COMMITTEE ON ACCOUNTS, ENROLLMENT AND REVENUE ADMINISTRATION
May 19, 2026 at 5:15 PM
Chairman O'Neil called the meeting to order.
The Clerk called the roll.
Present: Aldermen O'Neil, Terrio, Goonan, Burkush
Absent: Alderman Vincent
Messrs.: S. Wickens
- Update on the City's Revolving Loan Fund.
On motion of Alderman Goonan, duly seconded by Alderman Terrio, it was voted to approve.
- Communication from Kim LeBlanc, Financial Analyst II, submitting Finance Department reports as follows:
- Accounts Receivable over 90 days
- Aging Report
- Outstanding Receivables
On motion of Alderman Burkush, duly seconded by Alderman Goonan, it was voted to approve.
- Communication from Sharon Wickens, Finance Officer, submitting the City's Monthly Financial Reports (unaudited) for the first ten months of FY26.
Sharon Wickens, Finance Officer: We are moving along through the fiscal year, almost ending. All departments are doing very well. Health insurance is tracking on budget. It was a little bit high at the end of April, but we had a little bit of surplus a month before. I think we're still right on budget and where we should be. There is a comparison of the retirement payouts on the first page. Retirements are a little bit higher this year than they were last year. I expect at least 4 or 5 more before fiscal year end. But we do have a decent budget to take care of that and carry some over for next year. The contingency balance remains at $113,000. Revenues for the first ten months are $172,000 higher than last year. Auto registrations are $1.4 million higher than where they were this year. In fact, the tax office is projecting a surplus of about a $1.5 million, I put in for the projections $1.45 million to kind of meter in the middle there. Fleet registrations are doing very well, and she was a little cautious budgeting this year because of the tariffs, but it really didn't affect much. People are registering cars. Offsetting some of that increase however, there were some downfalls in cable franchise fees. Our City Clerk managed to mess that up. It's about $246,000 lower.
Chairman O'Neil: It says higher in the report.
S. Wickens: Oh, it does still say higher.
S. Wickens: I know it's lower because I know Matt never performs. So no, it should be lower. It's $250,000 lower. And he's got a couple other revenues that are lagging.
Matthew Normand, City Clerk: We can proofread your documents in the future if you'd like.
S. Wickens: We also have the state revenues coming in, they are much lower as well in fiscal year 26. But we budgeted appropriately for those. And interest income is also down. I'm projecting by fiscal year end, it'll probably be down about $350,000 to $400,000. Just declining rates. And we're spending money that I haven't been out to bond yet. I expect to issue a GO bond in the late July early August time frame. So, we'll be replenishing our cash at that point. I don't have anything concerning. As I've read through the financials. I don't know if anything popped out at you.
Alderman Burkush: I was going to talk about the importance of funding health insurance in the next budget and also the overlays. Can you explain a little bit about those, please?
S. Wickens: In the mayor's budget, there was no projected increase or decrease in health insurance costs. After he presented his budget, it came out a few weeks later. It looks like health insurance is going to be up about 6.8%, which is about a $1.5 million that in the mayor's budget is not funded. The CGL, we have not funded that in a few years thinking that we're kind of watching the trend, but they have been consistently over budget, about a $500,000 every year for the past 3 to 4 years. Their budget should be $2 million. And we're finally bringing that up to where it needs to be. The overlay account, there was a request to fund overlay. It was a difficult budget for the mayor. There were a lot of revenue shortfalls. So, he wasn't able to fund certain things and overlay was one that he didn't fund. At the end of the day, that is a state RSA, that if there's money needed for overlay purposes, we have to cover it.
Alderman Burkush: So that's about $2.5 million.
S. Wickens: Just shy of $2.5 million.
Alderman Burkush: So, the bond agencies would look at that?
