves? It's a consortium, the consortium for the health insurance. So that's an extra $7,070,000
dollars I think it's actually less than that. I think there's something wrong with my math. And I've sent it to Cheryl to review and say, why does this because it just doesn't add up to last year's numbers. But I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong in that in my math. Has the consortium just sent you a number or they haven't sent you a number? No, they don't send you a number. They just tell you what the the, you know, the the percentage increase for the single, for the double, and for the, you know, family plan is, and you figure it out from there. Eventually, they will send you the number, but we don't have that yet. K.
So open space fund is what Jed just talked to us about. So that's a potential $50,000 increase. To be really honest, Jed, that's probably the one, and I think Jed's still on and Anne and and Scott, that's the one that's the I'm still here. Yeah. That's I I mean, to sit there and say it, Jed, it's it's one of those ones on the budget that's we need to do it. We need to do it, but it's probably one of the ones that I would strike I I would push open space out for this budget cycle, but that's just me. So we'll come back on that one. The, the Multiuse Building, Eric, when are we getting started then? So This is the transportation building. Or what you're doing, this is really a building fund.
That is exactly what that is. So I was thinking two things. One, at a town meeting, we've already agreed to cover part of the cost of a new transportation facility. We've agreed to spend up to $150,000 out of that fund to fit out the community center, which might end up being a low. And that's probably where we're going to have to take the town's contribution to the athletic field out of. So you take all those things together, we're going to basically chew up what's in that fund. So if we're, if other things come up, that's another one of those where we ought to be thinking systematically about putting money into it every year so we have that pool to work with when things come up,
especially since we get a lot of grant applications that are requiring town contributions. And I don't necessarily have a place in the budget where I could just pull from that, because by the time they announce the grant, you know, usually you only have a couple of months to submit the grant, if you're lucky. So that's kind of where I was thinking with that. But if if if you had to ask me, that would be the first one I would touch. But it's not that I don't agree that that's an important spot.
Okay. Can we just change that title then to building fund? I mean, not right now, not but we should just change that to a building, a global building fund so we know it's, or infrastructure improvement fund kind of thing, and we can spread it across a lot of different items. But, yeah, I I sit there and I look at that one. I go, that that's not the that's that's I would keep that one there because you have no money for if you you walked through all of your facilities, you have no real money in case something happens or if you need to do anything.
Well I would bank everything. I would, I have Yeah. You you still have the money that we're putting into the building maintenance fund, you know, that we're keeping that you can use some of that to deal with emergencies. You know, this was originally envisioned, I mean, that fund was originally designed strictly for the community center, but then we were able to build it out of the ARPA funds primarily. So then, you know, it got kind of thought of in a couple of different buckets. So yeah. Okay.
Alright. There's, like, $30,000 left. Won't you take those other funds out?
Correct. So then you move down to seven a and seven b, which is an increase in the treasurer's department of $21,000 So those are strictly for wages for the treasurer's office?
So Cheryl has basically said, you know, you're not allocating enough hours to do the treasurer role in this job in any way, shape, or form. And, you know, her because she is essentially the department head, so that is what she came back to me as what, you know, she thought was appropriate. You know, and the assistant treasurer wants even more than what's allocated for her. I'll be perfectly blunt, she's looking for an even greater pay raise than that. You know, and given the market, she's probably aware that she can make that money elsewhere. You know, so that's the next chunk. Okay. So I don't know whether you want to discuss all that globally here or globally when we come to salaries overall. But we have to start having that discussion about employee compensation in some form or another.
K. Let's do it then. And Yeah. I would I would wait. Yeah. I don't wanna do it right now. And I I mean, even when we do those wages, I would like to do that in the executive session just to be free to talk about individuals. So and then the next line I'd item eight is just another salary increase because you're sitting there looking at senior transportation and you're having to pay more to pay for your drivers.
Yeah. I mean, this is one of the things that's we've blown that line item the last three years in a row, but had to plus it up. So I went back and pulled all the driver data for the last year and said, okay, how many hours do we actually pay drivers in a year to drive? And the answer is right now is we're going to come up with just over two thousand hours of driver labor hours in a year. And we've been way under budgeting for it. You know, in part, there's a reticence, the volunteers who kind of run that to increase their budgets. And I kind of got sick of that because I got to cover for that every year from other budgets, and said, Okay, that's what it actually costs, you know, for the to to pay for that, for what we're paying all the drivers.
K. And then the line item nine, the project manager, 15,000, that's just a wash from the admin line. Correct? Correct. Okay. So it's an increase, but it's a wash.
Yeah. That makes kind of two assumptions. One, you know, we sign a standalone agreement with Kate to still function minimally as the admin, and then we take all the additional money that we would have been paying the admin and go for somebody that's a project manager, that can work very part time as a project manager. Okay. Presuming we can find somebody, you know, which is always an assumption.
Right. And then the last item, item 10, the fire engine fund.
Yeah. I mean, I was just kind of looking at the fire engine fund, is well solvent right now. But when we start looking at what our interest payments are going to be on the new fire truck, they're going to be basically around $125,000 a year. You know, and they definitely have quite a bit of other capital needs. So I think we're going to have to increase that somewhat, probably even more than this, but, you know, this at least is something, so we're slightly positive.
