Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Administration Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Select Board reviews administration budget, considers finance coordinator and software changes
Summary
During the March 17 budget workshop the Skowhegan Select Board reviewed administration and finance budgets, discussed creating a finance coordinator role (to split treasurer and clerk duties), moving fund accounting to a web Trio system, and noted telecommunications and audit-cost savings.
At the March 17 meeting the Skowhegan Select Board reviewed administration and finance budget lines, covering staffing, software, telephone/internet contracts and reserves.
Chair and finance staff described a plan to restructure the back-office finance function: rather than hiring a single finance director, staff proposed creating a finance coordinator position to handle accounts payable, payroll and HR support and to split treasurer duties when the current treasurer (Gail) departs. The chair said the aim is to appoint a qualified treasurer in the future rather than relying solely on an elected, possibly untrained person.
Gail, the town's treasurer/clerk, concurred and supported the proposal to prepare an informational session explaining the benefits of appointing a treasurer with specialized finance skills. The board discussed training funds and the near-term need to cover retirements: two clerk positions and other staff turnover were cited as a driver for modestly higher training and personnel-line items.
Finance staff reported a migration from legacy Trio fund accounting to a web-based Trio system and described payroll being kept in-house as cost-effective for a town this size. The board approved keeping payroll internal rather than contracting it out, citing the complexity of police and fire payroll codes.
The board also heard about a telecom contract consolidation that saved roughly $7,000 by adding a secondary internet provider and moving phones to a different vendor; the new contract is locked in for 60 months. The administration budget included modest increases for audits, legal services, and some insurance changes, with the presenter describing the overall operating-budget increase as approximately 1.3%.
No formal votes on staffing changes were taken; members asked staff to refine job descriptions and cost estimates and to present an implementation plan for recruiting and training a finance coordinator and for the proposed treasurer-appointment informational meeting.
The administration review concluded before the treasurer's warrants were presented to the board for approval.