S. Wickens: Well, they would wonder why we weren't funding it. I don't think a good reason would be we have reserves. We do have reserves. But reserves are for if you need them. I'm going out bonding for quite a bit of money. We've got the GO issuance, we've got the new TIF, we have the school bonds that will be coming up, the EPD is issuing bonds in the next few weeks for their big project, the CSO project. I'm not sure that that's a great answer to the rating agencies that there's reserves. I'm hoping that it gets funded.
Alderman Burkush: As the finance director, you would recommend that we fund it in the alderman's budget?
S. Wickens: I would. I would recommend that we fund just what we need to. And that's really the bare minimum.
Alderman Terrio: So, by RSA, we have to do the overlay.
S. Wickens: Yes.
Alderman Terrio: What would happen if we don't fund health care? And for CGL, we're self-insured, which is our CGL. If we don't fund those, as some people have suggested, would that affect our bond rating? Would we be sued? What would happen if we didn't fund health care and CGL?
S. Wickens: It's definitely a negative in the eyes of the rating agencies. If you know you have an expense and you say we have reserves, it doesn't take long to lose those reserves. The health care reserve is probably about $4 million. We're funding it with a $1.5 million. We could be wrong. I mean, we don't have a crystal ball. Our consultants are saying that health care is probably going to go up 6.8%. It could be a little bit less. It could be a lot more. I've seen when we've had projections and we've been $3 million over the projection. Nobody wants to be sick. Nobody wants to have a bad illness. But at a minimum, we should be funding at least where we think we're going to fall and where we think we're going to fall is the $1.5 million more.
Chairman O'Neil: Are there any stories to tell with the dollar amount that Public Works is double what it was last year? Which leads me to believe they have significant retirements.
S. Wickens: The dollar amount is double for what?
Chairman O'Neil: What you reported here.
S. Wickens: They just probably have more retirements.
Chairman O'Neil: It was $154,000 last year, it was $310,000 this year. Are you aware of any story that they just have a significant number of retirements?
S. Wickens: It also depends on who's retiring. If they've been with the city for a long time, the retirements tend to be higher. I would have to delve into that number. I don't recall off the top of my head who the people were that retired.
Chairman O'Neil: Because the other numbers are fairly consistent in the other departments.
S. Wickens: I have another report that tells me the number.
Chairman O'Neil: Maybe we can talk about it. Just curious. Usually there's a story.
S. Wickens: I'll look at.
Chairman O'Neil: For CGL, would it make some sense to have Kevin in at some point just to talk to us about what goes on in that?
S. Wickens: It wouldn't hurt. We are self-funded, things happen. I don't know what the spike is in some of these. It may just be increased costs. We've been hitting about $2 million every year for the past 3 or 4 years. So, it could be just cost increase. It's not like it's a spike that just suddenly happened. It's been going up and it really needs to be funded.
Chairman O'Neil: Maybe we can work with him Peter, if there's time in to have him come in. But if we have some time to give an overview.
On motion of Alderman Burkush, duly seconded by Alderman Terrio, it was voted to approve.
- Ordinance Amendment:
"Amending the Code of Ordinances of the City of Manchester by creating §35.0353 Welfare Reserve Account establishing a non-lapsing reserve account designed to offset unanticipated deficits in the Welfare operating budget."
On motion of Alderman Goonan, duly seconded by Alderman Terrio, it was voted that the Ordinance Amendment ought to pass and be Enrolled.
Chairman O'Neil: We will have Juli, the internal auditor, in June for a couple recommendations that she has for us on paper shredding; she came up with some pretty good stuff and then we will talk about office supplies. So, we'll have her in June just to talk about it. Maybe we can make a recommendation to the full board on a couple of these things. I think she has a draft on her report to the school district, but that all has to be accepted by the school district before we can see it. I believe we won't go there quite yet.
There being no further business, on motion of Alderman Terrio, duly seconded by Alderman Goonan, it was voted to adjourn.
A True Record. Attest.
Clerk of Committee
Meeting Start Time: 5:15PM
Meeting End Time: 5:27PM
Minutes Prepared By: Michael Intranuovo