Town Council - Regular Meeting

six household. This results in a projected base revenue of $76,300 for sticker sales. In addition, the council approved a $10 fee for second household stickers and a $10 fee for rental placards to allow access for tenants of Prudence Island property owners to the Prudence Island transfer station. So, these additional fees are projected to generate approximately $1,000 in supplemental revenue. The fiscical year 27 budget also incorporates pay as you throw bag revenue of $38,343. The pay as youth throw revenues and associated costs have been proportionally allocated across the town's solid waste programs. Uh potentially including curbside collection, the Headley Street transfer station and uh it's based on anticipated participation levels. So in summary, with these changes, the total projected revenue for the Prudence Island Transfer Station is 115,643. So that will update the revenues uh and to balance with the uh the town expenditures side. So the overall uh revenues are proposed to $79,160,44. That should bring us up to speed with regard to revenues. Any questions from the council? Everybody's good with the changes that were made. Okay. Do I have a motion to provisionally approve the revenue line item at 79,160,44?

So moved. Second. All those in favor?

I opposed. Motion passes six to zero. Uh again, I uh I announced last night, but Mr. Pereo's mother passed away last week, so he may not be here this evening. So, um the funeral was yesterday. Kayla, when I make these announcements, you just nod at me so that you and I are in agreement that I'm reading the right number. Okay. Thank you. All right. So, now we will move on to the school budget, sir. So to kick off the school budget, we'll first get a brief from the uh school superintendent and the business director and the school side. Uh once they're done with their brief, uh then I'll review it and ask for uh provisional approval.

Thank you, Mr. Rener. Good evening, honorable members of the town council, respected members of the school committee, and the Portsmith community. I'm here tonight to present the Portsmith School Department fiscal year 27 budget. This budget represents a statement of our district's values in a roadmap for the continued success of our students and our town. I'm pleased to be presenting alongside our finance director, Mr. Chris Dioro, whose expertise and partnership have been instrumental in the development of this budget. Next slide, please. Our budget process has been both rigorous and transparent. It began back in October with a formal kickoff and has continued through months of careful planning, collaboration with the town, and internal review. After a few curve balls, such as increases in transportation costs and health insurance premiums, in March, our school committee approved the budget before you this evening. We now enter the critical phase of town council review and look ahead for the final approval in June, ensuring a smooth and wellprepared transition into the next school year. Next slide, please. A core strength of our approach is intentional collaboration between the town and the school department. Through shared facilities management, collaboration within our finance and IT departments, and consolidated utility contracts, we're able to maximize every taxpayer dollar. This partnership extends across public safety and education as well, including collaboration with the police department through our school resource officers program, expanded grant opportunities through learn 365, and most recently the initial discussions on developing internship opportunities for our students within the town department. Together, this one town approach creates

meaningful efficiencies while ensuring resources are directed where they matter most, supporting our students in strengthening our schools. Next slide, please. Our current strategic plan serves as the foundation for all of our work. It guides our decisions and investments, ensuring that everything we do is aligned and purposeful. The plan is built around five key priorities. Academic rigor, ensuring students are challenged and prepared for success beyond graduation. Staff wellness and development, supporting and sustaining the educators who lead our classrooms every day. Student well-being, making sure every child feels supported and has a true sense of belonging.

Can you move the microphone over to you a little bit closer so folks at home can hear you a little bit better? Yeah. Thank you. Is that better?

All right. Family engagement, recognizing that strong schools are built through strong partnerships and with families in modern facilities, ensuring that we're providing safe and innovative future ready learning environments. Together, these priorities define who we are as a district and where we are headed. Next slide, please. And the investment we're making is showing clear results. Portsmith students continue to perform at a high level, competing with top districts in consistently exceeding state averages across all major assessments, an indication of strong instruction and a sustained commitment to student learning. In our most recent student data reports, we see increased proficiency across all assessed content areas, continuing the upward trend our district has experienced over the past several years. At Portsmith High School, our graduation rates have increased while chronic absenteeism has decreased. Students at PHS are showing up. They're engaging. And they're doing so as rates nearly twice the state average. These outcomes represent real student growth in a communitywide commitment to excellence. Our challenge now is to continue building upon that. Next slide, please. While districts across the state are grappling with significant enrollment declines, Portsmith is telling a different story. Our enrollment has remained steady for the past 3 years. This stability is the direct result of our strategic investment in career and technical education. By developing high demand programs like child development, engineering design, digital media, and visual arts, we're trans we've transformed Portsmith High School into a

destination. We are actively creating unique academic pathways, including the recent addition of business, bioscience, and music production. All which make our district highly competitive and attract families. These programs open the door, but it is the strength of this community that inspires students and families to stay and thrive in Portsouth. Next slide, please. In addition to supporting declining enrollment, our CTE programs have become a revenue generator. We've seen out of district enrollment grow from 22 students in 2019 to a projected 83 students for FY27. That's a projected revenue of $1,328,000 for FY27. Next slide. At this time, our finance director, Chriso, will walk you through the budget summary.

Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Viveros, and good evening, everyone. I know Mr. Reiner has provided each of you with a copy of the school department's FY27 detailed budget book. So, tonight I will present a summary of the proposed expenditures and revenues budgets. First, I want to start off by reviewing this chart, which shows the FY27 budget request and the four prior years of adopted budget, state aid, town appropriation, and town provided capital. The district's FY27 budget request of 47,636,662 represents an increase of 3.1% which is lower than the increases requested in the prior two years. The district was able to keep the request u requested increase to only 3.1%. Despite one absorbing a 15% increase in student transportation costs when we went out to bid and two realizing a 16.47% 47% increase in healthcare premiums. The 3.1% requested budget increase is also below the 3.24% inflation rate for the calendar year ended uh for 2026. The governor's recommended state aid for Portmith is increasing $124,574 or 3.4% over the prior year. Total state aid is budgeted at $3,819,34 which represents only 8% of the district's total revenues. This total state aid number includes $510,000 of group home aid which we are anticipating losing in FY28 due to the closure of the boytown group home. I'll talk more about state aid when we get to the uh revenue budget slide. The district is requesting a town appropriation of $40,443,988 representing an increase of 2.9% over

the prior year. Given the many significant cost increases we are facing, I want to acknowledge all of the hard work the district's administrators, faculty, and staff uh have done to enable us to uh request such a reasonable and fiscally responsible town appropriation. Finally, as you are aware, all school capital projects related to the FY22 school bond have been completed on time and under budget. The school department has submitted a new necessity of school construction stage 2 capital plan to the ride school building authority. We expect approval of that plan in May and all projects included in that plan will be eligible for housing aid over the next 5 years. Next slide please. Total expenditures again are budgeted at 47,636,662 an increase of1,433,335 or 3.1%. Employee compensation is up $768,544 or 2.9%. Which includes contractual and anticipated raises and step increases. Across all funds, the district reduced staffing by 3.2 2 full-time equivalents. This is in addition to the 2.4 FTEEs that were reduced in the 26 budget and the 7.2 FTEEs that were reduced in the 25 budget. That's 12.8 FTEEs uh over the last 3 years. Employee benefits are increasing 5.5% or 532,000. This is 100% driven by the healthcare premium increase of 16.47%. Purchase professional and technical services are decreasing by 4.9% or 77,000 primarily driven by lower student needs for contracted nursing services. Other purchased services are budgeted to rise by $211,

uh, $823 or 3.2%. Again, this is 100% driven by student busing transportation costs. Our current school bus uh contract expires at the end of this school year. When we went out to bid for a new contract, our busing costs came in 15% higher. We worked in collaboration with our contractor to negotiate those costs down to a 9.5% increase, which is what is included in this budget tonight. Dues and fees uh/m miscellaneous expenditures are decreasing by $119,441 or 48.1% related to the reduced need for technology equipment leases. Again, we were able to keep the overall expenditures budget to uh growth to only 3.1% despite the significant healthcare and transportation cost increases we are experiencing. Next slide, please. Total revenues at 47,636,662 are increasing at the same 3.1% as expenditures and are broken out into three types. revenues from federal sources, state aid, and revenues from local sources. Federal revenues are budgeted to decrease by $20,000 or 3.6% as reductions to federal impact aid associated with military connected students offsets an anticipated increase in Medicaid reimbursements. As mentioned earlier, the governor's recommended aid uh for Portsmith is increasing $124,574 over the prior year. Uh please note uh that just recently the governor's recommended aid was slightly increased by $3,875 due to the March student enrollment updates. Uh this change is not included in our budget request as it was only released last Thursday. Uh also please keep in mind that state aid is ultimately decided by the general assembly which may decide to ignore the

governor's recommendation when adopting the state budget. This is something they have done several times in the last few years. Revenues from local sources are increasing uh $1,328,961 or 3.2%. In addition to the town appropriation increase of 2.9%, tuitions from Little Compton are budgeted to increase by $93,140 or 7% while CTE tuitions from other districts are growing by 96,000 or 7.8%. combined Little Compton and uh and CTE tuition revenues are budgeted to grow uh in total to be 2,757,640. Thank you. And I will now turn it back over to Dr. Viveros.

