Finance board members debate employee pay increases 2011

FALLS VILLAGE — The Board of Finance set Tuesday, April 27, 7 p.m. at Town Hall for the public hearing on the education and town government spending plans. The date was set at the regular meeting Monday, April 12.

The board took a quick look at the Board of Education budget, dated April 5. The spending plan calls for a total of $1,788,719, an increase of $58,242, or 3.4 percent.

Board members remained uneasy about line 52 — “Technical Support� — which is a contracted expense for computer upgrades and network support.

The uneasiness stems from the fact that the contract doesn’t synchronize with the end of one fiscal year and the beginning of the next. Finance Board co-chairman Lou Timolat reminded the board that auditor Mike Zemaitis’ recommendations include making it clear what each line item’s actual cost is; the amount budgeted, $15,000, is not the actual cost of the program (about $28,000), but represents the portion that will be paid in the 2010-11 fiscal year.

This bookeeping issue was the only source of comment. The board asked member Kent Allyn to ask the Board of Education to clarify the matter in time for the public hearing.

The selectmen’s spending plan remains unchanged from the version presented in March. It calls for a total of $1,541,985, an increase of $25,737, or 1.67 percent.

Allyn asked the board if they were satisfied with 3-percent raises for some town employees, including the assessor and assessor’s assistant, the treasurer and bookkeeper and the town clerk.

The members of the town’s highway department, who received no wage increase last year, are back to scheduled pay increases.

The selectmen’s salaries remain flat, at $32,398 for Mechare and $5,335 for selectmen Peter Lawson and Chuck Lewis. Allyn asked if the board thought that appropriate; board member Chuck Lemmen commented, “They ask for zero every year and we usually ignore it.�

Allyn made a motion to reduce the 3-percent raises to 2 percent, saying he didn’t think the cost of living had increased significantly. But Mechare countered, calling the idea “unfair� and pointing out that with no increase last year, a 3-percent raise this year would amount to one-and-a-half percent over the two-year period.

And Timolat added that, assuming one-and-a-half percent inflation, the employees who had their wages frozen last year actually took a one-and-a-half percent hit. “If we do 3 percent now, it’s really one-and-a-half percent or so.�

Allyn said, good-naturedly,  “I withdraw the motion.â€�

The board expressed some nervousness over the gap between estimated and actual town revenues in the current budget year, and expressed general agreement that underfunding capital accounts — for big-ticket items such as highway trucks — will eventually lead to either tax increases, using money from the town’s general fund, or both.

The consensus of the board was to leave things as they are for this budget year, but to make it clear to citizens at the public hearing what to expect in the near future — and to hear opinions.

The Board of Finance will give the two spending plans a final inspection at their regular meeting Monday, May 10 (after the public hearing), and set a date for the annual town meeting at that time.

The board also voted to recommend to the selectmen that Zemaitis be retained to countinue as the town’s auditor, for a three-year contract at $13,400 for the first two years and $13,900 for the third.