Committee Report - Finance - 6-8-15 — File 199505

Finance Committee Page 1 of 3 Printed 6/9/2015 June 8, 2015 REPORT OF THE FINANCE COMMITTEE Attendee Name Title Status Arrived Tony Lafuente Chair Present Maryann M. Heuston Vice Chair Present Katjana Ballantyne Ward Seven Alderman Present John M. Connolly Alderman At Large Present William A. White Jr. Alderman At Large Present Matthew McLaughlin Ward One Alderman Present Robert J. McWatters Ward Three Alderman Present Mark Niedergang Ward Five Alderman Present Rebekah L. Gewirtz Ward Six Alderman Present Dennis M. Sullivan Alderman At Large Present Mary Jo Rossetti Alderman at Large Present 1. Approval of the May 20, 2015 Minutes RESULT: ACCEPTED 2. Approval of the May 27, 2015 Minutes RESULT: ACCEPTED 3. FY-16 Departmental Budget review Personnel Director Bill Roche spoke about several grading and salary adjustments included in the FY-16 Budget request. • Non-union employees are evaluated each year and given merit increases of 0-3%. The average increase this year for non-union employees is 2.6 % for a total cost of $259,000 • a Salary Contingency line item for new hires was added to the budget to allow the Personnel Department to advertise a salary range when attempting to fill certain positions; • 2 positions were reclassified, as follows: from Superintendent of Inspectional Services to Director of Inspectional Services and from Director of Health to Director of Health and Human Services. Both positions changed from grade B to grade A;

Finance Committee Page 2 of 3 Printed 6/9/2015 • 3 positions were reclassified to Supervisor positions with each receiving a 6% salary increase; • non-union employees will now receive holiday pay for any holiday that falls on a Saturday. The committee requested that a representative from the Personnel Department be in attendance at each of the Finance Committee budget meetings to respond to any questions that may arise. • Superintendent of Schools Tony Pierantozzi presented the School Department’s budget request. Of the families (with school age children) who moved out of Somerville, only 1 family left due to educational issues while the remaining left for economic reasons. It appears that more parents are staying in the city longer and Mr. Pierantozzi thinks that the public’s perception is that the Somerville schools are better. Regarding the renovation or construction of a new High School, the process of selecting a design team is now underway. It is expected that as much as 80% of the cost of renovation or new construction will be reimbursed. • Omar Boukili presented the Executive Department’s budget request. Alderman Niedergang spoke about adding another staff person to the Mayor’s Office to keep things moving forward. Aldermen Heuston and Lafuente agreed and the committee asked that the Mayor’s Office put forth a proposal. • Skye Stewart presented SomerStat’s budget request. SomerStat is looking into a Community Budgeting process and has had discussions with the City of Cambridge on the matter. SomerStat is working with w/MassPort, the BOA President and the Mayor’s Office to gather data about the airplane noise over Somerville. Alderman Rossetti will forward the contact information of the person(s) at Boston University who have been working on this issue. • John Long presented the City Clerk’s budget request and was asked to provide information regarding postage expenses. • Rositha Durham presented the Clerk of Committees budget request; which was level funded. • Nick Salerno presented the Election Department’s budget request and explained that the Special Election line item is for the Presidential Primary. • Gregory Jenkins presented the Arts Council’s budget request. Almost $1 million in outside funds were secured for the department. Mr. Gregory spoke about some of the challenges artists face in light of increasing rents/properties in the city and said that it is becoming increasingly more difficult, but he hopes that the proposed new zoning will help.

Finance Committee Page 3 of 3 Printed 6/9/2015 • Oliver Sellers-Garcia presented OSE’s budget request.