So the $137,000 is the current payment that we have on the vehicle that was purchased?
No. So we haven't made any payments on the vehicle because they haven't built the thing yet. We've signed a contract for them to build it, and we know basically what our payments are going to be, but the mortgage lender won't even give us a final number, you know, until we're basically one year out from getting the vehicle. That makes sense. Because they're just they're really long lead times on these vehicles. Understand. But what's locked in.
What's the annual payment? I know it was in the contract. Yeah. I think it was around, like, 122,000
a year, something like that. So that's why we had a $125,000 in the budget annually so that we could pay make the payment.
Yes. We had been funding typically, we well, so I had been recommending all along that we fund their budget at around $125,000 a year. But between the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Finance, that budget has consistently been cut a lot every year. So we've never funded, you know, to their capital plan, you know, for for quite a while. I mean, we funded it, but we basically just kind of slowed down on their capital plan, you know, and funded what we could. And what's in the fund to begin with?
Right now, I think there's around $250,000 in the fund, of which about 75 is, will be taken up by the HVAC updates, which leaves them about 175. So they have a little more than one payment for the engine, but that doesn't account for the other capital needs. And they definitely have a lot of the smaller vehicles that are needing refurbishingreplacement coming up.
Okay. Kind of not a big fan of that one because I understand what you're saying. There's additional capital needs, but if you've already got in excess of one payment there, you know, you're just we're just gonna be putting extra money into that fund. Alright. Let's have some discussion on any of the items. So let's go around from a board of selectmen perspective and who has problems with any of the line items? Let's start from that perspective.
I I have a question. I was so the elevator the elevator needs for AES. I thought that Jeff Murray was looking into something to help out with that cost.
Does anybody else remember that from a previous meeting? I do. Yes. Jeff said he, he would take a look at that, which I'm all for.
So And just as a side note, Paul, I think Jeff said that $60,000 was probably in the right range for them to update the control software on this. I think what was discussed was if the hydraulics for the unit were sound, that it's just an electronics and a computer upgrade that needs to happen. And I thought he said $60,000 was in the range and that's what they put in their document, I believe.
Okay. So this, so what's in the document is, is pretty, that's, that's accurate if we go down the road where Jeff's looking into that. So it's not a, it's not a higher cost. Okay. No, they were talking about a lot of money if they had to put in the whole unit, the whole elevator unit.
And it was a question if the mechanical side, the hydraulics were good, then they just needed to update the software. But it but I will go, Paul, you're probably right you're probably right from the reading of that information. When I read that information from the school board, I thought the elevator company said they couldn't find parts for it. And I'm not sure if it's the electronics or the mechanical.
The letter says it's the hydraulics. The letter says it's the hydraulics that need to replay.
I don't think it was the hydraulics. I think Jeff is right. Because I think what got lost in the translation when they were trying to put this letter together was that the problem is that the controls for that elevator are really old and they can't get parts for them. And the concern is if they have any control issues or any breakage in the control elements for the hydraulics, they're in deep trouble because can no longer, parts for them are no longer supported. So right now the elevator works perfectly fine, but if they have any control issues with the elevator, the solution is basically rip out the control system and replace it en masse. And that's where it gets, you know, pretty expensive pretty quick.
I mean, Dan is right that the letter does say hydraulic upgrade, but I don't think that number is for a hydraulic upgrade. That that's why I went in the opposite direction, Eric, because I was sitting there the way I understood it was mechanical issues. If the if it mechanically, it will work, it needs a computer upgrade. And the computer upgrade, if I remember what Jeff Murray was saying last week, was 60 to $75,000. And that's the number they're putting in their, their letter to the school board. Okay.
Yeah. I mean, they're supposed to be getting an upgrade estimate from the elevator company. So they have a more firm cost estimate, but they just, as far as I know, they do not yet have that. But they've been getting a verbal estimate so far as to what their costs would be to do that.
I mean, let let's all be clear. That number is low on AES, Paula. It is low. Anne's right. It's not wrong. But, you know, if we if we sit there and put in $300,000 in that capital fund, it's just, we're just gonna get so much pushback. I think what we do is we put a $100,000 in it and we keep trying to put a $100,000 in it every year and hope that all of these potential issues don't snowplow or snowball on us. And what we'd have to do is go into our reserve and take money out of our reserve to sit there and do these things. And to do that, Eric, what we have to do, we'd have to go to public meeting and we'd have to I think be you know, it's gotta get done, but it's a question of what we what we as a board want to present to the board of board of finance. We wanna present $200,000 and increase it by the total expenditures by $600,000. Do we wanna sit there and increase it to $200,000 and add an additional $100,000 out of our reserve? That's those are the questions we wanna ask ourselves. But I think we're probably pushing the limits of the total expenditures that we wanna push out there.
That's just me. Yeah. And and the other thing is that we have a little grace period for this year, and it's probably over after this year with further reductions from the high school. You know, and if you really look at it, because right now what they're doing is our percentage of the high school enrollment is at around 13.9% of the total student body there, which is why our costs for RAM have dropped considerably. But if you look at our numbers for K through 12, our K through 12 compared to the other towns, we're at 16.9% currently. So that means our K through six has got to be closer to 18 to 19,
which means we're gonna see a huge cost increase coming through for RAM in the next five to six years.
