Town of Vienna

Town Board Budget Workshop Minutes

October 15, 2025

 

ATTENDANCE:

Deputy Supervisor Jason Spellicy Councilman Jason Lamb

Councilwoman Mary Beth McEwen Town Clerk Carol Huber

Councilman Darrin Smith

 

CALL TO ORDER:

Deputy Supervisor Spellicy called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm. Followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

ICE CONTROL MATERIAL:

Preston Hill resubmitted their proposal converted from tons to yards. $7.50 per yard screened Sand per yard and $4.74 per yard delivered by L.P. Trucking & Excavating, Inc. totaling $12.24 per yard, $85,680.00. The Board discussed the other bids and the Highway Supervisor likes the sand from Preston Hill much better.

 

Councilman Lamb made a motion to accept the bid from Preston Hill Gravel and Councilwoman McEwen seconded the motion.

Voting Record: Motion Carried

Councilwoman McEwen Aye

Councilman Smith Aye

Councilman Lamb Aye

Deputy Supervisor Aye

 

REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS/EFC:

BCA was the only Architect/Engineer that submitted an RFQ for the new Far East Water District. They have worked for the Town before and know the Town of Vienna.

Deputy Supervisor Spellicy made a motion to accept the RFQ from BCA and Councilman Smith seconded the motion.

Voting Record: Motion Carried

Councilwoman McEwen Aye

Councilman Smith Aye

Councilman Lamb Aye

Deputy Supervisor Aye

 

BUDGET WORKSHOP:

Budget Officer Ben Gasser explained how we would go through the budget line items and he needs at least 3 Board Members to agree to each line item before moving on. This is a workshop to be able to discuss the budget. The Fire Districts are not all in yet and the library budget is not known until the taxes come out. Because of all the funds that the Town gets, we are able to lower the Town Tax to $5,000.

 

There was a lot of discussion about Clerk pay, whether to bump up all the clerks to the same payrate or pay clerks individually according to tenure and experience. This was tabled to the next meeting to let everyone put more thought into this situation.

 

Judge Coady explained the importance of the Court Clerks and how vital it is to pay a clerk on experience and tenure and Vienna Court Clerks do an excellence job.

 

Phil Amway, Vienna Assessor, attended and explained how there are Clerks that make more money per hour, but work less time each week. The Clerk to the Assessor when hired, negotiated her salary at the time because of the urgent need for that position.

 

Councilman Lamb suggested a 3.5 % increase across the board for all hourly paid employees. Maybe look at different levels of Clerk pay according to tenure and experience. Councilwoman McEwen suggested to look at individual job evaluations each year. Budget Officer explained how the union bases pay on years of service. Department Heads would keep track of the budgeted amount and keep the hours within the budget.

 

The Budget Officer then went line by line and discussed why numbers went up or down. This is a list of changes from the Tentative Budget that was handed out.

 

TENTATIVE BUDGET CHANGED TO

A1110.1 3.99 % INCREASE 3.5% INCREASE Judge Personal Services

A1110.11 3.99 % INCREASE 3.5% INCREASE Judge Personal Services

A1110.12 4.00% INCREASE 3.5% INCREASE Court Clerk

A1220.11 5.99% INCREASE 3.5% INCREASE Bookkeeper

 

The Supervisor salary was decreased because, the former Supervisor was paid extra for doing the 811 and tagging lines and was trained on the grinder pumps. And the Deputy Supervisor Salary was decreased because, the increase was for working on bridge and water projects.

 

TENTATIVE BUDGET CHANGED TO

A1340.1 5.98% INCREASE 3.5% INCREASE Budget Officer

A1355.1 2.49% INCREASE 3.5% INCREASE Assessor

A1355.11 2.49% INCREASE 3.5% INCREASE Clerk to Assessor

A1410.11 0% 16.8% DECREASE Deputy Clerk

 

The Town Clerk asked for a salary increase of $2100 (7%) to bring the salary up to $32,100. The Board agreed to the increase for the Town Clerk and to lower the Deputy Town Clerk budget line item $2100, because only around $8,000 has been used from the allotted $12,500, which doesn’t increase the total budget for the Town Clerk. This will still leave room for the hourly wage increase. The Town Clerk discussed with the Board, the salaries of 6 other Town Clerk salaries with comparable office hours and Vienna is the lowest paid Clerk at $30K, compared to $34K to $49K for all duties of the office. Councilwoman McEwen suggested that if the clerks were to be paid $22.50 per hour, then the Town Clerk should be at least paid $34,000 per year so that her estimated hourly rate is not less than her Deputy Clerk.

 

A2410.4 0% 233.33% INCREASE Rental Property Maintenance Contract

 

The increase to the Rental Property Maintenance Contractual is because of future repairs to the Post Office building.

TENTATIVE BUDGET CHANGED TO

A3510.11 3.00% INCREASE 3.5% INCREASE Animal Control Officer

A4020.1 4.00% INCREASE 3.5% INCREASE Registrar of Vital Statistics

A5010.1 4.00% INCREASE 3.5% INCREASE Highway Superintendent

A5010.11 5.28% INCREASE 3.5% INCREASE Highway Clerk

A7510.1 3.26% INCREASE 3.5% INCREASE Historian

B8010.11 3.70% INCREASE 3.5% INCREASE Building Inspector

B8010.12 4.84% INCREASE 3.5% INCREASE Codes Clerk

B8020.1 4.89% INCREASE 3.5% INCREASE Planning Board Secretary

B8020.12 INCREASE YEARLY PAY TO $250 PER PB MEMBER Planning Board Members

B8020.14 152% INCREASE 3.5% INCREASE ZBA Secretary

DB5140.41 0% 20% INCREASE Drug Testing

Next meeting will start with the Special Districts and go back over the Clerk hourly pay rates.

 

EXECUTIVE SESSION: Not entered

 

 

ADJOURNMENT:

Councilman Lamb made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:05 pm and Councilwoman McEwen seconded and all were in favor.

 

Respectfully,

Carol L Huber

Carol L Huber

Town Clerk