It was a lot of numbers at the first regular meeting of the Brattleboro Selectboard for November. The first pass at a proposed FY27 budget gave us the number 4.4%, which is the amount property taxes might increase. It might go up more, though, warned the public.
There was a presentation about cost savings for the new solid waste plan. Those cost savings have a cost, however. PAYT bags are back and will be more expensive, plus the town will add staff and equipment to the DPW to pick up compost.
The board heard a monthly finance report and got a quarterly update and EMS Policy Billing review by the fire department.
Also, Brattleboro has a new annual circus festival underway. Get in touch with NECCA for more info!
Preliminaries
They start late. (Maybe they should just warn meetings for 6:30 instead, since 6:15 seems almost impossible for many boards much of the time.)
Chair Elizabeth McLoughlin – I’ve been getting emails about SNAP funds and Groundworks has extended demand at Foodworks and they are asking for donations. Bridgettes Kitchen is accepting donations. They’ll soon get food from Feed the Thousands. Many places in town need donations.
Town Manager John Potter – the circus is in town – the first annual circus festival in Brattleboro and NECCA has a slew of free workshops and shows. Check out their website and take advantage – a great new festival for the town. The finance department can now pay bills online for water and sewer, and taxes. Try it out. The equipment sale is this weekend at the Gibson Aiken center – Saturday from 8-11 for winter equipment. Leaf collection – we learned that the website was generated by an AI bot creating false information about the town – go to our actual website for real information.
Amanda Ellis-Thurber = thanks to everyone who helped with the leaf pickup – 90 minutes, 500 bags or more, and WSWMD appreciated it for the compost. Awe may do another one.
Isaac Evans-Frantz – the town newsletter has information about the town, events, volunteering. Visit the site to sign up. Town Manager does a podcast, too. I’ve heard from people getting no trespass orders while helping others. Or while trying to get warm. Can the town issue a no trespass order from public sidewalks or benches?
Potter – I’ll be happy to talk about that with you sometime.
Isaac – that could be a public discussion. Also, people have mentioned getting no trespass orders for being in the company of someone using illegal substances when they weren’t using them. If that could be part of ti it would be good.
Peter Case – 8-noon this Saturday we’ll have a cracks giving for the cycling community to gather food donations. It’s not just for bikes, but we like to see bike riders. Go to my store’s website for details.
Public
Ken – in the NY Sun, Kurt Daims went to the MA School of Law conference…. he spoke about not tuning the war. At a meeting Brattleboro heard of an ordinance suggestion to support defense of veterans who refuse orders. We ask the board to enact this as an emergency ordinance and sent this to the board by email. Support for military officers, to prevent crimes by President Trump. Troops took an oath to the constitution, not a president. We implore vigilance against all enemies and we want them to refuse unlawful orders….
Liz – wrap it up. Thanks.
Ken – we ask to create the ordinance.
Dick Degray – as I was going through materials looking at the 2025 budget actuals, I found disturbing numbers. The TM was overpaid, the HR director was overpaid, staff was overpaid, the Assessor was overpaid, the Planning Director overpaid, and staff was overpaid in these departments. The Police Chief was overpaid, dispatch staff was overpaid, pubic works director was overpaid, daw staff overpaid, park and recs over paid – over $200k worth of overpayments. There must be a logical explanation. It shook me about the credibility of the numbers last year. Give me a solid answer – why did it happen and did people pay back what they were overpaid – I didn’t see any adjustments.
Liz – that’s quit an allegation you’ve made in public and we’ll get back to you.
Randy – question that would be helpful in the budget process, in the finance department section of the website doesn’t look like has been updated with actuals, so if you want to generate charts to compare, it would be nice to have that updated to show what was actually approved.
Kurt Daims – hello, I’d like to clearly read the whole lawful orders ordinance – (he reads it again, more clearly). … the town shall create fund to advertise the ordinance and a separate fund for legal defense from the unassigned fund balance. No kings!
Lisa – I’d like to let you know that we have between 50 on a slow day to 95 people a day and serve 2 meals a day and will need a lot more food. 69A Elliot. They are scared – there are no food stamps, more people will become homeless, soon. It’s already too much. The problem is there is no place for anyone to sleep. If they get caught sleeping outside they are no trespassed and harasses. Tents are kicked and sliced. It is dangerous out there. There are kids out there. Shelters are enough. I’d love for the town, the cops, the DPW to stop saying where we can’t camp and tell us where we can. There are drugs and mentally challenging situations for people, but everyone deserves a place to sleep. Business owners ask people to stop defecating on the sidewalks – we need a public bathroom or portable potty. We have more ethanol unhoused people that come in. We try to help everyone who comes in. It’s sad. I wanted to give a quick update.