Thank you, Mr. Jarro. So, members of the town council, this FY27 budget is targeted strategic investment in Portsmith's future. It provides the resources necessary to support our teachers, ensuring students continue to receive the competitive, highquality education that we all know that they deserve. We're asking for your continued partnership this evening so that we can sustain the excellence that makes our school department a leader in the state and a source of Portsmith pride. So, we're open to any questions that you may have. Okay, I'm gonna ask a big one. Yeah,

because if I'm missing something, my budget book here says the total town, state, and federal funding and proposed budget is $49,733,662. Am I reading that wrong? Does anybody else have that number in their budget book on page 68? Our budget book or the town the town's budget book. And you're saying you only need 47,000 47,636 6662. I'm going to guess that the the budget in the town budget includes also the um restricted funds and the grant. Yeah. I just went through the operating fund that's supported by Want to make sure we're all on the same page.

Yes, we are. So your total budget is $49,733,662. Exactly. Yep. Okay. Thank you. Any questions? Uh, we did have a question last night, um, Mr. Jiro, concerning, uh, housing aid. Yes. And potential of missing $60,000 from last year and what was thought to be a little bit more money for this year. Yeah. So, I was made aware of that. I I have a handout which I'm happy to give to the council or I understand it was Mr. Greb that asked the question, I can certainly u if you can pass around, at least give one to the clerk so we can Yeah, the number um that's budgeted

the 725ish is exactly right. Thank you.

Do you have an eighth so we can give it to to Yes, our finance director. Thank you. Yeah. Anyone else would like a copy? Thank you.

So, uh this is an actual report that RIDE provides, the school building authority provides to us. The top section um are entitlements for housing aid related to bonds. The bottom section is uh entitlements related to school uh or town capital fund expenditures. If you look at the top, um you'll see that the very last project that's circled is the Portsmith middle school bathrooms. Originally, it was projected uh I projected the cost to be two uh,414 uh 2,414,000. The actual cost came in under budget at $2,330,000. So, I've made an adjustment on that line. As you see, the second page will actually show you that calculation, the original amount as provided by RIDE versus the new amount that I have calculated. If you look at all the bond projects uh and add down, it comes to $725,295. I had rounded that down to 725 when I let Mr. Reena know that. Um the second section on the bottom that represents uh the first of two emergency approvals for the Portsouth High School um uh roof replacement. If you remember uh remember we kind of bookended that because this project was not included in our last stage two. It was not eligible for housing aid. So we did an emergency uh application in June of 25. Uh we were approved at a $500,000 project which is the max. We then did another one in July of 26. So two separate fiscal years. We were approved again for another 500,000. This is the first one. Uh this one uh I believe is going to the school capital fund that the town has because it's related to the 900,000 that we had spent out of our fund surplus. There will be another 175,000 coming in 28. I expect that to go to the town because the town also paid half of half of the uh the project and at that time that would be

budgeted as as revenue on the town side. Thank you sir. Anybody have questions? Mr. Ree, you had some questions about it last night.

Yeah. Okay. So, uh just to reiterate, three years ago, I think the the council made a decision that any capital any capital bund funding that the schools paid for directly out of their capital improvement fund, those housing aid reimbursements would go directly back to the school department. Anything that was reimbursed through bond purchases would go back to the towns to pay back the bonds. Exactly. Okay. Just so everybody's aware of that. Any other questions for the schools? God bless you.

If none, do we have a motion to approve the town's provisionally approved? Provisionally approved the town's local appropriation at 40,443,988. Before I say so, move just I want to say thank you. You did a nice job on the budget. Appreciate it. And thank you. So moved. Second. Any further questions or comments just on the appropriation? All those in favor? I I opposed. Motion passes 6 to zero. And then do I have a motion to pro provisionally approve the school department's bottom line budget at 49,733,662. So moved.

Second. All those in favor? I opposed. Motion passes six to zero. Thank you both. Appreciate it. Thank you so much.

All right, Mr. Raina, where are we going next? Fire, police? Who's the lucky guy up first? We'll go to police first, but uh let's just go to page uh 24. Okay, 25 first. So, as we turn to pages 24 and 25, you'll see a summary of the proposed expenditures for fiscal year 27. I'll just give everybody a moment to Yes.

Thank you. Have a good night. Rest up. School comes early in the morning. Okay, I think we're good.

All right, so overall total expenditures equal the revenues they're balanced and are proposed as $79,160,44. That represents an increase of $2,67,344 or 2.682% over the current year. This increase aligns with the revenue plan and keeps the budget balanced while maintaining core services. At a high level, the budget continues to be driven by three primary components. Obviously, the school department, which you just approved, that represents about 56% of total expenditures. Municipal operations approximately 44%. And within municipal operations, uh we obviously cover public safety and that remains the largest cost center municipal operations. You'll also note that debt service decreases this year by about $176,000 and that will help offset increases in other areas. So now uh you can either follow on total expenditures or you can track along with me starting on page 46 uh of the police budget. Okay. The proposed fiscal year 27 police budget is $8,524,817 which represents an increase of about 0.15% over FY26. So this is essentially a level funded budget and reflects a shift from last year's investment in compensation to a year focused on stability and cost control. With regards to compensation and staffing, salary costs increased by 3.48%. 48% which is consistent with the second year of the collective bargaining agreement and reflects standard step and contractual adjustments. There are no major structural staffing increases in this budget. The focus remains on maintaining full staffing levels and

supporting retention following the adjustments made last year. With regard to benefits, the benefits decrease overall by 5.56% which helps offset salary growth. This is largely driven by the reduction in the pension related costs. The ARC payments came in lower this year and partially offset and that partially offset is offset by the increase in health insurance and workers compensation. With regard to operations, operational spending is essentially flat. It decreased slightly by88%. We continue to see discipline control across all line items. Notably notable adjustments include uh increased electricity costs which are based on actual usage trends, continued investment in records management and technology support, adjustments to training and fuel based on prior years actuals. So overall, there are no significant expansions in operating spending. So in summary, this budget reflects a department that has transitioned from rebuilding compensation to maintaining stability. We've aligned staffing, absorbed contractual obligations, and held the the line with regard to overall uh budget and present an essentially flat police uh department budget while maintaining service levels and operational readiness. So, at this time, we are requesting provisional approval of 8,511,6 I'm sorry, 8,524,817 for the police department. Uh the new budget you gave us today is 8 8511669.

Yeah, I I didn't correct that. So my opening sentence I should have said 8,511,669. Uh that had to be revised obviously due to the changes that were made yesterday. So the correct figure is in fact what's before you 8,511,669. You and I have talked about this a little bit, but given where we are right now in the state of the fuel market, hopefully it'll be straightened out by July 1st. We still feel comfortable with the uh $4,500 reduction, I think. I mean, when we did this, I got I got a nod for the major. We're good. What's that?

