The first regular meeting of February for the Brattleboro Selectboard was mostly a series of quarterly reports, punctuated by questions about EMS billing and budgets. The board learned that the bad-sounding audit will not really be as bad-sounding as it sounds. Just wait. You’ll see.
Notable – parking revenues are down, the downtown safety plan is beginning to take shape, Golden Cross is having problems collecting revenue for us, and a few candidates came to use public participation to show that they are involved.
Preliminaries
6:15:53 … so close!
Chair Daniel Quipp – I missed the last meeting and thank Liz for stepping in and Chairing. I hear it was swift. I’m feeling better. A couple of things. Following on, the board made a change to the warning to have a multiple choice warning and am curious to see how it goes. It might be useful in the future with questions to have choices. On March 4, it is exciting to see so many people running for town meeting. More than double the number of candidates in most races and that’s really really great. It poses a challenges. How do we know who those people are? Get the word out about your candidacies. Maybe the town could have a voter’s guide on the website. It’s wonderful to see so much participation, and races for selectboard. There is a forum next Wednesday at the Reformer office. That’s great. Those running for office need to get info out to voters. And, in this meeting, I remind you to raise your hand if you want to talk and I will recognize you. Introduce yourself and you get up to 3 minutes. Keep the spirit cordial and not interrupt one another.
Town Manager John Potter – a few things . DPW will be doing snow removal tonight downtown. More storms expected Thursday and over the weekend., DPW urges patience as they deal with built up snow. Businesses must get a business licenses. Use your account from last year to renew or create a new account. Fee is $50. yesterday the Town Clerk’s office closes for the lunch hour daily. You can request absentee ballots for the March 4 election. Will be mailed around Feb 12. Early voting will begin around Feb 18th. Town Clerk reminds dog owners that rentals have gone out. If you have problems, contact the town clerk. The Charter Revision Commission is inviting people to discuss the form of town meeting…
Liz McCloughlin – it is Black History Month. It is american history.
Franz Reichsman – apparently it is fashionable to have meetings late on Wednesdays so on the next two weeks meetings interfere with my office hours. Come earlier.
Peter Case – something that came up a few meetings ago. Dick Degray made comments about the budget – said the sky is falling and people risked their lives to get here – I’ve had meetings with him about downtown safety. The meeting before he gave a speech about how he wasn’t enjoying the divisive tone in the town, but then the next meeting had that rhetoric. It has been bothering me. I wanted him to hear it face to face tonight.
Public
Amanda – Congratulations to all candidates. I hope our campaigns will be cordial, respectful, meaningful and never lose sight that Brattleboro has always been respectful regardless of point of view.
Dick Degray – A couple things – when is the audit going to be on the agenda (next meeting) no one thought it was important for this meeting? I would agree with you about all the races and I hope it isn’t a one year thing. Too much discussion about human services but the budget is up 12.1%. I’m not apologizing for what I said. If it bothered anyone, you could have called me, or write any letter you want. I will continue to come and say what I want to say and what I feel. It may ruffle a few feathers. When I was up there I sat there and I took it. People have a right to say it. I may not like it but I took it. I’m easy to find.
Daniel – can we see the participant list?
Moreland – new zoom feature blocks things so I keep it off, but I’ll watch it for you. I can turn it on.
Daniel – the audit – we had a request to have it be apart of this meeting and I hedged. Not to be evasive, we knew the town was working with the astir to discuss the audit and it wasn’t resolved, so i was committed to having it but didn’t want to say which meeting. We will meet with the auditor.
Potter – we wanted to understand her finding, not being experts in the finance world, and we want to ask her the questions about how she did things in there and maybe tonight we can shed some light on what we know but a more full report at the Feb 18th meeting.
Kate O – Any reason the auditor couldn’t come to the selectboard meeting. Why not have her come explain stuff to the entire town?
Helena – Going back to the debate next Wednesday, we will be there live-streaming it on BCTV. In a couple weeks on the 25th there will be a selectboard forum from our studio upstairs. There will be a school board candidate forum, too. All live-streamed. Stay informed eve if you are at home. And the Charter revision meeting!
Consent Agenda
A. Bridge Street Downtown Transportation Grant — Apply
B. Windham County Human Society Walk for Animals – Parade Permit
C. Annual Certification of Highway Mileage
D. FY25 Better Roads Grant – Accept and Appropriate $20,080 Grant
E. FY25 VTrans Town Highway Class II Paving Grant – Accept and Appropriate $120,000 Grant
F. FY25 VTrans Town Highway Structures Grant – Accept and Appropriate $200,000 Grant
G. Limited Event Permit Approval – Winston Prouty Bingo Night 3/20/25
so consented!
Utility Rate Study – Kickoff Meeting
Daniel – we have with us tonight Mike and Nick from NewGen Strategies & Solutions and Dan Tyler for the DPW.