Brattleboro, "The Mouse That Roared"
Toward a Forceful No-Kings Movement
BACKGROUND to Mr. Lucy’s Comments
The New York Sun
September 16, 2008
BCS director Kurt Daims spoke at the Massachusetts School of Law conference “War and the Law: Legal Oppositions to War”.
“. . . Where the conference broke new ground was on the amount of time and discussion focused on getting members of the uniformed officers corps to come over to their side. . . .
“A Brattleboro, Vt., activist and author of a successful petition in his town calling for the arrest and indictment of Messrs. Bush and Cheney, Kurt Daims, addressed the audience: “We have been trying to tell Congress, ‘don’t fund the war.’ We’ve just got to go around them,” Mr. Daims, a panelist, said. “We don’t talk to the president . . . We don’t talk to Congress . . . We talk to the military and say ‘Hey, your oath is to the Constitution, not to the president.'”
“. . . Subsequent speakers spoke for and against the concept of anti-war activists bringing their message directly to members of the military.”
BCS and Brattleboro have experience with controversial local resolutions, having approved the Bush Indictment Resolution in 2008, which turned an international spotlight on Brattleboro and presidential war crimes. An organized backlash overwhelmed town offices for days with death threats and threats to disrupt Vermont’s tourist economy. There was also a flood of encouraging comments. [Reformer commentary, “mouse that roared”] While the resolution was strongly supported in a USA TODAY poll, supporters of President Bush Jr. around Brattleboro felt it singled him out unfairly for the Iraq War, it was clear that conservative opposition to the president was complex. Many people believed the threats, but Brattleboro stood firm.
January 2009
BCS petitioned for the True Pardon Resolution, proposing to President Obama a plea-bargain to get the whole story out, which had bipartisan support. (This was illegally blocked by local government and did not come to a public vote. BCS later won a court decision and gained a charter change to prevent such censorship.) This resolution was an early effort recognizing the need for reconciliation over the division caused by President Bush Junior’s crimes in the Iraq War. .
January 7, 2020
BCS volunteer (and now director) Bruce Clauson proposed an ordinance to the Brattleboro selectboard. It was a forceful action to provide a legal defense fund for soldiers who defy unlawful orders. Mr. Clauson outlined the proposal and suggested it be named for the hero Major Hugh Thompson, who risked his life to stop the massacre at the Vietnamese village of My-Lai in 1968.
We now ask the selectboard to enact the Lawful Orders Ordinance, an emergency ordinance to create and publicize a legal defense fund for such heroes. This is a potent initiative due to the growing doubt and opposition to Mr. Trump, greater than a month ago and greater than to any president in recent history. It is potent also by its moral support for the troops, and its direct connection to them, the soldiers who will be in a position to prevent his next crime.
BCS acknowledges the challenges, noting that to ultimately defeat Mr. Trump will require winning over his allies. Now we must prevent catastrophe. The Lawful Orders Ordinance continues the work of confronting war-loving presidents. Stand firm, Brattleboro . Let us again be “the Mouse that Roared” !
The people of Brattleboro honor the courage and the sacrifices of our troops. We remind them that they took an oath of allegiance NOT to the president, but to the Constitution of the United States — the enduring doctrines of liberty and justice of our nation. We implore their vigilance “against all enemies, foreign or domestic”, and in accordance with the Nuremberg Principles we exhort them to refuse unlawful orders and to file charges against anyone giving an order to start a war of aggression or commit any war crime.
We recognize the courage such fidelity to duty requires. We pledge funds for the legal defense of any soldier who becomes the target of reprisal and is prosecuted for honoring the Constitution in this way, for such a hero will deserve the thanks of the nation and the world.
The selectboard and town manager shall therefore create:
• a fund to advertise the oath and ordinance, and
• a separate fund for legal defense,
each in the amount of $180,000 (one hundred eighty thousand dollars) to be withdrawn from the unassigned budget balance.
The Army officer’s oath of office is printed here in its entirety for reference.
I, _____ , having been appointed an officer in the Army of the United States, as indicated above in the grade of _____ do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservations or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter; So help me God.
Consent Agenda
A. Parking Lot Snow Removal Contract – Approve Contract
B. Courier Grant – Authorize Application
C. Mac’ Convenience Store – Approve Second Class Liquor License
D. Hannah Ruth Massage and Movement – Approve Entertainment License
Degray – I was going to ask you to pull the snow plowing – I have questions.
Amanda – I’ll pull it.
Liz – it will be discussed at the end of the agenda …. uhhhhhhh.
