Appropriations & Oversight Committee — 2021-05-24
Attendance
Christopher Cinella ; Jack Eccles ; Mark Garipay ; Jen Grigoraitis ; Maya Jamaleddine ; Shawn M. MacMaster ; Jeff McNaught ; Leila Migliorelli ; Robb Stewart ; Cory Thomas ; John N. Tramontozzi
Agenda
- Call to Order
- Public Comment
- Orders
- ORDER-2021-122 : City of Melrose Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2022 in the amount of $91,000,522.33 (Ninety-One Million, Five Hundred Twenty-Two Dollars and Thirty-Three Cents).
- ORDER-2021-128 : Reauthorization of City of Melrose Revolving Fund table as first adopted by City Ordinance June 18th, 2018 and annually thereafter. Revolving Funds are further authorized under Massachusetts General Law Chapter 44 Section 53E 1/2.
- Adjournment
Minutes
CITY OF MELROSE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE CALENDAR● MAY 24, 2021 Web-based remote meeting Budget Hearing 6:30 PM , Melrose, MA 02176 The public should take notice that the Melrose City Council may, on certain occasions, have a quorum in attendance due to standing committees of the City Council consisting of both voting and non-voting members. Members attending this duly posted meeting are participating and deliberating only in conjunction with the business of the standing committee. Attendee Name Title Status Arrived Jeff McNaught Chair Present Jack Eccles Vice Chair Present John N. Tramontozzi Present Shawn M. MacMaster Present Mark Garipay Present Jen Grigoraitis Present Leila Migliorelli Present Robb Stewart Present Cory Thomas Present Maya Jamaleddine Present Christopher Cinella President, ex oficio Present
ORDER-2021-122 Operating Budgets (City, School, Regional School) City of Melrose Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2022 in the amount of $91,000,522.33 (Ninety-One Million, Five Hundred Twenty-Two Dollars and Thirty-Three Cents). Hold Appropriations Committee
ORDER-2021-128 Revolving Fund/Reauthorization Reauthorization of City of Melrose Revolving Fund table as first adopted by City Ordinance June 18th, 2018 and annually thereafter. Revolving Funds are further authorized under Massachusetts General Law Chapter 44 Section 53E 1/2. Hold Appropriations Committee City of Melrose Page 1 1/7/2022 10:39 AM
Transcript
▶ 0:01 Jeff McNaught: We are recording. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Okay, we're going to begin here. All bands here. Good evening. The time is 631 p.m. It is May 24th, 2021. This is a meeting of the Appropriations Committee. I'm Councilor McNaught, the Chair of the Appropriations Committee. And in lieu of our roll call attendance, joining me this evening are Vice Chair Eccles, Councilor Tramontozzi, Councilor McMaster, Councilor Migliorelli, Councilor Garipay, Councilor Grigoraitis, Councilor Shemaladin, Councilor Stewart, Councilor Thomas, and President Sinella. Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12th, 2020 order suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law, and the Governor's March 15th, 2020 order imposing strict limitations on the number of people that may gather in one place,
▶ 1:08 Jeff McNaught: this meeting of the Appropriations Committee will be conducted by a remote participation to the greatest extent possible. We will post an audio or video recording, transcript, or other comprehensive record of these proceedings as soon as possible, after the meeting on the City of Murrow's website and on MMTV3.org. If there is no objection, I am going to move for unanimous consent to open the floor for public comments. Seeing no objection, public comment is open. This is the portion of the meeting where any member of the public can speak to any item on our agenda. If you are in the attendee or the audience, the attendee list, and they'd like to speak, please raise your digital hand and the clerk will bring you into the room.
▶ 2:00 Jeff McNaught: I don't see Madam clerk. I see nobody. That's not a participant. Okay, that being said at this time, I'll move for unanimous consent to close public comment. Unless there is an objection seeing none public comment is closed. Now I will move for unanimous consent. To spend the rules so that we can hear from certain members of the administration this evening. Unless there is an objection saying none, the rules are now suspended. Uh, 1st up tonight is. We're 2021 dash 122, the city of operating budget for fiscal year 2022. In the amount of 91,522 dollars and 33 cents. And 1st, coming into this room into the room this evening is the energy commission. Madam clerk, can we bring. Mr place and coming in now.