Dan Tyler – a month ago we awarded the contract to NewGEn and since then they had a data request and an internal meeting to look at stuff and clarify information they need. They will present rates 101 and how it all works.
Mike – we are from the Annapolis MD office. I did grow up in Boston. I’ll mention challenges and principles of rate setting then Nick will talk about rate design and what things look like now.
Mike – in the water industry, there is one trade organization, and a sewer on, but AWWA puts out a state of the industry. They survey members and talk about issues – top 3 – watershed source water protection, financing for capital investments (and federal/State regulatory compliance to keep water safe, get rid of lead pipes), and rental and replacement of aging infrastructure. Pressure of regulations, expenses, rate affordability, climate/stormwater, labor, and planning continue to be issues.
Mike – this chart shows median incomes and water and sewer rate increases since 2000. MHI increased 2.6% a year – water and sewer went up 4.7% a year.
Mike – some basic principles of rate setting – it should be self-sufficient. Should pay for itself. Mitigate subsidies from the General Fund. Keep rates and fees low over time – good maintenance , healthy operation and repair reserves, regular and gradual rate increases. Someone must pay – operating and capital costs are fixed. And if anyone gets a discount, others must pay more. We will build you an excel model. Assumptions (inflation, customers), costs of the system, new debt, current debt, connection fees, customer rates, water rate projections. sewer rate projections. operating expenses, miscellaneous expenses. Cost/usage =rates. So we show sample bills for a few types of customers.
Mike – the revenue requirement – operating, maintenance, debt service, cash funded capital projects. new debt…
Nick – I’m from the Annapolis office… I’ll speak of the rate design. Influenced by the policy objectives of the utility. We try to find everything is fair but to collect revenues equitably. We want to bring in a stable amount of revenue and make sure we aren’t forcing it into fixed charges. We want it to be affordable. We want to balance encouraging and discouraging use. It can be broken into fixed vs variable costs. Fixed costs are salaries and that is about 80% of the costs. Variable depend on water sales, power and chemicals purchased, and is less of the total budget. Long term water usage is declining. A large increase in trying to recoup those costs through fixed revenues. You have piling charges – the costs of metering and sending bills. There is a service charge depending on size of meter (testing, replacing), minimum charge – a small portion of usage – or a lifeline rate. Advantages and Disadvantages – the higher the fixed charge the greater the revenue stability, but more expensive for smallest users.
Nick – variable rates – Uniform rates – one flat rate. Inclining – costs step up with more use. Declining – costs step down as use goes up. Seasonal/Peak use – based on summer or winter rates for premium weather or use of water.
Nick – we assume Brattleboro – 3% escalation rates for operating and maintenance. Capital improvement plan invests in the system. There is existing and future debt. Not much customer growth or decline. Not much change in water or sewer use. You have a capital reserve fund established.
Nick – (shows chart of current rates and charges for various types of customers….) We will look at fire line charges for hydrants. And connection charges.
Nick – compare to other places in the region, close to Keene, Rutland, Milton… the middle of the pack.
Mike – next steps – the town has key dates and meetings. We had a kickoff and had the unperson kickoff meeting, then we’ll have two more unperson meeting with the selectboard. April 15th is the goal. Questions?
Daniel – questions?
Liz – thanks for coming. I’m hearing that this isn’t a rate study but an assessment of the needs of the water and sewer systems?
Mike – we are not engineers, but we are looking at the financial plan. We think this should work for 5 years, then reset rates, and go another 5.
Liz – thanks to the town for having this study for the long term plan.
Richard – any infrastructure evaluation?
Mike – nope. Engineers do that.
Dan Tuler – we did that recently, it is in the works. We did a lead service line inventory. It’s in the capital plan.
Liz – will that study inform this one?
Mike – yes.
Franz – we just take your sewer volume as your water volume. It isn’t always true. Are there other adjustments – a swimming poll adjustment? water lawns doesn’t go into the sewer.
Mike – a few things – you could force irrigation meters, or do the seasonal rates to account for pools and watering.
Phil – I don’t have a question, but an opinion. Before I get into it. I think I heard there is a potential rebalancing of fixed and variable costs. That would be great. One point. Once water and sewer service are connected, base charges are incurred whether or not the services are desired. About $90 a month. Even for vacant lots, or a building that burned to the ground. The Finance office and dpw say so. Charges imposed even if not needed or wanted… what I hope the evaluation will also consider whether services not wanted or need can be terminated for a period of times, to align with practices of other services. Thanks for your consideration.
Mike – some places charge for availability. In some places you can pay a fee to turn it on or off.
Daniel – thanks and we look forward to working with you.
Downtown Safety Action Plan
Franz- could we have a project plan online to track this slideshow… (previous item..)
Chief Hardy and Asst Chief
Chief Hardy – questions about the memo? As far as our update, we are happy to report we graduated members for the BRAT team and hired four for training. Some in field training out interacting with the business in town, learning the nooks and crannies. Up and running with hat. Hope to have them be fully trained Level 2’s this spring. Looking ta how to get the most out of them… two teams of two – restaurants, movie theater coverage.
