Departments

Transcript (~59 min @ 5:45)

Speakers identified by voice; unnamed voices are numbered within this recording. Auto-caption text — verify against the video.

▶ 5:45 Maya Jamaleddine: is, um, Mrs.

▶ 5:49 Maya Jamaleddine: Um, Sarah mc McLennan,

▶ 5:53 Speaker 3: uh, for, um, uh, the, uh, assessor

▶ 5:57 Maya Jamaleddine: for Department 1 41. Go ahead. Thank you.

▶ 6:04 Speaker 1: Good evening, Madam Chair and members of the committee. I'm Sarah McClellan, the Chief Assessor, and this evening I am here to present the proposed budget for fiscal year 2025 for the assessor's department. Overall, the assessor's department budget has a 0.1% decrease. Over the past year, there have been several staffing changes in the department, and this is the reason for seeing only a slight decrease in the salary and wage line, rather than the normal contractual increases. We see the department has a full-time staff of three people, myself, an assistant assessor, and a head clerk. We also have a three member board of assessors, A GIS manager, who allots five hours a week to the department and a senior tax workup volunteer in October. Our then assessor assistant assessor, Tristan w***e moved on to pursue other opportunities, and our head clerk, Tina Salerno, was promoted to that role. The vacant head clerk position was filled by Linda Deno this month. Linda has quickly integrated into our workflow and her background skills and knowledge, demonstrate that she's a valuable addition to our team. I also wanna recognize Tina Salerno, our assistant assessor for her incredible dedication and exceptional performance over this past year. She's not only learned and managed the responsibilities of her new law role, but also stepped into cover office duties seamlessly during the period of vacancy in the head clerk role. So I appreciate her and what she's done for the department and the city over this past year. Um, so thank you all for your time this evening. I know you have my budget and my budget memo before you, and I'm happy to answer any questions that you have for concerning that budget.

▶ 7:48 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you so much for being with us and for your presentation. Um, uh, for the record, I just wanna, um, uh, uh, name that, um, uh, president Ali had joined us, uh, for tonight. Anyone from my colleague have question? Councilor Hamilton.

▶ 8:07 Ward Hamilton: Thank you. Thank you for joining us. Just very briefly and quickly, um, there is an override vote that's coming on June 18th, if that vote is successful. Is there anything that's going to be added to your budget

▶ 8:26 Speaker 1: At this time? We don't have any, um, proposed changes. Okay.

▶ 8:32 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. That's all. Thank you. Anyone. Um, counselor Romanul,

▶ 8:35 Devin Romanul: Thanks so much for coming and for your memo. Um, mm-Hmm. You mentioned that, um, in other communities when there are overrides or debt exclusions that you do see some increase in activity. Has that any budgetary impact, uh, based on your experience? Uh, was it 2019 that we had a, um, override here?

▶ 8:51 Speaker 1: Um, so it's more toward, um, again, the overlay. Gotcha. So, uh, I think we discussed maybe earlier this week, or I'm losing track of time here, but, um, that overlay account. So what happens is many times, um, during, you know, an override or even a debt exclusion, um, taxpayers may take a closer look at their assessments, um, and, um, have more questions. So it prompts them to, um, sometimes we see an increase in appeals, um, so during the abatement, um, period. So that just opens up kind of exposure for the, um, uh, number of abatements that we have. And also, um, that's comes from the overlay account. Gotcha.

▶ 9:44 Devin Romanul: Yeah. Okay. Cool. Well, in the event that there's more activity, let us know how we can support you.

▶ 9:49 Speaker 1: Okay, thank you.

▶ 9:55 Maya Jamaleddine: Next, I, um, have, uh, councilor Garin, then Councilor Vanderberg.

▶ 10:03 Mark Garipay: Um, I was just based on the slight increase, I was gonna make a motion to move the bottom line of, uh, department one 40 or account 1 41 second.

▶ 10:13 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. We have a motion made by Councilor Garipay, seconded by Councilor Karen Chetty. On discussion, we have Councilor Ver.

▶ 10:24 Kimberly Vandiver: Um, thank you Madam Chair. Thank you, Ms. Clell. I was just wondering briefly if you could mention any ways that your department is pursuing new growth. You mentioned that in the memo, and obviously with our budget crunch, any new growth, um, or, you know, additional revenue would be welcome.

▶ 10:40 Speaker 1: Sure. So over the past few years, what happens is we normally do different projects, sometimes using different vendors. Um, so over the past couple years, we've done like an exempt property audit, um, which we're required by law, um, anyway, to, to collect data for every parcel. So sometimes where there's, um, a lack of data, we have to make sure every 10 years anyway, we have to make sure that we have, um, inspected every par uh, parcel cyclically. But, um, we did, um, an audit of the exempt properties. It helps to, um, you know, make sure the data is accurate, but then also, um, any exempt property that we add to the tax rolls will be new growth. So if there's a, um, you know, a parcel that was previously not, um, assessed as taxable property, it's, um, becomes new growth and added to the tax base that way. Um, also we did a, um, we use a vendor called Push Pin. Um, it's for, uh, map overlay, which we, we use for our, um, change detection. So it's basically we, we find, um, any growth in the city from Unpermitted building work. Um, so that's just another way to find growth in the city. Um, and then also we've done a, um, personal property account audit, um, from our, um, our business accounts or our business personal property accounts. Just, um, it's just a more, so every each year we have a certain amount of data collection that we do for personal property. Um, and it's just a general, um, uh, you know, general inspections, but it's not of every account in every, so when we do an audit, it's just like a deeper dive into, um, kind of a random selection of accounts, and there's growth that comes onto the tax roll that way. Yeah. So that's just a sampling of, of it, but there's other kinds of, um, projects that we do similar to that.

▶ 13:03 Speaker 1: Yeah. Does that answer the question?

▶ 13:05 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Um, anyone else on discussion?

