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Brentwood budget committee presses for salary worksheets, approves small budgets and tables cemetery COLA
Summary
The committee insisted department salary/wage detail be provided in a shared folder before detailed budget review, approved the Budget Committee, Conservation, Zoning and Debt Service budgets, and tabled a cemetery COLA decision pending uniform select-board direction.
The Brentwood Budget Committee reiterated that department-level salary and wage worksheets must be submitted before detailed budget reviews and used a batch process to approve several noncontroversial budgets.
Chair Letty said the committee had asked departments for position-level salary detail so members could review line items such as "salary clerks" or other personnel costs. Several members said the select board had placed files in a shared folder but that some departments still had not supplied the requested worksheets; the committee asked staff to confirm and post missing spreadsheets before the next meeting.
With documentation available for certain line items, the committee moved to approve a handful of operating budgets. The committee voted to approve the Budget Committee operating budget at $232 (to cover training and professional development), the Conservation Commission budget at $12,704 (level funded), the Zoning Board budget at $808 (level funded) and the Debt Service budget at $269,261. The committee recorded each motion, second and majority voice vote for the public record.
The cemetery budget was discussed but committee members declined to finalize a COLA decision for cemetery staff until the select board confirms an overall COLA policy. The committee made and seconded a motion to table the final cemetery COLA decision pending that alignment.
The chair emphasized that the salary worksheets are critical to transparent review: "I didn't think I would have expected that when these budgets get turned in ... they would be given." Members agreed to follow up with department heads and to resume remaining budget reviews at an upcoming meeting.
