BOARD OF FINANCE WORKSHOP
MINUTES
APRIL 9, 2003
I. CALL TO ORDER -The Workshop was called to order at 7 :00 p.m. by Chairman Harrison, in the Avon Room, Town Hall. He noted a quorum present of Messrs. Gugliotti, Hooper, McGuff, Monts, Speich and Zacchio.
II. OLD BUSINESS
02/03-04 FY 03/04 budget
A. Set goals: Opportunity for Public comment allowed.
Mr. Harrison noted before we begin in the recent edition of the Avon Life, it's interesting and it raises some questions. The run a chart of comparison of tax rates. As I understand, what they did was take the amount of revenues that each town raises and divides it by the population of the Town to come up with a per-capita tax figure. This information is also available from the State Office of Policy & Management website. According to this chart, Avon is the highest of the Towns evaluated. By their count the per capita tax for Avon is $2,292. Next after us is Simsbury at $2,151 and it goes down to Somers being the lowest at $1,032. Comparing us to Somers is misleading because they have no library, it doesn't provide street and Public Works, or Recreation services. Because of the disparities of this system, he reported
OPM has another comparison available based on equalized mill rates that makes an attempt compare more accurate. Based on the equalized mill rate, the State average of all 169 towns (the equalized mill rate is 17.2%) and on this chart Avon is exactly at 17.02%. The median rate is 17.57% which is higher than ours. I mention this as an accurate way to measure taxes, but it's not the only way. .It's interesting to know that Avon at least on this chart is right in the middle.
This workshop is primarily for the Board of Finance's members to discuss, react to, consider, evaluate the comments we've been receiving from the Public Hearing, from mail we've been receiving and from general conversation. We're not taking any votes tonight; we'll have another meeting tomorrow night for further deliberations and our final workshop will be next week on Tuesday night at which we will come up with a budget that we'll recommend to the Town Meeting. At the end of our discussions tonight, we will have about a half hour for public comment, which is something we've not done before.
Traditionally, we've started out by having the members comment on their opinion of comments made at the Public Hearing. It will be the start of our deliberations. Bill Hooper feels we heard some new things we should address before making our [mal decision. Mike Monts feels the presentations were thoughtfully prepared and well delivered. Clearly there is a very strong desire for a high level support for the schools; at the same time it's also clear that there's an impact by the general economy and we'll have to look carefully for an acceptable balance. Tom Gugliotti thought the discussion was reasonable, polite and orderly. We've all said the Board of Finance doesn't act based upon an "applause meter". What we do is come up with a budget we think is in
the best interest of the Town overall. He was pleased to hear that people like the Town of Avon, they like what they get here, they like the way the Town is run. They like especially the school system; interesting enough, they like the school system this year, last year, the year before and the year before even though there has been some cut in the budget, but they still like the project that's being generated. He thinks we have a lot of work to do here. Mark Zacchio feels Bill and Mike have expressed his thoughts. He also feels there is a need this year for balance and reasonability of what we can do. Their fixed costs and there was clear support from the Public Hearing for both the education system as well for a new police officer and a new highway worker to maintain the number of roads in Town. It was clear that
everyone supports their piece of the pie. He heard a lot about balance, and the middle ground. Jim Speich feels the presentations were very informative because it helped to focus on the issues and not the handout that leads to discussion of line items. He would like to have seen, in the presentations, ways to reduce the budgets and innovative ways to reduce the requests. The good thing is the Grand List is up so that allows us some wiggle room but we still have to be sensible about the current economic problems. Steve McGuff said he gained a lot of insight from the Public Hearing as well as from the letters we've been receiving. He didn't see much balance in terms of education vs. increase vs. taxes. He sees that we certainly see a 4.4 million dollar challenge on our hands. I think the three boards have to get very creative in terms of how to address that. Mr. Harrison stated his observations generally reflected those of the Board. He appreciated the presentations in the
power point format thinks they do focus on not getting into line items and that is helpful. He feels the presentations were sincere and presented civilly; the statements generally followed what we've heard other years. People like the schools and support the Board of Education's budget requests. They also support services provided by the Town. The purpose of the Boards of Finance is to provide a balance - New Englanders seem to have a tradition that they don't always trust the legislative and policy making bodies to give them taxing powers so they give them authority to make policies and they give us the authority to raise taxes, but not to make policies so there is a definite balance there. We have to come up with something we think will pass the first time around.
In response to questions from the Chairman, the Town Manager commented on foreclosures (there are slightly more than usual), delinquencies (there is also a slight rise here, but nothing to compare with 12 years ago). The Town Manager reported the only trend that he sees is that the economy is up slightly as seen in these newer, more expensive homes that we are seeing now.