▶ 13:13 Maya Jamaleddine: Seeing none, Mr. Clerk?

▶ 13:17 Speaker 2: Councillor Repe? Yes. Councillor Chetty? Yes. Councillor Bruski? Yes. Councilor Hamilton? Yes. Councillor Vandiver? Yes. Councillor Romanul? Yes. Councillor for naca? Yes. President Elli? Yes. Chair. Jamal? Yes. Uh, uh, motion passes.

▶ 13:38 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. Thank you so much, sir. I appreciate you.

▶ 13:44 Maya Jamaleddine: Um, next up we have retirement, um, number nine 15.

▶ 13:58 Maya Jamaleddine: do we have anyone presenting for retirement?

▶ 14:01 Speaker 2: Um, there's no one presenting for retirement, but I'm told that the, uh, the retirement, um, uh, figures and appropriation is online.

▶ 14:11 Maya Jamaleddine: Okay. Um, so per, per the rules, we prefer that we have them in the chamber.

▶ 14:20 Maya Jamaleddine: Um, uh, what is the will of the committee? Um, councilor gpe?

▶ 14:27 Mark Garipay: Yeah, I, um, I, I kind of, I kind of agree with, um, it would be great to have someone from either the chair of the retirement board or someone from the retirement department here. I mean, this is a $7.366 million budget. It would be good to know where we stand. I understand that it's a separate entity, but it's still funded with taxpayers money. So, um, I, I would agree to, um, to, to hold this if that's the will of the committee, uh, to see if we can have them come in and talk a little bit, uh, about where we are based on our, our, um, obligation, our scheduled obligations, um, and how, how actually the retirement fund's doing. Um, 'cause it is a big bus, big exposure to, uh, to the community. Um, and it's earned. Um, and by no mean am I not trying to hold it up, but it would be good to understand where we are, um, as we're approving, uh, 7.3 million. Um, and I think the payout's close to 12 million. It's really three quarters of, of the, uh, of the payout on the pensions are coming from our vote tonight. So, um, I don't, I personally don't see this any different than the Pine Banks Commission where they're using tax money and they come in. So, uh, I would recommend holding it. And at the request of the city council, that, whether it's the president, I mean, sorry, the chairperson on the retirement board or the director of retirement, that they appear before us and just give us an update or even a summary. We don't even have a summary like every other department. I

▶ 15:56 Maya Jamaleddine: See that. Thank you. So that

▶ 15:58 Speaker 2: Was long-winded. I apologize, but,

▶ 16:00 Maya Jamaleddine: Oh, no problem. As I, it is also fair that for all departments across the board that we ask that we have someone represent, representing that department. So a hundred percent agree with you. Is that a motion? Uh,

▶ 16:15 Speaker 2: That is a motion, yes. Second.

▶ 16:18 Maya Jamaleddine: So we have a motion, uh, made by Councilor Gar pay, um, to hold in a committee and seconded by counselor, uh, Romanul. And on discussion.

▶ 16:34 Maya Jamaleddine: Seeing none, Mr. Clerk?

▶ 16:37 Speaker 2: Councilor Gpe? Yes. Councillor Chetty. Yes. Councilor Abramsky. Yes. Councillor Hamilton. Yes. Councillor Vandiver. Yes. Councillor Romanul. Yes. Councillor Finocchiaro. Yes. President Elli? Yes. And Chair Jamal? Yes. That motion passes.

▶ 16:56 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. We will be rescheduling this for another, uh, night. And, um, next up we have, um, city solicitor, um, um, uh, Mrs. Phillips and, um, number 1 51.

▶ 17:14 Maya Jamaleddine: Yes. Thank you so much for being with us tonight. Thank