▶ 3:13 Into the room this is David bliss. Expecting that Gary is going to join. I am here. Hello everyone. Sorry. It took me a 2nd to figure out how to unmute and turn on video. It's okay. Welcome. Thank you for being here. Sure. Thanks for having us. So, I'm Gary LaMothe, Melrose Energy Commission co-chair, along with David Bliss. I don't have a presentation to share, so I'm just going to read off of some prepared notes. So, Melrose Energy Commission is composed entirely of volunteers. As you know, we work closely with Martha Grover, the City Sustainability Manager. and we help Melrose residents, businesses, and nonprofits use less energy, save money, and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. In Melrose, the largest contributors to our greenhouse gas
▶ 4:19 emissions are heating and cooling our homes and buildings, transportation, and the electricity we use for lighting and appliances and the like. And those are the three areas that MEC tends to focus on since any progress there will have the largest impact. So our biggest achievements for fiscal year 21 is it this past year was in the area of heating and cooling our buildings with the very successful completion of the heat smart melrose program so in january 2020 i believe it was this council approved accepting a grant from the massachusetts clean energy center so we could launch the heat smart program with their help and the help of one of their consultants. The program allowed MEC to reach out to fellow Melroseans, educate them about clean
▶ 5:08 heating and cooling options, and connect them with installers that we had reviewed and pre-vetted and with whom we had negotiated favorable rates. The program wrapped up in March of 2021, and I'm happy to say that on a per capita basis, it was the most successful HeatSmart program to date. So 137 air source heat pumps, ground source heat pumps, and solar hot water systems were installed during the program. Melrose residents benefited from more than $200,000 in rebates and incentives, and in addition, local nonprofits and low-income residents received over $9,000 in cash and services that were donated by our participating installers. In the area of transportation, Melrose continues to expand the number of EV charging stations
▶ 5:56 it offers its residents and visitors to the City. Through a partnership between National Grid and the City of Melrose, 15 new pole-mounted chargers have been or soon will be added at locations throughout the City that are convenient to local shops, restaurants, and recreation areas. In order to help the Mayor plan for future EV charger sites, MEC will fund an EV charger survey so that we can learn of residents' plans to purchase EVs and how they plan to charge them we also plan to add we finding street signs that serve the dual purpose of directing residents and visitors with electric vehicles to our city provided charging stations and also advertising the convenient location to residents who may be
▶ 6:41 considering an ev purchase on a clean electricity front mex has been promoting clean renewal electricity for years starting with the solar melrose campaign solarized melrose campaign in 2012 through the award-winning big roof solar program in 2019 as well as our ongoing partnership with energiesage.com which is an online solar energy marketplace for fiscal year 21-22 our focus is on getting melrose residents and businesses to opt up to the melrose community powers 100 local green electricity option it's a simple way for all melroseans with a national grid electricity bill whether a renter or an owner to purchase 100 clean renewable energy from sources located in new england as a result of our efforts during melrose earth week more than 100 melrose
▶ 7:34 Jeff McNaught: residents have now opted up and with the lifting of covid restrictions you'll see us in person at events around town like the victorian fair farmers market the summer stroll and i'm going to put in a little plug if you haven't done it already visit mcp.cityofmelrose.org and click on opt up and you'll need a couple of pieces of information from your national grid electric bill and it takes less than five minutes to do so i urge everyone to do that thank you mr lamothe i just wanted to say one thing really quick we we've lost one of our one of our councils to technical difficulties okay i just want everybody to know that council mcmaster is trying to make his way back into the I know I lost one of my Hollywood squares, so I just wanted to point that out, but you
▶ 8:22 may continue. Thank you. Okay. Thanks. So in 2019, Melrose was selected by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council to participate in a pilot program to create a net zero emissions plan using a newly created MAPC handbook. So MECC members continue to actively support Martha in the creation of the Melrose Net zero plan. Lastly, efficacy and education have always been an important part of the Energy Commission. We have diverse expertise among Commission members and enables us to provide guidance to residents and organizations in the city. This year, we've provided consulting for the Congregational Retirement Homes. Many homeowners reach out to us about renovations that they're doing, and we help them with their decisions. And we're always ready to
▶ 9:15 to help the city with any of its projects and bylaws. For instance, our members will be reviewing the Memorial Hall renovation proposals to make sure that energy efficiency and the most up-to-date methods and materials are used during the renovation. And today we sent a letter on behalf of MEC to the planning board with proposed language to the zoning incentive amendment for zones BA1 and BA2. And we urge the council to take a look at that, read it, and strongly consider our recommendation. It's something we really need to do as any changes that we're allowing to new construction and renovations and additions are going to be around for 50 to 100 years. So we need to do what we can to make these new buildings as energy efficient and, if possible, net zero, if we can.
