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Amesbury budget committee reviews FY27 requests, elects Ad Hoc Budget Committee leaders
Summary
At its May 13 FY27 budget hearing, Amesbury’s Ad Hoc Budget Committee heard presentations from IT, the Collector/Treasurer, City Clerk, Veteran Services and Youth Services, and elected Councilor Amanda Haggstrom chair and Councilor Scott Mandeville vice chair; no final budget votes were taken.
The Amesbury City Council’s Ad Hoc Budget Committee met May 13 for its first FY27 budget hearing, receiving department presentations and electing committee leadership.
At the outset, Councilor Pam Gilday moved to nominate Councilor Amanda Haggstrom as chair of the Ad Hoc Budget Committee; Councilor Michael Hogg seconded and the motion passed unanimously, 6-0. Councilor Gilday then moved to nominate Councilor Scott Mandeville as vice chair; President Jessica Redfern seconded and the motion passed, 5-1, with Councilor Claudel Frederique opposed.
Director of Information Technology Steve Hare presented the MIS proposed FY27 budget and answered councilors’ questions about public-records workload, saying that "in recent months they have received about three to four requests per month." Councilors engaged with technical and staffing questions but did not take votes on MIS budget lines.
Treasurer Donna Cornoni presented the Collector/Treasurer’s budget and explained a sick-leave buyback line item is for "the head clerk who will retire in July and for herself with her upcoming retirement," which she said drives part of the FY27 personnel cost projection. Councilors questioned components of the personnel and retirement-related lines.
City Clerk Jennifer Smith reviewed the City Clerk, Elections and City Council budget pages. When Councilor Kelly Sullivan asked whether the Council has input on the clerk’s salary, Chair Amanda Haggstrom said the Council does have input. Smith also told Councilor Pam Gilday that the advertising line in the City Council budget is used to advertise public hearings.
Veteran Services Officer Kevin Hunt presented his department’s FY27 proposal; when asked by Councilor Maryann Welch whether staffing levels are adequate, Hunt said the current staffing amount is appropriate for the workload.
Recreation Director Kathleen Crowley reviewed the Youth Services budget, attributing a roughly 20% decrease under regular salaries and wages to reduced hours for part-time after-school staff. Crowley told the committee that "a beach director will be on duty at the beach instead of a lifeguard" and that she plans to pursue grants to help pay for changes to a new recreation building.
The committee did not adopt or reject any department budgets at the hearing. President Redfern moved to adjourn at 7:58 PM; Councilor Kelly Sullivan seconded and the motion passed unanimously, 7-0.
This hearing is the first of the Ad Hoc Budget Committee’s scheduled budget review sessions; department presentations were informational and generated follow-up questions but no formal budget adoptions were recorded at this meeting.