▶ 17:16 Speaker 4: You. Good evening, Madam Chair and members of the council. Um, the City Solicitor's Office function as functions as a full-Time law office, which provides legal services to the mayor. As you know, city council, school committee department heads the various boards and commissions, the volunteer boards and commissions of the city and other employees in the city of Melrose. Our staff consists of three employees, myself, my executive assistant, and the assistant city solicitor for school and labor. And we deal with a variety of legal matters on behalf of the city on a daily basis between myself and the assistant city solicitor, we handle labor matters and negotiations for 12 collective bargaining groups in the city of Melrose, and regularly advise on a variety of different legal areas such as zoning, employment and labor law, title IX issues, civil service, procurement, permitting, licensing, education, law, ethics, conflict of interest, and open meeting law. We also assist in drafting legislation, reviewing and drafting contracts, leases and deeds, providing help and representation related to code enforcement in the city, and assist the city to implement best practices and policies in city operations. In addition, my executive assistant serves as the clerk of the Liquor Commission for the City of Melrose, and she assists us in managing public records requests that come into our office. Since February or March of this year, under the new Mayor's administration, my office has taken over and centralized the public records process in the city. Previous to that, there were a number of different RAOs in the city, which is records access officers, so consisted of one at fire, one at DPW, the clerk's office, um, various different departments managing their own public records requests. Now we have a more centralized, streamlined SY system, which we think brings us more into modern day. Um, and hopefully we can, um, more efficiently and accurately respond to all public records requests that come in. Um, I now serve as the REO for the city, um, the police, um, RAO is still the police chief, and the superintendent is the, is the REO for schools. However, all public records requests, with the exception of police now flow directly through my office. Police are still in communication with my office when assistance is needed on any response. This new process has created efficiency and better accuracy in responding to public records. Um, and it puts the city in the best position when dealing with responses, any appeals that may come of those. In addition, this past year, um, I know I announced New Year last year, we went with a new insurance agent, and that new insurance agency has helped us, uh, better improve our policies and practices within the city that have existed for a long time. Our insurance has reviewed and helps draft insurance certificates now for each and every contract that we entered into for the various types of contracts. So our department heads can actually go, um, and reach out to myself, my executive assistant, and we have, uh, the contract language sent to the insurance company, and they will standardize the insurance certificate that we need to make sure we're in the best position liability wise. Um, they've also helped us, um, better our policies and practices within the city. Um, for example, relative to motor vehicle safety and training, which we're now gonna start doing, um, our insurance company, we'll start doing a motor vehicle driver check on any driver that operates a vehicle for the city of Melrose. Um, and also driving driver training. Um, we've also done a full audit of the fleet inventory and of better management practices now, uh, established this year to better ensure the city's up to date with its fleet inventory. Um, this year also, my office helped, uh, the liquor Commission, uh, in this council, uh, adopt changes to, uh, liquor commission rules and regs that have allowed a brewery for the first time in the city of Melrose. We've also helped draft rules and regulations that we're hoping, uh, will come in front of the Liquor Commission, um, this coming year to update a lot of their rules, um, that they have before them, including, uh, potential fees, uh, within the city of Melrose. And as discussed in my memo that I submitted to council, uh, prior to tonight's meeting, the budget for my office for fiscal 25 has a minimal increase of 0.4%. Um, I'll highlight briefly the changes for all of you now. So our office's budget, like I mentioned, is a very minimal increase for fiscal 25. You will notice a decrease in salary, in wages, um, this fiscal year, which is due to a variety of factors, including a new executive assistant that we've hired this year. Um, and also having extra money in this line item last year, um, to pay for an interim city solicitor while I was out on maternity leave. Um, also, as can be seen in the line items of this budget, a substantial portion of our department's budget is used to cover the cost of the city's property and liability insurance for the entire city. This year, we're estimating a 3.9% increase in our insurance premium due to insurance rate increases, especially property. Um, and also taking into account credits on our account, which I think totaled around $10,000. However, we just received from our insurance agent today that after a loss survey that was just completed last week, um, that in light of various improvements we've made over this past year, we're going to receive a quote from a different insurance provider. Um, this year who we are hopeful may provide a quote lower than or at where we were last year. So that number we have quoted there could match what we have last year. We won't know that until the end of June because that's when they do, um, the evaluation for insurance. So we've, we've worked really hard on that, um, in conjunction with my executive assistant this year, um, to try to improve our insurance policy and practices to try to get those better rates for the city. Um, we've also improved our cyber liability coverage, which is very important nowadays. A lot of, uh, cities are leaving themselves exposed, not having that. So we updated our policy last year to include that as well. Um, the only other increase in my budget is electronic Mass general laws, which is the LexiNexis Legal database, um, service, which we have a three year contract, and it has a expected increase each year. This is the second year we're going into. So it's, uh, this is the mandatory increase. Um, and with that, I'm happy to answer any questions council might have.

▶ 22:54 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. Have, uh, counselor Hamilton,

▶ 22:58 Ward Hamilton: Thank you for being here this evening, and thank you for the work that you do. I'm familiar with your work, and I think, um, you've done a fantastic job representing the city's interests and I, I appreciate that. Thank you. Um, just one question. Yes. If the override is successful on June 18th, will there be anything added to your budget?

▶ 23:20 Speaker 4: I'm not expecting anything at this time. Okay.

▶ 23:24 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. Thank you. And for the record, um, uh, uh, uh, vice Chair William have joined us. Um, any other question from my colleague?

▶ 23:38 Maya Jamaleddine: Um, counselor Vandiver.

▶ 23:44 Kimberly Vandiver: Thank you, Uh, Madam Chair and, uh, thank you, Ms. Phillips. I was just curious, um, which new software program you're referencing as far as the public records requests? And if that's, if there are a variety of options in that area, if there's a clear leader, um, how you found that?

▶ 23:57 Speaker 4: Um, the software is next request. It's actually a contract. It's an add-on to our system. It's actually, um, partnered with the website that we currently have, which I'm blinking civic, I'm blanking on the name of our website company right now. Civic Plus. Civic Plus. Um, so it's an add-on to that. The contract sits with the IT department. Um, and what I can tell you, um, is that it's, it's, we have, it is the leader in the market, and I think the ease of which it would work with our existing, um, website was actually a big factor in this, as well as, um, my executive assistant and others in the city have familiarity with how the system works already and have used it before. I think, um, using this system will absolutely streamline the process. It has the capability of, for example, uh, if it does an email search, uh, in their system, it will actually go through on its own. And, and it will recognize duplicate emails over and over, which happens a lot of times when we're helping, when we're trying to respond to public records request. It'll also help with redactions and recognizing keywords, things like that. Um, which will reduce human error, hopefully. Um, and it will also, um, all be stored in one place. 'cause that's always, that's always an issue, is we could always get the public records request for, we want a copy of all public records requests, the city's received, um, and how we've responded to those. So this will give us one database where we're able to access them all, and it will be in real time to departments. Um, when we send them emails, um, to gather information for us, can actually upload it onto the system, um, the document itself so we can communicate that way. So hopefully we're hoping it will be more efficient. We haven't, um, onboarded everyone to it yet. Um, which it's very new. I think we'll start after July one. We wanna, uh, not introduce it to all the department heads right in the middle of budget season. So we're hoping, uh, we can get everyone on board with that, um, for this coming year.

▶ 25:42 Speaker 1: Great. Thank you for that detail.

▶ 25:47 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. Any other questions?

▶ 25:50 Maya Jamaleddine: Councilor Ra? Just make a motion to, is it

▶ 25:52 Speaker 5: Move the bottom Line.

▶ 25:54 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. We have a motion to move bottom line made by Councillor Ro, seconded by Councillor Reky. On discussion, sir. Clerk,

▶ 26:06 Speaker 2: Vice Chair Williams? Yes. Councilor Garrett P? Yes. Councilor Chetty. Yes. Councillor Reky. Yes. Councillor Hamilton? Yes. Councillor Vandiver. Yes. Councillor Romanul. Yes. Councillor Finocchiaro. Yes. President GL Yes. And Chair Jamal Dean? Yes. Motion passes.