Franz – you have used the BRAT squad to get people into the department and some go off to the Academy…is that part of the long term plan or will it be a more stable crew?
Chief Hardy – that wasn’t the plan, we started the opposite of that. We were bringing people in waiting for them to go to the Academy. Instead we put them out in the community to do this job, so we fined tuned what we expect from them. The three.. they trained together but were hiding for that heading to the academy. It was a system the assistant Chief came up with, rather than them just waiting. A way to start to integrate them into the department.
Liz – I noticed people on the Brat team are local – one ran for selectboard years ago.
Chief Hardy – I had forgotten – we are very happy that people from in the community. Massive interest, and happy that we got young people who know the downtown are. One worked at the Co-op for a while. We know the area. Also fortunate that we hired our community resource person first. He just took off. he’s followed up with 30 overdose and gotten 10 into treatment, and has done transport all over the state to get treatment. Above and beyond with that. Got compliments from other state agencies this week. Once from a large city in Vermont that wanted to know how we came up with this model and Justin transported a person who had a bunch of support, but it was two hours away,. We drove them there. It came up at the all state Chief meeting. The other was a town mamagerfrom a smaller town made a statement to our people and it got back to me that they thought it was really innovative.
Liz – I think so too.
Richard – a lot of moving pieces and dates need to come together. When the weather is warmer, how will things look?
Chief Grady – the transportation center I can’t speak to that on the progress of the substation. For staffing and training – we spread it out. By the time it gets warmer, we’ll have all of our Brat unit out and about and there next stage – they are in field training. They are out and about walking around with officers, doing ride-0alongs, talking with businesses. Another thing or us, we send Brat officers to the Level 2 police academy in March for 2 weeks for more in-depth training. Making reports, doing traffic. We did that during the snowstorm the other day. They can do escorts for coming out of movies or restaurants. We’ll offer that.
Richard – how will that work? If I’m at a restaurant? How will you order it?
Chief Hardy – the signs I put up last summer there is a sentence that gives you the number if you wanted an escort. It went by the wayside. Now we have the people to do it so we’ll have a campaign about it, magnets with phone numbers, telling businesses, etc.
Peter – I’m hearing good things – any feedback you are hearing about it being well received?
Chief Hardy – On Flat Street the businesses there said how much of a difference there has been so far, not so many people loitering. We still have activity but getting good feedback about seeing people around. With everything we put together with the plan – it should be a well received totality of things we offer to the public. I’ve heard a lot of people worried that it is a downtown safety plan – that we are only thinking of downtowns. Downtown has taken resources away from the rest of town. This frees us up for other parts of town. People will see more cars where they live.
Peter – that was going to be my second question… so… who in the super bowl..
Chief Hard y – nobody. Anyone who knows me knows that.
Potter – the substation – it was funded out of the revolving loans fund and we can work on it when we can get to it, but we need to do membrane and HVAC work first, which will be done in the spring.,Substation might be up by fall or late summer. And other space could be leased out. Contact the town if interested.
Daniel – one thing folks are less aware of is the collaboration with social services under the ONE Brattleboro umbrella – leader form all over the community have been meeting on a monthly basis since last spring and that work is gather steam and beginning to move toward being impactful. Any potential collaboration with Bratt unit and outreach teams at social service organizations?
Chief Hardy – already happening. Justing already is working the relationships with AIDS Project and Turning Point. With him being a part of Project Care and a program where we highlight amazing recoveries and we celebrate that, he’s been an art of that. Our next celebration is coming up. All those programs we are doing in conjunction with other outreach programs. We don’t want to step on each other’s progress with individuals. We also started the situation table – a whole other outreach we have to get together with partners.
Daniel – speak to the situation table?
Assistant Chief Evans – situation table is away for those doing outreach can collaborate and minimize miscommunication. We had trains, and our first one last week. Went better than I thought. Really excited about it.
Liz – Situation Table helps those with complex needs and everyone I saw walking out was really impressed and encouraged.
Daniel – possibly a more impactful approach. Cases presented were challenging to the community, up to date data, people working with folks, meeting to come up with a plan for the situation. The downtown safety caution plan includes this as well. A lot of stuff is going on and people should feel hopeful.
Amanda – I have been seeing more cruisers. My question is related to HPA and work happening coordinating social services. It was barrier to collaboration?
Evans – no changes to HIPA or patient confidentiality, but we have some new process for brining information to one another – working on how to team better with those how do services.
Chief Hardy – we can share what we know but they can’t always share with us.
Dick Degray – how many officers do we have at this point (23 + 3 in training) and Brat team members (4 in training)? So once you get a full compliment will you pull the downtown officer and let the Brat team handle it, or will you keep him? I do have a concern looking at the budget – 50% of the year and you are over budget in overtime and I have a concern of that,
Daniel – we aren’t going to talk of the budget right now.
