Finance officer projects $500,000–$1 million health-insurance surplus; pay-plan ordinance advances to full Board

At a Committee on Accounts meeting of the Manchester Board Mayor & Aldermen, Sharon Wiccans, finance officer, told aldermen the city is on track to produce a surplus on the health-insurance line and reported other revenue gains while an ordinance to implement a modernized employee compensation plan advanced from committee to the full Board.

Wiccans said the finance department expects a health-insurance surplus “at least a half a million dollars. It could be up to a million dollars depending on on claims.” She told the committee the city’s benchmark for the average unobligated balance after 10 months is 16.767 percent and that the city’s overall unobligated percentage after 10 months was 19.56 percent. “All departments [are] within 10% of this benchmark with the exception of the Department of Public Works,” she said.

The finance officer reported mixed revenue performance year over year: revenues for the first 10 months of fiscal 2025 were $461,000 lower than a year earlier, a gap Wiccans attributed in part to state funding received the prior year. She said several other revenue lines exceeded expectations: auto-registration receipts were “up, I believe, 646,000,” and she said the city expects to beat its auto-registration budget by at least $400,000. Interest income is also up from prior projections, and Wiccans said parking revenues produced “one of the best Aprils that we’ve had in a long time,” which she said should increase the parking division’s dividend by roughly $200,000–$300,000.

Wiccans told the committee the city’s contingency remains at $200,000 and noted there was a request on the Board of Mayor and Aldermen agenda that night to use some contingency for the police department; she said she would monitor and adjust projections accordingly. She also reported that retirements are running similar to last year in dollar terms and that the pattern of timing for retirements — where employees may delay leaving until certain pay periods — can affect year-to-year comparisons.

Kim LeBlanc, financial analyst II, transmitted finance-department reports including an accounts-receivable over-90-days aging report and a list of outstanding receivables; the committee recorded no substantive questions on that item and moved to accept the reports.

Separately, the committee considered an ordinance to amend Chapter 33 (Human Resources) of the city code to implement a modernized employee compensation plan effective July 1, 2025, and to remove obsolete language. The committee approved the measure and requested the clerk to prepare the ordinance for the Board of Mayor and Aldermen; committee members were told the item will appear before the full Board on June 3, with the implementation date set for July 1 if the Board adopts it.

Votes at a glance: - Ordinance amending Chapter 33 (Human Resources) to implement a modernized employee compensation plan, effective 07/01/2025: moved and seconded in committee; committee approved and referred to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen for consideration on 2025-06-03. (Committee vote: voice vote; recorded as approved in committee; no roll-call tally provided.) - Monthly financial reports and accounts-receivable reports: committee accepted the reports (voice votes; no roll-call tallies provided).

The committee recorded no further substantive public comment on the financial items and adjourned after approving the agenda items. The ordinance will return to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen for final consideration on June 3, 2025.