Consent has been given, as amended. 4-1 (Peter declines)
Solid Waste Implementation Plan
Dan Tyler and Pete Lynch
Dan – we are here to talk about the potential new contract. Patrick was heading it up. Since then it came to DPW, Pete has been heading it up with help from Tom Franks and others, looking at the contract, configurations, and options. WE have the service people are used to seeing, but lower cost than expected. We have some slides…
Pete – Solid Waste Implementation Plan – trash, recycling and compost pickup and disposal. We have a couple of proposals to discuss, then what we suggest. In 2012, VT updated the Act148, in 2014 we did curbside compost, in 2015 we added PAYT and landfill use reduced. In 2016 even other week pickup of trash. IN 2014 Triple T sold to Casella, then the Town started to contract with Casella. They sent us a contract in April, we reviewed in detail, new contract came in Sept 2025. 4,388 residences get all three pickups, with more people near downtown. Right now, we average 59 tons of trash, 60 tons of recycling, and 46 tons of compost. Brattleboro does much better than national numbers on trash going to landfills. We investigated many options – a transfer station in West B, eliminating curbside pickup in West B, who buys and maintains carts, PAYT bags and pricing, and self composting in remote areas, or getting rid of curbside collection altogether. We looked at ll the options to find what was bets. I spoke about and April contract, and will talk about the current proposal and the difference. In the April contract, Casella would do curbside pickup of all three streams. Currently they do it by hand and they want to automate it – driver grabs a carts with an arm, dumps it, and sets the cart back down. They proposed two sets of carts for residents and Brattleboro would manage them. PAYT would go away so no paying for bags. It took away the incentive to recycle and compost. Paying for bags incentives people to recycle and compost. Leaf collection would go away. The current option – the September option that we’d like you to approve later – only one stream is automated – curbside recycling would be automated. PAYT would remain as it is. We’ll talk about bag pricing. Instead of two carts at every user location , just one for recycling. Users would still do what they did with PAYT bags. In the first year the cost would drop from $2.1 million to $1.4 million… the three year total would drop from $4.9 million to $3.57 million. DPW would take over compost pickup in town, since it goes to our WSWMD as we currently do and want to do. They make a great composting product. To go to an automated system for recycling, every user needs to be given a standard cart – bought and maintained by the Town. There would be ongoing maintenance costs for the town. We’re adding in downtown cleanup of trash tot he budget. A person and equipment would be needed to take care of the carts, plus people for compost and leaf collection. WE expect half a million in PAYT bag sales. Recycling – what does it look like to the town, the budget and users. For the town, it is automated. We need specific carts. The standard is 96 gallons. We’d start with 64 gallons. WE’d have every other week pickup. Carts would have wheels. We’d move away from bins and only accept things in carts. For Users – they must use carts now, must sign up for free carts, there’s an option to buy larger carts, carts get picked up every other week,… Trash – we think PAYT is the best. Picked up every other week. Bag price increase! Yellow bags ($2 now) would go up to $4.50 a bag for yellow and $6.75 (now $3) for purple. On bag a week will cost you between $20-30. Compost – switching to DPW is a big change for the department. 2 full-time people on a truck and one doing cart management. About $300k a year. Users must use the new green bins, carts must be purchased by users, maybe a sticker for 5 gallon pails. It took us 7 months to get here, We’ll have some other updates before then – the cart signup plan. Public awareness, write RFPs and do contracts for carts, ordinance changes in January, order equipment in February, hire new people for compost and start sometime in May or June. Once we do the implementation, people can swap out carts, and to sign up for programs once they are more familiar with them. There will be 6 months of implementation after we start pickup. I’ve thrown a lot of information motion at you and we’re happy to answer comments or questions.
Liz – yes, it is a lot. Let’s have the board ask questions, then the public. I want to note this is a first reading and there may be changes when you come back.
Isaac – I appreciate your persistence in pursuing cost savings and minimizing disruption to residents. I wanted to check on the cost of recycling bins – cost to residents? 64 gallons?
Peter – the 64 gallon cart – we can bring one in. It is 4-6x the current bins.
Liz – Daniel Quipp can fit inside one.
Peter -we’ll start with 64 gallon. No cost to user in initial round. They’ll be about $80 a cart. Town would pay for it. The revolving loan fund could purchase the carts. We’ll have some money at the end of the fiscal year that you allocated to put toward start up costs. I can’t tell you right now until we have a firm contract and vendors.
Oscar Heller – I want to thank you and all who worked on this. It was a difficult problem and the information you’ve given us is outstanding. If it works out you will have saved the town a huge amount of money.
Peter – Steve Dotson has been a huge help throughout, and has staked every tree looking for grants for this. Seth has helped us with presentations. Tom Franks has been vetting what we look at, looking at hurdles and obstacles.
Amanda – in the public process – you have to repeat yourself so many times and you do it so well and with such grace. Glad DPW will take on comps – it will be a model program in the state.
Liz – thanks again. I know bag costs are going up, but it is =justified in terms of bringing the costs up to date and these are things the public asked for, well not bags, but user fees.