Dick – it is a question for the chief.
Chief Hardy – not pulling the downtown officer. Needed downtown. he was attacked three times in a week and he has a weapon. he’s backup for the BRAT…
Daniel – overtime?
Chief Hardy – I’d like the lines in front of me. It’s true but I’d want to look at why.
Potter – clarify the additional officers going to the Academy… (3) and you are planning for the 30th officer for the summer academy.
Chief Hardy – to get a person through a background check and get ready for classes – we weren’t able to make it for one person because they had moved here from a distance.
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Daniel – we took actions last summer based no the timelines of academies.
Isaac – One question – are Bratt officers uniformed? Other identifying methods? What powers do they have – can they detain? And what defines success?
Chief Hardy – their uniform is different – not police. We’ll make sure that is their official uniform. They created their official logo. They have a bear on their uniform. And a reflective line across the top of the shirt. Will have a radio to contact us. They won’t be there for enforcement. They can trespass someone. Beyond that, they call the officer to handle it. We’ll know if it works… we’ll gather data on call volume and types of calls. Measures will be seen all over town if we can recover overall call volume. We’ve already increased responses to traffic issues, speeding, passings school busses, etc. We’ll show data that shows all our efforts are being successful.
Melissa – I want to comment the Chief. Last night I saw the end of an acrimonious situation and you and officers were respectful and handled it well. I feel safe knowing so much is going on and you are empathetic and careful.
Kate – sorry to ask again – we have 23 police officers and 3 are getting trained meaning we’ll have 26 and 4 Bratt team members? Right?
Chief – yes…
Potter – and 4 going to the Academy.
Chief Hardy – until they pass field training they are not a Brattleboro police officer. that’s why I break it down as I do.
Tim – I’m one of the candidates that comes out of the woodwork. I want to congratulate the Brattleboro police force. We are a compassionate town, and it runs the gamut of political persuasions. Congrats on working with all sorts of community partners. Justin is a gem for the town. In the disagreement about the role of police and how they work with the town, is everyone aware that individuals and groups are working on =their own to help individuals – taking people to appointments etc.. Would you extend a hand to this who need it? I’d love to know our police force was willing to offer a hand, even if it a is a group unwilling to work with the police.
Chief Hardy -I don’t think there is .. we are willing anyone willing to accept our help and I can speak clearly and be satisfied that that’s the message I give the officers. They reflect on me. If anyone asks for help we will give assistance. many times people don’t want our help. I don’t think that will change. Some would rather not interact with the police, but we would help them in their hour of need. People trying to help others put their own physical well being at risk helping others.
Hank – I have a comment about what I’ve seen downtown. I’m asking people to open their mind to this. The Bratt team is exactly what people have been asking for. This is a softer approach. There is a diversity of calls. Maybe people open their minds to this being exactly what you are asking for. But it falls under the police department. It its a fast changing situation. It can be a mental health call then it becomes violent. Sending a social worker alone puts them at risk. We had an officer fight three different people by himself. Situations became violent. Why are people calling the police… that’s why. It is a a very soft approach and people should be proud of it. It is a cost we are arguing about. We’ve seen this stuff and I’ve documented it. This is a great solution that we should all embrace.
Chief Hardy – I have great people on the team – a big part of BRAT – people will be impressed with them. We also incorporate our embedded mental health workers. They don’t pay their salaries but they are embedded with the department. They’ve gone above and beyond their duties.
Amanda – I’d love to hear more about your relationship with he state police and drug dealers at our three exists, and traffic ticket projections?
Chief – we have a good relationship with state police – why wouldn’t we? We have the same job to do and count on each other. Ticket and revenue – I will say my office is a refection of me and if I’m empathetic – we are less likely to impose penalties on people if it isn’t something we emend to do. I want officers to use their discretion. We underatdn that many are first time drivers from other places and people just trying to make it day to day.
Liz – to be clear – Brattleboro does not have ticket quotas.
Peter – great job, and she’s also our emergency management director.
Daniel – 5 minute recess.
Fire Department – Quarterly Update
Daniel – we will resume our meeting. Next is the fire department quarterly report.