I got a nod for the major. We're good. Okay. You handle the fleet, right? Okay. Any questions on the police, the general police budget? We'll go into the harbor master and the prudent silent after this. Mr. Reese,

this is just and I've already asked him. I have never seen so much electricity used in all my life. $76,000 a year. Are we No, it's got to be the electronic stuff. But it's it's different than everybody else and up a lot. Yeah. Uh obviously it's it's a big building. Uh it's a building that operates 24/7. You have a the dispatch center which is 247. All the computers, all the electronics, the servers are also been located uh in the police department uh and the lighting needs to be maintained. So it's just it's it's hot. Yeah.

We'll have to get him a small nuclear reactor or something. Okay. It's not a full-on data center yet. Miss Blake, quick question on the community notification where that was zeroed out. Uh, can you elaborate on that? That's the code red that's now being funded by the state. Okay, that's what I thought. I just want to make sure. Thank you. Any other questions? Mr. Gleason.

Thank you. Um, I think one of the the things that Mr. Rainer does best is put together the budget. and um I thank him for that. Is it difficult for us? Uh first off, I want to say I value the services of everybody in town. Um but we sit here tonight to try and do the best we can for our taxpayer payers as well as keeping our staff, you know, um employed here. You know, I know there's a retention question here, but if you look at our our uh staff in general compared to other communities and cities, and towns, they they are very well paid. And if we're going to provisionally approve each budget, what I would like to do, if there are others that feel the same way I do, I I think 4% raise just for everybody is is too high. Um, we just heard from the school department coming at 2.9 and I think that's a more reasonable request for raise. So, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that's the way I feel about it. Um, I know we gave the raises at 4% last year. Um, this is the same continuation. So, um, I would pro provisionally approve all the lines except for the raises unless you want to get into each individual. And I'm just out in left field by myself here. Well, you you have to narrow that down. A, we have contractual obligations via collective bargaining agreements. So, we can't change those.

We can't change those. So, the only So, what you're referring to is management raises. Correct. Yeah. So, you would be looking at the chief, the deputy again, the fire department, chief, deputy. Um, not all of them if they're contractually in the CBA,

right? It would If I could just make a small correction here, the school appropriation went to 2.9%. Their budget increased over 3%. Total municipal budget, all departments, snow removal, road paving, civic support, and the CIP, and all debt service for the town went up 2.68%. So it's not a fair comparison. That is the town side of the budget. We carry all the burden 2.68%. The town council also agreed to a protocol last month which was incorporated into the budget. We we agreed with the protocol, but we have the ultimate say in the budget. Would you agree with that statement, Mr. Rener?

I agree with the statement. I don't agree with your sentiment, Mr. Gleason. With all due respect, that's that's fine. I I understand. Is there any agreement or are you the rest of the council satisfied as as it stands now? We've had a incredible retention issue over the past five years. Ever since CO hit, we've finally settled that out. If we start, this is my personal opinion, if we start telling our staff that they're not valued because we're not going to give them the raise that they had already been expecting, I think we start losing people. That's I understand.

Keith, I have a question. Yes. There's two things that we're discussing here, and you use the word raise. There's a difference between a raise and a cost of living increase. There's a lot of people that are paying taxes that are like myself, you run a fixed income and you don't get 4% raises every year. You get probably 2.5 2.6 something like that. So to me, when I was working, you got a cost of living increase and then your raises were merit raises based on your supervisor. And that's usually how it was done. So, okay,

you got two things going on here. Are we giving a raise or is this a cost of living increase? And I hear the word the two the two words are getting used together and they shouldn't be. We don't give merit increases except for step increases to different departments. If if if you go from patrol officer to a corporal to No, I mean even even a clerk. I'm sure there's different levels of clerks. We have that at the water department, too. their BC and depending on the department, some get longevity, some don't. So, it's a it's a salary increase of 4%. You can call it raise, you can call it a marriage.

No, there's a difference. There's a there's a difference. I mean, you know, it's like the way you're saying it, a rising tide floats all boats and that's everybody's going up together. It also is becomes less meaningful. You know, you're there, you get a raise. I don't know. It's just that's why I was thinking three for everybody and the rest of it would be taken up by their managers. But I don't see I don't see the sentiment there.

Right. I'll explain it a different way. We have had a policy and we've changed the policy to treat the nugs the non-union group at a certain level of funding for their races. Whether you want to call it a cost of living increase or a merit increase, if you want to call it a merit increase, I would say that Mr. Rain will stand up or sit where he is and tell you that each one of his department heads deserves a merit increase of 1% if you want to cap the cost of living at 3%. And there we are at 4%. I

So how do you generate the number to begin with? That is another question I have. I mean, if is it partially based on inflation and partially based on it's based on the highest percentage of a union contract that has gone up one of the other union contracts. That's how it's been based for the past 30 years. One year. Oh, no. Last last year was the first time it went up 4%. Because that's where the largest union contract went up. That's what it's based off of. My I mean if if if

my understanding was that if you if the police department went up 4% then the potential for the chief and and the deputy chief would be 4%. If PMEA went up 2 and a half% the staff would the nugs would get 2 and a half%. It was based on the union. That's fine. If if you cut a if you cut 1% off of each man management's level of the 16 department heads and deputies, that's a number I'm guessing only to that. Y

we save a whole $16,000. I can find you $16,000 in the budget if that's your concern. The only the reason I ask is just to have a discussion for one thing. so people can understand that are watching this because I gotten several calls and they're looking at the budget and they're they're they're asking similar questions that I did. You know, is that inflation? How does that work? And that's why that's why explaining it like this makes it go into the public forum.

So, you've explained it. their contractal obligations based on past practices here of the largest increase of the union and and that's the union obviously the union contracts are collectively bargained

right so I guess um just to back down from the ledge here um there are people that look at 4% just figure it's a large case. Okay, that's the way I look at it as well. If you're telling me and Mr. Raina can confirm that the total for that would be affected by this management nug type people is $16,000. Is that something you can confirm? 16 18,000. Okay. I'm just making a guess based on the increase of the chief and the deputy police that we're looking at right now. Okay.

That that's the only way I guessed it gauged it from. then I will just apologize and say let it ride the way it is. Okay. And and Keith, I appreciate you can't I mean you know because I want to educate people myself. I sort of knew what you were going to say. So that got the information out so that that when people call us and ask us. That's that's the the bottom line. We got to just explain to them and if they watch this tonight, they'll understand it. So thank you. I can tell you I got a cost of living increase this year. Who 1.1%. So there you go. Yeah, I got 2.8. Why people ask those questions? I absolutely you should try breaking for the government. It was three years at zero. I just

Can I just um Yes. ask a So going forward then does that mean every year it's going to be 4% or if the union got um if the union gets two it'll be 2%. I I if one of the unions gets four, it'll be 4%.

Exactly. Now, the protocol follows PMEA. It does allow in that protocol uh to make a change to that for the applicable department head of a union that they're most closely associated with. But overall, uh the guidance is to uh as strictly as possible follow the PMA contract. And that's what we've done. So PMA is contracted for 4% increase in 2627. Correct. Mr. Gre thank you Mr. Hamilton. Tom Greet 110 air drive. If you look at page 90 of the um of the of the budget you will see the assumptions for the pension. The pension assumes going forward that the wages will increase at a rate of 3.5. Whatever you do tonight is one thing, but if we if you continue on this, you're either going to need to change that uh 3.5 to four or the or the pension is going to get itself into trouble down the road if you're increasing the the the wages uh higher than the pension is assuming in the actuarial counts. Just wanted to let you guys know that and and to think about that change as you get to at that page. But that is a a smoothed out 3.5% based on 2%s and 5 percents and 4%.

Well, it's going forward. Yeah. But it's it it's it's going forward from here and the trend has been up uh since co after co Yes. The trend went up. No, the hope would be and it as we go into the next rounds of budget contract negotiations and that trend changes. Well, that that's another thing when you're approved when you're approving contracts, remember that that that that because it we don't want to get ourselves in trouble again on the pension. We're we're in good shape right now. So, we're actually in much better shape than I thought we were about a month ago. Yes. Okay.

Thank you for the heads up. So just just for to finish, so for those people that uh have contacted me and said, I think 4% is a high increase for people, you you've heard the answer why, and it's it's understandable. I mean, again, it's based on a contract that was settled. Well, the only thing I would say I I had written down that the PMA was 2627 was a 2% increase. I I thought I had read it off the contract. So, well, she got 25 26. Okay. I was looking at your original document and not the MOA. Yeah. Okay. All right. Thank you very much.