▶ 26:26 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. Um, next we have

▶ 26:30 Maya Jamaleddine: human resources number 1 52. And we have, uh, director Lata with us.

▶ 26:42 Speaker 6: Welcome. Good evening. Good evening, Madam Chair. Good evening, city Council members. My name is Paulin Alta, HR Director for the City of Melrose. And I'm here tonight to present and answer any questions related to, uh, the four budgets that are in my department, HR budget, uh, workers' compensation budget, unemployment budget, and, um, employee benefits, budget. And, uh, before I go on, I just wanted to introduce my department. Uh, it consists of the HR director, HR coordinator, Diane Barrett, HR assistant Matt Trevors. And I'm very appreciative for the care diligence with which they approach their work. And it really does make a difference to the service they provide to our 400 employees and over 700 retirees. Uh, the city of Melrose HR Department is a one stop shop. Uh, we support 22 departments. Anything from recruitment, retention, benefits administration, workers' compensation, leave management, um, unemployment, just ensuring that we're in compliance with city and, um, policies with state and federal laws with, uh, collective bargaining agreement. And we work closely with, um, the auditor's office and with the mayor's office, and also with the City Solicitor's office, um, with creating the budget and just kind of day to day, um, matters. So, um, you have my, um, budget memo and, um, I was thinking of talking about my first budget, the HR budget.

▶ 28:21 Speaker 5: Yes. Um, Okay.

▶ 28:24 Speaker 6: So the human resources budget is seeing, um, 0.9% increase. Uh, this increase, uh, is realized, uh, due to our increasing the physical exams line item by $2,000. So that's a $12,000 increase, uh, total budget for the physical exams line item.

▶ 28:55 Speaker 6: Uh, the salaries are, um, staying as is, uh, due to the wage fees for non-Union employees. And, um, the reason for the increase to the physical exams line item is because we, um, currently are aware of, um, four police vacancies, police officer vacancies that we're going to have in the upcoming year and eight firefighter vacancies that we are going to have in the upcoming fiscal year. The cost for firefighter exams, pre-employment exams is 1,250 per exam. That includes physical and psychological exam. And the cost for police, um, exam is 1050 per exam. And again, these are ob we are obligated to, uh, conduct these exams for our new hire, um, public safety, um, officers.

▶ 29:59 Speaker 6: Um, Any questions about the HR budget? Um,

▶ 30:04 Maya Jamaleddine: So I'm proposing that we do one, uh, uh, number item at a time. Any question for, uh, on HR before we move to the workers' comp?

▶ 30:16 Maya Jamaleddine: Uh, councilor gpe.

▶ 30:18 Mark Garipay: Uh, thank you Madam Chair. Thank you for being here. Quick question on the, uh, in your summary, you said that we, uh, were looking at updating the handbook Employee Handbook with an, uh, outside firm. Is that already budgeted? Was that budgeted last year? Or is that in this year's budget? Or is that,

▶ 30:32 Speaker 6: Uh, the outside firm? We, uh, are paying for that through, uh, the mayor's budget,

▶ 30:39 Mark Garipay: Through the, uh, the budget, the mayor's budget. We already approved that. We approved a few weeks ago that

▶ 30:45 Speaker 6: No, it is for this, it's for fiscal year 24. It is within the mayor's budget for fiscal year 24. Okay. Mm-Hmm.

▶ 30:57 Speaker 2: Um, that's, uh, that's all I have for right now. Thank you.

▶ 31:02 Maya Jamaleddine: Um, any other question? Uh, councilor Vandiver?

▶ 31:09 Kimberly Vandiver: Um, thank you Madam Chair. Thank you, Ms. Lata. Um, this question might be for you or it might be for finance. Um, the memo mentioned a split of the department salaries between human resources and health. Uh, when I was looking at the budget detail report, it looked like the, the other portions of the salaries were in, um, perhaps the general fund. It, it didn't look like it was under the Health Department budget. And I was just curious, would it make more sense for them all to be under the human resources budget or, or what their reason is that they're split out the way that they're split out. Thanks.

▶ 31:44 Speaker 6: I'm happy to answer. The Human resources salaries are split between the human resources salary and wages and the health, uh, budget. And the reason for that, and I'll explain how they're split. So the director's wages are split 75% salary and wages and 25%, uh, group health. The HR coordinator is split 50% salary and wages, 50% Group health. And the HR assistant, it's, is split, uh, 50% salary and wages and 50% group health. And the reason for that split is that we, um, spend our time accordingly. Um, our benefits HR coordinator, um, administer benefits for city and retirees. So that's a large portion of her salary. Uh, our HR assistant also supports employees and retirees with, uh, different types of benefits. So that's also, um, accounted for in the salary distribution.

▶ 32:52 Speaker 6: Thank you. You're welcome.

▶ 32:54 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. Anyone else for the first time before Councilor gpe goes for the second time.

▶ 33:03 Speaker 3: Counselor gpe.

▶ 33:04 Mark Garipay: Just, just clarification 'cause um, councilor Ver uh, asked a question I was gonna ask on the benefits line item, the benefit account, when you say health, we're not talking the health department, right? 'cause I think that's where the confusion you're talking

▶ 33:19 Speaker 6: Group health, that's the group

▶ 33:20 Mark Garipay: Health, the health benefits, which is, I think that's where, uh, yes. Counselor Vandiver was, was looking at as I did originally I was thinking the Health Department

▶ 33:29 Speaker 6: Employee benefits, uh, let's just call it. Yeah. Account

▶ 33:31 Speaker 2: One. Account nine 14.

▶ 33:34 Speaker 6: Nine 14. Employee benefits not health department. Yes. Good clarification. Thank you. Thank You.

▶ 33:41 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. Counselor Hamilton.

▶ 33:43 Speaker 2: Madam Chair, just I guess point of clarification.