Assistant Fire Chief Charles Keir – the lat quarter was very buy – 8 major fires. The complexity of dealing with three major fires in restock equipment. A lot of professionalism there. All emergencies answered without delay during those emergencies, thanks to mutual aid and public works. There served on the fore lines and worked the command structure. Dry weather was a concern, and 18% increase in burnet acreage in the state, much higher than the last 25 years. IN fire prevention, our revenue form inspections was down. Trying to go after that and property owners who aren’t compliant. We started with zone 4, and now zone 3 and 2 to collect those fees and clean up those buildings. Moderately successful Using some staff on leave. Starting Zone 1 for inspections, in a 4 year cycle. Community Connect is a way for people to get info to our first responders. Staffing – currently two positions short. 6 employees on probationary status. To be fully ready takes about a year. We also have two acting on medical leave. The duties of the fire chief have been spread out and I’ve pushed a lot of those responsibilities to Captains. Very grateful. They are growing professionally and doing it without excuses. They see the need. Emergency models need to be changed and we discussed new models to make sure emergencies are covered. Certifications – Superintendent Fritz and others worked to make our charts more clear, We have certifications currently holding… EMT (16) EMR (1) AEMT (10( NRP (6) plus two in paramedic training and some in other trainings. A lot is happening at BFD. We have 20 FFII certifications. 14 FF1. Some are cross trained. A paramedic may have fire inspector training, etc. We have 3 going to the fire inspector program.
EMS Superintendent Fritz – so, the EMS overview is in there for you. In the last quarter we started a PREVENT initiative – kickoff meeting in December. Working toward a full recovery and overdose response in the community. 87% of calls were transported – 782 responses, 731 evaluation, 634 transports. We run lots of types of calls. Most common are: psychiatry, overdose, general unwell, weakness, chest pain, anxiety, fainting. Two cardiac arrests left the hospital fine so that is a huge celebration on the part of our department. Our billing – last time wasn’t exciting. Now we have more data points. July – December – 1,140 trips billed or processed – $1.6 million gross charges. $189k contractural allowances. Net charges – $1.4 million. Medicare billing – $629k. Medicaid – $513k Vermont Medicaid – $352k. $75k paid. Vermont is paying very well. (Gives an example of made-up customer, showing they bill $1422 and get $441. $980 is unrecoverable.) So our percentages of what is billed, Medicare is 38%, Medicaid 31%, insurance 24%. We have trouble billing medicare. There is a connection problem so that Golden Cross can’t get the bill connection working. They are billing for us for Medicaid, but we have a hiccup with Medicare. $629k is ready to go when it starts working again. I hope it gets resolved. They isolated the problem. Another piece is that people don’t have just one form of insurance. We can’t bill the insurance until the medicare is billed. With self pay we are getting those payments. (gives a CIGNA example). We have $91k in the bank from reimbursements. That is the overview of billing.
Kier – some final news – BFD and planning worked to provide the school district with an emergency preparedness event, we have trainings on situational awareness, advanced EMT, hired new firefighters, and Chief Howard retired. That’s the report.
Richard – Getting reimbursed for medicaid non transport.
Fritz – we can bill for them and get $. We’ll send other insurers that. Some allow it and some don’t. We have billed 71 different private insurers. Not everyone will get back to us.
Richard – Is this a continuing relationship with Golden Cross?
Fritz – they do our third party billing.
Franz – several things – your graph showed 17% nonransports, but the chart shows more for two quarter combined – does it add up? The table on the last page of our packet.
Kier – I can check into that. I’ll follow up on that. It comes from alls from motor vehicle accidents. Sometimes it starts as a motor vehicle accident then there might be a slight different there about gatheing dt=ata sets from gems vs fire.
Franz – that has revenue implications. How are we doing? I get it that medicare hasn’t paid us, but what is our expectation from Medicare. What percentage of that $ do you expect to get paid.
Fritz – about 33% or so
Franz – about $2900k from medicare for those tow quarters. And from Medicaid you billed $515k and we got a write-off down to $351 and they paid $75k. Are we expecting more from Medicaid, do they owe us?
Fritz – that medicaid number could be anyone. NH hasn’t processed our Medicaid yet. Vermont has. IN some case we have to resubmit.
Franz – so the $75 paid must be part of the total payments, so about $16k beyond what Medicaid has paid. So where did that come from – self pay?
Fritz – probably private insurance. Another challenge – we don’t have electronic accounts set up yet so we get a check.
Franz – so we expect some more from Medicaid and medicare, so is there any more> Any other buc=kets and how much?
Fritz – speculating would be a guess. We will get more after we get the medicare…an additional 5-10%, so that will be another bucket. 31% might get increased. These are primary payers. Supplements would increase the disbursement.
Franz – so the basic question of how are we doing with projected income… we don’t know?
Kier – there are buckets that will come back to us and we feel confident that we are going to meet the projections. To get down to all the calls on the bucket, I can’t commit him to go to every call to find out how much it will be, but the 1000 foot view, we will see those projections that you expect us to meet.
Daniel – there is a statement – looking at the projections, we expect the two quarters will net $536k.. work went into that and there is level of confidence, probably erring on the side of caution. If it comes true and quarters 3 and 4 replicate that, we will exceed our budgeted expectations. We don;t want to have you come back every month with a full presentation, but maybe if there is good news, or in a month if there is no good news on reimbursement.
Kier – when the two buckets drop in there will be less of this conversation, but until it shows up I know your conflict. As soon as it drops in, and it will be there, I will update you. I’ll be proud of those numbers, too. Our guys run out to protect the community. It will be proof of their labor.