Ivan – Could we get a rundown of the carts – weight ? I have neighbors that move recycling small bits at a time – they have stairs, and bring it out piecemeal. What kind of weatherproofing is on these?
Liz – I’ve talked to my neighbors as well and everyone has concerns. People will be pleasantly surprised by the wheels… my dainty elderly sister has huge carts in California and she has no problem at all. Stairs might be an sissue, but with my neighbors, people can help each other to find solutions – where to put carts, how to do it in snow… I thin it is a neighbor to neighbor activity, as we look out for elderly neighbors in other instances we do this, too.
Peter – we went to Plainfield NH and implanted a system like this, and they offered 49, 64, and 96 and did swaps as they went. Most people chose a bigger cart. We asked a few people. How does this affect a person that struggles to walk. The 64 gallon carts has a lid, weight isn’t an issue. You can roll it down stairs and driveways. “My 90 year old mother has a 96 gallon cart she puts out every other week.” was a comment we heard.
Heidi – a question about the future. It is a great improvement, but does it wed us to Casella using their system of carts? What if they don’t fit the next provider?
Dan – generally, others are going automated and carts are fairly interchangeable. Casella says we’ll want to switch trash to automated. : )
Susan – it was talked about private contractor prices for pickup – $50 – is that every week or every two weeks. I had to pick up a compost cart – will there be a fee if they get stolen, etc. What’s the cost of the cart of recycling if someone wants more than one or theirs gets stolen or damaged? And, the properties – is that all properties or not the commercial properties?
Peter – not sure if outside contractor was every week or every other.
Dan – every week, alternating …
Peter – we will strongly recommend recycling carts. Town will pay for them initially. If Casella damages it, they’d replace it. If DPW damages, the town would replace. Every cart has a serial number, so concerns about getting stolen or confused, we’ll know what address gets what serial number. For trash, we project 420k, and bag costs equal out, so the taxpayer doesn’t pay for trash, the user does.
Susan – would the town replace things if the bin was stolen?
Liz – have to look into that
Randy – I’m not for this. The amount of time spent already – it is an incredible amount of money – another 7 months of this – the cost is always going to go up. Create a franchise – get it out of the taxpayer realm. Bins are awesome. We had them in PA. Bins are easy. People will love it. I’ll have to drive half a mile down a driveway for mine. I urge you not to do this – the time, the costs… let’s do private haulers. Staff are overwhelmed- and we are adding one more thing to manage. If the truck breaks, there is no pickup? We don’t need more staff, expenses, repairs. Look at a way to get it out of government.
Gemma – Three main questions – I’d like to better understand the capital and operating costs for DPW taking over compost pickup – so they don’t have the capital equipment to start up. What about trucks, equipment, personnel costs? Second concern is PAYT bags will increase by 2x+. There is a cost to pollution, but the logistics is we sell bags in packs of 5. It is a huge amount of money to lay it all out at once. I don’t put out much trash. That’s a big chunk of money to have to spend all at once. I’d like to see how we can mitigate that. The only place to buy a single bag is town hall. Lastly, the trucks can pick up 48 gallon containers. We are an old town with not a lot of setback. I don’t see how I’l fit one or two 64 gallon containers. I live alone. I do not need a 64 gallon bin. 48 gallons would be much better for me, and I’m sure for others that are aware of our trash use.
Peter – capital costs and budget costs – the start up costs – a truck, software, and some equipment is $181k; the bins start up is $91k and that includes a pickup truck to help manage cars and pickup up compost if the truck is down. We suggest using the revolving loan fund for carts. For the DPWQ budget – 3 people – the compost budget with staff salaries, fuel, maintenance office supplies, leaf collection, Downtown cleanup – $227k. Cart is about $110k. That includes almost 40k for replacement funds going into an account for future use. WE could get 48 gallon. There is a single vendor in New England that sells them and they can be available. There is the potential. Casella’s trucks can pick them up. We suggest starting at 64.
Randy – it is every two weeks for recycling, just for math purpose.
Dick – thanks for the work, whether I agree. The 4388, what percentage of users in town? How many household units? How many don’t use the system? And why put $12k for downtown cleanup? I thought I saw something in the 2027 budget for it. The implementation costs – 3 people working? How many days will they do the compost pickup – I don’t think it is 5 days a week? What else would they do? Glad the cost of bags has gone up to make the users pay rather than tax payers.
Dan – we’d have to get you that information later.
Liz – let’s wrap this up and invite you to send comments and we’ll hear more on the 18th.