▶ 10:22 So with that, I just want to close and say that Energy Commission, you know, we are all volunteers. We're passionate about what we do. We have a lot of expertise, and we appreciate the resources that the city commits to us, and we thank you for your continued support. Thank you, Mr. Lamont. And I didn't know if Mr. Bliss would be speaking also, or? Gary's an excellent spokesperson, and thank you for that, Gary. Thanks, David. Well, thank you so much. If there's any councillors that have questions for Mr. Lamothe, Councillor Tremelody? Thank you, Chair McNaught. Thank you to the Energy Commission on all the hard work that you guys have been doing for our community to move it forward. I personally have benefited from
▶ 11:25 Jen Grigoraitis: few of the programs and looking forward to do more, and here was the next step for Melrose. We put all the trust in you guys and we know that for sure, you guys are taking us to a better Melrose. I just want to thank you and that's all. Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Maladine. I don't think I saw any other hands go up. Okay. Councilor Grigoraitis. Thank you, Chairman McNaught. I just wanted to echo the comments made by Councilor Jamaleddine. I know I personally, we have benefited from the expertise of your group. We purchased an electric vehicle thanks to the assistance from Martha Grover, and we opted up this month, mostly because she helped me figure out how to find my electric bill account.
▶ 12:13 Jeff McNaught: I know it's so critical that we meet our community goal of net zero by 2050, so thank you all for the work you're doing, and I will motion to move the bottom line. Excuse me. Thank you, Council Gregoritas. We have a motion to move the bottom line of Department 196, made by Council Gregoritas, seconded by Vice Chair Eccles. Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll? Chair McNaught. Before we vote counter, Stuart has his hand up. Yes, Mr. chairman, I had seen, uh. I'm so God pays and go up. I'm not sure if you wanted to make a comment or not before we actually do. No, counselor made the motion to move the bottom bottom line. That was my thank you. So, we, we can begin the vote. Chair Mcnaught? Yes. Yes. Vice chair Eccles? Yes. Councilor Tramontozzi? Yes. Councilor Garipay? Yes. Councilor Grigoraitis? Yes.
▶ 13:23 Jeff McNaught: Councilor Migliorelli? Yes. Councilor Stewart? Yes. Councilor Thomas? Yes. Councilor Tremont-Ledeen? Yes. President Cinella? Yes. And yes. The motion passes. Thank you for being here tonight, gentlemen. We will move on to our next group. All right. Thank you. Good night. Thank you. Good night. Next, we have coming in the recreation department who will speak to Department 631, that's the recreation department as well as 2021, that's the recreation revolving account. I believe we have Mr. Gardner here with us. Mr. Wallenberry should be there somewhere. There we go. I'm here. Hey, Bill. Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you so much. This is a pretty straightforward budget as far as recreation goes. Probably the last 10 years,
▶ 14:31 I think Frank will agree, we've come forward with the same budget. It's always been level-funded in some senses. 85 percent of the salaries and wages for the Recreation Department are paid through the Recreation Revolving Account which is the next one on the agenda, I suspect. This year has been a little bit different. Every year we come before you. I'd like to take a couple of minutes again to give Mr. Oliveri some kudos because of the fact that it's been a different year. The recreation department in many cities and towns shut down basically because of the pandemic, because they didn't have the ability to deal with the challenges that came with all the different things associated with COVID-19.