Peter – away from money – was the low response time a part of saving those two people?
Kier – we have that accountability now. The trucks aren’t driving faster, but they are getting out the door in fast parameters, we are exceeding the goal to get the trucks out the door. Helps with all calls.
Fritz – Response time, training, … lots of parts of a puzzle.
Peter – the third party billing is because you are too busy saving lives.
Richard – maybe I’m naive – you get paid 30% of what it takes to run it in a fiscally sound manner? People need to know.
Daniel – EMS reimbursement isn’t the only revenue paying for the fire department. General fund pays for some. We set a high rate for transports, to capture as much revenue form other payers after medicaid and medicare.
Peter – we were in favor of a lower rate, but when it came to billing, we learned that is where those sources are. It is spectacular to do what you are doing with this big number…
Daniel – and EMS reimbursement isn;t the only source. General fund tax dollars.
Liz – we are on par with he estimates to the original Triton report so it doesn’t surprise me. I think it is a good thing.
Public –
Bob O – I think I’m here. Maybe apologies for this but back into the weeds. Back to the part that says the third party biller Golden Cross is unable to submit claim – trading partner ID issues is a specific issue, and that escalated to tier three ticket, now tier 4, and the delay impacts private insurance billing. In the oral presentation there was a problem because it was NH billing for a VT town. Could that be unbaked more and what were the real factors?
Kier – my written report is what the town manager wants to see, and it ckeeps changing as numbers come in. Things have changed since Friday.
Fritz – Trading partner ID is vendor ID… a code of medicare J=-Part, and each is specific to a set. They have a NH ID. On paper, they’d see they could bill across the state boundary. Online, MAC – things need to be associated, and part J needs to be associated. They have a NH only number. There is a gate that doesn’t allow cross state lines electronically. Golden Cross needs to submit for a new ID if they can’t manually process our ID. We are all trying to resolve this.
Daniel – complicated but working with professionals.
Fritz – those bills are processed. The moment it goes through, it will be one dump and one billing process to be reviewed.
Daniel – and the federal government still pays its bills?
Fritz – not for me to answer.
Heidi – a couple questions. What has been EMS expenses in first 2 quarters. How much are we paying Golden Cross for billing
Kier – it’ll take a moment to get those… can tell you tomorrow morning.
Daniel – reasonable question and we’ll have a finance update with some of those items.
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Dick Degray – the billing was between $36k and 39k if I recall correctly. Assistant Chief Kier – is acting Chief – I hope he is being compensated as the acting Chief. I took note of his comment to fill that position. Vacant for a couple of months. As for the billing, more clarity. Golden Cross was billing for themselves =into Vermont last year. What was the disconnect year to year?
Fritz – Golden Cross is in NH and they provided a service to NH, but they are located in NH.
Potter – Fire Chief has been vacant for 6 weeks and we are actively recruiting.
Kate – I appreciate the numbers. One clarification -0 if we could bill everyone it would be $1.6 million, take out medicare that leaves $830k and we received $91k?
Fritz – it looks that way, but there may be people who have private insurance as a supplement. All of the $391… they would be in both buckets.
Kate – how much has been billed?
Daniel – there were gross and net charges…
Kate – that’s what I did… $1.4 minus medicare and you get $837k. So, out of that, we got $91k?
Daniel – that’s my understand as well.
Kate – we haven’t sent any medicare bills out. We have sent out bills totally $837k? That’s what I have and we got $91k back.
Daniel – is the concern we didn’t get much money back?
Kate – want to know if I have the numbers right. It is how the numbers get presented. If I get an invoice in July and paid in December, we need to track that so we can know who got a bill in July and when it got paid. When will we get the numbers like that. Doesn’t seem like rocket science..
Kier – we will get to that point – right now the primary target is not that work. We want to see trucks going out the door and he’s going over numbers for billing. To get to that level, he’d have to go in deeper and all these things that are too time consuming at our point of reference.
Kate – ain’t we paying Golden Cross to do the billing and give us the info. I don’t expect the fire department to provide it. The company we are paying… I don’t get why they can’t do it. I don’t expect you to do it. It also says the finance department is getting involved with electronic fund transfers… I thought we hired Golden Cross so our billing department wasn’t involved at all?
Fritz – we will provide that with an aging report. The financing aspect – unless we have electronic funds transferred they send a check, and that causes challenges because we have to report it back to Golden Cross. EFT will be much easier.
Daniel – I appreciate the questions and I have trust in our staff as well. It is important to recognize this is a new, controversial project for the town and we are working through it and experiencing bumps. If we are in this position in a quarter from now that would not be good, but we’ve asked for quick updates. Hopeful we will be win a better place.
Finance Department — Quarterly Update FY25 through Q2
Potter – we did the best we could without a finance director. Patrick did a good job…
Moreland – a bit of what John said – we are in between finance directors, so several of us have been leaning in to help – me, Potter, and sally Nix have been doing extra duty. I miss Kim Frost, wish she was here. There is something to talk about regarding the recent audit and take questions.
