Capital bgt mtg 8/13

The Budget Committee kicked off the capital budget meetings tonight. We discussed the schools, DPW (incl sewers & public properties) and the Library. First up, the schools... several items were eliminated from the Town Manager's proposal due to budgetary pressures in the first year, including a reduction from $500k to $250k for this item:

$250,000 in year one for various school renovations:
Other reductions in the first year included Dodd kitchen renovations, energy efficient timers for exhaust fans, repaving and carpet replacements (required for air quality issues). I voiced my concern about eliminating energy efficiency measures and my desire to ensure the schools' indoor air quality is good (remember... I have asthma).

$200,000 in year one is still included for a new payroll system. I asked about synergies with the town payroll system, but there were no guarantees of anything... which is not a big deal to me. I just want to make sure there is at least a discussion.

For details on the following budget line items, please see prior posts.

I got a more complete explanation on Humiston. Basically, we have to spend $600,000 this year on fire safety issues. Then the $2,000,000 in year two is more of a hypothetical... basically, it depends on when/if Humiston is required to become ADA-compliant. That could be next year... or it could be never. Anyway, the $600k and $2m are somewhat independent of each other, although I asked if it would cost less to construct an entirely new building... the response to which was basically "I don't know," followed by a reasonable explanation that there are too many unknown variables right now.

The school roofing plan was discussed. I simply voiced my desire to search out some ESCOs (energy services company) and see if we could perform a comprehensive town wide energy services plan (addressing both "envelope" (walls, windows, roofs, etc.) and "equipment" (boilers, HVACs, etc.)) that would reduce our overall energy consumption, provide us with capital improvements and, perhaps, save us some money. Then the Town Manager reminded us that such a plan could impact our debt rating.

We followed up with Public Works. Points of interest to me were a "back of the napkin" calculation that if we were to maintain our roads in good shape in perpetuity, it would probably cost $1,000,000/yr. That number was based on: 150 miles of roads, $25/ft of road & a 20 yr life. I found that interesting... and expensive.... Also of interest to me is the Church Drive repaving for $120,000. And while people have mentioned Jefferson's "separation of church and state" to me, I tend to support this project... at a local level, and here in Cheshire... to me it makes sense... even during the meeting tonight, I mentioned the "Town Green" which it is not. Nonetheless, most Council members seemed to agree that the arrangement (ownership / easement / etc.) would need to change to some extent in order to garner support among Council members. As well, Elizabeth Esty and Diane Visconti both mentioned that they'll probably recuse themselves from any vote as they are both members of the Church.

Sewers came next. But there was just too much going on in that for me to explain it right now. One of my main concerns here though is to ensure we send stuff to referendum... if it should go to referendum. For instance, if we spend $200,000 on sewers for ABC Drive this year and $200,000 for sewers on XYZ Street next year, should those two items be considered the same project... in excess of the $350,000 referendum number... and therefore the voters should have an opportunity to vote? I think the voters should have the right to vote.

Public properties included $280,000 for town buildings ($150,000 for envelope - windows, roofs, siding & $130,000 for fire safety - both alarms and suppression).

The Library finished things off. I simply asked that if we bought the equipment next year, would there be any efficiencies found.

Tim White
Town Council, Budget Committee