5.
FY26 BUDGET
5.A.
FY26 Operations Review
Chair Schwarze turned the meeting over to Ms. Zerwin. Ms. Zerwin provided a review
of the memorandum that had been distributed to the Members which discussed the
operating budget. Ms. Zerwin said one of the things to consider is the replacement of the
batteries for the portable radios, police and fire, which is a commodity and costs around
$800,000 just for police. She said accounting for those costs would cause spikes in the
battery line item as those are replaced. In terms of personnel, Ms. Zerwin said there is an
open headcount of two (2) positions to address. She reviewed the move of GIS mapping
services to County GIS and the cost sharing with County and includes not only GIS/IT,
but also the State's Attorney's Office, the Auditor's Office, and Finance. Ms. Zerwin said
that she and Deputy Director Taormina had spoken about how to best fill the open
headcount and hoped to develop a plan to bring forward. Discussion ensued regarding
the expectations of current staff and salary recommendations, including the status of
COLA calculated at 3.5% until direction is received from the County, and the approach to
take to fill the open headcount.
Vice Chair Franz said he would like to see a breakdown of the transfers made to the
County for cost sharing, a plan for capital projects, and he would like $2M transferred to
the PSAPs. He said that with ETSB not funding radios going forward, he thought the
goal was to give the PSAPs some funding each year to help them meet their operational
needs and requested a history of those payments.
Discussion ensued regarding potential changes in the State's strategic plan which will
alter the distribution formula for funding, and may affect smaller systems
disproportionately, cost-sharing programs for radio replacement, and the unexpected end
of year payouts that could be set aside for a radio replacement program to level out costs.
There was also further discussion of personnel in regard to maintenance of the system
infrastructure and efficiencies in consolidation and contracts. Ms. Zerwin provided a
short explanation of the capital contingencies funding model and the reserves/investments
handled by the Treasurer's Office. In conclusion, Ms. Zerwin reviewed the budget
calendar in terms of upcoming meetings and presentations.
Attachments:
NEW BUSINESS
6.
7.
There was no new business.
ADJOURNMENT
7.A. Next Meeting: Wednesday, July 9 at 9:30am or immediately following the
adjournment of the ETS Board meeting in 3-500B
Without objection, the meeting of the ETSB Ad Hoc Finance Committee was adjourned at
10:20am.
Respectfully submitted,