▶ 33:46 Ward Hamilton: Um, so we're still on 1 52 and we're gonna go through,

▶ 33:53 Maya Jamaleddine: We are going to go. So next, so we'll get to nine 14.

▶ 33:57 Speaker 2: Okay. Thank you. Yeah.

▶ 34:02 Maya Jamaleddine: Um, any other question on number 1 52?

▶ 34:09 Maya Jamaleddine: Okay. Seeing none, uh, we can move.

▶ 34:15 Speaker 3: Um, should we motion, take motion first? Okay.

▶ 34:17 Maya Jamaleddine: Um, do we have, what is the will of the committee Motion to move the bottom line on 1 52. Second, we have a motion made by President Melli to move to bottom line. Seconded. Second by, by councilor. Kara, she on discussion? Seeing none, Mr. Clerk,

▶ 34:36 Speaker 2: Vice Chair Williams? Yes. Councillor Repe? Yes. Councilor Chetty? Yes. Councillor Reky. Yes. Councillor Hamilton? Yes. Councillor Vandiver. Yes. Councilor Romanul? Yes. Councilor Finocchiaro. Yes. President Elli? Yes. And Chair Jamal Dean? Yes. Motion passes.

▶ 35:00 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. Um, next is number nine. 12 workers come. So with us, would you like to by some?

▶ 35:07 Speaker 6: Yes. Um, so this is our workers' compensation budget for the city. Uh, we have level funded. Uh, workers' compensation is a budget that's hard, hard to predict. We do look at the past few years, uh, or several years to see if there's, um, a pattern of increase and there has been increase over the past two years. Um, however, we feel like it is too early to, um, increase the workers' comp budget, the different line items of the budget. Therefore, at this point we are level funding. This budget is, uh, unpredictable. Uh, we do have some fixed expenses that are accounted for with this budget. For example, with workers' comp benefits line item, we have three long-term recipients of benefits, and we know that, um, for the following fiscal year, fiscal year 25, the cost for workers' comp benefits for these three long-term recipients is 175,000. So about 87% of this line item, uh, is already, uh, accounted for for benefits for our long-term recipients. Similarly, uh, our workers' comp medicals line item, about 55% of that budget is already accounted for for prescription of, um, long term recipient as well. Um, expenses, um, the expenses line item 30,000 of that line item are accounted for our fee, administrative fee for the third party administrator that assist with workers' comp, um, claims management, and the rest are bill review fees, any, uh, outside attorney fees. Um, and this type of expenses, the indemnification line item, this is specifically for medical covering, medical costs for public safety employees, and this one is at 70,000. Um, we have been pretty stable with this line item over the past few years. Um, but again, things can change in an instant if there's an incident, more serious incident. But I'm happy to answer any questions that anyone may have.

▶ 37:35 Maya Jamaleddine: Counselor Ro Next. Counselor Hamilton,

▶ 37:38 Speaker 5: I just have a question about the life insurance. Is it common to see a decrease, um, in the enrollment? Um, the life? Yeah, I can talk about that.

▶ 37:47 Speaker 6: Um, I was just talking about the workers' comp line item, uh, workers' comp budget right now. Sorry. Yep. No problem.

▶ 37:56 Maya Jamaleddine: We'll, uh, we'll go back to it in a few. Counselor Hamilton. Thank

▶ 38:01 Speaker 2: You. So,

▶ 38:04 Ward Hamilton: uh, workers' compensation is a metric of employee salaries and classification codes, right? Is that,

▶ 38:14 Speaker 6: So workers' compensation, there's essentially few different elements. One element is the indemnity, the indemnity payments, which is based on salaries. So it's based on, uh, 60% of the last 52 weeks prior to the incident. So that is based on the salaries of the employees. That's the indemnity portion or the benefits that when employees are unable to work, they collect these benefits. The rest, uh, is based on, um, I guess,

▶ 38:50 Speaker 7: uh, health cost related to medical expenses.

▶ 38:53 Speaker 6: So this could be surgeries, um, physical therapy, any type of cost related to medical expenses. And, uh, there's also portion related to, um, administrative fees and, uh, bill review fees and attorney fees if we have any. So these are kind of the three elements. Sure.

▶ 39:15 Ward Hamilton: But we, we pay a premium based on the type of work that's taking place. It's not just based on claims. So as a, just full disclosure, as a contractor, I pay workers' comp and depending on the type of work that my employees are doing, painting, paper, hanging, being lower risk, roofing being highest masonry and carpentry in between, like for example, roofing, I pay 37 cents on the dollar. Mm-Hmm. For workers' comp. So where I'm going with this is, are those costs captured in this?

▶ 39:52 Speaker 6: Uh, so I can clarify. I think what you are referring to is whether we have, um, excess insurance and we do not have excess insurance. That's the, um, paying for certain, um, number, let's say we, if, if we want, actually I looked into it, uh, after our last budget meeting. I believe that at the time, uh, counselor Jamel might have asked me that question. And essentially the way that excess insurance, which is what you have for your, um, contractors, the way that it works, even if we do have excess insurance, we still have to budget for the medical expenses, for the benefits that we currently have separately, we also budget for excess insurance, which could be anywhere between 140 to 250,000. Excess insurance kicks in when we meet the deductible, which that depends on what the city decides the deductible is. Um, in most cases it's over 500,000. Excess insurance also doesn't apply to public safety positions. So, uh, police and fire are excluded from that. The only way we benefit from it is if we have a claim that's very expensive and over five, over 500,000, anything that we pay over 500,000, we get reimbursed through that excess insurance. So eventually we do realize, um, the benefit of it, but in the beginning, it's very expensive, which is why we have opted, um, out of having such insurance. So essentially we are, um, paying for, for every claim that we have. Okay.

▶ 41:36 Ward Hamilton: So, uh, my last question, and this is where I'm going with this.

