Brentwood budget committee presses select board for employee-level pay and benefit detail

Brentwood Town’s Budget Committee reviewed a new departmental-budget workbook on Sept. 29 and agreed to press the select board for more detailed employee and benefits data to support deliberations for the 2026 fiscal year.

Committee members said the spreadsheet, prepared by a committee member from the select board packet, shows 2025 appropriations, department requests, and a configurable salary-rise variable. The tool also contains position-level templates that compute FICA, New Hampshire Retirement contributions and other standard payroll charges when users enter current pay and proposed increases.

Members said the worksheet makes it easier to see how a proposed percentage increase would flow through payroll lines for each account, but they pressed for more transparency from town staff. They asked the select board to supply a single table of every funded position (or the position identifier), the current rate and the requested rate so the budget committee can verify how department-level totals roll up.

Committee members and staff also discussed breaking out major non‑discretionary costs — notably health insurance, Medicare/Medicaid and retirement — so departments and the public can see the “true cost of service” for each account. Finance staff’s view, as presented in the meeting, is that allocating health‑insurance cost to account lines would increase departmental awareness of benefit costs; committee members acknowledged potential privacy and HIPAA concerns and urged the finance director to consult the town attorney about how to present benefit costs without exposing individually selectable plans. One fallback suggested by committee members is to allocate benefits using an average per‑employee cost so the department-level totals reflect benefit expenses while preserving individual privacy.

The committee noted special payroll complexities for police and fire — overtime and step increases — and asked that those assumptions (for example, projected overtime percentages) be visible in the worksheets.

As an outcome, the budget committee agreed to request from the select board and finance director: (1) the single-sheet list showing funded positions and current vs. requested pay; (2) clarification about whether actual plan‑level health costs can be shown at an account level or whether an average allocation should be used; and (3) any existing per‑position worksheets (for police, fire and highway) showing overtime, step schedules and related assumptions. Committee members asked that those materials be provided in advance of the committee’s scheduled review meetings so they can prepare questions before department presentations.

Ending: Committee members said the new spreadsheet is a useful start and pledged to continue working with the select board and finance director to refine the data inputs before the budget hearing.