There was an amendment to the their contract because there was an opener for some other issues, right? So, there's a there Yeah, that that was the rage reopener, right, last year that you approved. Y any Mr. McD just one more comment. I I just think it's very important for us to remember this conversation um when it is contract negotiation time. Absolutely. Miss Blake,

very much appreciate um the time and effort that went into this uh putting the budget together and the efforts of our police force. Um, I I would like to put forth a motion to accept the police budget as present. Provisionally approved. Provisionally approved the police budget as as presented today

at 8,511,669. We're all good with that number except for Mr. Rainer, right? Okay. Just wanted to check. Okay. Any further discussion? All those in favor? I oppose. Motion passes six to zero. Next up, we have the uh God bless you. Must be allergy season. Prudence Island public safety officer at $138,759. Um looks like the biggest increases are health benefits like with everybody else. Any questions on Prince Island public safety officer? Miss McG.

Yep. Um we're on 49, correct? I just want to make sure that's the 49 in the new thing. Um so just, you know, getting back to our previous discussion, there's a a 3.9 here and not a four. Why is that? Yeah. that this salary uh reflects a contractual adjustment, but this position is tied to the police department compensation structure. So, while he is in PMEA, he's he follows I forget a second. Yeah. Lisa, can you come to the microphone? So,

yeah, he follows people at home can hear you. He follows the senior officer salary plus $2,000. So, it won't come out to an exact percentage. Perfect. Is that good? Yeah. Okay. I What it means is the $2,000 really makes up for that the difference. The difference, right? Okay. Thank you, Mr. Gleason. Uh, did you want to explain it so the public can hear? Yeah. Okay. That position is tied to the police department senior patrol officer salary plus $2,000. Okay. Thank you.

Get a he gets a $2,000 bump for living and unimproved silent. Mr. President, I would uh provisionally motion to provisionally approve a budget of $138,759 for the prudent safety. Second. Any further discussion? All those in favor? I I oppose.

Motion passes six to zero. I'm going to get it right at one of these times. Next up, we have our wonderful animal control officer at $143,258. And underneath that is also the shelter operations as well. So, it's not total compensation for the public for the animal control officer. Motion. Oh, go ahead. I was just going to say uh in addition to her salary increase, you'll see that uh there's also a longevity step increase for this person as well. I was going to ask what what is the the amount of years you have to be employed for that longevity?

10 years. 10 years. Okay. Thank you. Motion to provisionally approve the animal control budget for $143,258. Second. Any further questions, comments? All those in favor I opposed. Motion passes six to zero. And then we have the harbor master at $145,32 an increase of 6.94%. Mostly tied to some funding for abandoned boats which we've removed four in the past couple of weeks or three or four. Right. Sorry.

How many abandoned boats total this so far? Yeah. Uh abandoned boats. We've had about five uh recently. There was a sailboat off Island Park. There was one on Power East Power Street. There was one in Blueense Point. Common Fence Point. I saw one on a beach in Boston today on the way up to Boston. You nice prom. Good evening. Okay,

Mr. Hamilton, members of the council, Abigail Brown, 104 Bay View Avenue, Portsouth, Rhode Island. I am the Harbor Commission chair. Uh as the uh council's excuse me, we are here to talk to you about uh it is of our opinion that the funding for the police boat fuel and dockage fees should not be included in the harbor budget as the original reason for the moorings and the fees was to support and maintain the harbor master and the moorings. The reasoning for this is that not all residents have moorings and should not be penalized for others that do. We would like half the funds removed from these items if you'd be so kind. It would be the boat, the dockage, and the fuel and put the money into the um boat and motor fund. Can you better explain what you're asking us to do here? Do you want us to take

half the money out and put it into the boat and and um docu the the boat and motor fund. So is that under you're asking us to remove half the money from the reserve for the boat or confused for the for the maintenance of the boat? Mr. Grie has done all the math. I'm not So the $10,900. Tom, is that maintenance for both boats? Chief, if you can come up to the microphone, please. Oh,

yes. This uh that covers maintenance for both boats, the police boat and and the harbor master boat. Correct.

Okay. and and I I just split it in half for, you know, the the the fuel, the dockage, and the maintenance because they're boats about the same size. Um, one one boat's got a little bit more horsepower than the other, but the one without horsepower is used more. So, uh, fuel's about the same. The oxygen is the same, um, because they're both both about the same size. And maintenance, uh, I split as well. So, I just cut it in half and are asking, you know, Aby's asking for half of each of those to be put back into the police budget. Uh, and the money from that put into the vote and motor fund. would have been helpful to know that before we approve the police budget to to me they're all boats. I it's up to what what the council's pleasure is. I'm going to ask Hang on Chief for one second. Mr. Ree, you had a question before. I I thought you're I I thought you were pointing to Miss Brown.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Mr. Microphone. It's paid for by the fees and the those are the people that have moorings and they're paying for a service basically and the police expenses should be in the police budget because it's their boat, their fuel and their dockage fee. So, I just want to keep them separate. Chief, I just want to caution if this is something that the council wanted to pursue, I'd have to look at to make sure. I don't know if it's exactly half. So that would be the only thing that I like to have time to look at because I don't think it's exactly 50% between the two boats based on the engine sizes.

All right. So if we were to provisionally approve this tonight and then on May 11th when we do all the puts and takes and everything else at the end, we could bring it back and make the adjustment. Yeah. Yeah. The chief goes through the numbers, right? We got to go through the numbers, but the intent of what we wanted to do is now in place that that Abby wanted to come up with that we put the police expenses back to the police. Okay, I think that's a

Okay, but making this change since this is funded by Mr. Mr. Rainer, if you can correct me on this, the mooring fees covers all this harbor master budget or is there money from revenue from general revenue going into this budget as well? It's like an enterprise fund, right? If you look at the go back to the morning, please bear with me a second. Mr. Micro is on. Bear with me a moment. What page? 21 147 322.

Yeah. So, so it's actually the boring fees are actually more than the actual budget. That's true. So if we were to remove if we were to remove these fees out of the harbor master budget which are being covered by the harbor master fees we would have to increase revenue property tax if you look at that whole revenue um only 143,522 is from the mooring fees for fines Right.

I would suggest leaving it as is I think is the a prudent path forward. And just say the fines are for the what the police officers issuing the fines on the water. So that's what the fines are for.

Okay. But if we were to take these whatever round up $10,000 worth of expenditures out, put them under the police department budget, we would and the and all of the Harbor Master fees were to continue going in. I would raise the harbor master boat contingency. If we continue to utilize the harbor master harbor mooring fees to cover this, we would have a surplus in this fund and we would have to raise taxes to pay for the expenses in the police budget. Um, yeah, the way you've described it, if you took if you took all the the revenue that's coming in on the harbormaster revenue, applied it just to this uh budget, this expenditure budget, then obviously there's there's some money that's going to have to be made up somewhere else. Um, so Ken I hate to make you come back again tomorrow night, chief, but can we put a placeholder on this? And if you can you work up the numbers tomorrow by by tomorrow.

We're just going to beat a dead horse if we keep going around in circles with this until we get the numbers. Can I just see clarification? So, you're just looking for that specific line item for uh the maintenance? It's Well, I mean, you would have to take out the boat fuel for the police boat. You'd have to take out what the costs are for the docking fees for the police boat. You would have to take up any uh split the boat maintenance, whichever one's more expensive. So, anything related to the police department and the police operations, correct? Separate that from the harbor master. Correct. Okay. Also, and then we'll figure out how to work that out from there. Thank you, sir.

Um, yes, we can do that. Just know that it's going to change the levy and it's going to change the correct tax rate. Okay. So, if if hopefully, Chief, if you can get that done by lunchtime and get it to Kayla, that'd be awesome. Thank you. All right. So, we're going to put a placeholder on the harbor master till tomorrow night. Okay. May I say one more thing?

