Updated: Finance Committee Votes to Restore Positions

The Finance Committee responded to a number of requests by department heads, and voted Tuesday to recommend fully funding three of the four positions whose hours the mayor's budget would have cut.

The commiteee also decided to change the way the town purchases and uses supplies.

In the budget that Mayor Joe Jaskiewicz proposed (click to see that budget), a secretary's hours would be cut from 40 to 20, with a salary cut from $41,995 to $32,500. An assistant planner position would be cut from 40 to 20 hours, and pay cut from $59,079 to $29,653. 

Town Planner Marcia Vlaun spoke about the town's economy, its changing demographics and its needs, and the roles that Planning and related departments play in meeting citizens' needs, (click to read that story). 

The committee voted unanimously to restore the positions to the hours and salary levels Vlaun had proposed.

A proposal to reduce the hours of a secretary's position at the Youth Services Bureau also was overruled by the Finance Committee. The change would have taken the position from 25 hours at an annual salary of $24,973 hours to 20 hours at $20,000.

Councilor Billy Caron, who is the Town Council liasion to the Youth Advisory Board, pointed out that the position already had been cut from 40 hours to 25. The vote to restore it to the department's requested 25 hours was unanimous.

One other position, that of a secretary in the Parks and Recreation Department, was slated to be trimmed from 40 hours to 20 in the mayor's proposed budget. The cut would take it from a requested $41,996 to $21,078. The Finance Commitee put off a decision on that position.

Responding to an idea broached by Vlaun, the Finance Committee decided to centralize the purchasing of supplies for town departments.

Finance Director Terry Hart proposed taking supply purchases out of each department's budget and massing them in one line item.

Taken separately, the requests total about $25,000, she said.

“I don’t know how much we would save," she said, but “we could order in bulk, get better prices, see how much we use."

Purchasing supplies together could allow the town to save money by buying in bulk, the committee said. The supplies would be kept in a cabinet in the Finance Department, Hart said, and departments would take them as needed. The Finance Committee decided to go with that approach, and propose $20,000 for supplies. 

Councilor Gary Murphy, who works at the jail, says this is the way supplies are handled there.

"It cuts down on waste and abuse," he said.

Hart made sure that there was no implication that any town department was wasting or abusing supplies.

Once the Finance Committee finalizes its recommendations, it will present its version of the budget to the Town Council, which has the final say. Click to read about the process.