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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004-10-05 - TB TOWN OF ULYSSES SPECIAL BUDGET MEETING October 5, 2004 PRESENT : Supervisor Doug Austic , Town Councilpeople Lee Scott, Robert Weatherby; Roxanne Marino and Don Ellis ; Deputy Supervisor Richard Coogan; Town Clerk Marsha Georgia. The 2005 Tentative Town of Ulysses Budget was previously distributed to the Board Members . (Copy attached) Supervisor Austic reviewed the requests for the 2005 Budget. Mr. Austic explained the health insurance coverage and the reimbursement to a couple of the employees that choose to take the coverage from their spouse. This reimbursement saves the Town one-half of the cost of insurance . Ms . Marino asked if anyone else does this reimbursement, because she has a problem with it . Mr. Coogan stated that several Towns do this, the City of Ithaca, the Town of Ithaca — he has been sitting on the County Insurance Sub-Committee and almost all the other Towns do this . Mr. Scott named off several independent business that do this also . Ms. Marino feels that it is condoning not taking health insurance get more money. Ms . Marino was advised that you have to prove you are getting health insurance elsewhere. Ms. Marino asked "then you get back one-half of the cost of the insurance, so if it goes up each year you would get 15 % more? She feels that the one-half insurance reimbursement should perhaps go into the person ' s salary and then each year they would only get 3 % (cost of living) increase and not 15 % on the extra funds, which represents an added 2-3 % increase in total salary. This extra raise is based solely on the rapidly rising increase in health insurance costs to the Town. She does not think this is right, as it creates inequity among employees . Mr. Ellis felt that it might be difficult for the employee to get back on to the Town ' s insurance if it became necessary. He feels that it would be similar if you just increased the salary. Mr. Austic stated that this would not be a difficult process . Ms . Marino feels that this is not a way the Town should save money. New York State Retirement Mr. Austic stated that the request for payment from the New York State Retirement of $46, 012 is not due until February of 2005 . We have this money in the 2004 Budget. Mr. Austic states that there are two options — add this appropriation back in for next years budget, put the 2004 money in a Reserve Fund in case the amount they are requesting changes, encumber the 2004 retirement funds before the end of the year, or leave it out of the 2005 budget and carry forward the 2004 money to 2005 . The Board will advise Mr. Austic how they would like to handle this ; at this time he has not put anything into the tentative budget . Special Board Meeting 2 10/05/2004 Fund Balances / Reserve Accounts Supervisor Austic explained the balances in the " fund balances" and the "reserve funds" and the differences between the two . He also explained the amounts he used from the "fund balances" to reduce the amount to be raised by taxes . Supervisor Austic will provide the Board Members a list of the savings accounts that will give what the actual balances are now. The Board also felt it would be helpful to have a spreadsheet on salaries and benefits . Audit There was a discussion on hiring an auditor for the annual audit of the departments, and whether this would be a cash audit or a full audit . If it were decided to do this, an additional line item would have to be put in the budget (A Fund) . Mr. Ellis felt a full audit every rear might be too much; Ms . Marino proposed a full audit every 4 years . The Board requested more information on the cost of an audit, and what the Town gets with the differentitypes of audit . B Fund Ms . Marino asked about the increase in appropriations for 2005 in the BLDG INSP EQ line item ( 15K) , and Zoning EQ ( 5K) . Mr. Austic explained that this was to purchase a truck to share with the water district and zoning for inspections . WD#3 would lease the truck for the Town . 3K is appropriated for this in 2005 . District #5 Water It was the general consensus of the Board that there should be something in the budget for anticipated expenses that may occur for Distinct #5 . Mr. Austic will work something up and provide it to the Board . Fire Protection Mr. Austic used last year ' s figures for this part of the budget until the Fire Department provided their budget to the Town . Budget Workshop The Board decided that the next meeting to work on the 2005 Budget would be set for October 25th, 2004 at 7 PM . The Public Hearing on the budget tentatively will be on November 4th, 2004 and than the adoption of the budget could be done at the next Regular Town Board meeting to be held on November 9th, 2004 . Supervisor Austic stated that before the October 25th meeting he would provide the following to the Board Members : • List of Reserve Accounts • Copy of the budget program on disk • Salary / benefit spread sheet • Savings account balances • Estimate of the cost of an audit Hearing no further business Mr. Ellis moved, seconded by Mr. Weatherby to adjourn the meeting. Unanimously approved, meeting adjourned at 8 : 50 PM . Respectfully submitted, Marsha L . Georgia Ulysses Town Clerk edit, � , t :t , • { MLG : mg