So I think we have do Have judged we that by eliminating K? Like, and the reason I asked that is we ever asked the school board how many of the students in the kindergarten program are actually not from Andover?
Do you mean the pre K? The pre K. Yeah.
And the kindergarten. I mean, I'm asking from a general you. Does it doesn't matter. We don't have very big numbers, so numbers matter. And I guess I would ask that, Eric, because I'm understanding and I'm with you that our numbers will increase again, but are we, what are the true numbers? Like as they progress upwards, are we dealing with, are we counting pre K? Are we counting, kids that aren't even part of that?
No. Those numbers I quoted you for for school population, k through 12. Okay. Because that's what they have that's equivalent between the three towns. Okay. So what I'm saying is go down the road in five years, RAM budget is going to be a million dollars higher than it is now. So we're going to have to face that. But then again, it's gone down almost 900,000 in three years, you know, so we've we've made out really well on that, but it's a temporary blip.
Well, the issue with the RAM budget is is the RAM budget decreasing in total dollars? And the answer is no. It's just our portion of the budget is decreasing. Correct.
And so when our budget our portion of the budget catches up for the last couple years where we haven't been concerned about increases or decreases because we are decreasing because of population loss. When we get to the other side, we're not gonna be happy on the opposite side because we're gonna be going back to the town residents saying, you gotta, you know, we're gonna come back next year or two years or three years from now and have a $500,000 budget increase strictly strictly related to RAM increases. Correct.
Okay. Alright. Paul, you were asking the question on the the AES budget, and the and the issue is, yeah, Paul, it's probably low. But what are we gonna do? Are we gonna stare and ask for more now? And if we do, I I'm I'm I mean, we can put it to the public and ask them, but it's a big number.
Yeah. I I I think we're we're all in we would love to bump every number up on all over the budget, but we always have to consider, like you're saying, would we've gotta look look to see where we can fund some of this stuff. So I'm just trying to think creatively here. My next question, I'm sorry if this was already answered. So they're, in their letter, number number four, the upper lot reclaimed and paved. Is that part of what they sent us and that check that we were holding onto?
Yes, that wasn't gonna cover the whole amount. Okay. But it was close enough that we could have covered the rest from the public works road improvement fund and just kind of ate it at the town level, which I mean, in truth, it's our asset anyways down, So that's not an unreasonable thing. The problem is that they don't have as much money as they thought they had, so they're not going to be writing with town a check for the whole amount. They'll probably go in, and I don't know what the final answer is, and we don't have any final, any financial data from the school. So but I'm spitballing based on what the auditor told me that I I asked him order of magnitude,
you know, is it $20,000 Is it $50,000 And he said it's somewhere between the two, but closer to 20,000. So my working assumption is that the school will have a budget surplus of about 95,000 that could be put into the capital fund and then fund part of the upper parking lot improvement. Or if it turns out that the restroom and the plumbing work is a greater priority on that. I mean, I think as far as I understand, the school board still thinks the parking lot is their greatest priority, not the plumbing.
Well, we have to identify which project they're gonna identify that. Right? We're just talking numbers at this point, but they're giving us project names so that we can have an idea of what they're talking about. Right? Correct.
Well, wouldn't wouldn't this process be that the school board would send the representative to CIP and sit there and say, these are our priorities. And then it goes into, have they been funded Or how are they going to be funded?
Well, I don't believe the school board necessarily thinks that way.
Well, they obviously don't because I would sit there and look at lights not as a maintenance item, but as a capital item, and they did the lights. So they obviously don't think that way, but that's how we that's how I think is in my head, the school board needs to give their list, their ten year plan, and maybe it's not exactly a ten year plan because, you know, the plumbing issue popped up and that takes precedence over a parking lot. And that's just the way it is. So, again, we're just sitting there saying, where do what do we have money and where are we going to put it? So we're basically, as a board on line one, just saying we're gonna put a $100,000 into a piggy bank and it's gonna be spent as needed, as items are addressed. But again, that AES Capital Fund is still a board of selectmen, board of finance purview as to how it gets spent,
which then means it goes to capital improvement to sit there and outline how we spend for capital improvement issues. So I agree with your perspective.
Well, this is also this is a new venture. Right? This is the first time that they've sat down and given us a document like this. So we're gonna have to work on this, but maybe that's a conversation that can be had on the side. I don't know. I'm having a difficult time trying to figure out what that number needs to be and where we're pulling things from because this this is new. Right? So I don't know if anybody else has is having the same thought process, but I don't know. Scott, what do you think? I'm good with it. You're good with what? The $100,000
for the capital fund. But I do I feel the same way Jeff and Eric do about capital expenses supposed to be anything in worth $3,000.
Well, no. More than 3,000. Yeah. What what what's that number? I think it's currently set at 15,000. 15. Whatever. 15,000. The Board of the board of finances decision where they set the thresholds for capitalization.
