CITY OF WORCESTER

Finance Committee Meeting

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Esther Howland (South) Chamber

Convened: 4:36 P.M.

Recessed: 6:19 P.M. Reconvened: 7:22 P.M. Adjourned: 7:48 P.M.


Mayor
Joseph M. Petty

 

www.worcesterma.gov

 

Clerk of the City Council
Susan M. Ledoux

Committee Members

Chairperson Joseph M Petty
Councilor Morris A Bergman
Councilor Tony Economou
 
Councilor Michael T Gaffney
Councilor Khrystian E King
Councilor Konstantina B Lukes
Councilor Candy Mero-Carlson
Councilor Sarai Rivera
Councilor Gary Rosen
Councilor George J Russell
Councilor Kathleen M Toomey

City Hall - 455 Main Street Worcester, Massachusetts


Present Were:All members were present with Mayor in the Chair except for Councilor Toomey, who arrived at 4:42 P.M. City Manager Edward M. Augustus, Jr. Chief Financial Officer Thomas F. Zidelis Director of Budget Jarrett B. Conner City Auditor Robert V. Stearns City Clerk Susan M. Ledoux, clerk
 
Also:Assistant City Manager for Operations and Director of Human Resources Kathleen G. Johnson
 
1.

FY 2017 Budget Recessed Hearings

1a.

City Council - III-1, pg. 31

In Committee May 17, 2016 - Held In Committee May 24, 2016 - Held In Committee May 31, 2016 - Held

View Budget

Budget Approved

1b.

Mayor's Office - III-2, pg. 35

In Committee May 17, 2016 - Held In Committee May 24, 2016 - Held In Committee May 31, 2016 - Held

View Budget

Motion Gaffney @1b – That $58,249 be cut from the Assistant Secretary’s salary in the Mayor's Office budget.

Motion denied on a roll call vote of 1 Yea (Gaffney) and 9 Nays (Bergman, Economou, King, Lukes, Mero-Carlson, Rivera, Rosen, Russell, Petty) (Toomey absent)

Budget approved

1c.

City Clerk - III-3, pg. 37

In Committee May 17, 2016 - Held In Committee May 24, 2016 - Held In Committee May 31, 2016 - Held

View Budget

Budget Approved

1d.

Human Resources - VII-1, pg. 117

In Committee May 31, 2016 - Held

View Budget

Budget Approved

1e.

Debt Service Principal & Interest - XV-5, pg. 271

In Committee May 31, 2016 - Held

View Budget

Budget Approved

Chairman's Orders

Request City Manager provide City Council with a report regarding what the interest payment is for the North High School Construction Fund, as well as how the $3,047,000.00 appropriation to the account was selected. (Gaffney)

1f.

Five Point Plan Funds - XVI-1, pg. 289

In Committee May 31, 2016 - Held

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Motion Lukes @1f – That $3,047,000.00 be cut from the North High School Construction Fund section of the Five Point Plan funds allocated for the North High School stabilization fund.

Councilor Lukes' motion approved on a roll call vote of 7 Yeas (Bergman, Gaffney, King, Lukes, Mero-Carlson, Rosen, Russell) and 4 Nays (Economou, Rivera, Toomey, Petty)

Motion Gaffney @1f – That $500,000.00 be cut from the OPEB Reserve Fund section of the Five Point Plan funds allocated for the OPEB Trust Fund. – Withdrawn

Budget approved as amended

Chairman's Orders

Request City Manager provide City Council with a report concerning how often the City has gone above or below budgeting for each department’s vacancy factor over the last five years. (Gaffney)

Request City Manager provide City Council with the schedule of payments the City is obligated to make to OPEB. (Lukes)

2.

Motions Held in Committee

2a.

Motion of Councilor Konstantina B. Lukes – That $8,611 of salary increases be cut from the City Council Budget.

In Committee May 17, 2016 - Held In Committee May 24, 2016 - Held In Committee May 31, 2016 - Held

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Motion denied on a roll call vote of 2 Yeas (Gaffney, Lukes) and 8 Nays (Bergman, Economou, King, Mero-Carlson, Rivera, Rosen, Russell, Petty) (Toomey absent)

2b.

Motion of Councilor Konstantina B. Lukes – That a cut be made to level fund the Mayor's Office Budget.

In Committee May 17, 2016 - Held In Committee May 24, 2016 - Held In Committee May 31, 2016 - Held

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Motion denied on a roll call vote of 2 Yeas (Gaffney, Lukes) and 8 Nays (Bergman, Economou, King, Mero-Carlson, Rivera, Rosen, Russell, Petty) (Toomey absent)

2c.

