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Board of Selectmen Meeting Minutes

Any and all corrections to the following minutes will be made at the 01/20/00 Board of Selectmen's Meeting and are considered unapproved until then. Corrections will be noted in the minutes of that meeting.

MINUTES - SPECIAL MEETING
BOARD OF SELECTMEN JANUARY 11th, 2000
NEWFANE TOWN OFFICE

PRESENT:
Selectmen: Michael Rohan, Jesse Anderson, Richard Dowley and Carter Van Iderstine
Absent: Lynn Bedell
Also Present: John Spicer and Gunther Garbe, members of the Newfane Planning Commission and Doris A. Knechtel, Administrative Assistant.

1. CALL TO ORDER

The Special Meeting was called to order by Chairman M. Rohan at 6:45 p.m. 2. FISCAL YEAR 2000 - BUDGET PROPOSALS A. TOWN AND HIGHWAY BUDGETS
Planning Commission - Chairman M. Rohan indicated to J. Spicer and G. Garbe that the initial increase in the town expenditure budget and the reduction in the surplus from FY 1999, showed an increase in the town tax rate of $0.13 or 24%. Because of that, the Board had to look at everything for reductions in the budget requests. The Board reduced the Planning Commission budget by $3,500 in the area of legal and consultant fees, as the PC does have a Planning Grant ($5,400) that could be used for planning purposes. The grant has been used in the past for the purchase of a new computer, the ArcView Mapping program and for consultant work. J. Spicer and G. Garbe would like to start on the process to digitize the town tax maps. The current tax maps are not to the GIS scale and need to be converted. The information would be very useful for zoning purposes, the Listers and the public. The anticipated final cost could be as much as $30,000. The PC anticipates that the cost could be shared by the Listers, PC and Zoning. At this time the Listers do not seem to be in favor of having the maps digitized. The question was raised by J. Anderson as to whether the state has a master plan for having all town maps in the GIS format. PC members have not hear of any master plan as yet. As for consultant work, the PC is having Attorney Pyatak look over the proposed bylaw. That work should be completed during this current fiscal years budget. It was suggested that the wages line item could be reduced. PC members noted that much of the time is currently donated. If new members are appointed to the upcoming vacancies, that practice may change. The legal fees line item for the PC is for legal advice. The Board kept the Planning Commission expense total at $4,900 but reduced the wages by $500 and increased the Legal Service line item to $1,000. Overall Budget Expenditures - The results of the previous reductions in the budget from the meeting of 01/06/00 the estimated tax rate for the town is $0.59, down from the previous estimate of $0.67 before the reductions and up from $0.54 current town tax rate. The Board reviewed the budget line items again, in particular the highway department. Budgets are a guideline to be followed for overall expenditures and should not affect the way the roads are maintained. The bottom line of $427,475 got highway expenses remained. Tires and chains was increased to $9,000 and sanders was reduced by $1,000 to a total of $1,500. Maintenance to the sanders, other than the current year, has been an average of $1,200 a year and the capital budget has the purchase of a new sander in FY 2001. The current budget shows an expense of $4,544.07 for small equipment which must include the cost of the generator. That purchase should show as a capital expense. Wm. Noyes will be contacted to see if the way the expense and revenue is shown for retreatment has been done correctly for the future Road Maintenance Plan.

B. REVENUE BUDGET
The Board reviewed the revenue budget numbers and actual amounts received. The amount of $241,000 remains as the anticipated revenue, other than the amount raised by taxes.

C. CAPITAL BUDGET & PLAN
The proposal for reappraisal was discussed. The question was raised as to whether reappraisal is a capital expense. In 1987 the cost for reappraisal was $50,776. According to the Listers, the latest figures from the state, the Common Level of Appraisal (CLA) for Newfane is 84% and the Coefficient of Dispersion (COD) is 16%. A municipality with a CLA less than 80% or a COD greater that 20% must reappraise or all state funding will be withheld. The town receives funds from the state for reappraisal on a yearly basis at the rate of $7.00 per parcel. There has been a reappraisal fund which as of the end of November there was $16,380 with funds from the state to be added in January 2000. The Board discussed the possibility of voting to add $25,000 to the reappraisal fund and delaying the reappraisal for another year and $30,000 to the capital fund, instead of adding the full $55,000 to the capital fund. If this is the case, more wages will be added back into the Listers budget. The Board members will review this idea and discuss it again at the 01/20 meeting.

3. DRAFT ARTICLES OF WARNING The Board reviewed the draft articles as presented. The Board would like to have the article included to eliminate the position of auditor. It is difficult to find someone to run for the position. The town has contracted to have a professional audit done for the past several years. M. Rohan will contact Amelia Darrow to discuss this proposed article. Article #14 - M. Rohan will contact Bea MacFarland to ask that the Village Trustees request for $10,000 for the Union Hall be done by petition. Article #20 - This proposed article for the covered bridge should present each proposed option as a separate article with more detailed information. M. Rohan has already received a call from G. Weir relating to the covered bridge (CB#17) options. Copies of the Town Plan references to the covered bridge were distributed to the Board members. The possibility of an informational meeting on the covered bridge to be held before the town meeting was discussed. The dates of February 17th and March 2nd were suggested. Roger Whitcomb of VAOT will be contact for his preference as he has volunteered to attend an informational meeting on the covered bridge (CB#17). 4. TO TRANSACT ANY OTHER BUSINESS THAT MAY LEGALLY COME BEFORE THE BOARD OF SELECTMEN A. M. Rohan will prepare a draft Selectmen's Report for the Board to review.
B. The Board members will consider names of citizens to dedicate the town report to.
5. ADJOURNMENT Motion was made by J. Anderson and seconded by R. Dowley to adjourn the Special Meeting of the Board of Selectmen at 9:25 p.m. Unanimous. Doris A. Knechtel, Administrative Assistant
Newfane Board of Selectmen

Posted: Town Clerk's Office, Newfane Store, Patsy's County Seat Market, Lessing's Family General Store and South Newfane General Store & Deli and www.webwerk.com/newfane

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