Yeah. So, so Paula, from my end, it's that, because of the issue with the parking lot, we're trying to do a better job of and we created that fund because we were going to they were going to put their money in it. They didn't put their money in it. Right? The board of education did not have the money. Didn't put it in. We didn't cash check. I didn't want the check. Told Eric we're not cashing the check until it's decided that that was gonna get done. So but we created a fund because we do have to realize as a board that we're gonna have to fund. That's the town's largest asset. It has to be maintained.
We have to put some money away. Is it enough? The answer is no. But I I would sit there and ask where in any municipal budget like ours are we gonna you know, we don't have it's all taxation. It's all if you went to Eric's tab on the mill rate, it all comes from the residents. So is that number enough? No. But Paula, that also goes into us laying it out to the residents at, at the, at these meetings and probably doing a better job this year going to do all the roads, it's $15,000,000. To do all the culverts, it's $9,000,000. To do the potential items the school has laid out in front of us, it's probably gonna take, you know, $2,500,000, over the next ten years. Is this enough? The answer is no. Are we gonna try to find money from grants? Yes. Are we gonna try to do different things? Yes. Is it gonna come down to that the town is gonna have to fund a significant portion of all this? The answer is yes. It's either that or we just let things go into total disrepair and we walk away and don't think about it. I mean, we can let a bunch of our culverts fail, and then people have to find other ways to drive. But then, you know, that causes tremendous amount of heartache. And think of the bus problems it would create on Lake Road if we let that culvert fail. Right. So
all of these are necessary. Are they funded to where they should be? No. But They're trying to prioritize.
Yeah. Are we willing to go to the to the community with a $600,000 increase this this fiscal year? And oh, okay. It's not 600,000. It's it's, yeah. It's $528,000 through taxation. And so if we approved all of these right now, we said yes to every budget and didn't have one more budget meeting, and we allowed Eric's spreadsheet to go to the board of finance, we'd be saying, okay. We're good with $528,000 increase. Give or take, there might be some know, if the revenue estimate comes out correctly, it's not that total number, but it's still that's still what I would say if I was a resident. That's the number I'd be battling at. $605,128,000
dollars. And so if you you add it all this up, if Eric just took these 10 items Eric, add these 10 items up.
Just go to the bottom of Yep. I'll sum it up for you. No. I want the delta increase.
Alright. I'll give you that in a sec. Yeah. You got it. No problem.
It's always interesting to watch how somebody use spreadsheet. Yeah.
It's absolutely not the way I'd be doing it. That's okay. He's gonna get it. There's your number. Okay. So those those 10 items represent everything but $30,000. So
Yeah. I mean, there are other increases, but, you know, overall, this is the majority of, you know, of what we're talking about.
Eric, can you go to the seven a, the line seven a treasurer's salary, and tell me why the increase says 3000%? Because No. Oh, you just wrote it in. It's not that number. You just copied that.
Oh, it copy and paste it from the other formula. So,
go up to a 100%. It's clearly. Go above it. Go to J go to J copy. Yeah. Copy that one down. Copy Paste. Okay. There you go. 48%. That's the number. Okay. Okay. So let let's let's get rid of our entire budget. This is this is basically all and we don't have to do this today, but this is the entire increase, these 10 items. So anybody gotta fight with anything? I mean, the only one I would I would sit there and say is it really, really important to the community, the open space money? That would be the one that I would sit there and go at. So even the treasurer's wages and the the clerk's wages, those she's probably not wrong that she's putting more time in that she needs. I mean, can we can we talk about those in the other side of our meeting? Yes. But I wouldn't even focus on those. It's not the biggest ones. I I would focus on everything over $50,000, and let's talk about if we're gonna do it or not do it. So go to the top. So AES Capital Fund, $100,000.
Do we wanna vote on it and say yes? Okay. The $100,000 proposal for the AES Capital Fund. I make a motion that we that we, approve a $100,000 for the AES Capital Fund. I'll second that.
Okay. Discussion on that one? I know we've discussed it, but it's low. But it's a $100,000, and it's a start for what we need to do. We have to start on it. Right? Yeah. Anybody else? Anne, you got anything on it? Paula, anything on it? I said my part already. Alright. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Okay.
And and I'll just do these all just to just get them on the the the community center overall budget. I make a motion that we increase that new line item by 82,083 thousand dollars. I'll second, Jeff.
Okay. So and just so we're clear, Eric, that is related to the new individual that we're talking about bringing in potentially to manage that facility and work through senior senior activities and the recreation department. Correct? Correct. Okay. Just just so we're I I wanna be clear so I know what I'm gonna vote on. So
that I'm I'm just going up to that one. So that community center budget includes $60,000 for the wages wage of the director, some money for building maintenance, some money for HVAC maintenance, some money for software maintenance. The additional cost for alarm monitoring from one extra building does not cover the cost of putting in the alarm system, because we know we're going to have to cover that out of the money from the multi use building fund. That is assumes that that person is going to be on call and therefore is going to need a cellular phone that covers the cost of a VoIP phone system for the building, internet connection to the building, and electricity, you know, and maintenance costs for a defibrillator. And then a little bit of money for the person's initial computer, because that person's going to need a computer. So that's what that covers.
What about other utilities? Is that covered under the town hall side?
Well, so that's the only real utility is electrical, Internet, phone. The phone runs off the Internet, so it's just the VoIP costs. How about propane? What about heat heat and AC? It is a fully electric building. Fully electric.
