Approved 3/16/04

TOWN OF HAMPDEN, MASSACHUSETTS

BOARD OF SELECTMEN/BOARD OF HEALTH

March 2, 2004 625 Main Street

7:00 pm Town House

Meeting called to order at 7:04 pm

Present: Duane Mosier, James Smith

Guest: Doug Farmer, Wilbraham/Hampden Times

Wilbraham/Hampden School Committee: James Smith resigned from his position as joint Selectman representative working with HWRSD to avoid any perceived conflict of interest and/or his ability to bargain in good faith, arising from his position on a 0% salary wage increase. Mark Barba or Duane Mosier to step in to replace, or seek volunteer from Wilbraham. (See attached document.)

Correction to Plumbing Fee on Permit Fee Schedule: Duane Mosier noted that the plumbing fee for a new house on the Town’s fee schedule had a typographical error indicating a fee of $50.00 rather than $80.00. Correction to be made.

Minutes of 02/17/04: Duane Mosier moved to accept the minutes of 2/17/04 as presented. James Smith seconded. VOTE: Duane Mosier yes, James Smith yes. Mark Barba was not present.

Minutes of 2/09/04 and 2/23/04: Motion made by James Smith to accept as corrected the minutes of 2/9/04 and 2/23/04. Second by Duane Mosier. VOTE: James Smith yes, Duane Mosier yes.

2-1/2 Override Considerations: James smith presented a revised draft of his “Balanced Burden” consideration for any possible override and asked that the proposal become part of the record of the meeting. (Copy attached.)

Tax Title Property Auction: Duane Mosier noted that the Tax Title Property Auction would be held on March 17, 2004.

Previous Request for Use of the Town Hall for a Government Forum: James Smith noted his disappointment that the group of citizens that had requested and been granted use of the Town Hall for the march 4^th forum on town government had moved the venue to another location without informing the Board. He also expressed his disappointment that the group had chosen to illegally and inappropriately advertise the event by sending fliers through the schools with the name of a sponsoring political party on the flier.

Insurance Committee: Inquiry by a resident wondering if the Town had an insurance committee. One does not exist as there was not enough interest from residents in joining such committee and we currently have a carrier in place.

Unemployment Insurance: Draft letter to Donna Vicalvi regarding investigating unemployment insurance versus our self-funding same.

Highway Grievance: Determine if Union is going forward with perceived grievance.

Conservation Commission: Inform Conservation Commission that they will pay for legal assistance beyond the four hours permitted by the Board of Selectmen. Also request that Commission come in to discuss fines and their use.

Motion made by Jim Smith: Motion made to remove Article 8a from draft warrant which is a request by Conservation Commission for access to fines for the commission’s use based on the opinion of town counsel that this would not be permissible. This position was stated in a letter from Dave Martel of February 20, 2004. Second by Duane Mosier. VOTE: James Smith yes, Duane Mosier yes.

Warrant articles: Discussion of status of articles. To be reviewed further.

Motion by James Smith to enter into Executive Session without return to Open Session to discuss IBPO mediation at 8:35 pm. Second by Duane Mosier. VOTE: James Smith yes, Duane Mosier yes.

Respectfully submitted:

Pamela B. Courtney, Administrative Assistant

Proposition 2-1/2 Override Considerations

And

A Proposal For

Burden-Balanced Budgeting

DRAFT

James D. Smith

Last Revised 3/2/04

Definition

A Burden-Balanced Budget is one that provides reasonable and responsible town and school services, and is based on balancing financial demands between the taxpayers and the providers of those services.

A burden-balanced budget provides wage-burden equity and expense-burden equity as defined below:

Wage Burden Equity

All town and school wage earners should expect to receive wage adjustments that, in general, reflect prevailing economic conditions.
All town and school wage earners, whether bargained or non-bargained, should be treated with equity.

Expense Burden Equity

Town and school employees and elected officials should make every reasonable effort to minimize expense growth.
Taxpayers should recognize and be expected to fund reasonable increases in expenses – especially those that are uncontrollable such as: county retirement, health insurance, and energy costs, or rising expenses associated with population growth and general inflation.

The Burden-Balanced Budgeting Process

During the budgeting process the Selectmen and Advisory Committee meet to define burden-balanced limits for that year.
Department heads should be given those limits prior to developing their budgets.

The Burden-Balanced Budgeting And Proposition 2-1/2 Overrides

If available funding falls short of the burden-balanced budget levels, and the Board of Selectmen opts to pursue an override, then the board should provide the voters with an override choice that meets the burden-balanced level.

This would not preclude the Board of Selectmen from considering requests for additional overrides for amounts above and beyond the burden-balanced level provided that the voters are presented a choice between the burden-balanced level and the higher level.

Capital overrides should be considered separately from burden-balanced operating limits.

Burden-Balanced Budgeting and Collective Bargaining

Budgeting, whether traditional or burden-balanced, is entirely independent from the collective bargaining process.

A burden-balanced budget is merely a method for providing taxpayers with the opportunity to consider spending levels for individual budgets (or budget totals for some departments) within burden-balanced limits established during the budgeting process. The collective bargaining process, on the other hand, sets the rates of pay and benefits for individuals that are employed within a collective bargaining unit.

Each year the taxpayers will have an opportunity to review and vote on requested. In any given year, if the combined costs of a bargained unit’s rate of pay and benefits are in excess of the amount of money made available by the taxpayers, then staff and/or services will need to be cut in order to meet those costs.

Personal FY-05 Burden-Balanced Recommendations

James D. Smith 3/1/04

Services should be kept at FY-04 levels with the only exceptions as noted in item 2 below.
Cutbacks made in FY-04 should be restored only if those reductions had a negative impact on public safety or negatively impacted the ability of the town to perform statutorily required services.
Wage line items (or total budgets as the case may be) for departments where employees received no increases in FY-04 should be increased to reflect a 2.5% wage increase plus the cost of one step for eligible employees.
Wage line items (or total budgets as the case may be) for departments that received pay increases in FY-04 should reflect level wage funding.
All other increases in budgets should reflect only uncontrollable cost increases like health insurance contributions, energy increases, school transportation requirements, changes to meet statutory wage standards, etc. Also allowed would be increases that reflect minimally required infrastructure improvements for public or student safety.