Yes. If you can just pull the microphone down. Chief's a lot taller than you. Thank you. The whole purpose of us hiring an independent civilian harbor master was so that we could do the right thing by the people who didn't use all of the things that go on on the water and not cause a problem. But it's not that much money at the moment. And we did increase all of our fees. So we have a surplus now. But we do need to make sure because the Parker is so very old, we're going to have to replace the Harbor Masters boat and motor. And it's imperative that we squeeze whatever dime we can to get the boat and motor fund up to what it needs to be.

What is the current balance? No, you're going to have it for tomorrow night. I'm loading. Hold on. I'm sorry. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Brown. Appreciate that. So, we'll tape we'll we'll we'll we'll table the Harvard mass until tomorrow night when we have the numbers and we and we'll make those adjustments there. I I do have a question. Would they be asking Mr. Grieve if he has a ballpark figure of what this is worth that we're going to be swapping around? He just cut it in half. He just took one boat versus one boat. So, he's just cut in half. We're going to get the actual numbers from Chief. I mean, it's not hundreds of thousands of dollars. No, we're talking about 10 10 grand. Yeah. No, that's what I mean. Give or take.

And and the surplus they build is to replace their boat and motor, which they use all the time, right? Well, that makes sense. So, it's a self-supporting fund. That's the way it's set up. It's still self-supporting even though it and it requires no town funds and it's all done by even with the police boat in here, it's still a self-supporting fund, but that may be taking their surplus so that they can't buy a boat. I don't know. I that's the numbers we have that all work taking part of it. Okay.

Just to let you know, we have 167,000 in that reserve. Okay. Yeah. I don't I don't want anybody to walk away from this thinking there's enough money sitting somewhere to buy two boats. There isn't. Nope, there are not. And just for clarification, that is that K dollars. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Good question. 167 bucks is not going to get us a very big vote. They're very accurate. They're very accurate here. All right. Uh fire or DPW,

Mr. Okay. Okay. So, if we go to page uh 52, here begins the fire budget. Um the proposed uh fire department budget is u make sure I got the right number. Uh 8,426,793. Uh this represents a 2.63% increase over the current fiscal year. Uh this is a measure uh increase that reflects personal stabilization, rising benefit costs and continuing investment in emergency medical service uh capability. With respect to salary, uh the salary component uh there's an increase there of 4.84%. The key drivers here include contractual wage increases across most positions from anywhere from 2 to 4%. staffing stabilization and a contractual cost of pre-retirement buybacks. Uh overtime the overtime accounts remain controlled with uh the increases there are tied to wage growth and not expanded reliance on uh overtime and in a paramedic pay increases are there to align compensation with the actual number of trained personnel providing advanced life support. So this continues our effort to expand in-house advanced life support capability which supports both service delivery but it also uh supports increased ambulance revenue. With respect to benefits uh the benefits increase modestly overall by 32%. Uh but there's some notable internal shifts. Uh, as we've been discussing all night, health and insurance increases by over 22%. That reflects the same premium pressures impacting all departments. Uh, work-related injury insurance increase

is driven by claims experience and uh, premium adjustments and these increases are partially offset by a reduction in the defined benefit costs uh, which have gone down by 12.84%. With respect to operations, uh, operations expenses decreased slightly by 3.12% continuing a trend of discipline cost control. Some key highlights with respect to operations. The ambulance billing services, if you remember, was removed from this budget last year as that function has been shifted to the public safety capital fund. Hydrant cost fees have been decreased uh by 7.40% 40% and that helps offset other increases. With respect to service contracts and building uh maintenance, uh you'll see increases and that reflects updated service agreements, system upgrade system upgrades and ongoing facility maintenance needs. Uh you'll note that the metal the medical director cost increase uh and this is the first increase in several years. uh NFPA compliance costs have increased but this is tied to maintaining and servicing aging equipment. Um there are some targeted investments uh that will continue in medical supplies and paramedic level equipment including EMS emergency medical service capability also uh increases in training and certification including the fire academy for onboarding of personnel and ongoing professional development. So overall, the budget supports full staffing. Uh it absorbs significantly increased health care costs. It continues to expand our EMS and paramedic capability. Uh and it maintains tight control over operational spending. So we are therefore uh requesting provisional approval of $8,426,793 for the fire department. Any questions on the fire department? Miss

McDow, I just have a question. Um, you spoke about the workrelated injury insurance workman's comp and do we shop around for that or we don't do any that's that's part of our coverage that we have um in agreement with the trust. with the trust in um

just uh in that vein we have shopped around for other various types of insurance in the past. The issue that we have is that the pool is so small and the risk is so great. Uh you can't beat generally we well I don't think we've ever been able to find anything that beats the trust that's willing to uh insure these groups of personnel and and so the increase is a result of the claims

uh increase in the premium and uh claims usage. We get we get claims reports on a quarterly basis and then on an annual basis they'll adjust what that cost is uh for the members. Thank you.

Motion to provisionally approve the fire budget at 8,426,793. Second. Any questions? Just want to say thank you for um I I see large increases in some areas that you were able to adjudicate and I I appreciate the efforts of the of the fire department.

And Chief, um if I can ask you just one quick question. I was at the state house a couple weeks ago and there was a bill in to help to try and get EMA Rhode Island EMA. I don't know if Ray knows about this one or not. It's both of you. Have you heard any updates to have right on the EMA help cover some of the costs since we're a regional EMA center? No, for expenses for Okay. Okay. Well, hopefully it comes through and we'll get some extra money from the state. All right. Any further questions, comments? All those in favor?

I opposed. Motion passes six to zero and then we'll go on to the Prudence Island Volunteer Fire Department which is now underneath the fire department as instead of being in civic support. Correct. So the proposed budget is uh $223,215 and that represents an increase of just over $8,000 for the next fiscal year. While this is a volunteer fire department, the town does provide financial support through the general fund to ensure reliable emergency services for Prudence Island. With regard to the stipen and payroll portion, uh that totals $142,410. It reflects a 3% increase. This includes the fire chief stipen and fire or I'm sorry, volunteer fire uh stipens tied to response and operational support. So these adjustments are consistent with prior year increases and it helps us ensure continued participation and reliability of a volunteer force. with respect to operations, those uh expenses increased by $4,60 or four or 5.9 29%. Uh the primary drivers uh there's really a few here. Uh the insurance increase $30,500 and that's uh this continues to reflect market conditions and the actual premium experience and this is the single largest driver in this section. Just to correct that, it increased $3,500 to $30,500.

Increasing two I thought I said increasing to 30. That's a really expensive building if $30,000 in one year.

Um there's service contracts. Uh they total 6,700 and that supports EMS equipment. Uh for example, the autoload stretcher and the cardiac monitor. uh their utilities particularly electric uh have been budgeted at 7,500 and that reflects recent usage trends. Fuel and apparatus costs are slightly higher but they do remain within normal operating uh ranges uh bearing in mind the age of their equipment offsetting these increases. Uh ferry related expenses are reduced but uh not because we're expecting the fees to go down but that's based on actual usage trends and then uh most other operational lines remain stable. So bottom line, this is a budget that focuses on supporting the volunteer-based emergency service, maintaining equipment and operational readiness. It addresses uh their rising insurance and utility costs. So we're requesting provisional uh vision a provisional approval of $223,215 for the Prudence Island Volunteer Fire Department. Any questions? Miss Blake.

Um, for clarification with the stipens, approximately how many volunteer firefighters are on Prudence Island? That is a great question. Chief Leair 40 or zero. And then help me with understanding. Am I correct in in reading that the reduction in the ferry charges I would assume going over there?

It's based on the number of times we're going back and forth. So uh when we originally started budgeting for this it was higher uh we anticipated higher usage but the actual usage rates support a reduction and use by mainly the chief or is there other people included in there's the chief and I don't know how many other volunteers you may have that transit back and forth if you can answer that. Are there volunteers that come there?

There are members that um go off the island for training and stuff that we cover their their ferry expenses. Uh one of the other driving costs is to get apparatus off and on the island when it needs repair. Okay. Thank you.