The Chairman asked about reduction in personnel and how that will affect us to which the Town Manager stated most towns are in the same situation, the main problem is stress, which affects most communities in the State. The Town Manager submitted to the Board a list of additional revenues, which resulted from some fine-tuning and also new information received since the Town's budget was submitted. In response to a question from the Board, he advised that all charges made by the Town are being reviewed; some fees have already been increased and some are still being reviewed. He does not see a great deal of increase, but will keep the board advised. The accompanying chart of possible budget adjustments could result in a net levy from 28.40 mills to 28.80 mills which would represent 5.96% to 7.27% overall increases. The
chart also represents the Town Council's reductions of $386,000 from the Town's Operating Budget and $745,380 from the Capital Improvement Program. In response to Mr. Harrison's question, Pam Friedman, Chair of the Board of Ed advised that the Board had not yet had a chance to review their budget since the Public Hearing and that they would take care of this by tomorrow's meeting. Mr. Hines, Chairman of the Town Council indicated that since the Board of Education had not had an opportunity to make reductions requested by the Board of Finance, if additional reductions are required on the Town's side of the budget that the Council be permitted to decide where the cuts would be rather than having the Board of Finance make that decision.
The Board held a detailed discussion with the Town Manager of what should be presented to the
Town at Referendum. When polled, the Board agreed that the Board of Educations I consideration, they were not prepared to make a recommendation tonight. It was their decision I to review this information tonight and the hear from the Board of Education tomorrow, after I which they would be better informed to make a budget recommendation.
The Chairman asked if anyone was prepared to make a motion on the recommended budget and there was no response. Mr. Gugliotti stated some of what the Board of Finance would do to the requested budget of the Town has already been done by the Council and their increase is 5.9%.
In February this Board polled itself and informally suggested it would feel warm and fuzzy if the budget increases came in not exceeding 6%. The Town Council as reached this goal; the Board of Finance has not yet had an opportunity to do that. It was the consensus of the Board that over night they would ponder the information presented tonight. After the Board of Education's response tomorrow night we will be in a better situation to make a final decision on our recommendation.
That being the case, Chairman Harrison opened the meeting to public comment.
Claire Henderson, 1 Keystone Circle: I have been here 25 years. I just want to express a few concerns for the direction I believe I see Avon taking. First, I think a large segment of our population is being ignored. Single people, young people, young single people, retirees and empty nesters, the contributors of revenue and for the most part the limited non-users of resources. I listened Monday evening to the Board of Education's presentation and the parents speaking and heard a constant theme from the Board. People come, and from the parents they came to Avon for the education. A large segment came to Avon because of the community. I fear that our community has become a commodity, the educational commodity of the Farmington Valley. Use it and leave. The revolving door, leaving in their whirlwind, those who have
been here for years, holding the perennial bag of paying for it. We need to regain the sense of community and that means bringing balance back between the providers of revenues and the users of resources and I have just heard you say that we need balance. We need to balance the needs of all of us. I do want to talk a little bit about revenue. My 25 years has been in Pond Place and you know that's an independent tax district. We have 210 homes, 360 residents and we have 39 children in the public school system, which is 2.6% of our population versus Avon's average if I use the charts from the Board of Ed I estimated 19.9% of the residents of Avon are the population. In addition, we in Pond Place receive none of the road repair, plowing, street lighting, landscaping and public land services which are in the public budget into which we pay taxes. To pay for these, we levy a tax on homeowners and that is 11.2 mills of assessed value last year. And I'm sure that will have to go up
slightly, too. And part of that goes directly to the Town of Avon to pay for the land that our houses are built on. That was about $24,000 for about 70 acres. When we add these two together, with your proposed rate and I'm glad to feel that this number is not going to be quite as high if you get your way, we will be paying over 41 mills per assessed value. We're not alone. The places like Farmington Woods don't use a lot of the resources that are paying taxes and they have to pay for a lot of their own services. I knew about this when I bought 25 years ago and those others in private tax districts did, too. We have two bills and until recently that was acceptable. But the dramatically escalating Avon demands for revenue, primarily for the school budget has, in my opinion, gotten out of hand and I fear Avon may force many of us out of Town. I suggest that we will be replaced with families with children. My house has 3 bedrooms and 2 full baths. I live alone. What are you going
to get with all of those houses of that size. We have very few children and I think they will come in because of what I consider the commodity of Avon. I don't see that this is good for Avon economically or societal and I urge you to think about balance and I hope you continue to think about balance to prevent this. I know these are difficult economic times but for the sake of the community, I feel it is all the time. Thank you.
Mr. Santos, 63 Meadow Ridge: How are we tracking this year? (Mr. Schenck responded we've got some positives and some negatives, and I'm hoping we'll come in even.)
Thayer Brown, 42 Byron Drive: I'm in the village of Farmington Woods. I apologized to Phil after the meeting Monday for asking for technical accounting questions about depreciating accounting because we've been going through it at Farmington Woods with our special taxing district. I will be doing it in this 2003/2004 fiscal year and we discovered in our case it's going to save our property taxes money in the future but I think it was premature for the Town of Avon because you really can't tell how it's going to come out another year from now. You've got a lot of bonded schools and what not that we don't have so we have a different situation. I think you're all asking the right kinds of questions and talking about the right kinds of things. The main reason I was here is because I'm the treasurer of Farmington Woods
Master Association Executive Board and we will be meeting later this month and I was wondering what sort of recommendations I should be giving them. I guess the real answer won't come out until your meeting next Tuesday, which I may not be able to make. I'll find out how it comes out and I think it was very smart to have finally some budgeting guidelines. I recognize what Bud Herrmann had to say about them 2 or 3 years ago. He didn’t want to upset the creative process in the various departments and the Board of Education ahead of time. I ran the budget system at NU for 25 years, first as budget director and later as Vice-President/Treasurer. You get no where without having budgeting guidelines to bring some reason to things because everybody's creative imaginations always go far beyond what anybody can handle financially, even if we're not having a recession. Keep up the good work and I wish you good luck.