▶ 41:43 Ward Hamilton: So there is an override measure that we're gonna vote on on June 18th in that 7.7 million is largely salary. Mm-Hmm. If we add $7.7 million, or we'll say just 7.5 million in salaries to our budget, there's no, is there an impact to what we pay in workers' comp?

▶ 42:09 Speaker 6: Um, the, what we pay in workers' comp largely depends on not just the number of claims. Uh, it depends on the type of claims. If they're more serious medical claims, if they result in long-term not being able to work, um, certainly the salaries having a higher salary may have some impact, but it is based on the past 52 weeks. Mm-Hmm. Um, so I don't see having such a large impact on the workers' comp budget. Okay.

▶ 42:44 Speaker 2: Thank you. Thank you.

▶ 42:45 Maya Jamaleddine: Any other question on, um, number nine 12 workers, workers' comp.

▶ 42:55 Maya Jamaleddine: Okay. What is the will of the committee?

▶ 43:00 Speaker 2: Take a motion, move to the bottom line.

▶ 43:05 Maya Jamaleddine: We have a motion, um, to move to bottom line made by Councilor gpe, seconded by Councillor Chetty. On discussion. Seeing none, Mr. Clerk,

▶ 43:16 Speaker 2: Vice Chair Williams? Yes. Councillor gpe? Yes. Councillor Chetty. Yes. Councillor Besky. Yes. Councillor Hamilton? Yes. Councillor Vandiver. Yes. Councilor Romanul? Yes. Councillor Naro? Yes. President mli? Yes. And Jerry Jamal? Yes. That motion passes unanimously.

▶ 43:34 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. Next we have number nine 13 unemployment. So would you Yep.

▶ 43:40 Speaker 6: So nine 13, our unemployment budget, we have level funded. There's a 0% increase to this budget. The city of Melrose is self-insured. We are, um, what's known as reimbursable employer. And what that means is that we are responsible for all cost related to unemployment benefits. Um, and it is a trade off for not paying unemployment taxes. Similar to Counselor Hamilton's question, uh, earlier, uh, we could opt into a taxable method, um, for unemployment. Again, that's very expensive because it's based on 1% of the gross, uh, payroll, the total gross payroll for the city for two years, which is very expensive. And then you get assigned, um, different rate. So as a reimbursable employer, we pay for, um, of course we dispute the claims that we can dispute, but other than that we pay for, um, any claim that's, um, that qualifies under the Department of Unemployment.

▶ 44:52 Maya Jamaleddine: Awesome. Uh, thank you Councilor gpe.

▶ 44:55 Speaker 2: Thank you. Um, just a quick question.

▶ 44:58 Mark Garipay: Um, right now we have an override in front of us. Right now, this budget is based on, um, level funded the idea that the overrides aren't gonna go through Mm-Hmm. I'm sorry. Not sorry. We don't have an override.

▶ 45:14 Mark Garipay: Um, we don't know where the override's gonna be. So with this, um, with this budget as it stands now, we, um, the school department stands to lose a number of positions. Mm-Hmm. Is, are the schools in here or are they on their separate? Is there unemployment in here?

▶ 45:29 Speaker 6: Uh, this covers all city and school employees.

▶ 45:32 Mark Garipay: So right now, as we stand, we know this probably isn't gonna be enough if we're gonna have to pay unemployment to 16 or 17 people. Is that correct?

▶ 45:40 Speaker 6: Right. So not knowing what the outcome of the override will be, um, we are choosing to level funded this time, depending on the outcome of the override. We anticipate that if we don't have, um, the set number of positions in our health budget, that will then kind of trickle to the unemployment budget. So we realized that if we lay off 20 folks, they're not getting benefits, health insurance benefits, but they're going to end up getting unemployment benefits. So it's, it kind of,

▶ 46:22 Speaker 2: So it's fluid.

▶ 46:23 Mark Garipay: We'll do a, we'll, you'll come to us for a transfer from

▶ 46:27 Speaker 6: Once we have more information, more specific information at this time, um, it's hard to

▶ 46:31 Speaker 2: Know. And if,

▶ 46:34 Mark Garipay: I guess I know that this is all what if, right? But if, um, it does, there's not enough money in the health benefits to cover the unemployment, we don't get certified for free cash. What, well, I guess what would be the plan? Do, have you even thought of that? I'm not what the administration thought about. What would be the plan on how to fund the unemployment if there isn't enough in the, in the employee benefits? Our free cash does not get certified until, well, this year was January, February, but we still need to, need to pay. Right.

▶ 47:07 Speaker 6: So, uh, when we, I'm gonna talk just a little bit about, um, health insurance because it is relevant. When we budget for health insurance, we budget based on the average, uh, plan. Family plan, uh, is about 17 $18,000. Uh, when worst case scenario for unemployment, uh, the most an employee can collect is for 26 weeks. Um, 1030 $3 per week. So it's about 20, let's say maximum 26,000. So, um, more or less it, it should cover it. Um, if at the end of next fiscal year it turns out that we do need more money in the unemployment budget, then we're going to have to discuss where it'll come, come from. There might be another line item. Um, I guess I will work with the auditor's office and receive their guidance on best practices and best, um, you know, account to use funding to use for that. Thank

▶ 48:17 Speaker 2: You for clarifying that.

▶ 48:20 Maya Jamaleddine: I'm all set. Thank you. Any other question?

▶ 48:27 Maya Jamaleddine: N what is the will of the committee motion

▶ 48:29 Ryan Williams: To move the bottom line? On nine 13,

▶ 48:32 Maya Jamaleddine: We have a motion to move, uh, bottom line on number nine 13, made by Vice Chair Williams. Second. Seconded by counselor Karen Sheti on discussion. None. Mr. Clerk,

▶ 48:48 Speaker 2: Vice Chair Williams? Yes. Councilor Repe? Yes. Councillor Chetty. Yes. Cremsky? Yes. Councillor Hamilton? Yes. Councillor Vandiver. Yes. Councilor Romanul? Yes. Councillor naca. Yes. President Melli? Yes. And Chair Jamal Dean? Yes. That motion passes.