Mr. Gleason, thank you. Um, so you said 40 people, correct? Yeah. Yeah. So they get $2,215 if I've done the calculations correct. Why in this case here, I'm just going to do the opposite. Why wouldn't we want to give these folks another 1%. Is that contractual? Is there a union over there? U, this is based on the input that we get from them. There is no union. Okay. This is only part of their budget. So I don't know how much more is offset by uh there's a board and fundraising

uh fundraising there's other mechanisms uh that they explore to raise money. So this is strictly the input that we get from them. Okay. I I would like to make a motion that we raise that to 4% for the chief and for the the members getting stipens. Second. I second. Yeah, she did. Would you consider just for the stipens? Uh, I don't want to take 1% away from the chief here. I think he deserves it. Kayla, can you plug those in and give us a new bottom line? Is it

Mary made a second passes first? Yeah. Can I ask a follow-up question? Yes, you may. Uh, am I correct, Chief, that you don't currently live on Prudence Island? For those online, he he did say he does not. Thank you, Chief. And help me understand, how many times approximately a week do you are you over on the island? I'm usually on the island uh Mondays and Tuesdays. I go out on uh on the weekend for for meetings and uh there's quite a bit of work from home and things that I have to do on the mainland as well. When when I'm on the island though, I'm there 24 hours. So I'm usually there for for two straight days. The full Monday, full Tuesday.

Full Monday, full Tuesday. Yeah. And then meetings on the weekends. Uh Saturday meetings and we do training on on on some Saturdays. And uh again, there's a ton of work that needs to get done on the mainland that comes back over to the island on a regular basis as well.

Thank you. Okay, any other questions? All those in favor of increasing the Prudence Island volunteer fire department chief and stipens from 3% to 4% and we'll get those numbers in a second. All those in favor? I oppose. Motion passes six to zero. Um, so the uh the new salary line will total $134,78. That's a 4% increase for both the chief and the stipens.

I'm sorry. Repeat that number, please. $134,78. Thank you. payroll taxes uh will increase to $9,714 and that'll bring the new uh total to $224,597. So we would ask for provisional approval of $224,597. When we go back, will you help me just understand how that affects the tax baseline? We won't know that till tomorrow. Right. That's what I'm saying. When we come back,

if you can find a $2,000 savings someplace else in the budget, it won't affect the taxes at all. I motion to motionally uh to provisionally approve motionally motionally provisionally approved island fire budget at $224,597. Second. All those in favor? I oppose. Motion passes six to zero. That was a good one. Emotionally approved. All right. Uh safer grants. That's the last year we're going to see that cuz it's going to fall off next year. Fall off. So, there's nothing to approve there. Emergency management.

Page. Hardest working man in town hall.

Yep. So, on page 57, you have EMA. Um his uh his budget is proposed at $68,65. That's a 1.71% decrease from uh last year. The salary component totals is $49,219. It's a 4 uh% increase. With respect to operations, uh the operations total is $15,80. That's a decrease of 17.64% year-over-year, but last year's budget included a number of targeted investments uh in preparedness equipment and supplies. So for this year, those efforts have largely been largely been completed, and the budget reflects this. The miscellaneous expenses line is reduced uh to 8,500 uh but continues to support emergency preparedness supplies, communications equipment and redundancy. Uh limited uh targeted equipment purchases such as ID kits and storage solutions. Uh and then all the other operational adjustments include uh training reduced based on prior year utilization. Uh the vehicle fuel uh is line is reduced based on actual usage trends. uh but we maintain stable telecommunications and office supply costs. So all in all, we're asking for provisional approval of $68,65 to support emergency management operations.

I do have a question. Okay. Oh, go ahead. You want to go ahead, Mary? No. I um Mr. President said you were the hardest working guy here, but your salary doesn't really reflect that. So, how many hours do you work? I see you here all the time. Thank you, Ray Perry. Yeah, at least 40 50 hours a week minimum, but got a lot of volunteers, a lot of external meetings and things like that. Thanks for all you do. Thank you, Rick.

My only question was, do you want to give them 4.01 or 4.00? It's a rounding error. It's a rounding error. The issue with all these uh accounting programs that, you know, they they carry a decimal point out to infinity. So, it really is a 4% increase, but it just rounds it off. I just thought that was a special reward for him. Don't break There you go, Ray. Buy me a beer. We have a motion to provincially approve the Could I just say one more thing? Yeah. Um, I think in terms of definitely for next year,

I I think we should look at this salary and the the the work that he does and emergency management today is a a very important um piece of the the pie, I think. And I've I've had conversations early on when I get onto the board about the collaboration that goes on between the different um communities on the island and beyond. And I do think we should look at that salary definitely for next year. I' I'd love to look at it for this year, but probably not in the cards.

I'd like to to also foot stomp what you're saying. Um, would we consider would the counselors consider level setting to 2026 and putting that delta of 1185 into the salary? Say it again, Sandra. Sure. Uh, to have the change from FY26 to FY27 be zero. If we made that zero and use that delta into the salary. Oh, okay. I see what you're saying making a percentage increase zero and taking that one one

what what would be one one $1,185 and and add it to the 1889 which would give him roughly a 6 and a half 7% increase. It would increase it by 1185. Correct. But I'm just going choice based on what the other one went up. But if we level fund that, that's another again back to the prudence island, that's another 1,200 bucks we got to find in the budget. Understood. So just keep keeping notes that we need to find that otherwise we'll have to change the revenue number. That's what it's about. Are you going to make that?

You would you like to make that a motion? I was looking to see what other Okay. to level fund the EMA B emergency management budget and take the budgeted decrease and move it to the salary line. That's what you're looking to do. I was looking to hear opinions.

But if you do that, it's also going to change the payroll tax line. So, let's give it a quick second. All right. So, you're going to have to raise it by 11 even and use the 85 for the payroll taxes or something like that. It's a guessing game, right? We're off by 79 bucks. If that's okay, give the numbers in his favor or our favor. Any closer?

Closer. Closer. Sorry for on the-ly work. You know, that's that's why we do these meetings.

There you go.

The main bottom number will be six. Two. round off to 25. Yeah, we got we got it pretty close. We got it within the rounding error. So, um the new salary line would be $50,319. The new payroll tax line would be $3,849. These are rounded off. There's some sense here. And then the emergency management total would be the same as the previous year, $69,250. I appreciate your on the fly

financing. Um Okay. So let's if you want to start with your motion to I would like to make a motion to provisionally no let's make the change first to bump up the salary and then we'll visually approve the bottom line. So request to make the change for the emergency emergency management um for FY 2027 to a total of $69,250,000. Hang on a second. $250, not $250,000. We're really giving RA raise if we give 250,000.

First, first we have to approve the salary increase line to five 50,319 and the payroll payroll line to 38.49. So, correct. Motion for that. Okay. Okay. All right. Motion by Miss Blank, seconded by Miss McDow. and just just I I still want us to remember going forward next year to put a note that we should really look at this salary. So, okay. Can I ask a clarifying question on that? Yes. Are you looking to increase the salary or are you looking to make it a full-time position just so we have notes for next year?

Microphone. Thank you. Is it currently at a part time? Right. It is a part time. I I think that could be a discussion you would have with with the employee and and come back with you know I mean a a person who's working 40 to 50 hours a week and getting paid that and with a job that that you know at times can be extremely extremely important. So, I don't know which direction you want to go in, but I do think it it deserves a look at for next year and a discussion with the employee as to what what might work and what might not. That's all. Thanks.

My discretion would be to leave it as part-time. We'll look at it and we'll present multiple options in the next budget. Maybe that's something we do prior to the general budget hearings. Correct. time in December, January, we do the leadup. Okay. All those in favor of changing the to the salary and the payroll lines first. All those in favor? I opposed. One opposed, Mr. Reese. And then a motion to provisionally approve the emergency management line at $69,250. So moved.