Flo Stahl, 2 Sunset Trail: I just want to say that somebody much smarter than me right here in our community and on one of the boards said something that I couldn't agree with more. He said there is no such thing as a fixed cost and I've heard you mention fixed costs tonight -I certainly understand what you mean by it and I also heard you say that you also needed to be creative. If you really think hard about it, there really is no such thing as a fixed cost -you can always get around a fixed cost if you want to, in my opinion.
Avon Resident: It seems …..(soft spoken -could not understand) There must be another avenue to create some increased revenue when you keep bringing in families ……
Mr. Harrison: We're open to suggestions. There was a candidate who ran for State legislature who proposed to ease the property tax burden was to have the State take on 100% of the education costs.
Suzanne ___, Porter Drive: No one, and certainly not me, ever wants to have less money. But none of us want to pay more taxes. But, the Town is growing and a lot of us community members have children that deserve to be educated and I hope to be an Avon citizen through every stage of my life and there are many other families like me who have kids, whose families are here and we're committed to the community. The parents here do a lot of wonderful things for the community and our children deserve a superior education. You said earlier that there have been these cuts so people seem to be happy with the schools -yes, but a music program for example really affects kids experiences. You only get one chance to get your education and about the number of letters coming in, I just want to make a pitch for parents which is
-do not mistake parents letters as an alternative to attending meetings -parents are at home doing the most important in the Town -the education of our kids and if we don't attend, it doesn't mean we don't care.
Resident - 87 Chevas Road: We are seeing growth. He is just amazed that you people have devoted so much time to the budget. You should be applauded for your work. One of the things I'm concerned about, in the 4th grade we're approaching 25 kids per class I want to make sure the kids -our children today really need an educational advantage because the technology involved in our world right now. We've moved away from manufacturing to high tech and the only way we're going to give them the ability to succeed in the future is to give them a good base right now.
Flo Stahl - I think you mentioned Grand List Growth and I know that you're all aware of the Grand List growth and the anticipated net revenue that we would have received from it -it's gon6. It's gon6 in salary increases for existing staff. It's gone. So we talk about growth you can argue that without it we would have even a greater impact, but it's gone in the stroke of a pen.
Carolyn Ostafin, 17 Old Kings: We've only been here five years and I hope Ed and I can be here for 25 years more. I've been to these meetings for the past two years and I think it's a shame that the observation I have is the division between the taxpayer's association, the elderly community and people with young families. I would have to see that sense of community -I feel this is a very close community, I think a lot of parents give up their free time for the school system and for other things in the social network of Avon. I feel bad when people don't feel we are a close-knit community any more. She's been here longer than I but I hope that we can come to some agreement, they can see our side, we can see their side and that there shouldn't be any sides. It's kind of sad. You don't want new people to get this idea
of division.
Resident -I'm the president of the PTO at Pine Grove and this year we put together a committee called Friends of Pine Grove to involve them in the community -get people in to read to them, in
the library, because we too felt the separation last year -the division within the Town and we don't want to see that happen. We invite the community to come in to see how the school dollars are spent. Regarding the Connecticut Life article, I was surprised to see Avon close to the top. My point is there was not a lot of reference to determine how those numbers were calculated and before we make assumptions, I think we need to know how those numbers were calculated. Some towns have a lot of commercial dollars coming in which would affect these numbers.
Margaret Bratton, Old Mill Road: I just want to comment on the question of who's invited to the schools. I was at a PTO meeting at Roaring Brook School where ACE was invited and the taxpayer's association wasn't. I almost kind of think of them as on the opposite end. I tend to know only parents of young children so I called a parent of children who go to Pine Grove and …….. that was
Mr. Schenck: I have a comment about personal property -as you know personal property depreciates over time in accordance with schedules. As new property is added, that offsets some of the depreciation of the older property. What the State has been doing is taking new machinery and equipment and exempting it from the local property tax. We submit to them the Grand List figures that are exempt and we get a reimbursement tax from the State, it's another PILOT- Payment in Lieu of Taxes program. That initially started out at 100% and it was reduced to 90% and now 80% and one of the things has recently be put in the Governor's budget proposal is to go back and allow the communities to tax the businesses within the community for the amount that the State is not paying. This 8 million dollar figure may be the fact that as
the old property depreciates, we're not adding new property because it's exempt according to the State. The value is, but we don't include it as taxable.
Mr. Harrison: This was a good meeting. I don't know if we'll have this on May 5th, for tonight at least, thank all of you for caring and coming out. This meeting will adjourn at 8:55 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Thomas A. Gugliotti, Secretary
Attest:
Elinor Burns, Clerk
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