Moreland (reads memo) – three operating funds plus enterprise funds. General fund is 55% through, but so much of the payments are front ended. Opioid settlement revenue is up, but hard to predict. It is inclusive of multiple lawsuits. One pays out with a roadmap and another didn’t give us a roadmap. Now it is a little extra revenue. Local option taxes are right on target. EMS revenue is limited but as buckets are streamlined we expect that to increase to expectations shortly. On expenses, it is a common trend – larger public safety are trending heavy with their budgets. We will need to pay close attention to at staff meetings. Utility Fund is at 33%. Expenses seem little low. Depreciation hasn’t been recorded. Not sure if that is monthly or annually? Wee have a meeting with the auditor and can get info there. Revenue is as expected. Parking Fund – we are at 31%. What concerns me… we are down one staff member… revenue is not what it should be for this time of year. Parking Meter fees. Not sure why or where. I’ll take a close look at why or if there are adjustment we need to do. 28 active grants and 11 in the pipeline. The thing I’d like to talk about is FY24 and in particular the audit recently released about FY24
Moreland – it has raised a level of concern and I don’t think that concerns founded. I still have questions about our audit but there is a major point to point out. I have paper copies of this. I want to show the adopted budget and actual budget – 1.5 million deficit. the concerns comparing these two but it isn;t the right comparison. It should be with FY24 as planned. WE use a use-of-fun balance. It isn’t a revenue. It is a use of savings. While we show it in the budget discussions as a revenue, it is a use of fund balance. It is a plan, vs accounting. We don’t expect to receive the fund balance as outside revenue. The same thing is true with employee contributions – it gets deducted, not checks written to us. The difference isn’t so much of we compare it this way. Within the difference, one portion is based on expenses… we overspent $76k. The vast majority of the difference is on the revenue side, of which $63k is from all over. The largest single variance between what we planned and the actual was in property tax revenue. It is so complicated. Why would that go down? It involves the amount raised for the schools and individual poverty owners filing homestead declarations late. Its doesn’t feel like it should be that complicated. Also, FY24 is the first year ever where we haven’t had a tax sale. Every year we have had a delinquent taxpayer list and have a tax sale… which gets most to come into good standing. Last time, everyone paid up. So how does that impact? Some portion of it. Those are things outside of our control but subject to and impacted by, so I’m pointing out that we anticipated a deficit in that year. It is a little larger than we anticipated, mostly on the revenue side. Something to get on the table given the level of concern.
Daniel -thanks for that. I’m in awe of expertise in this. I don’t think we’d reach that level of detail and appreciate you speaking about it.
Franz – I’m looking at the first page of the memo – utility and parking funds, enterprise funds, shouldn’t revenue and expense be about the same for enterprise funds? We didn’t;t want to subsidize them from the general fund. The utilities fund expenses are at 31% but revenues are less than that. Why are revenues so low? And same in the parking fund but more exaggerated.
Moreland – the utility fund is more predictable than parking. We send out 4 quarterly bills. We only have one quarter’s revenue in there right now and that is normal. July was for last year. Sometimes our budget isn’t balanced. The objective is the rolling capital balance, our operational balance… I’m tickled that we brought in experts for the utility rates. let’s get professional advice. The parking fund. I don’ remember the budget we passed but it was a deficit as well. We spent 3 months waiting for the ordinance to take shape for adjusting rates, and they were delayed. Still, it isn’t meeting expectations.
Daniel – both budgets were passed with deficits.
Richard – transition to the new system?
Moreland – it is possible, but I still see people downtown and I don’t see empty parking lots, so what is going on?
Daniel – when is it a massive problem? Q4 if we are way off budget?
Moreland – we benefit from strange ways using these as enterprise funds. Depreciation isn’t really an expense. We’ll need to pay closer attention.
Daniel – we don’t have a finance director and last time we employed a contractor to help out. Something you are considering?
Potter – yes, we would need to use vacancy savings. We are looking into it.
Daniel – obviously there are pros and cons – spending too much time on this means other things are not getting as much attention. Is there a board policy decision or is it Town manager.
Potter – uh, yea
Public
David L – I’ve been sitting for a long time and appreciate the preview that Moreland gave on the audit. I don’t pretend to understand all of what he is doing but can go back and watch the video 6-7 times and it will never my thick skull. There are things outside town’s control he says, but that argues that our fund balance should be in good shape and not worn down .