Second. All those in All those in favor? I I oppose. Motion passes six to zero. All right. Now we're on to public works. Salt and pepper. Salt and we did the total. So DPW,

if you start on page 58, you'll see the DPW budget. Um DPW budget for this uh next fiscal year is proposed at uh 3 million 571,375. Uh that represents a 4.73% increase over FY26. Overall, the budget incorporates the decision to include the waste diversion manager. It reflects stable staffing, uh, continued investment in infrastructure and equipment, and a realistic response to cost pressures in key operational areas. So, with regard to salaries and benefits, salaries total 1,649,681. Uh, that is a 6.88% increase. Uh, but that reflects contract contractual wage adjustments, step movement within the workforce, and the inclusion of the waste and diversion manager. Benefits total $891,787 increasing 4.88%. Uh and the same story here as all the other departments. The primary driver is being uh is health related obligations. We also continue to benefit uh from shared service positions as Dr. Riveros highlighted earlier. Uh we share a facilities manager where the town covers approximately 20% and the school department 80% and a facilities maintenance technician split evenly between the town and schools. With regard to operations, uh the total there is 1,29,97. That's a 1.33% increase uh which reflects overall stability with a few targeted adjustments. So, some key items here, uh, equipment maintenance increases to $100,000, uh, because we're supporting a fleet of approximately 59 vehicles and associated equipment. Building maintenance

increased modestly due to inflationary pressures and ongoing maintenance needs uh, with respect to our HVAC, generators, and septic systems. Uh, grounds maintenance decreases slightly, reflecting completion of major backflow and site work. Tree maintenance remains level at $40,000, continuing our roadside replanting and Tree City USA commitments. Uh, street signage and tools and equipment remain levelfunded, supporting ongoing infrastructure maintenance. There are also a few notable operational adjustments. Uh, travel to Prudence Island increases to 17,600 and that reflects more frequent trips including foreman level oversight. So, the foreman is traveling there. Uh, training increases to $5,000. This supports operator licensing and equipment certifications. Electricity at town hall. We're seeing an increase in usage in electricity in town hall while the DPW facility electricity is uh decreased based on actual usage trends. With respect to contracts and services, the grass cutting contract increases uh slightly under a renewed agreement. Uh custodial services show a slight decrease due to operational adjustments and mosquito control remains level through the contract. Uh but that contract will need to be rebid next year. With respect to Hog Island trash rem removal uh that has been uh trending upward gradually uh to now $10,920 for fiscal year 27 reflecting uh increases tied to costs and logistics. So overall uh the DPW maintains core services uh reflects real cost pressures in fleet maintenance facilities and utilities. Uh but we do continue to leverage shared services efficiencies with the school department and we are requesting provisional approval of 3,571,375 for public works.

Great. Thank you. Uh just a question. Prudence Island Travel if in December POC agrees with the rate changes. Is this enough? Is 2600 going to be enough to cover that delta? We'll be monitoring that like a hawk. Uh right around December is when we make the decision on what we're going to stop spending on uh so that we come in with a surplus just like we do every year. So it I'm going to assume they're going to get some sort of an increase. So just don't know what it's going to be. All right. Questions, Muel?

Yep. So um with DPW, are we fully staffed? No. Um right now we have two openings. Um this is yet another department. It hiring municipalwide uh for ever since CO has been a real real challenge. Uh so the bottom line is no, we're not fully staffed. Uh but we did just do a test. Uh hopefully we'll be able to get some hires out of this latest test. And and of the new hires that's included in this? Yeah, we've included full staffing for

full staffing. Yes. Okay. And um so full staffing would only be two. Correct. Yeah. And then um what what did you say about the maintenance grounds? We do have a surplus right in a large surplus. Did I see that or not? Did I miscalculate um in the DPW 959? Do we have a big surplus there?

Uh well, we froze funds, we froze spending, so uh that did help create a surplus in the area. We are we are worried right now about obviously the effects of the rough weather that we had this year. So we're hoping that we have enough money within the department to cover the expenses for this fiscal year departmentwide. Yeah. So, we're not the let's say FEMA money comes through that would probably take care of some of that, right? It could. Uh the difficulty with this is just the timing. Yeah.

Um sometimes it could take six months, it could take two years to get the FEMA money. Um and then what compounded it this year is there's there's been string there's been conditions placed on what is eligible. So just snow removal is not eligible for FEMA reimbursement. So uh we have to look at all the other costs associated with the blizzard and Rey and Lisa have done a great job but I don't expect we're going to hear until late next year on reimbursement if at all. Is is FEMA underneath DHS? Are they tied into this whole funding fiasco? Well, that's the other thing you're talking about. Yeah.

Withdrawing funding again, but are we using I don't know, Paul, I I know you're are we still trying to clean up folks lawns as best we can. And is are we taking out of that line item to help fund those repairs? Ro improvement. Okay. not the the snow removal fund, snow damage fund. All right. So, but either way, the goal would be that if to use whatever surpluses there are to make sure that at the end of the day, their budget balances at $3,410,220 $25, which is this year's current budget.

Yeah. I was just wondering the reason for the large surplus. Uh point of clarification, Mary, was that question on the maintenance equipment line? No, the maintenance uh grounds. Grounds. Maintenance grounds. Oh, it's a surplus of a considerable surplus about $140,000 grounding. Okay.

I have a question on the maintenance equipment line. Um we're in 24 and 25. we were approximately 84,000. Um in 2026 the budget was 90,000. Uh and we're looking to go up to a 100,000. Can you help me understand that delta? Yeah. Um the cost

costs have just skyrocketed there. There was a lot of damage done to the trucks during the snowstorms. So that that I don't know. We'd have to go back in the in the budget to see what that line I know it looks big right now. The delta is like $75,000 roughly. But I bet if we look at the report from last night's meeting, that delta is a lot less. I'll take a peek.

Yeah. This So this number only carried you through December. you know, those big storms happened after December. So, there's going to be a huge maintenance bill with regard to the repairs of those trucks, plus um they try to defer as much maintenance as they can to the end of the year to make sure that they've got the money in the budget to do it. It's it's it's a balancing act. It doesn't help when I freeze spending, but we we'll get there. No, I I understand. just looking at the the two years of actuals of 84 uh the continuation it um just using historical actuals and projecting forward but I do recognize that there is increased cost there. I just questioned the the value.

Please just a question about the uh the waste diversion manager salary. It doesn't show uh any salary increase. Is that due to the length of position in the in the job kind of thing? What what that that's because uh it his salary was previously recorded in two enterprise funds and then also overtime in DPW. Okay. and he was so it remains in multiple sources. It remains the same and he's you're all set with

uh yeah actually uh he gets he'll get a step increase because he's now his anniversary date was is in May I believe. So this accounts for the step increase that'll be in effect next year. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions on the DPW general budget? If not, is there a motion to provisionally? You have one more. I have just one comment. Okay.

Um just a comment regarding the um Hog Island trash. We never got to to really look at that. And I know it's um as everyone says, we're getting a deal with 10,920 for trash removal for 100 people on Hog Island. and and we did I did ask for a breakdown early on in our ad hoc committee um what that that number represents and we got some we got some line items with a a figure next to it but I think um you know not to hold up this budget but I think that it's important going forward that we get the rest of the information for instance you know, how much trash is brought off the island, how much recycling, how is how is that operation run? And um you know, I I do fear asking the questions. However, I think in in fairness, we should know the operation on Hog Island as well as we know the operation on on our other um waste removal sources. So it would be uh important for me to get that information. Um

as of as of Thank you. And and the if I'm reading it correctly here, we're 110.36% of the budget for equip equipment repair right now. So all the damages it it caught up that $25,000 went straight up with those storms. All right. Do we have a motion to provisionally approve the general DPW budget at 3,571,375? So moved. Second. Any further discussion? All those in favor?

I opposed. Motion passes six to zero. Next up, we have the affformentioned snow removal budget. Snow removal. So, we have blown through the entire budget of snow removal and the reserve. U we've blown through the snow budget. Yep. All right. There's money in the snow reserve right now. We'll true it up uh by the end of the year. So, right now, we're just seeing if the rest of the department uh line items that have been underspent can defay dipping into that reserve fund. Uh, we won't know that until June.