▶ 49:10 Maya Jamaleddine: Awesome. Uh, next we have, um, number nine 14 health, uh, contractual,

▶ 49:20 Speaker 6: Uh, nine 14 health contractual budget or employee benefits budget. Uh, that's a con contractual obligation, uh, that the city has to provide health insurance and, um, it's subject to different various fluctuations when we create a health insurance. Um, well first I, I wanna start with, uh, we have 4.3% increase to the, um, this line item. And this item line item consists of several, um, benefit line items. We have group health, life insurance, flexible spending, Medicare, part B reimbursement, Medicare, part B, penalties, um, and opt out program.

▶ 50:09 Speaker 6: So for fiscal year 25, the increase in that line item is, um, 4.3% total increase. And I can address more specifically, um, the, the separate, um, elements of that, uh, budget. So Group health is our largest budget and it's constantly, um, it's a snapshot in time. So when we create a group health budget, we take a look at, um, usually April 1st enrollment numbers, and then we do apply the updated premiums that we received from the group Insurance Commission. We take into account any, um, retirements, any changes that may happen, uh, in the upcoming year that we are aware of. But largely it's hard to predict, uh, employee's behavior and life events that take place during the year. Uh, and we work closely with the auditor's office to come up with a balance approach to the group health budget. In the past, we have used worse, a while back, worst case scenario where we would use the most expensive family plan that ended up creating a larger margins in our budget. Then we decided to scale back to the most popular plan, narrow the margins, the margins further. Now we use the average plan, so that's further narrowing the margins for our health insurance budget. Um, another impact this year is the contribution split between employee and employer due, um, in compliance with our PC agreement, the contribution split for fiscal year 25 is 83% employer contribution and 17% employee contribution. So it shifted by a percent from this year. Um, the average plan premium increase, um, is about 8% or 9% for non-Medicare plans and 3.3% increase, average increase for Medicare plans, uh, which is much larger than we have seen, uh, previous years. And it has, uh, more significant impact on our budget.

▶ 52:41 Speaker 6: Um, you life insurance, um, that line item I did reduce because, um, I have observed lower enrollment. So I did reduce this line item by 15%. The Medicare Part B budget, um, we increased by 4.4%, and that's largely due to the Medicare Part B. Uh, premium standard premium increase for calendar year 2024.

▶ 53:14 Speaker 6: Um, let's see, our Medicare penalty, uh, budget, I decreased by 20% since this budget is, um, penalty assessed by the federal government for, um, retirees who have enrolled in Medicare late. And most of these retirees, um, are dating back to 2009. When we joined the group Insurance Commission and retirees were required to have Medicare Part B, um, planned before they can enroll in a supplemental insurance through the group insurance Commission. So as a result, the city agreed to pay the penalty, um, with the years retirees passed away, and I think eventually, uh, this budget will disappear.

▶ 54:04 Speaker 6: The Optout benefit, um, we increased by 3.8%, and this is just based on current enrollment for, um, April of 2024.

▶ 54:19 Speaker 6: And I think that's, these are all the changes that we have made to this, um, budget. I can answer any questions.

▶ 54:29 Ward Hamilton: Councillor Hamilton. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, so this, the employee benefits, this is a big part of what we refer to as the city side and what the city covers.

▶ 54:39 Speaker 6: That's correct. That's the city portion. Yeah.

▶ 54:42 Speaker 2: And, um, in the Commonwealth,

▶ 54:47 Ward Hamilton: do all municipalities, some most, do they carry the city side, like broadly like we do for all departments? Or do some municipalities, like would they take a portion of this or all of it and divide it by the departments? And, and I'll just tell you where I'm going with this. Mm-Hmm. Yeah, just trying to understand net school spending, which I don't expect you to be able to speak to. I'm just trying to figure out if a municipality that breaks out benefits by department gets credit for what it puts into retirement and benefits and costs. Because I, I, I think we are being penalized for not meeting Desi's. This again, I apologize. I know, I mean, I'm talking to you about something to do with the schools. Yeah, yeah. But I believe we get penalized because we're not meeting the spending that Desi is saying that we are. So I'm trying to understand if we did things differently and each department was spending on benefits, would that count towards net school spending? And if that's not something that you can answer, I

▶ 55:56 Speaker 6: Totally, I can. Um, what I, I can't answer the exact question, however, I can provide a little clarification that, uh, every September I provide the auditor with a report, which he, she now then uses for, um, the desi, uh, reporting purposes. So, um, we, I am able to distinguish between what the cost is for teachers, for non-teachers, paraprofessionals, and then for city employees. And the same with retirees, teachers, non-teachers and city retirees. So I do provide that report and we, we do have that information, which then is, um, passed on to desi.

▶ 56:48 Ward Hamilton: And that's the document that's referred to as the end of your report, if You don't know. I'm not sure. I believe so. Yeah. Um, one last question. So on June 18th, if an override is successful, and I think we're adding approximately 42 teaching positions to this balanced budget, nevermind, um, some of the other things we've talked about with the library. How does adding 42 positions with employee benefits affect this number?

▶ 57:24 Speaker 6: I mean, anytime we add positions, the number will increase. However, I cannot give any specifics because in June we are going to look at our full enrollment for the new fiscal year. Um, when we, when I create the health insurance budget, we are in the process of open enrollment. So that makes it very tricky because we don't know how many people are going to enroll in benefits, change benefits, how many are going to opt out. We are in the, we actually just about to start open enrollment, uh, by June 18th, we'll have an idea for July 1st, what our numbers look like, and then we'll have more educated, um, kind of better information, more specific information to determine what the budget, how the budget may need to change.