That is the the only utility really is electricity for that building.
Okay. And so we're guessing on our total number on that?
Anyway Yeah. I mean, I just I took a fairly conservative look at what a lighting and plug load for that building is under reasonable occupancy, and then figured out what the annual heating and cooling costs are. So that is a rough guess. I could be off a couple thousand bucks either way, you know, but that's a starting point.
And then as far as the salary, we talked about this in a earlier meeting, but I don't know if we landed on something. Is this person's salary based on part time or full time?
That is based on a full time position. Okay. But a single full time position with no help. Okay.
Volunteer help, but no paid help. Volunteer help. Correct. Alright. And so that was in the $60,000 range, the salary.
Correct. When I I mean, there there's a pretty good bracket. That's kind of the low to middle portion of what a community center or senior center director gets paid relative to other municipalities.
Okay. Alright. Any other questions on that line item? No. So all those in favor? Aye. Okay. Aye. Jeff Murray has joined us. Alright, Jeff. Line item three, culverts and bridges. So, I make a motion that we fund the the bridge and culvert fund to a $175,000 for next fiscal year. I'll second.
Okay. So this is another one of these that were really low anyway. How much is in that fund right now, Eric? I think around 350,000.
Okay. And the Lake Road culvert expected cost to the town of Andover?
Up to 950,000, but hoping to keep it less than that. That's what the state is saying our costs will be, you know, per their formula based on all the applications they've gotten the last couple of years. Our engineering firm thinks we can stay under that, but I don't think we're going to get much under, 700 or 750,000. So, in my head, I'm saying, you know, we're going to spend 750,000 on that. And that's what I'm trying to come up with the money right now for.
Okay. As a side part of this, Eric, the town meeting, please have a list of all of the culverts that you you know we need to do work on and the expected costs of each one of those culverts so that the community can understand, okay, this is just the first culvert in a list of culverts that we need to attack over the next ten years. Right. Alright.
Okay. Does anybody else have any questions related to the culvert funding? Alright. All those in favor, aye. Aye. Aye.
Okay. And so, Anne, I didn't I can't see you now. So did you vote yes? Yes. Okay. Alright. Health and dental insurance. I make a motion that we increase total health and dental insurance funding to, I know you're I and I'll do the I'll do exact your exact number, Eric, even though I I dislike around so 236 200And36300And90Dollars. I'll second that.
K. Eric, should we be voting and this is just a side side note. Should we be voting on this one right now, or are you going to have better information on that line item?
I think I'm gonna have better I wanna have better information before we get to the board of finance. K. So after tonight's meeting, I'm trying to turn this whole thing over to Cheryl to review everything I've done before that. You know, and I think what should be a good time because we've done most of the handoff with the auditor at this point. So we're in pretty good shape for the audit. So so yeah. Okay. So
so This is one of those that I'm expecting that you're gonna come back to us and say this number has changed, whether to the positive or to the negative. I
I'm almost positive it will change. The increase will go down.
Go down. Okay. So I'm gonna revise my motion to sit there and say that we're gonna fund the twenty twenty four, twenty twenty five budget for health and dental insurance to a maximum of $236,390. I'll second that also.
Okay. Any discussions on this one? This is one of those that we don't really have a lot of say on it. It it does, it still does bother me that we're we're in this consortium. It's self insured. We were supposed to start at year three, which this is basically year of three or four. We're supposed to start seeing money back related to this. And I know they didn't do very big increases last year, but it's a big increase.
Well, so in the last two years previous to this Mhmm. There was a decrease and then zero increase last year. So, you know, it's a 16% increase this year, but the two previous years have either been a decrease or flaw.
Okay. All right. And just so we're aware, Eric, in the initial stage of this consortium, they kept us at a pretty high level, and they kept us there for three years. So that minimum of three years so they could build up a fund. And so okay. All those in favor on that one? Aye. Aye. Okay. Aye. Right. So all four of us. Item five. I make a motion that we budget $50,000 for the open space fund for the 2024, 2025 budget. Got that also.
Okay. Any discussion on this item? As I've said before, this is the one item that I probably will vote no on, not because I don't believe we need it, but I don't believe it's timely with everything else we're doing. And and then again, I could understand if we vote yes for it, because when it when will it ever be timely to sit there and fund something like that? Will never be timely. It will never be timely to fund it. So I don't disagree with it. Any other discussion on that item? K. All those in favor on open space funding for the $50,000? Aye. Aye. Aye. Okay. So any opposed? Nope. So hand voted yes. Okay. I have nothing. So yes. I make a motion that we add $50,000
to before I make this motion, Eric. Eric, what do we really wanna call this moving forward?
I actually think keeping calling it the multiuse building fund is generic enough Yeah. Pretty generic. That it makes sense, personally. So
I make a motion that we fund the multi use building account for $50,000 for fiscal year twenty twenty four, twenty twenty five. I'll second.
Alright. And so, Eric, just so we're all aware, that's $50,000 for global use for any of the properties within the town that need funding during the fiscal year. Correct? It would be used on any building?
Yes. That's used on that could be used on any building, and that's what what that was originally set up was to be basically essentially a new construction fund. But I think you could consider it either.