Okay. So, come sometime in June, you're going to say, "All right, we're tracking here, so we're going to need to pull out $70,000 out of the snow reserve or we're tracking here. We only need to take 25 or we need to take all we'll inform you." I mean, it's within departments. You can move money uh between departments. Obviously, we got to come to you. But taking the money out of the reserve, you need to come to us. We would have to come to you. Okay. Great. Any questions on the snow reserve? Um, I guess that my only one would be salt and sand. Is is that 20% increase going to be enough to cover us for for next year? I all I need is a nod, but I I'm getting a nod from Gavin, so I'll go I'll do the same thing I did to Chief Peters. Okay, we're good.

Famous last words. Is there a motion to provisionally approve the snow removal budget at $161,25? So move. Second. Any further questions? All those in favor? I opposed. Motion passes six to zero. I heard a hand pop. Did I hear that right? A hand pop up? No. All right. Was somebody making popping noises? Okay. All right. Uh road improvements. Yeah.

Budgets. Um I think there's there's uh some important things to discuss here with regard to the road improvement budget. So the road improvement budget is uh proposed at $1,170,44. So effectively we've level funded it from FY26. Um, one, this does constitute the town's consistent annual investment in roadway infrastructure, but it also reflects uh anticipation uh that we are going to receive uh $279,226 in state reimbursement through the road works program. Uh we assume that the governor's proposed continuation of this program is going to be approved. It's been very popular and every city and town is supporting it. The reimbursement is not budgeted as revenue. The funds are received only after eligible work is completed and submitted for reimbursement. And as part of the condition of the program, once those funds are received, they have to be reinvested directly back into additional road work. So what we do is we leverage that 1.1704 million uh to get another $280,000 in road paving next year. um that helps us increase our road surface rating. So, and the way we target that uh 35% of our road paving budget uh targeted repairs, 30% preventative maintenance, 25% reconstruction, and 10% for ongoing maintenance. Um and then in addition we also pay for uh lom repair uh drainage improvements uh curb uh curb work associated with roadway repairs uh uh catch basin repairs and uh police details for the uh traffic control during construction. So uh we're requesting provisional approval for $1,170,44

the road paving budget. All right. Do we have a spring paving schedule this year? Okay. Starting. That's not spring. That's summer. So, we're not doing any spring. The roads we just finished.

Okay. Okay. All right. So, we've expanded other than all the the lom and repairs and stuff and you can do some maybe catch basins and things like that, but this has already been blown through. Okay. Sure. Uh there were some catch basin repairs done because of uh plow damage. So, but this budget has been expended. So, there's no spring paving. Sometimes we've done paving in the fall and also paving in the spring. We've done we did most of our paving all last fall. Okay. Is there a motion to approve or any other questions on the road paving? I

I don't think the folks at home might have heard. So, there's going to be paving, but it won't start till August. Is that what you said? Yeah. So, just so everybody knows there will be paving. Uh, yes, I would um provisionally approve the public works budget. Excuse me, the public works snow removal. Oh, road work. Where are we? Public public works road improvements at 1,170,44. Second. That's provisionally, not emotionally. Provisionally. Okay. All those in favor? I

I opposed. Motion passes six to zero. Then we have the Prudence Island transfer station. So um you know we discussed this last night. So the Prudence Island transfer station, this is the expenditure side is still in a general fund. Uh and is proposed at 137,712. This represents an 8.23% increase year-over-year. Um, this increase reflects the incorporation of pay as you throw po program costs which are now propos proportionally allocated across the town's solid waste operations. And so it includes Prudence Island transfer station uh Headley Street and potentially the curb side and it's based on the anticipated participation level. So the number of stickers that each sells and then what your proportional share of those expenses are. With regard to personnel, salary and benefits total $30,69 reflecting uh routine wage adjustments and the associated payroll taxes. Uh the operational costs are proposed at uh $17,13. That's a 9.49% increase. Uh the primary driver there obviously being the pay as you throw bag expense of $8,970. And that's the allocated share uh to be associated with Prudence Island. Uh electricity increase uh increases to 300 I'm sorry 3,200 uh dollars and that just reflects the usage in the rates. Um recyclable and refuge disposal both increased by approximately 4.7% consistent with the CPI based adjustments. Uh transportation remains level at 35,500. uh that's contractual and in landfill testing uh based on actuals uh we reduce that to 7,500 and that reflects updated estimates for required environmental

monitoring and testing. So overall, we're requesting provisional approval of $131,242 to support uh I'm sorry, one thou $137,712 uh for continued operation of the prudence island transfer station. Okay, questions on the prudence island question. We did most of it last night, but Mr. Beg, thank you. Um for clarification, the page throw bags, will they be the same bags as on the mainland. I believe we had Yeah, they use the same bags uh the orange bags with the Porsche logo.

Yeah, the the revenue for the bags and the cost for the bags were just split at a 84 by 16% roughly. Yeah. So I mean previously the way it was done is Hadley Street absorbed all the cost of the bags

but Hadley Street uh enterprise fund got all the revenue of the bags but after all the discussions last night you know reflecting the actual true cost of the operation and the true uh revenues associated with that uh uh station. Um what we did is we just allocated the share of the expenses and allocated the share of the revenues based on the number of stickers. So you got uh the 436 households. Uh take that as a ratio of the total number total cost of the bags and there you get a you know a figure. Thank you.

And and we'll see how that works. If there's a better way to do it as we monitor this through the year uh then we'll change it. But we'll see how this works from the the first year. Any further questions? Is there a motion to provisionally approve Prince Island Transfer Station at 137712? So moved. Second. All those in favor? I opposed. Motion passes 6 to zero. Those were the big departments. I was hoping to cut us off at 9:00. We got 10 minutes.

10 minutes. We can do a real easy one. We could do yours. Ours is level funded. So if we go to if you did, but go to page 26 and you'll see the town council budget. Again, it's it is level funded. It's $18,198. Um, and you'll still be uh supporting the post postp prom event, the Porsche Education Foundation, and you'll be maintaining a small contingency line. Yeah, Mr. I have a question on that.

Um, does that really I mean I don't it's not the money, but I mean it just miscatategorized. Should those postp prom postmouth education foundation be in the council budget? We put them in there because it was always a council decision to to for years we never put it in the budget and then we had to find $1,000. So it was just put in there as as as a council if you wanted to put it under civic support. I was going to say I think it would be more appropriate if somebody was looking through the budget to look in, you know, through civic support.

And I' I'd like to make a motion that we move it to uh civic support. Those two items education and postp prom. Second. Any discussion? Not a big deal. Nope. All those. So that $1,500,500 $1,500 goes into the um civic support. All those in favor? I opposed. Motion passes six to zero. One other question on that. What is a contingency fund and is that even worthwhile having in there? on occasion if there was a a death and a and the council decided to send flowers or something to like that effect, it was in there for that.

It has a purpose. I wasn't sure what that was for. Okay. It also goes with um somebody leaving with plaques with um give him a check for $500. Wish him well. No, you just get a trivet. It's your you know I get a box of those all of that um election celebration. Did Did we send anything to Carlos? We use a fund. We took care of that. All right. Thank you. If you get in now the next All right. So, that changes it to 16,698. You got it.

All right. I can do that at this late at night. So, can I have a motion to provisionally approve the town council budget as amended to $16,698? Sure. You don't want to emotionally approve it? No. Okay. I'm not getting a motion anymore. So moved. Second. All those in favor? I oppose. Motion passes six to zero. Any other small ones you want to tackle or you want to go home early tonight? Sounds like a plan.

Okay. So, tomorrow night we will tackle town administrator, town clerk, canvasing, the enterprise funds, finance, HR, our legal line, IT, tax collections and tax collector, planning office, building inspection, the affformentioned civic support, uh, economic development, and our enterprise funds of Glen Manor House, transfer station at Headley Street, curbside and recreation. I skipped recreation. Yeah. Okay. And recreation. I think that covered everything.

Then you come back to the expenditure page and we cover the other. And then we just have to figure out where to get $2,567. That's your homework tonight. I have an idea of where to get it, but I can't make motions. I'll figure it out. It's 1-1. All right. Second period one. Well, thank you. It's not six to nothing. Four to nothing after 10 minutes like Sunday. That was awesome. No, it wasn't. Hockey score. Do I have a motion to adjurnn? So moved. Second. All those in favor? I oppose. Motion passes 6 to zero.