Proposed FY27 General Fund Budget
John Potter – tonight is the kickoff on talking about actual numbers for FY27. We’ll do the high level summary tonight and details later. Overall it maintains core municipal services – 4.4% property tax increase. Highlights – it does not have a Finance Director, IT coordination, Assist Town manager, and data. It does have staff for a 4th platoon in the fire department, more hours in dispatch, more help for park maintenance, extra hours at the library, and DPW staff for compost collection. One significant change is that for the first time ever staff benefits have been distributed by department – shown spread out so everyone can see all the benefits. We could never see the true cost before. Other highlights – we propose a 25 cost of living adjustment for staff and a new healthcare provider and adjustments to employee costs in healthcare, proposing a reduction in human services, and increase to capital investment by 30% but it is still underfunded, We’ll also have a supplemental request. The 5 year capital investment plan shows what is on the horizon and how we hope to keep the increases in capital under control. It does go up for a while. Revenue fees have been increased to match costs of service delivery. Planning fees going up. A 3% increase in EMS reimbursements over actuals. We looked at LOST – hasn’t been rising as fast in the past. We have an $861k increase in property tax needed. 4.4% up over last year. It keeps the Town working for residents. Anyone have high level questions – we’ll do details later on. Nov 12 is a budget listening session at the library. That’s what I have tonight.
Liz – there is no motion or decisions tonight.
Amanda – I appreciate the time and thought with the memo to start the process, and we’ll have lots of opportunities to discuss it further. Thanks for getting the ball rolling.
Oscar – I’ll save detailed stuff, but do want to call out the reduction in human services budget, certainly the staffing increases I’ll need to know more. dispatch and finance we made cuts last year. If that’s not panning out I’m open to it but need to hear more on the other ones. I want to talk more about underpinning on capital – another big area. The EMS revenue – I want to make sure we are still conservative enough on that number. Those are my top level. This was a ton of work and I appreciate it. Big steps forward with the memo and the format.
Isaac – I appreciate what you’ve done with our priorities about fiscal responsibility and minimizing disruptions that our neighbors expect. I’d like to hear the public on the proposal to continue with not having a finance director and keeping the contract services. How does it impact financial responsibility. I also have questions about expanding the FD platoon. We just added positions to the fire department. We still see high overtime. We had cut half a dispatch position – if we return that where are other opportunities for savings in those larger departments. I have questions about cutting human services in a year when federal cuts are serious. Let’s think strategically, and think about safety – the upstream safety consideration to reduce the load on emergency services. Also, ask if you could explain about departments…
Potter – the process we used was each department brought forward their thoughts on what the community wants from them, and that’s what reflected in the department asks. We went through a collaborative process to reduce things. When they come to talk with you, they’ll tell you what they see on the ground vs what we see to manage the cost for the town. overall asks were 29 million and got it down by 3 million in the proposed budget. Things someone in town would like to see, but we had to make a call… you may want to put them back in.
Isaac – so the 4.4% increase is based on the town manager budget (not the staff asks)
Potter – trying to be transparent about the need vs what we can afford.
Pete – we always talk about cuts rather than growth. WE had a failed budget and had to reinvent the weheel. I’m baffled about overtime and first responders. The human services budget – I advocated to go to 2 % and now I suggest going to 1%. It is a burden at any percent. A COLA is 3% and we’re asking for 2$. Some thing just need to be reduced. We always talk about where to cut. But Human Services is abullet proof item it seems – it’s not. It has top come Ito play in a discussion of fiscal responsibility.
Liz – there are some innovate things here to be fiscally responsible. The town needs to hear more about costs that are going up, and it is important that people understand the Finance Committee said human services was extraordinarily high. We need to respect the towns taxpayers. Nonprofits need to be mindful of who they are asking it from, and what they are asking for. I’m in favor of the process to discuss all the elements of this budgets and we will understand the service needs of the community. Everyone wants what they want and it is difficult to not give them what they want. We need to weigh these things carefully and take things seriously. Let’s break for 5 minutes, then hear from the public.
Proposed FY27 General Fund Budget Pt II
They get back from the break late. : )
….
David – the year over year change in benefits =either overall or by category?
(board is muted)
(Randy is muted)
Randy – after everything they hear in the room – it would be an awesome way to end all of this. Everything could say everything, rather than wait for RTM. There are a lot of thing son the horizon we don’t see in the budget – school taxes, state budgets. Human services dollars is an amount, not just a percentage. EMS we are relying on as a cash flow. And a trash bag tax. If we have a higher human services budget and fewer trash bag sales – this could get up near 8%. Think about all those things. WE’ll be close to 10% at the end of this, rather than 4.4%
Oscar – when is the human services discussion?
Potter – Dec 16th.
Degray – how many new FTE’s in the budget? I’m really concerned about a supplemental presentation to the board adding more money… it’s like bait and switch. If you want it in the budget, put it in and let the board decide. It is smoke and mirrors if you will show them something else to see. Really concerned.