▶ 15:25 Frank did the opposite. He was aggressive. He did fine. Again, the revolving account was profitable. Not by much. It was a struggle for sure, but at the same time, he was able to do stuff with the City of Melrose that a lot of other cities and towns weren't able to do. They morphed into different different areas too with the Melrose Helps program, probably 50 to 60 with many, many other cities and towns, many, many other departments, I'm sorry, in the City of Melrose. Frank and his group cooperated with delivering 50-60 meals per week to various people, and he coordinated the vaccination clinics as well. I think our budget is $64,000. They spend much more than that on great things for the city,
▶ 16:30 Mark Garipay: including scholarships and inclusionary programs and can't say enough. I just get a chance to crow once a year with you folks, so here we go. Thank you, Frank. Thanks, Bill. Thank you, Mr. Gardner. So far, I have Councilors Garipay and Thomas. Anyone else want to go in queue? Councilor McAleer, are you ready? Councilor McMaster is back with us. I did alert the public that you're having some technical difficulties council mcmaster so i just wanted to note that so first councilor Garipay thank you mr chair thank you uh mr oliveri and mr gardner for being here i want to echo uh mr gardner's comments i want to thank you and your department for all that you've done over the last year during this pandemic it was truly amazing what your department was able to do in order to get
▶ 17:31 Mark Garipay: get our kids up and running and being very active during tough times from Friday night lights over the summer through rec basketball during the during the uptick in the pandemic during the surge and and it was done in a safe manner you and your department deserve a lot of credit and I as a child I as a parent of a 13 year old really really thank you because they really needed this activity and um i wish we had a lot of money to to to give you to expand your programs and you were able to do amazing things in these tough times so um on behalf of me and uh you know a lot of a lot of the kids in this community we thank you for all that you did this past year thank you thank you very much thank you councillor Garipay councillor thomas thank you mr chairman
▶ 18:26 Cory Thomas: Mr. Gardner, Mr. Oliveri, thank you for being here. Councilor Garipay kind of stole my thunder. He pretty much said verbatim what I was going to say. There was a need for programming in the community, especially throughout the winter, you know, and I know it must have been difficult for you guys to cancel programming like the wrestling program and the hockey program and the basketball program for the middle school teams. A lot of kids come on that for social interaction, for exercise for for a number of things but the program that you were programming that you were able to offer from the football friday night lights and the basketball programs it was outstanding it was well needed and very much appreciated so thank you you guys for all you
▶ 19:09 Leila Migliorelli: do and everyone down there in the basement at city hall and the record conference you get a lot of good people working down there so keep up the great work thank you thank you thank you very Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Mr. Gardner and Mr. Oliveri for being here tonight. And I'll just, you know, again, echo my fellow councillors and saying, thank you so much for being creative over this past year. I won't belabor that much. I actually am interested in maybe, you know, I feel like I have two young boys and who are very active and I know there's a growing number of children in this community. number of children in this community have you thought about um expanding you know rec offerings and what what would it take to get there um i mean i feel like the you know summer programs get
▶ 19:59 Leila Migliorelli: snapped up really quickly um and i know there's other activities and sports and things that people ask for so i just want to give you the opportunity to say like if you had if you had your you know your chance or your your wishes what what would it look like and and how could the city support that Yeah, that's a great question. Thank you. It's, you know, over the last, this is my 13th year now with the city, my 14th summer coming up and we continue to grow, but it's, it's a slow process because we're always funding ourselves. Right? So, depending on how hard we work and how many programs we offer, that's, that's kind of how the slow build starts. We, we, as Bill mentioned, we haven't had an increase in our budget in over 10 years.
