The Brattleboro Selectboard will meet tomorrow (12/19 at 6:15pm) as previously warned. Town Manager Peter Elwell was asked to provide the Selectboard with a summary of Unfinished Business in connection with the FY19 Budget discussions. Attached is a copy of his memorandum (which has also been posted to the Town’s website under Selectboard Supporting Documents, New Business Part 2).
Jan Anderson
Executive Secretary
Brattleboro Town Manager’s Office
230 Main Street, Suite 208
Brattleboro, VT 05301
(802) 251-8100
….
MEMORANDUM
To: Selectboard
From: Peter B. Elwell, Town Manager
Re: FY19 Budget: Unfinished Business
Date: December 18, 2017
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Town staff’s proposed budget for FY19 was distributed on November 2, 2017. Since then, the Selectboard has considered staff’s proposals and a number of other budget matters in 5 public meetings with substantive public participation. Many line items are unchanged from FY18 and incremental changes in many other line items have been explained and accepted. However, several matters remain undecided at this time. The purpose of this memorandum is to list the unfinished items (and any additional information the Selectboard has requested for each) and to propose a schedule of meetings for January 2018 at which the Selectboard will address the listed topics and make final decisions regarding the FY19 Budget. The budget that is approved by the Selectboard before the end of January will be presented for consideration and adoption at the Representative Town Meeting on March 24, 2018.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
HR Professional ($60,000 salary)
Survey of other Vermont municipalities: Who has one and what do they pay?
Fire Department Aerial Ladder Truck ($950,000 capital expenditure if purchased this year)
“Layaway Plan” to buy with cash: $50,000 in FY18, $450,000 in FY19, + the rest in FY20
Other financing alternatives for this year or next year
Can we rent one on short notice, when needed?
Second Sidewalk Plow ($140,000) and the Labor to Operate It ($10,000)
Modifying LED Streetlights on Main Street to Provide More Light on the Street + Sidewalks
DPW to provide more information on options
Implicit Bias Training ($10,000)
Human Services Review Committee’s Recommendation (Increase from $120,000 to $146,000)
Day Work Jobs Program
More information coming from Josh Davis (Groundworks) + Town staff
Green Up Day ($300 requested)
Southern Vermont Watershed Alliance ($0 vs. $800 vs. $1,350 vs. some alternative amount)
Skatepark ($0 vs. $20,000 vs. some alternative amount; in budget or as a separate warning item)
DBA Funding (and related RTM warning item re: Downtown District taxes)
Separate RTM warning item re: SeVEDS funding from Program Income
New Request:
Waive fee for “We Celebrate Democracy / Civil Rights for All” banner up to 15 times during FY19?
PROPOSED SCHEDULE OF BUDGET MEETINGS IN JANUARY
The following schedule will comfortably allow us up to 8-10 additional hours of public meeting time for considering and resolving the currently unresolved matters:
January 2 Regular Meeting
Review status of budget overall and begin addressing unfinished business
January 9 Special Meeting
Continue consideration of unfinished business re: FY19 budget
January 16 Regular Meeting
Continue consideration of unfinished business re: FY19 budget
January 23 Special Meeting
Final decisions re: Selectboard’s FY19 Budget recommendation to Representative Town Meeting