Degray – when you stopped monthly finance reviews I said not to do it. I didn’t get this report. I saw on Friday that the Town portion of the quarterly report wasn’t here, and I just saw it tonight online. If you look at tax revenue – 17 million and if you look at actuals, we’ve already taken in $17 million … and we still have two collections left. We’ll really be over if this is correct. So then I went to the audit, pg 47, Patrick takes about $80k over for security, but we were short on revenue as he discussed, but every department had overextended their line items except DPW which saved the town. The word was out last May to control spending. In 2024 you had a financial report in April. If you looked, you would see the revenue number and expenditure number were the same. Statistically impossible. The numbers there were higher than what was in the audit. You as a board should get back to looking at monthly reports on finances.
Daniel – I think I would have.. my opinion… if we had a finance director right now, I’d agree that we need a month finance report. But, staff is already burdened so a quarterly reports until we have a finance director is reasonable. (others agree)
Franz – and when we get a finance director?
Daniel -I’d be surprised if I’m on the board then.
Franz – but what would you do?
Peter – we’ll decide then… when we get a director
Daniel – we’d get them monthly and there weren’t many questions. In my experience, the monthly report has been generally uneventful. Potter thought a quarterly report seemed better. We tried it. Some critique is fair. A quarterly report can be too slow to react.
Peter – quarterly is acceptable but if something is happening let us know.
Daniel – I wouldn’t have a problem with a monthly report. I wanted to give Potter some leeway at the start.
Potter – more at a policy level than nuts and bolts, but if you want to.. there is a cost to that. It takes a lot of time to bring it all together, and if you aren’t making policy decisions it is a waste of time, but we can do it.
Daniel – reassurance has a value. Tonight we are communicating with the public and they are asking questions. Actual staff were here to answer questions. Department heads monitor their budgets. How much oversight does the board want?
Liz – let’s keep it quarterly and when we get a new director let’s decide.
Peter – what she said.
Franz – just wondering what you thought and you told us.
Potter – we’ll look into the parking revenues, and EMS revenues – there are flags for us to come back when we have more reassuring information.
Daniel – Opengov software didn’t go as we envisaged. Materials are presented differently. It is probably easier to produce these reports than the previous ones? Easy to produce the report?
Moreland – yes, Open gov changes how we did business. Every Wednesday qwe used to get stacks of reports to us…all can be done online now. You can access it form anywhere. It is modernizing how we manage data – financial data. Once we get going we’re riding, like a bike.
Kate – I think the audit is the reason you need to look at financial information monthly. One concern. The auditor found two significant deficiencies. Oversight and management of the town finances. The results are financial statements were not correct in FY24. That’s what the report said. That’s why you, as the people looking at the financials, it is your duty to look monthly. And if you don’t want to , run a report like you show us warrants. Allow us to see it. It is really important. It is also important , more now than ever, that at least the public can pay attention monthly to the finances.
Daniel – I think the request to publish the numbers months as pat of materials seems reasonable it is easy to publish. We don’t want a memo and time to talk on the agenda, which is a compromise. We should be able to go on to the town website and see the current budget dat eh current financial information… it should be possible.
Moreland – not sure. There are challenges and changes with Open Gov. We’ll see if it is possible. If you want he numbers monthly, it is an easy do.
Daniel – reasonable compromise. And Agreement. Audits are complicated and after the fact, so my question is the financial report… would it have flagged the problem the audit then found later on?
Moreland – if the question is… the last time we had a financial report was in August and these numbers are the same as there are then.
Daniel – so we should have seen it, but I didn’t see it… maybe the process of auditing that uncovers things that were not apparent.
Potter – you are accurate in that. The numbers in August are about the same as reported in the audit. Would we have known last spring? No, we couldn’t see then. We know we would be close on the budget and we slammed on the breaks, and lots of savings in DPW so we did less road work than we would ave liked to to make the budget
Liz – we are discussing the audit but won’t really discuss it until he next meeting, after we have met. Right now we are speculating. We have some ideas. Let’s wait before we damn us all or blame us all.
Kate – I am sending you an article about what has happened between 20011 and now. My question is page 2 of the general fund line items. EMS reimbursement. It says we took in 299k. The fire department said it was $91 . Does that include the ARPA money – special projects money?
John Potter – yes. It is special projects revenue that the board had planned to transfer because we knew we were a start up and didn’t have revenues to cover it and they’d likely come in the next quarter.
Degray – monthly reports – there were people who asked questions. I asked the Chief about them being over for overtime. A monthly report might show that sooner. That’s what the questions are to inform you. Are you getting the upset. You are the ones responsible. I don’t hear the administration say they were down in EMS collections at meetings. Fire Chief salary – $96, 130 – that all goes to him – almost 3/4 a year of salary.
Moreland – what is going on. Len Howard was a 37 year employee. That’s not just salary but accrued vacation and sick time. There’s a buyback line item. I think it should be put there rather than in staff salaries. Just a thought.
Degray – that line item has $10k but no money expended?
Moreland – it is incorporated into staff salaries.
Degray – it’s 1ok, but if we was to get some of that money…
Moreland – that was what was budgeted but we didn’t know Howard would resign.
Daniel – good discussion. Thanks to all. With that let’s adjourn.