▶ 20:43 So, so it's, it becomes challenging because in order to increase programming, we, we need the resources to do that, which mostly comes out of staffing. Right? I, that that's and not necessarily the, the high school and the college kids, but we need staff that can help coordinate and set up programming. And and that's something that we're not in a position to do right now, because. You would need to put you would either need to like, we have 2 full timers, a core, a director and a coordinator and then 2 part timers who work under 18 hours a week somewhere between 10 and 18 usually. And in order to provide funding, we would need funds and then we would need some of that funding to go towards.
▶ 21:29 Designated somebody to help us on that administrative. Coordinating and so it's not necessarily somebody playing with the kids. It's somebody helping us set it all up. So, so it's, um, it would be an investment in our department. I know it's something that would go a long way because it's, it's something that would instantly give back. But that's, that's kind of where we need to go. We're seeing a giant influx of kids and. Um, enthusiasm with our department, especially this year, it was. The outpouring of gratitude we got from this year was incredible. And it really, it was quite a motivator for our department to keep going to offer programming. And so I'm kind of hoping that keeps going our summer programs. We have a summer brochure book out right now.
▶ 22:19 I can't believe how many registrations we have already, which is wonderful. Um, so I know the demand is there, we just have to get to a point where if the city feels it's, it's something that it wants to see us grow and offer more that. That would have to be part of the discussion, I guess. So, the council, um, frankly has brought this up the years now. Um. Probably one of the brightest and forward thinking guys you want to when we hired him 14 years ago, I didn't know you could get a major at Florida Florida state. I think it was Frank. Yeah, Florida state, I didn't know you could get a major in recreation management. Okay. He thought about this for a long, long time. And it's just not all sports oriented with Frank. It's all different programs for different types of things.
▶ 23:11 Leila Migliorelli: Funding is part of it. We've had the discussions even today. This afternoon, we had the discussion about talking about different funding issues that right now is not the appropriate time. We'll sit back and we'll come back to you next year and ask you for more. I think if you're concerned about people thinking outside the box, they're trying to develop different programs, I wouldn't be concerned with Frank in charge. For sure. Thank you. I figured as much. I figured it wasn't due to a lack of creativity, but I can, I feel like that. You know, I'm, I'm right there when the rec department schedule opens for the summer trying to register my kids as quickly as possible. Cause I got a couple of years ago. So, yeah, I would love to see and I think the community would love to would be supportive of of increased programming, the rec department. So glad you're thinking ahead about that.
▶ 24:11 Mark Garipay: I look forward to seeing that come down sometime. It does. Thank you so much. Great. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Do we have anyone else in the queue for Councilor Garipay? I was talking about my father when you said that. One quick question. Are we talking about revolving account right now or is there going to be next one? Am I, am I to assume or did you want to expand more on the revolving account or. Okay, go ahead. No, I think we're good. I think they go hand in hand. So, the revolving account, the salaries are divided between the revolving account and the budget. How's the revenue in the revolving account? Where we are today or starting next year compared to where we were. Prior and will we see a deficit that, uh, that we may have to come back for more money in order to make sure that the, um.
▶ 25:11 It's all for the salaries. So so as of right now, we, we did come up a little short for this year's budget. Just just a little bit. I'm actually very proud of the fact that we're only probably a few 1000 dollars short of. Of covering our budget, but because of the way our record evolving budget works, and we had so much revenue come in from summer registrations. We're, we're actually hoping that at the end of this upcoming fiscal year that we will have made up for that revenue. Or at least gotten very close to doing that. So I think we're actually in a really good. We're in a good spot for covering us for where we're at right now. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you. Anyone else in queue? Okay. So what is the will of the committee?
▶ 26:07 Jen Grigoraitis: Did you have your hand up? Sorry. That's okay. Thank you. Chairman. I just wanted to follow up on the comments of my. Colleagues about how critical the rec department has been this past year and also just really. I mean, obviously, we don't have anything to do with the creation of the budget. This is our part of the process, but really encourage. Advocacy for more because I think this department, in a way, is the intersection of so many things that this body has talked about about equity and inclusion, making sure that we're. Offering activities for all of our youth, not just the kind of most popular or typical sports. And also, I know, as counselor Thomas often points out, you know, our concerns around substance abuse and that we need to not just offer.
