A regular meeting of the Board of Aldermen was held Tuesday, May 10, 2016, at 7:30 p.m. in the Aldermanic
Chamber.
President Brian S. McCarthy presided; City Clerk Patricia D. Piecuch recorded.
Prayer was offered by City Clerk Patricia D. Piecuch; Alderman Clemons led in the Pledge to the Flag.
The roll call was taken with 15 members of the Board of Aldermen present.
Mayor James W. Donchess and Corporation Counsel Steven A. Bolton were also present.
REMARKS BY THE MAYOR
Mayor Donchess
The first item I'd like to address is the budget which is on your desks tonight. | would like to thank everyone
who helped in the preparation of the budget, including all of the division directors and department heads who
submitted their budgets but also in particular, John Griffin, our CFO, David Fredette, the Treasurer, Kim Kleiner
from my office and Rose Evans. In an overview, the budget is for the general fund budget and it is
$247,900,000 which is up $3.1 million from last year. The spending cap is 1.3% as a result of the gross
domestic product implicit price deflator for state and local governments. This budget is $100,000 below the
spending cap. | think the priorities that are inherent in the budget, the priorities that | adopted were first
education, and the school budget is up 2.25% which enables us to maintain at least a current level of service.
This is the superintendent's budget that was proposed by Mark Conrad to the School Board. It is a reduction
from the budget that the School Board passed in the amount of a little over $400,000 but again, it does
maintain the current level of service in another tight budget year. Secondly, the police department, the
proposal is to provide a 2.5% increase; this again maintains a current level of service in the face of many law
enforcement issues related to the opioid and heroin epidemic. In prior years we have seen reductions in police
services as a result of various budget pressures. This year | am proposing that we maintain the current level of
service. | think there is also a focus on capital projects, particularly in the area of parks. | think that we have a
fantastic park system and it’s a strength upon which we can build. To mention a few of those projects, there is
money for an irrigation system which will enable the Parks Department to remotely irrigate all of the city’s
rectangular fields. This will result in better irrigation and less money being spent for water and it will result in
more time available for employees. The city is limited in its ability to offer fields, there are only 11 rectangular
fields in the city and we need more than that so the fields can be given the proper rest and can be in the
condition that they should be for all of our soccer, lacrosse and cricket leagues. In the budget is money for the
establishment of at least one new field off of Groton Road in an area that the city owns and at one time had
been planned for a large park. There is also money for the Rail Trail lighting; the remainder of that money for
the carousel at Labine Park and two parks employees are added; these are the only employees added in the
budget to be hired at % year. The Park’s Department is struggling with a growing workload with a shrinking
workforce so this would increase the number of employees that they have from 21 to 23. There are some
areas where we were able to save money. David Fredette in his efforts was able to reduce the bonded debt
budget from $18 million to $17.3 million. We are also saving money as a result of the proposed LED project
which will save $200,000. Revenues in general are strong. We expect vehicle registration to be good again
next year but as the custom has been for a long, long time I’ve conservatively estimated those revenues.
There is a revenues loss in that the school adequacy grant is being reduced by $477,000 and this is
unfortunate and it is part of a plan to continue to reduce the adequacy grant, particularly which is tied to free
and reduced lunch for economically disadvantaged children; something that is just a raise in property taxes by
the state legislature. Again, a high point was that the city has been able to very capably manage the health
benefits as a result of the number of the changes that have been made. My goal here is to make sure that the
tax rate, if this budget is adopted, does not go up any more than 2.5%. Again, it is a budget that is under the
spending cap of 1.3%. In terms of the future, the State Retirement Board today reduced the expected rate of
return so that means that we will probably get hit with another pension increase next year. | think the pension
cost transfer legislation is still a good idea; one believe that | think is tax neutral and has been referred back to
the committee for further consideration. In closing, | think in a tight budget year, which is typical these days,