So if we had an emergency in a building and we needed to, address that emergency in that fiscal year, we could use that money? You could.
K. And if we wanted to use that money to assist with the construction of the facility to house the senior transportation trucks, we could use it to assist in that area as well. Yeah. Actually, that also already went to a public meeting and was approved by the public to do that. Yeah. But what I'm saying is what if you had an extra extra some extra money, we could potentially use that. I'm just I'm just globally saying, hey. Listen. This is Yes. This is available funding for what could be out there for any multiuse building that we have in this town. Correct. Okay. Alright. Further discussion on that line item? I don't think it's enough.
God, nothing's enough. I mean but nothing is enough, but there's limitations to what we can do. A lot of buildings. Well, if you go through the buildings and you go through each one of them, yeah, it is. But that's also why we have CIP and what we do individually for a given building. But I don't I look at that number differently. I look at it as something comes up and we're trying to we don't wanna have to keep going back to a town meeting and asking for money after the budget cycle's over. We have to have somewhere where we can have a pool of money to do things Right. Without having to
go back. Is it enough? The answer is no. I I'm a 100% with you, but how much money do you wanna ask for? You can change it. Go ahead. Make another motion. No. No. We're good. We don't have to vote on that number.
I mean, next year, we'll be able to increase it more.
K. Any other further discussion on the item? Okay. All those in favor, aye. Aye. K. I personally Jeff's an eye too. I have nothing.
I wanna skip the next the next three, even the next four. Those we should discuss at our next meeting. Let's let's plan on discussing all all labor and and wage issues at our next meeting. So, Eric, if you can have, all of the wage and benefit issues available for us for next meeting, we can sit there and do those and get those all out of the way. I don't have a problem with any of these per se, but I don't necessarily know this this is the right time for us to do those unless someone has a problem with that and you wanna discuss them right now. And we had our next regular scheduled meeting? Well, our next budget meeting. Yeah. Yeah.
And so for the record, you all have the updated sheet. If you went to the third and fourth and fifth tabs, you would see the costs associated with employee benefits, costs associated with health care and MRF, and the employee cost. So you have a full spreadsheet of that by individual, by category to look at. Okay.
Thank you. It is there. Yep. On this tab. Okay. So let's go down to item 10, the fire engine fund. So I make a motion to fund the fire engine. I I'm oh, here. Let me go backwards. Let me rephrase that. I make a motion that we fund the fire engine fund for a $137,000 for the budget cycle of twenty twenty four, twenty twenty five. I'll second.
K. So the further discussion on that item is that that that money is the amount of money due on the tanker that is being ordered, Eric, correct, plus some extra money because you believe there'll be additional interest related to that vehicle?
Well, because the fire engine slash tanker fund is the Board of Fire Commissioners kind of capital fund. So, this covers the cost, the major expense right now is the new squad vehicle or rescue pumper combination. But the fire department still has quite a lot of other capital needs. And I don't have a capital plan updated for this year, but I can certainly, because I have not yet gotten one from the Board of Fire Commissioners, but I expect to get one, and I could probably dig up last year's that they presented to CIP. So you can kind of understand what they're looking at and what they're because there are some things where they are required to replace at certain intervals. And then there are some things which they know are coming down the pike at some point, like the system to refill
all their self contained breathing apparatus tanks. That system is pretty old, and that's one that they've been pushing off, but they know they're going to have to replace that system, You know, and then they've got a bunch of smaller vehicles that are, are getting pretty long in the tooth.
Okay. So, so that's, so we're putting a small amount of money and there's some money in the fund. I believe you told us there were somewhere around $225,000 in that fund already. The individual annual payments on the vehicle that is being, that is being built right now is $125,000 So we'll have some money in that fund. It will offset the cost of that vehicle and add a little bit of money to it, but not anything that we need to. So again, that number is low.
Yes. I mean, the only good thing in that is that the other big ticket item, is on order now, is the ambulance, but that's paid for out of the ambulance billing fund.
So that doesn't hit And they told you have they told you how much that's gonna cost? I think it's around $350,000.
And have they told you how much is in the fund?
Enough to pay for the ambulance. So the answer is no. The answer is no.
That's got to change as well. Okay, so any further discussion on the. The motion that's on the floor?
Would it be helpful to get that capital report before we move forward with this?
Well, again, we're a year ahead of this, so they really have $250,000 in our capital fund to fund. Paul, and the answer is none of those items that they're gonna ask for are small dollar items. So even their smaller dollar items are 50 to $75,000 before they get to vehicles. So if they're going to this filling station, I'm sure it's gonna be a $75,000 or a $100,000 cost. So while I would sit there and say, Paul, maybe we wanna put $200,000 in it. I'm not gonna, I just, it's, it's as, I would say 125,000, but I know what Eric is trying to do. So I'm willing to sit there and pick up the extra 12,000.
Right. And I think it would be worthwhile, and we'll bring this up at the next meeting. The fire chief has asked to that the board of selectmen pick a Saturday or a Sunday, preferably a Sunday, and, you know, have a meeting with all the officers of the fire department and kind of, you know, so so they can kind of walk you through what what all these things are and kind of start a dialogue. Because although I know Ron pretty well and he and I talk pretty regularly, I don't think the members of the the fire department necessarily know the board all that well. So I think that would be a reasonable thing to do at some point.