Motion of Councilor Konstantina B. Lukes – That City Council cut $42,000 from the recommended City Clerk budget.

In Committee May 17, 2016 - Held In Committee May 24, 2016 - Held In Committee May 31, 2016 - Held

View Budget

Motion denied on a roll call vote of 2 Yeas (Gaffney, Lukes) and 9 Nays (Bergman, Economou, King, Mero-Carlson, Rivera, Rosen, Russell, Toomey, Petty)

2d.

Motion of Councilor Michael T. Gaffney – That $75,000 be cut from the Human Resources Department budget.

In Committee May 31, 2016 - Held

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Motion denied on a roll call vote of 3 Yeas (Gaffney, Lukes, Russell) and 8 Nays (Bergman, Economou, King, Mero-Carlson, Rivera, Rosen, Toomey, Petty)

Chairman's Orders

Request City Manager provide City Council with information concerning how much money is being spent on outside legal counsel and how much money would need to be budgeted to perform the same tasks in-house. (Economou)

3.

FY 2017 Budget Hearings Held

3a.

Line Item Budget - XVII-1, pg. 293

In Committee May 31, 2016 - Held

View Budget

Budget Approved

4.

Fiscal Year 2017 Budget

4a.

Communication of the City Manager transmitting informational communication relative to the Fiscal Year 2017 Budget proposal. # 8.36A CM May 10, 2016

In Committee May 17, 2016 - Held In Committee May 24, 2016 - Held In Committee May 31, 2016 - Held

Attachments

Budget approved as amended on a roll call vote of 10 Yeas and 1 Nay (Lukes)

5.

Communications of the City Manager

5a.

Transmitting informational communication relative to an estimated assessor's tax recap using the proposed FY16 tax levy with current real estate assessed values and actual FY15 assessed values. # 8.23A CM June 09, 2015

In Committee May 17, 2016 - Held In Committee May 24, 2016 - Held In Committee May 31, 2016 - Held

Attachments

Recommend File

5b.

Transmitting informational communication relative to the Bond Anticipation Notes (BAN) rating. # 8.28A CM June 09, 2015

In Committee May 17, 2016 - Held In Committee May 24, 2016 - Held In Committee May 31, 2016 - Held

Attachments

Recommend File

5c.

Transmitting informational communication relative to the FY16 Capital Improvement Plan. # 9.24A CM June 23, 2015

In Committee May 17, 2016 - Held In Committee May 24, 2016 - Held In Committee May 31, 2016 - Held

Attachments

Recommend File

5d.

Transmitting informational communication relative to the number of new and vacant positions. # 9.36D CM May 24, 2016

In Committee May 31, 2016 - Held

Attachments

Recommend File

5e.

Transmitting informational communication relative to a summary of Certified Free Cash for the last ten (10) years. # 12a CC May 31, 2016

Attachments

Recommend File

6.

Communications of the City Auditor

6a.

Transmitting unaudited financial reports on the budgetary basis for results of operations in Fiscal Year 2015 for the General and Enterprise Funds (Schedules A through B-3). Also attached are summaries of the activities in the Special Revenue, Capital Project, Debt Service and Trust Funds (Schedules C-1 through C-5). # 11a CC November 10, 2015

In Committee May 17, 2016 - Held In Committee May 24, 2016 - Held In Committee May 31, 2016 - Held

Attachments

Recommend File

6b.

Transmitting the Monthly Report on the Status of the City Budget. # 10a CC May 10, 2016

In Committee May 17, 2016 - Held In Committee May 24, 2016 - Held In Committee May 31, 2016 - Held

Attachments

Recommend File

6c.

Transmitting report concerning recommendations as to where cuts may be made in the City's budget. # 10b CC May 10, 2016

In Committee May 17, 2016 - Held In Committee May 24, 2016 - Held In Committee May 31, 2016 - Held

Attachments

Recommend File

6d.

Transmitting a corrected copy of the Monthly Report on the Status of the City Budget. # 10d CC May 10, 2016

In Committee May 17, 2016 - Held In Committee May 24, 2016 - Held In Committee May 31, 2016 - Held

Attachments

Recommend File

6e.

Transmitting Actuarial Valuation and Review of the Worcester Retirement System (WRS) as of January 1, 2016. # 10a CC May 24, 2016

In Committee May 31, 2016 - Held

Attachments

Recommend File

6f.

Transmitting the monthly report on the status of the City budget. # 10b CC May 24, 2016

In Committee May 31, 2016 - Held

Attachments

Recommend File