Potter – the total new FTE is about 6.7.
Heidi – about the two column s- the department column and the tm column… look at the TM column? Also – there is longevity pay in departments?
Potter – the in the collective bargaining agreements there are things to pay staff who have been here longer as a benefit. Generally in recognition that someone here has specialized skills and knowledge that is valuable to the town – like where all the pipes are.
Isaac – where are the 6.7 FTE’s?
Potter – those are in the areas I talked about earlier – I can explain the specifics as we go department by department, and how many hours.
Amanda – thanks for keeping it light tonight. We will go through this with a fine toothed comb, so here we go. let’s make it positive.
Oscar – anyone interested, reach out. Happy to talk and answer questions.
Pete – so happy I have nothing left to say.
Monthly FY26 Budget Update with Quarterly Review
Bonnie B. and Sally
Bonnie – this report is for the first quarter of the FY26 budget – it breaks down the three main funds. (reads the memo) We’re through 25%. General fund we have recorded 84% of the revenue from property taxes. Expenses are at 23% annualized. Included in revenue are receivables, and we have a chart that shows the highest are from EMS and property taxes. Areas worth noting – EMS revenue is 100% of the FY26 revenue. We expect 467k in excess. This is based on the model EMS uses. I broke down collection vs charged. we collected an average of 46%. We estimate at 38%. Services exceed, benefits are holding. Overtime will cause us to exceed budget. In risk management, workers comp and liability are paid quarterly and we are where we should be. Utility costs continue to go up. Overtime budget in fire and police continue to exceed budget, and that increases benefits, etc. We are beginning to show incentives in their own line items. Trying to get departments to show all costs. Utility Fund – we want to equalize the revenue- taking an estimate of quarterly killings and estimating monthly. Expeditures are below. The Parking fund – we prorate expenditures, but even within there we are within budget. Why no depreciation? Not til we close the audit. Then we finalize the depreciation, done cumulatively though the period we recorded.
Isaac – thanks for the breakdown. Where are we with finding an auditor?
Bonnie – in second round of RFPs… we put some tweaks into the rep and sent a second round.
Liz – does the state get involved? Do they have a list of auditors? Or New England?
Bonnie – every state has a society of CPAs. The trick is the number of authors is decreasing because of new standards, and municipal accounting is a niche, and a single audit – those three items diminish the pool we can pull from. I have offered to draft the statements, which is a burden to auditors, so hopefully that will get some interest.
Oscar – do we have a deadline?
Potter – we ahem always done it in time for the budget so we can include it, but I’m not sure of legal obligations. It would be concerning of we didn’t get an auto done. We might have to do it later.
Bonnie – you have federal funds so we want that submitted within 9 months, so you don’t get listed as a high risk, which is more costly. We’d like to minimize that.
Amanda – software licenses are aggressively spent – what does that mean?
Bonnie – we pay for the largest – Open Gov – in July.
Amanda – worker’s comp? Dod rates change? Typical?
Bonnie – that might eb a Sally question. rates did changes and we want to allocated them correctly to the correct departments.
Sally – there was an increase to worker’s comp due to scores.
Amanda – will that rate stay for a year or can it be adjusted during the year?
Bonnie – it is what it is, but we do a survey and have audited numbers. If payroll is lower then the rte doesn’t change, but if the payroll goes down the premium goes down.
Oscar – this is a great report. Glad you incorporated our request into the report. I like trying to see things that might trigger interest and explain them. Software licenses… they seem to be over by a bunch – a cost change there?
Sally – for some there were.
Bonnie – and we changed the allocation to where it should be.
Oscar – for police, fire and dispatch are all over on overtime. We under by more with salaries than over by overtime. WE want to fix it but it isn’t a budget killer. Still slightly confused about EMS receivables. Outstanding claims by the percentage – still outdoing – 339k is still out there.
Bonnie – you take the net change from year end to now- 60k. If you want to look at cash coming in, receivables are down by about $60k… we’ve receive about $60k of the receivables.
Oscar – the number in the report is… that is just receivables whether they have been collected?
Bonnie – just receivables. I take 38% of it from the EMS model and say that’s it. We’ve already collected some dollars. Difference between cash and accrual…
Liz – thanks again. I want to highlight the parking fund. So pleased it has pulled together to have surplus after many months, years , of not having a surplus, and here we have a surplus. Many town staff responsible.
Bonnie – great to see a surplus. Fund is managed well and the changes helped significantly.
Potter – (thanks staff for parking system changes at Liz’s request)
Amanda – back to workers comp…
Sally – we’re going to stay safer.
Oscar – really glad we have you doing this Bonnie.