▶ 26:52 Jen Grigoraitis: education but we need to offer alternatives and i think that your department does that so i think i just want to thank you for what you pulled off this year but also i really hope that we can see more um just more overall from the department because i think it's so critical to so many pieces of what makes the community successful and with that i will motion to move bottom line on the rec department budget second we have a motion to move line 631 from council Grigoraitis seconded by councillor thomas madam clerk will you please call the role chair mcnaught yes vice chair eccles yes councillor trayman cozy yes councillor mcmaster yes councillor Garipay yes councillor Grigoraitis yes councillor Migliorelli
▶ 27:47 Yes, yes, counselor Stewart. Yes. Counselor Thomas. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. President, yes 11. yes. And what is the will of the committee on. The revolving account, which is line 2021. Recreation 22 motion to move the revolving account. 2nd, we have a motion to move the bottom line of the recreation revolving. Account 2021 made by council seconded by, I believe it was council. Madam clerk, will you please tell the chair? Yes. Vice chair Eccles. Yes, yes. Yes. Counselor McMaster yes. Yes. Councilor Grigoraitis? Yes. Councilor Migliorelli? Yes. Yes. Councilor Stewart? Yes. Councilor Thomas? Yes. Yes. Councilor Jamaleddine? Yes. President Sinella? Yes. 11 yes. Thank you very much, gentlemen, and again,
▶ 29:08 Jeff McNaught: thank you for all you do for us and our little ones to get them out of those. Thank you so much, everybody. Thank you. Take care. Next up, we have the City Treasurer, Ms. Catherine Armada, come into the room, I believe. Am I there? There I am. Good evening, Ms. Armada. Hi. Very nice to see you, Ron. Very nice to see you. Before you begin, I just want to let the public know and the council know that they'll be speaking to the Treasurer of the Collectors Department, the Municipal Debt, Municipal Debt Interest, Projected debt, Medicare, city portion. Pension and parking, so that may sound like a lot more than you have to prevent, but I just wanted to note that we have to pass all those. Why did you just saved me? You just saved me by introduction. Thank you very much.
▶ 30:16 So, I'm coming, I mean, I'm the treasure collector of the city. I began about 10 years ago in this role in July of 2020 and we just reviewed all of the items that I will be covering. I'd like to give you just a high level overview of my department so you can put things into context. We are of a team of five in addition to me, an incredibly agile group and we handle a huge volume of calls and visitors to the office there are three collectors we have sharon pat and monica and they are responsible for the billing and collecting of real estate and property bills sewer and water and motor vehicle excise taxes now even during the i guess the strictest part of covid when we were just open in the morning at the beginning we on average had
▶ 31:14 about 313 visitors to our department every month and that jumped up to over 700 this past march when restrictions were limited this is when people aren't supposed to be out and about and we respond to about at least 1700 calls and emails a quarter just helping people out with general questions monica is our most um recent hire and she started a month before the shutdown so pat and sharon have done a tremendous job and she's done a tremendous job in getting up to speed very quickly on the treasurer's side of the operation we have an entirely new staff um stephanie is the new assistant treasurer and she joined us last november andrea is uh the parking clerk and she joined us in january we manage the collected funds we process and fund
▶ 32:05 all of the city and school payrolls, we pay the vendor accounts, we issue parking stickers, and much, much more. As you can imagine, no one is really happy to pay a parking ticket, but Andrea is so pleasant and positive that she is an absolute joy to work with. And Stephanie has this attention to detail and research that has really enabled her to jump right into her at role um it's rare that somebody is excited to visit our office and we understand that and it sometimes can be challenging um but this team they're driven by a sense of purpose and a sense of collaboration uh without someone to collect these funds um to manage and distribute them we all wouldn't be here tonight because there would be no public services
▶ 32:56 available um so we worked incredibly hard over this last year to really adjust ourselves and make sure there was no interruption to our service whatsoever i'm very proud of my team um and the way they were able to come together during this stressful time and in a major management change So, with regard to all of the budgets, with Treasurer 145, I followed form of prior years with just a couple of changes. We are requesting a $1,500 increase in education and seminars, and that will assist us in advancing our skill sets in our new roles. For example, I have applied for a certification course that is sponsored by the M. M. A. and Suffolk University for this fall. It came highly recommended to me by our senior auditor who took it best past spring.
