HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-03-19 Finance Committee Minutes
FINANCE COMMITTEE Meeting Minutes
March 19, 2012 @ 5:00 pm
Councilors: Durgin, Weston, Gallant, Blanchette, Baldacci, Hawes
Staff: Cyr, Conlow, Little, Drew, Birch, Gastia, Yardley
Others: Chambers, Pullen
Meeting Convened: 5:00pm
1. Bids/Purchasing
a. HVAC Modifications - Police Station - Marquis Mechanical - $177,694
Bid specs have been put together to address 3 of the 5 issues that Turner had identified. Of the four
bid responses received, the recommendation is to award the bid to Marquis Mechanical of Millinocket, the
lowest bidder. For funding needed to complete the project, $120,000 was initially held back knowing there
were some issues, there is $30,000 available in the Police Dept budget and there is a capital fund assigned
balance that we could use to address any additional funding needs.
Unanimous Committee vote.
b. Request to execute a contract for the GPCOC (Greater Penobscot Continuum of Care)
Shawn Yardley, Director of Health and Community Services, stated that the GPCOC exists primarily to
look at homeless and housing issues. It has been decided to consolidate this program into two continuums,
with Portland remaining separate. The City of Bangor has funds that have been contributed by a number of
organizations in our community for this program, and we continue to receive $9,000/yr from the state. Mr.
Yardley would like to expend around $23,000 of these funds to hire a contractor who we have worked with in
the past. The plan is for this contractor to work for us approximately 10-15hrs/week over the next 8 months
to combine a large amount of data needed going forward. Mr. Yardley feels this is important in order to give
the City the foundation needed to compete for new funding. Ms Cyr explained to the Council that this
$25,000 was donated to us by local agencies specifically in support of the GPCOC. If we choose not to do this,
we will not be able to use the money for other purposes, and checks would be cut back to these agencies.
Vote of 3 to 1 in favor of executing a contract for the GPCOC.
2. Resolve, Appropriating GPCOC Contributions to Fund Cost of Contract
No discussion. Unanimous committee vote.
3. Request to Take Possession of 55 Grant Street
David Little, Tax Collector, stated that City staff has been working with the family of 55 Grant Street
for over a year trying to take possession of this property that is empty and unfit for human habitation. The
recommendation of the treasury office and code is to take possession due to matured tax liens and demolish
it. They are hoping to use grant money to cover the demolition. The lot is buildable, however small. It will
still need to be determined if the land will be sold to build or sold to the neighboring property owners.
Gallant made a motion to sell at public auction. Seconded. Motion doubted. Motion defeated.
Motion to implement staff recommendation. Moved & seconded. Doubted. Carries 4 to 1.
4. Assessor's Update
Benjamin Birch, City Assessor, presented his annual update. According to the Maine Real Estate
Information Systems, Inc., sales of Maine’s single-family existing homes increased 4.34% during the month of
December 2011. Mr. Birch reported that we are seeing positive things with the Bangor waterfront, more
loans for expansion and more buildings being planned. Our sales ratio statistics have seen month by month
gradual improvement in overall activity. Regionally, existing-home sales in the Northeast rose 6.3 percent in
the fourth quarter and are 3.7 percent above the fourth quarter of 2010.
The Councilors discussed maybe having a separate meeting to discuss housing areas with declining values
and state programs that help to target them for improvements.
Charles Colgan of the Muskie School of Public Service predicted for 2012 that Maine’s economy will look a lot
like 2011 with little growth and more job losses. Bev Uhlenhake of Epstein Commercial Real Estate indicated
that Bangor is a rising market with developers purchasing vacant space in the industrial sector, class A to B+
office space holding steady and retail vacancies filling. She cited unprecedented investments in the
waterfront area and expansion of health care services as areas of opportunity, with an overall prediction of
incremental growth for Greater Bangor with speculative building still a couple of years away.
Final indicators:
Class of Improved Property Rating of Assessment Quality
Combines all Valid Sales July 2010 – June 2011 = 95.0%, Quality Rating 14.1%
Single Family (Condo and PUD) = 95.0%, Quality Rating 10.8%
All Mobile Home Sales = 94.0%, Quality Rating 16.01%
Combined Commercial Sales = 88.0%, Quality Rating 30.2%
Vacant Land = 90.6%, Quality Rating of 16.67%
Two-family to Eight-family Apartments = 88.0%, Quality Rating of 19.5%
Philip Drew, deputy, shared sales ratio analysis which is tracked by occupancy type. He stated that equity is
our #1 goal for assessing purposes. The average ratio in the city is 95%. Statistically he feels that there are a
few that are over-assessed and a few that are under-assessed; however, they believe what they have done
are realistic adjustments. The FY13 Ratio Sales Analysis covered 108 individual neighborhoods. We have the
ratio study results though do not have the final valuation numbers yet.
2740 Personal Property Declaration Forms were mailed out, and as of March 12, 2012, 898 have been
received and processed. 14 Business Equipment Tax Exemption (BETE) requests have also been processed.
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The process should be complete by May 15.
5. Financial Review - January 2012 - 3:45:43 ???
Finance Director Deb Cyr presented a financial review of budget to actual comparison for 7 months
ended in January 2012. (This information is available on the City’s web site.)
6. Executive Session - Hardship Abatement (A) 36 MRSA Section 841 (2)
7. Executive Session - Hardship Abatement (B) 36 MRSA Section 841 (2)
8. Open Session - Hardship Abatement Decisions (A) and (B)
Moved, seconded and approved Staff Recommendation for Hardship Abatements (A) and (B)
Meeting Adjourned: 7:00 PM