Randy – back to what Oscar was asking about accrual and cash. The FD will tell us numbers that come from what Bonnie did, and I assume that on the pages in the book, it talks about 881k is the budget reimbursement. It’s all cruel. Don’t worry about what we got – that’s in a different part. If we could have that [put into the fire department it would be more understandable. We’ve made improvements – a couple of finishing touches makes it reasonable and understandable and we know where we are at.
Heidi – maybe I missed something but I look at this and the overtime – oh my god, overtime is more than 100% of the full year budget and police has spent 63% of their overtime budget. What are we doing about that?
Bonnie – if you isolate overtime is is accurate, but the salary line is lower due to vacant positions so it works out.
Oscar – on fired we are on pace to… we can talk after.The costs offset in a good direction, I think.
Amanda – I can weigh in, too. For policing, it isn’t like a shift like a hospital… police will stick with their work past a shift change to finish the job.
Randy – based on that – the total budget number – the concern is workplace safety, work- life balance – if we have staff shortages are we on a trend line that it will go where it works out financially, and what about fireman who want to stay in Brattleboro.
Liz – the 4th platoon is a big part of that. Sally – trying to recruit fire personnel?
Sally – we do screenings and go through the prerequisites. Yes, we are.
Kate – on the EMS – one of the big things we struggle with – when a bill goes out, when it gets paid. The collection rates in July, Aug and Sept – does it mean that the July number is all the invoices that went out in July – do they line up? Have we cracked it so we can track an invoice – it went in July and was it paid? When we’ve collected it, is that real money?
Bonnie – it is real life money we have collected.
Oscar – so when it says July – is that claims in July?
Bonnie – yes.
Degray – EMS – in August, we still had receivables coming in? Where did they get placed after June 30th?
Bonnie – I know what I want to say, but it is teaching accounting – I accrued receivables on 6/30 – every month I book that. You always have to take the net change between June and whenever we are booking.
Degray – I’m estimating the overtime line will be 500k. Police don’t have any c=vacancies – 13k a month in overtime. I asked about salaries that need June 30th – how come so many people go overpaid? You’ve been doing the finances for several months. I can give you examples…
Liz – Dick… it is more than a question, it is an accusation, and here in the memo you talk about the incentives and it is laid out.
Bonnie – before anyone can answer that, we need to know how you calculated that. We disagree that anyone was overpaid, but the way things were tracked prior, we’d need to pull the out. We’d show you how it was accurate.
Degray – (away from mic)
Liz – these are serious and we will answer you, and it is an outrageous accusation you’ve made on the town and employees.
Fire Department Quarterly Report
Jay Symonds – the fire department quarterly report is 11 pages. I paraphrased it to hit high points. (Reads memo)
13 EMS calls a day. Outreach events. Retirements and resignations of 3 staff. New hires. 6 vacancies in department. In overtime, we spent 157k in overtime. Largely due to 8 vacancies. 531k spent on staffing 1st quarter, We live in a competitive market. The 4 platoon system is a 42 hour work week. WE’re not heavily populated and don’t have the number to pull from to fill vacancies. We interviewed someone from CO, and down south. I keep track of why everyone does overtime. Our intent is to lower it. We haven’t been able to fill vacancies. EMS payments – 156k – the date correction is 10/1/25. The amount of cash received for bills in that quarter. The rest – some hasn’t been paid yet, some is in a payment plan and will come later. We’ll use the number Bonnie uses. Medicare was 46% private 23% of the mix. Got grant money for training. There is an AD at LMP. Medical doctor has done new classes – heat emergencies and ice baths. New CPR device investigations. Lithium battery charger fires. Rental housing inspections. Household info for emergency responses. Some staff promoted. Questions?
Liz – AD is an automated defibrillator
Amanda – the EMS data – time on scene has been shortened by a couple of minutes. Faster response times!
Jay – we continue to hone skills and better the system.
Amanda – overtime – can you explain why banner community details is overtime?
Jay – banner overtime is for hanging the banner – on Sundays it gets hung. Community details are additional staff for marches, football games, etc. Public events that need a dedicated resource. If they can come and go it isn’t overtime. If they are dedicated it is overtime. FSLA – single role paramedics can only work 40 hours a week, but they work 48 hours so they get 16 hours of overtime every pay period. They get compensated for training at overtime rates. If they are on shift they don’t get additional pay. But outside the firehouse they get overtime. Trainings are required for promotion and growth. Most are to expand knowledge.
Amanda – the competitive market – is the overtime pay a perk?
Jay – yes. The department I came from did not do it that way, so it is a perk, absolutely.
Pete – as Anna who has commissioned banners, it comes with a fee to cover the overtime fee?
Jay – 2 firefighters for 2 hours – we will increase the rate to cover the costs.
Pete – is reimbursed overtime.