Okay. We can do that. But we have any further discussion on this item? Okay. Let's vote on this item. So all those in favor of the fire engine fund, amount of $1.37? Aye. Okay. Aye. So that's five, nothing on that. So basically what we just did is we have a $538,000 increase, and we voted on the majority of the significant items. So we didn't vote on four ninety three, but we probably voted on, you know, four seventy five of that total. So I still think we're gonna have problems, but at least we have the ability to support what we're trying to do and why we're trying to do it. And the majority of the money that we're looking to increase is going into funds to to fund capital improvements. Because, Eric, if you slide back up on this, there's a $100,000 that's there for or $82,000 for the community center. So if we added the totals, you got $82.71 50, and then 21. So a 170,000 are for operational 185,000 are for operational funds. Maybe 200,000 of this total are operational funds, and 82,000 of that's related to community centers. So I don't really feel bad about it. 70 for benefits. I I don't think we're pushing the envelope from just a pure
operational standpoint, it's 60% of it is still capital, and we're just trying to be prudent and funded as we go as opposed to come back to the community at any one given point in time and say, hey. Listen. We need $500,000 to do this. So spreading it out. I think it's a wise thing to do, and I have no problem being able to stand up there and tell the community that. So as far as this meeting goes, I think we we've kinda done enough. It's a lot of it's a lot of money. What I would ask for our next meeting is to go over the individual slide for employee costs and all of the issues related to health care and employee benefits just to get a feel for what those are. And we do that. We can sit there and get through the majority of what we have to deal with. And then what I would recommend for the following meeting, Eric, when do you wanna get this to the board of finance?
So basically, our we have to deliver to the board of finance by March 1. Yeah.
So the next meeting after the budget meeting will be the nineteenth. So you theoretically have the nineteenth and the twenty sixth to consider or the week of the nineteenth. Didn't I thought maybe we moved that one day. Yeah. No, we're we're meeting on twenty first because of the holidays. Right.
Right. Did we not schedule, it was, was what we did with the last, with the meeting next week is we canceled the budget meeting totally. Yes. That accurate or we're on the fourteenth? So, okay, we're not on the fourteenth. So it was the following week we're on the twenty first. Correct. Yep.
K. So you still have the twenty first and the twenty sixth, to make any final decisions you want before turning it over to board of finance?
On the town calendar, you've got our budget meeting on the twentieth, but I thought it was supposed to be the twenty first. That calendar should be changed then.
I mean, I gave Kate what I wrote down at that meeting. It's possible I got it wrong. We got plenty of other things wrong. So
Yeah. I've got it. I I typed it into my calendar on the twenty first. I think I I the I I'm sorry.
The '20 was an issue with planning and zoning. Planning and zoning. Yeah. Mhmm. Yeah.
That's what I was gonna say. Planning and zoning said they couldn't do it, so we had to push the twenty first. Alright. And then the twenty sixth the twenty sixth is the other meeting. Right? Mhmm. Okay. So so on the twenty first, let's go over wages and benefits. And then on the twenty sixth, let's then run through the entire budget and sit there and see if anybody has any problems with any of the line items through the entire budget. And what we'll do is we'll vote on segments of the budget and just get it all passed. Mean, because what we've done here is we've just did the majority of the overall increase. The rest of the budget is either flat or shifting between segments in different areas of the budget. Unless anybody has any issues with that, that's what I'd like to do unless somebody has another recommendation and we can evaluate. Anybody? Good idea. Okay.
Alright. I came late tonight, Jeff. Did you guys discuss public works before I got on?
No. We didn't go over any of the additional items related to public works, Jeff. Okay. Because I'd like to revisit that. I'd like to revisit those items if possible. Next meeting. Let's do it next meeting before we get into the wages. Okay. Because I think we just received those today and I know Paul had been sending out some emails and texts related
to receiving it earlier so we could evaluate it. So that's fine. So we'll do that. Yeah. Just I yeah. I wanna digest what Jay sent out and then just so we can talk about it next meeting. Alright. No problem.
Yeah. Mean, I just got it this afternoon too, so I I haven't really even fully reviewed that myself. So Okay. Are
there any other Do want Jay back at the next meeting at the beginning of the meeting to discuss that? Would be the meeting on the twenty first. It always helps. Okay. Yeah. Yes. Alright.
Do we have any other reason or anything else that we wanna sit there and deal with? And I understand, Joanne, I'll get to you. I know I see your hand up. I got it. Is there anything else that we wanna discuss?
Are there any other permanent funds? Because I only listed the permanent funds or the the capital funds that were increasing. Are there any other of those capital funds that you wanna discuss or have concerns with?
Why don't you put on your agenda for the next meeting as well to give us all of the fundings for all of the funds? And then we can use that as a a different segment. So let's go through public works first, then go through the the capital fund capital funds in total, like what we're doing with them all. And then we'll go through the employee cost at our next meeting. And then the following budget meeting, we'll just go through the entire budget, your entire spreadsheet, and we'll go through section by section and talk about the items. The the not the items, but the overall budgets for the different departments. K? Okay.
