Chester finance committee trims budget gap, sets fire chief pay at $14,875

The Chester Finance Committee met April 30 at the town firehouse and moved to reduce an approximately $38,000 shortfall in the current fiscal-year budget, committee chair Florence "Flo" Bolduc said.

"We are tasked with the reduction of the $38,000-ish deficit with the current budget numbers," Bolduc told members as they began reviewing departmental lines. The committee approved its April 23 minutes at the start of the meeting; Bob Daley moved to accept the minutes, Joe Ryan seconded and members voted all in favor.

Committee members agreed to level-fund the Council on Aging (COA) for the coming year and to give the COA director a 3% cost-of-living adjustment; the minutes say any additional COA funding needed could be drawn from funds the state allocates to the town. The minutes do not define the acronym COA or list the director’s name.

On department personnel and operating accounts, the committee capped the fire department’s increase at 5% and placed the fire chief’s salary at $14,875; the minutes record that Bob Daley moved the committee "honor what we stated last year" to raise the chief’s pay over coming years and that the salary figure was set, but the minutes do not record an explicit roll-call vote on that motion.

The building inspector received a 5% increase. Purchases of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) were removed from the fire budget and the department’s fuel account was reduced after committee discussion that fuel pumped from Bromley is stored at the main station for future use.

The assessor principal line was reduced by $4,081 because the new employee assigned to that role will not start until after the fiscal year begins; the committee reduced hours for that position rather than the hourly rate.

The committee also reviewed a list of high-cost accounts—accountant, assessors, tax collector, highway, library, fire and police, selectboard and Town Hall—as primary drivers of the budget gap and said members will continue to vet reductions in those areas.

Separately, the Finance Committee reduced its contingency/reserve fund by $2,000 to $15,000 and noted additional reductions will be considered at the next meeting.

Open items and follow-ups recorded in the minutes include a request for backup figures on police response calls (Flo said she will follow up with the police chief), and a pending Board of Health salary/clerk-line inquiry awaiting information from a person identified only as "Liz." The minutes note the state rural aid increase did not pass and that education costs may change depending on VOC enrollment.

Committee members discussed other revenue or cost-control options: Andrew Alward said drug testing is limited to Cori checks, the committee considered raising plumbing inspection fees to increase town receipts, and members asked that Craig Gauthier appear at the next meeting to discuss Board of Selectmen stipends. The Recreation Committee was also asked to come to explain its budget.

The committee set its next meeting for Thursday, May 7 at 5:30 p.m. at the firehouse and adjourned at 7:30 p.m.

Details recorded in the meeting minutes: the committee’s work to reduce the shortfall is ongoing; several adjustments were made to personnel and operating accounts; and follow-up items were assigned to obtain missing figures and clarifications.