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Shelby board trims several budget lines, approves cemetery and records adjustments and readies preliminary budget
Summary
At a public hearing, Shelby board reviewed the draft 2025 budget, approved a records-management line cut and a $5,000 cemetery personnel allocation, left one tax-collection reduction without a second, and directed staff to post the preliminary budget and an explanatory note about the tax-rate change.
Shelby held a public hearing on the draft 2025 budget and approved two specific line-item changes while deferring other adjustments pending further reconciliation and public posting. The board voted to reduce the records-management/trash contractual line (A1460.4) and to move cemetery personnel services (A810.1) to $5,000; a proposed $1,000 reduction to the tax-collection contractual line (A1330.4) was moved but received no second and was not advanced.
The treasurer reported the town’s 2025 retirement obligation is paid in a single advance payment (due Feb. 2), meaning the town is not as far behind as earlier believed. That clarification prompted staff to reduce previously inflated retirement estimates across three funds; the board asked Margaret (finance staff) to reconcile fund-by-fund allocations so historical charges will align with internal budget lines.
Members also identified a spreadsheet formula error that had treated lighting-district assessments as immediate revenue instead of tax-based receipts. Staff were instructed to change the formula so the lighting-district revenue line is zeroed and a $7,000 property-tax line is placed in the correct column.
Don London, identified in the discussion as administrator for Melville Cemetery, delivered a dividend check of roughly $1,300 from cemetery-held stock; board members agreed the receipt should be recorded and signatures required before sale of shares. On cemetery staffing, Darlene moved and a member seconded a motion to set cemetery personnel services at $5,000 and to reallocate the remainder of that labor budget to snow plowing or related road maintenance as appropriate; the motion passed by voice vote.
The board approved, by voice vote, a revision to the records-management contractual line to reflect a much smaller amount than previously budgeted. A separate motion to move $1,000 from A1330.4 (tax collection contractual) was made but lacked a second and did not proceed to a vote. Several members urged that Margaret reconcile software, conference and clerk-contractual entries so that each line reflects actual historical charges rather than carryover estimates.
Board members agreed the budget will be posted as the preliminary/tenative budget the following morning; staff will clean up the working document, save iterations for the public record, and include an explanatory note about why the tax rate appears to change (use of fund balance and one-time adjustments). The meeting closed after a motion to adjourn passed.