▶ 58:16 Ward Hamilton: Thank you. That makes sense. Um, would it be fair to say that if we added 42 positions, that that number will increase?

▶ 58:23 Speaker 6: Um, naturally it will if we add 42? Yeah.

▶ 58:29 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Any other question?

▶ 58:33 Maya Jamaleddine: What is, uh, the, um, councilor Vandiver?

▶ 58:38 Kimberly Vandiver: Um, thank you. I I just wanted to clarify, um, along those lines, um, when the override request was put forward, I believe some of the language included, um, included benefits that go along with those, um, positions. Did you, um, did your department, um, was your department involved in, in coming up with figures that went into that override request? As far as what associated benefits might need to be part of that 7 million?

▶ 59:12 Speaker 6: Uh, I work closely with the auditor's office and when I created my budget, they are aware of the basis that I use for the budget. So then they use that to, uh, project if there's any added positions, what the, the total amount would, uh, would be. But I was not involved personally. Okay. Thank you.

▶ 59:36 Speaker 3: Uh, vice Chair Williams, what

▶ 59:38 Ryan Williams: Is the basis you use for the budget? What's the number when you're, you take a, um, salary, you calculate benefits, what, what are the, what calculation do you use? Uh, Just generally,

▶ 59:47 Speaker 6: If you are asking me how I come up with the health insurance budget,

▶ 59:50 Ryan Williams: I'm asking you if you had a position that was a hundred thousand dollars salary and you were just back of the envelope trying to figure out what the total cost of that position would be with benefits, what number would you use? Where I work the number's 28%.

▶ 1:00:05 Speaker 6: So we, we don't base it on percent. Okay. Um, we base it on average cost for a plan. Okay. And then there's Medicare cost, there's pension cost and um, the, the Medicare pension that's calculated through the auditor's office. But my department provides the health insurance information.

▶ 1:00:23 Ryan Williams: So, so not related to the numbers that you put into the budget, but if you are, if someone's seeking approval for a job posting and they come to you and they say, I want to hire this position and we want to pay them a hundred thousand dollars a year, you have a number in your head for how much those benefits will cost the fringe on that position? Mm-Hmm. Do you know what that,

▶ 1:00:45 Speaker 6: So yes, we are using the family plan. The average cost for the family plan, is that what you're asking me? Yeah. Yeah. So it's, um, we use 17,600 for, for the average, average cost for family plan. That's what we are basing our

▶ 1:01:03 Speaker 8: For any job For.

▶ 1:01:05 Speaker 6: For any job. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, because we don't differentiate whether you an employee works at DPW or fire or police, the contributions split employee employer is the same.

▶ 1:01:18 Ryan Williams: Is that the totality of fringe at City of Melrose?

▶ 1:01:22 Speaker 6: Uh, pretty much the only, uh, other benefit that we contribute to, um, fringe benefits life insurance, which is really minor. Um, we con, so the total cost for life insurance, um, we contribute 75%. The employee cost is 5% of $5, uh, a month. And ours is, is really minor. Yeah. Alright. So it's, yeah.

▶ 1:01:48 Speaker 8: Thank you. Um,

▶ 1:01:51 Maya Jamaleddine: thank you Counselor Hamilton, did you have your hands

▶ 1:01:54 Ward Hamilton: Up? Yes. Thank you. And through the chair. Um, counselor Vandiver asked you a moment ago if, in preparing for the override, and she referenced language that's been used in the override. I think she asked you if anyone consulted with you about how those numbers would be impacted, increased by added positions. Mm-Hmm. Was it your testimony that, did you say no?

▶ 1:02:27 Speaker 6: Uh, no. I actually said that I provided my, uh, budget document to the auditor's office. We were closely with the auditor's office on my budget document for the group health insurance. So the auditor is aware of the numbers that I use to project for every position. So all they have to do afterwards is figure out the additional positions that they're going to include and use my numbers. So I don't need to be there. Understood for that.

▶ 1:02:58 Speaker 3: Thank you. Thank you. Any other question?

▶ 1:03:03 Maya Jamaleddine: Seeing none, what is the well of the committee?

▶ 1:03:11 Speaker 9: A motion? The bottom line Excuse second. Wait.

▶ 1:03:13 Speaker 8: Oh, on nine 14

▶ 1:03:17 Maya Jamaleddine: We have a motion to move to bottom line made by, uh, vice Chair Williams, seconded by Councilor Romanul. Um, on discussion

▶ 1:03:33 Maya Jamaleddine: asking none, Mr. Clerk,

▶ 1:03:35 Speaker 2: Vice Chair Williams? Yes. Councillor Repe? Yes. Councillor Chetty? Yes. Councillor Brisky. Yes. Councillor Hamilton? Yes. Councillor Vandiver. Yes. Councilor Romanul? Yes. Council naca? Yes. President Elli? Yes. And Chair Jamal Dean? Yes. Motion passes.

▶ 1:03:57 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. Thank you for all, um, your time and effort. Uh, we appreciate you with us. Um,

▶ 1:04:06 Speaker 6: Thank you. Thanks.

▶ 1:04:09 Maya Jamaleddine: And in order to continue hearing from departments over the next, uh, few weeks, I'll entertain a motion to hold appropriation 2024 dash 25 in committee. I'll

▶ 1:04:20 Speaker 2: Make a motion for that.

▶ 1:04:22 Maya Jamaleddine: Second Counselor, Gar Pay made a motion to hold, um, uh, appropriation 2024 dash 25. In committee second. Seconded by counselor, Kara Shetty on discussion. Seeing none, Mr. Clerk,

▶ 1:04:38 Speaker 2: Vice Chair Williams? Yes. Councillor Repe? Yes. Councillor Chetty? Yes. Councillor Reky. Yes. Council Hamilton? Yes. Councillor Vandiver? Yes. Councilor Romanul? Yes. Councilor Naro. Yes. President Elli? Yes. And Chair Jamal Dean?