Strange Doings At Budget Time

To Randolph voters: in the two selectboard meetings of 01/21 and 01/25 there were three department budgets that were the main items on the agenda: the library, RACDC and the listers. We would like to bring to your attention a couple of the inconsistent manners in which they were handled.

From the meeting on Thursday, Jan. 21 the Library budget was questioned regarding the 4% increase in salary expense. Yet the increase percent was one suggested by Mike DeCubellis (office manager), as were other items in the Library’s budget.

Those from the Library went back and sharpened their pencils and came back on Monday, Jan. 25 with a 3% salary increase for the FY2011 budget. The Library representatives were then told by the selectboard that only a level-funded budget would be accepted. The Library Trustees indicated that they had used what most town departments were using for staff salaries, yet they were told that the negotiations regarding other town employees were still ongoing.

I will not touch on the complexity of the questions the selectboard asked RACDC, who responded with reasonable answers.

However, regarding the assessor’s salary, I will comment. When asked to submit a budget, three months ago, historically not done in the past, we submitted a request for a 30-hour week, based on the preliminary information given us by the Town Manager. The increase in pay, from the FY 2010 budget, that we submitted was 2%.

After a few presentations by the Listers, all of the selectboard members, at one point of time or another, agreed that the assessor position required 40 hours per week. Therefore, the first week of November we, the Listers, resubmitted our budget for 40 hours. Although an overall increase 36% (going from 30 to 40 hours) it was only a salary increase of 1.87%. We thought, considering the economic situation, that this was more than fair.

On Jan. 25, the town manager suggested a 4.5% increase over the FY2010 budget, converted to 40 hours/week number, for the FY 2011. I do not know if everyone on the selectboard knew of this before the meeting on the 25^th.

Basically, the selectboard denied the library a 3% salary increase and then in the same breath the town manager gave the Assessor a 4.5% salary increase. We, the Listers believe that the assessor position with an accumulated 30 years of experience, is worth the salary we submitted.

Regarding the salaries of all employees who work for the town, the COLA should be the same percentage. Unfortunately negotiations for COLA are normally not decided until after the budget process. We must remember it is called a “budget” for a purpose and not called a “fixed expense and income document”.

The Listers of Randolph:

Polly Frankenburg

Don Sweetser

Linda Nissl