▶ 33:56 The remaining funds are basically going to be dedicated to payroll training. training payroll is owned by a couple of different buckets at city hall and what we need is an in-house owner someone who is the expert and the owner of the process uh one major project that we are embarking on this fall has already been approved for free cash and i just like to take um just one minute to thank you very much for approving that upgrade for the cash management system i really do believe that it's going to really be able to move us along and and move forward in bringing this operation up to the next level so back to my budget um postage and printing are up basically to cover the cost of rising cost of posting our tpa and paper we get charged per item at a rate the parking budget is pretty
▶ 35:00 much flat there's a slight decrease in salaries but other than that it is the same as last year the city portion of medicare is based on a calculation that we worked out in-house It takes last year's Medicare, and it applies assumptions such as new headcount, increase in salaries, rising cost of health care, and a couple of other adjustments. So we took a long time in determining those assumptions, and we feel fairly comfortable with what we're recommending for the budget. As far as I know, 9-11, the pension is what it is based on examination of the accounts and what the law dictates that needs to be funded. So, I can't really talk to the exercise behind that. And last, the municipal debt and interest budgets.
▶ 36:05 This is particular only to the general application bonds. It does not include the bonds. They're paid out of trust and it does not include the exempt bonds that are outside of that. 5% limit. So, this budget is actually predicted to be down in 2022. our needs are down and that's primarily due to timing. Um, some large projects that were planned for this year earlier in this year, late last year were put off because of the pandemic. If we couldn't issue bonds that pushed off. The need to make principal and interest payments in the coming year. So, that is why it is decreased. It will catch up when we start to initiate our borings again, when the projects do start. We have a, an allowance for that with the band class at the 84 dollars in the projected.
▶ 37:02 Bond in interest, but other than that, it was, it was pretty clean. Those were the highlights of the budget. I can answer any questions you might have. Thank you. Are there any counselors with questions for Ms. Armada? Vice Chair Eccles. Thank you, Ms. Armada, for being here. I just have one question based on something you just mentioned. What's an example? We have a lot of outstanding bonds that are paid by press. What's an example of one if there's a lot of- A lot of bonds. Gotcha. Perfect. That was my only question. Thank you. Any other councilors? Seeing that I know Ms. Armada spoke to the many light items that we mentioned in the beginning, I would be happy to entertain a motion to Council McMaster.
▶ 38:04 Jeff McNaught: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. At this time, I make a motion to conjoin Department 711, Municipal Debt, 751, Municipal Debt Interest, 916 Medicare 911 pension and 296 parking and make motion to conjoin those at this time and that's to conjoin them with department 145 correct yes my apologies thank you mr. chairman okay so we have a motion made by council McMaster seconded by councilor Jamaleddine to conjoin department 145 the treasurer collectors department with line 711 751 752 916 911 and 296 on discussion seeing none uh madam clerk will you please call the role chair mcnaught yes vice chair eccles yes councillor Tramontozzi yes councillor mcmaster yes councillor Garipay yes councillor Grigoraitis yes councillor Migliorelli yes councillor stewart
▶ 39:27 Yes. Councillor Thomas? Yes. Councillor Jamaleddine? Yes. President Sinella? Yes. 11 yes. That motion passes. Councillor McMaster? Yes, Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to move the bottom line of the conjoined orders at this time. Second. So we have a motion by Councillor McMaster to move the bottom line of the Conjoined Daughters, seconded by Councillor Migliorelli. Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll? Chair McNaught? Yes. Vice Chair Eccles? Yes. Councillor Tramontozzi? Yes. Councillor McMaster? Yes. Councillor Garipay? Yes. Councilor Grigoraitis? Yes. Councilor Migliorelli? Yes. Councilor Stewart? Yes. Councilor Thomas? Yes. Councilor Jamaleddine? Yes. President Cinella? Yes. Levin, yes. Thank you, Ms. Armada, for being here with us this
▶ 40:45 Jeff McNaught: evening. We appreciate your time and your team's efforts every day. We I really appreciate all of you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. I think you were muted. No? Okay. I will entertain a motion to hold Order 2021-122 in committee until our next budget hearing tomorrow night or Wednesday night, rather. So moved. Second. Motion to hold Order 2021-122 by Council McMaster, seconded by Council Garape. Madam clerk, yeah, I'm not. Yeah, I share Eccles. Yes. Council Tramon. Yes, Councilor McMaster. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Councilor Grigoraitis yes, yes. Council, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Yes, president. Yes. 11 yes, we'll move on to order 2021 dash 128. Reauthorization of the city of Melrose revolving fund table.