The one the items we're talking about the next meeting, do we need to invite anybody else that we haven't thought of tonight? Or we don't need to invite the treasurer to talk about that item? Let's just
I think it wouldn't be a bad idea for me, for you to hear from the treasurer at least one of these meetings.
So then let's ask her to attend the next budget meeting on the twenty first so that she can sit there and talk to us about the increases for her department. Okay.
And if she if she has anything she wants to share that night, if you can just ask her to make sure we get it in time just so we can review it. And then if we need to put anything out there for the public. So
Right. Okay. I just wanna make I wanna ask a question. And, Eric, this is a technical question. When we talk about these employee numbers, can we go into executive session during this meeting? This
So I don't know the answer. I know for at least one or two you can, because if you're discussing something related to a union employee, you have the right to go into an executive session because that gets at what a town bargaining position would be. But for a regular employee, I don't know if you have that right to discuss an executive session or whether that has to be done in the open.
Alright. Can you ask Dennis that question just just quickly? Because if we can I mean, I'm I'm a I might be old school, but I don't like talking about this? I know it's all public information. I know anybody can get it, but I would rather not have discussions in public because a lot of the increase information is based upon performance and what we believe related to an individual. So if we can, I'd rather do it not on Zoom Okay. And not record it. I mean, I wanna do it on Zoom. I just don't wanna record it and want it to be an executive session if at all possible. I will get a ruling on that for you.
K. Alright. Anybody else have anything else? Alright. Does anybody mind if I move to public speak? Okay. Eric, can you drop this off of the screen so I can see everybody that's on? Sorry about that. Yep. No problem. Okay. And Jay, are you on from DPW? Jay is just sleeping on us. Alright. Okay. So, Joanne Ebert, you had your hand up.
I appreciate it, Jeff. I just had a couple of quick points that I thought of as you all were all speaking. Eric just, I was surprised to see the assistant treasurer's salary request. Again, I appreciate that you want to go an executive session, and I think that's admirable, and I think it should be. I think too much is sometimes said in these sessions, but anyways that was a union position that was just negotiated recently. I know I sat on that panel and so it just surprises me if there were any changes to be made in all the open meetings that they weren't brought up then. I mean, I think you guys as the Board of Selectmen in good faith put your beliefs in the panel that was sitting on that, Eric, myself, and Adrian at the time, and we sat across from those people.
So I just wanted to bring that to your attention because I know you weren't there. I understand that the treasurer, kind of like the town clerk last year, that's open for these kind of meetings, but I thought the other union things were already settled. So that's one. I was a little also surprised having sat on the whole beginning of the AES capital improvement fund for Andover Elementary, which I agree with all of you that it's a good idea. I know that you're not privy unless you've watched the meetings that we've kind of gone back and forth with, know, AES wanted kind of an agreement with the Board of Finance, you know, as to how that's run. And so there's been back and forth. I think they're realizing now, the school is realizing that it wasn't just the money that was left over getting funneled back into the fund for use that possibly it was going to get funded like you all have put the 100,000 as the marker right now, which I think is a little higher for the first time, sitting in all the meetings with the go back and forth, understanding there's a lot of projects, understanding there should be lists and all of that, but kind of like the baby step thing that we had talked about.
Think, yeah, so that's your decision there too, and that'll be interesting to see how that's always a point of contention with the town, the regular budget. So now that we're establishing a capital fund for them too, that will just be interesting. But I hope it comes to fruition and my idea was a little less than that, but you guys are the rulers there with that, so no problem. And then just when you put together, I know you have that new position and I'm so excited for the community center this year, just working in the HR world and that kind of thing. Just hope, and I know you will, that because that will get funded at a decent amount with benefits and all of that, that it just has a really, really well written job description. Because I found that it seems like when things aren't on job descriptions and you want to add a few things, even if people have time, then there's stipends asked for and things like that. Those are my 2¢. Thank you so much. Okay. Thanks, Moran.
Jay, we'll ask you for public speak, but you we have a question for you. And I if you are listening, do you have time to meet with us at the beginning of the next budget meeting, which is the twenty first, to discuss the item the open items related to public works? You're on mute. You're on mute.
Yeah. I'll put you in my calendar. Okay. So I just did I was just, here to see if you wanted to talk about anything tonight, but I understand you guys got a lot on your plate. Okay.
Do you, do you have anything else you wanna share with us, Jay?
Not at this time. Just still working on some of the other requests that you had. So just I'm still compiling information.
All right, perfect. All right. And Jad Larsen, you're a last individual for public speak.
I enjoyed listening to the conversations tonight. I understand the challenges ahead with budget. I think your comment about there'll never be a better time. It's only going to get harder. So I'm hoping that the open space funding will stay in the budget and it won't need an increase going forward. It would be maintained at that level, but I have a much better appreciation for how tough the budget is. So I'm glad I stuck around.
Yeah. Alright. Thank you. Alright. Anybody else got anything they wanna discuss? Alright. We're good. Anne, why don't you make the motion to adjourn? I move that we adjourn.
All right. I'll second it. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. All right. Thank you very much. Thanks, Eric. Jay, thank you. See you later, Jed.