Liz – the relationship of call volume with overtime – we get emails that you handled X number of incidents. The volume of calls has increased significantly.
Jay – there has been period of time where we have up to 26 calls. On this days, we do a call back. As soon as we have more than 4 people on a seen, we do a callback to have resources. Typically it is for two. That makes 4 hours of overtime. On the heavy days it drives up overtime costs. To backfill and make resources available.
Liz – call volume is greater. Also, the relationship between the unfilled positions and overtime. What are we doing to alleviate that situation beyond hiring?
Jay – one thing – every shift we have 10 positions – sometimes we don’t fill all 10. We only fill 8 as a minimum staffing. We reduce it to save on the overtime line. Further, the floor does a good job of managing the schedule. If it is a critical vacancy, we’ll see if a time off request can be changed.
Liz – you are casting a wide net for firefighters. Some are in traing (yes) so you are trying to accomplish the goal.
Amanda – how do the wellness days go into the conversation of time off.
Jay – captains manage wellness days. Never two at the same time. They get put in 30-60 days in advance. Only one off per shift. A living document everyday.
Amanda – would more staffing be helpful to simplify that puzzle?
Jay – yes – we’ve never gotten to full staffing.
Oscar – a little more about the six vacancies – see are some way along the process?
Jay – actual vacancies – no one in those positions. One is being cleared soon, rest haven’t been hired yet.
Amanda – any discussion of revenue from being of service to other communities?
Jay – it is all mutual aid – they come and help us; we can go help them.
Randy – very informative. About the banners and event – do we charge anything to cover larger events?
Liz – we don’t quite cover costs for banners; we have talked about asking for donations – it doesn’t match the outlay of staff. WE need to have some sort of ordinance that codifies some of those charges.
Potter – haven’t had the capacity to take on that project.
Randy – when a permit is given, could we limit the number of events per year?
Liz – we have outlined the costs. We can heighten those discussion. We haven’t discussed living public speech.
Randy – not saying limit speech, just town’s costs.
Heidi – the AED at the park was paid for by Brattleboro Senior Corp. We do funds that benefit seniors, and we did it because there is a lot of pickleball there.
Liz …Dick
Degray – so enthusiastic. Smile more. What you said is hurtful. I ddid not make a n accusation. You can make your assumption.
Liz – I’m not making assumptions.
Dick – let me ask you question.
Peter – move on.
Dick – I don’t need to hear from you. Look at your phone more.
Liz – ask your question
Dick – are wellness days carried over? Can they be carried over? What’s the average time on a callback?
Jay – wellness days do not get carried over year to year. Used with a 22 day timeframe. Callbacks vary – 30 minutes to several hours. We can start to track that for you.
Review EMS Billings and Collection Policy
Jay – this is about the EMS billing policy review – an annual review. So, what we request is to continue as is then conduct a regional review of building. Ours was adopted in 2024 and we can review it after a year. The policy is functioning, but we don’t have enough data about overall outcomes. WE have a timely claim processing – less that one week to process. We have a collection agency that we are working with. It is our first cycle of age billing. The collection policy – the agency would be collecting outside the tax base… not people who pay taxes in Brattleboro – people outside town. We do want to review the fee schedule. A market comparison will make us consistent with others. We charge $1400 for a call, and 22 per mile. Cheshire and Keene charge more. So we want to look more at that. 74% is medicare medicaid payer mix now. Want to be aligned with current regional rates. This has been the first year… we’ll know more the more we do this. Let’s review at the end of the fiscal year.
Amanda – how much to hire a collection agency?
Jay – 3% of what they recover. If they get us $100 back they take $3.
Oscar – looking forward to reviewing this further down the line.
Isaac – curious about collection. Only 2% we assist are self pay? Are we going to collect from insurance companies.
Jay – from copays or private pays.
Isaac – are we collecting in the month or …if there is a charge on July 31 I’m surprised we’d collect on that day …follow me?
Jay – I think the answer is accrual – Bonnie is putting it back into that month when the payment comes. It gets credited to the month it was billed.
Peter – I appreciate the hard work you do.
Oscar – if I’m out of Brattleboro, insurance pays it, but we’d collect on the balance after the negotiated rate?
Fire Department EMS Superintendent William Fritz – they pay us what they pay us. Insurance may pay $1000, and you may have a copy for the balance. We can’t charge someone once insurance pays. We’d go after people who didn’t pay their copays urself pays. Medicare gets us just over $500per.
Liz – thanks and I agree more time will get more informed decision making.
Randy – thanks. Mutual aid – is that EMS ambulances?
Jay – Cheshire – we have yet to send an ambulance for mutual aid, Cheshire has come here.
Liz – what’s next?
…
They have committee appointments and the request to discuss parking lot snow removal. I, however, am done at 9:42. Fingers are tired!