▶ 42:11 Jeff McNaught: As 1st, adopted by city ordinance, June 18th, 2018 and annually thereafter. Revolving funds are further authorized under Massachusetts general laws. Chapter 44 section 53. E. And I have, I don't know if we, do we have anyone here to speak on this? Madam Claire. According to my records, council's and Jamala Dean moved record volume and come along. So, we'll just be holding committee sure. Question to order. 2021, 128 in committee. 2nd, there's a motion to hold 2021, 1, 20 committee made by vice chair Eccles seconded by. Concert technology, please call the role. Chairman not yes. Vice chair Eccles. Yes. Counselor, yes. Counselor McMaster. Yes. Counselor. Yes, Councilor Grigoraitis. Yes. Councilor Migliorelli.
▶ 43:36 Yes, yes. Councilor Stewart. Yes. Councilor Thomas. Yes. Councilor Jamaleddine. Yes. President Cinella. Yes. 11 yes. That motion passes and that concludes our business for the evening. I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. Motion to adjourn. I second Councillor Migliorelli. Thank you, Councillor. We have a motion to return made by Councillor Migliorelli, seconded by Councillor Gimaldi. Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll? Councillor Stewart. I will once again defer to Councillor Garofalo. He has ended. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Stewart. Thank you. Mr. President, I just want to, I see some participants in here for the next meeting at 7.30. If we can just let them know that we'll be coming back on in 15 minutes. So they, I'm not sure if they know how this works. So we don't just go right into the next, right into the next meeting.
▶ 44:51 Shawn M. MacMaster: We have time for a little cookie and milk break for those who are on protection and licensure, which will begin at 7.30. Council McMaster. Yes, Mr. Chairman, just a reminder for my colleagues and for members of the public that the Memorial Day activities will be this weekend, just as a point of personal privilege. 10 a.m. on Saturday at Wyoming Cemetery will be the decorating of the graves, followed by the retiring of the flag ceremony, and then 10 a.m. on Sunday morning at the Knoll, we will have our Memorial Day ceremony which will be followed by uh remarks over at the vietnam memorial on main street and the honorable where we'll conclude on the day thank you thank you council mcmaster and um before we
▶ 45:47 vote anyone have anything else seeing no hands raised madam clerk chair McNaught yes vice chair Councilor Eccles. Yes. Councilor Tramontozzi. Yes. Councilor McMaster. Yes. Councilor Garipay. Yes. Councilor Grigoraitis. Yes. Councilor Migliorelli. Yes. Councilor Stewart. Yes. Councilor Thomas. Yes. Councilor Jamaleddine. Yes. President Tanalla. Yes. Levin Yess. we are adjourned see everyone back here in 13 minutes for protection and life hello hello we are recording good evening it is 7 30 on may 24th and this is the meeting of the protection and licensing committee i am councillor Garipay the chair joining me are vice chair stewart voting members counselor mcnaught counselor rigoritis counselor thomas and president ex officios