The Board of Finance held a regular meeting on Monday, December 12, 2005 in the meeting room at Town Hall South, Three Main Street, Newtown, CT. First Selectman Herbert Rosenthal called the meeting to order at 7:30 pm.
PRESENT: John Kortze, James Gaston, Harrison Waterbury, Michael Portnoy, Joseph Kearney, John Torok
ALSO PRESENT: First Selectman Herbert Rosenthal; Finance Director Ben Spragg; Board of Education member David Nanavaty, one member of press
ELECTION OF CHAIRMAN: First Selectman Rosenthal asked for nominations for the position of Chairman. Mr. Portnoy nominated Mr. Kortze. Motion seconded. No other nominations were presented. Mr. Kortze was unanimously elected Chairman.
ELECTION OF VICE CHAIRMAN: Chairman Kortze asked for nominations for the position of Vice Chairman. Mr. Portnoy nominated Mr. Gaston. Motion seconded. No other nominations were presented. Mr. Gaston was unanimously elected Chairman.
VOTER PARTICIPATION: None noted
ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES: Upon motion by Mr. Gaston, the minutes of the 11/14/05 regular meeting were unanimously approved as presented.
FINANCE DIRECTOR REPORT: Mr. Spragg reported that Moody’s has affirmed the town’s Aa2 rating. This rating assignment reflects the “town’s strong taxable value growth, maintained financial position which is limited by the town’s charter provision, health socioeconomic profile and moderate debt burden. Moody’s believes that one credit weakness is the Charter provision requiring the designation of surplus to the following year’s budget with limits flexibility. They also feel that “debt service as a percent of 2004 expenditures at 8.8% trends slightly above the median for Connecticut municipalities at 7.7%”. Mr. Spragg feels that changing the Charter provision on surplus and getting the undesignated fund balance to where we
can manage it would put us in a strong position to move to an Aa1 rating.
FIRST SELECTMAN REPORT: First Selectman Rosenthal reported that the meeting at Moody’s went very well. Mr. Spragg did an excellent job, as did Community Development Director Elizabeth Stocker.
Last week, Mr. Rosenthal attended the National League of Cities Conference in Charlotte, NC. There was an interesting session on the “Price of Government” that was about alternative ways of preparing budgets. He will request copies of the book for members of this board.
Mr. Kortze advised that a meeting was held with himself, First Selectman Rosenthal, Legislative Council Chairman Will Rodgers, Council Vice Chairman Tim Holian, Board of Education Chairman Elaine McClure, Schools Superintendent Dr. Evan Pitkoff and Town Finance Director Ben Spragg. The meeting was called by the First Selectman who wanted to get some dialogue going before the high school project moved any further ahead. Mr. Rosenthal stated that he was concerned the Board of Education might not be looking at other alternatives for the high school.
NEW BUSINESS
Capital Improvement Plan
Finance Director Spragg handed out a revised chart showing debt service, with all proposed projects shifted out one year; the three lowest ranked projects of town and school system not being funded; the high school scaled back to $30 million; and the Hawley Elementary School HVAC not being funded. With this scenario, only the year 2010 shows debt service up to 10% of expenditures. Mr. Kearney is concerned that the Hawley School HVAC, which was a number one priority for the Board of Education, is not reflected. This project was turned down by the Legislative Council, however, it will probably be requested again at some point. He would like to look at ways to allocate for that probability. Mr. Gaston agreed that although Hawley HVAC is not in the CIP, it is a project that will have to be
addressed.
Mr. Gaston moved that the Capital Improvement Plan recognizes that the Hawley School HVAC is an issue which will likely have to be addressed either through a reduction or a deferral of other project funding consistent with town guidelines. Motion seconded and unanimously carried.
Mr. Portnoy moved to decrease the proposed funding in the CIP for the high school expansion from $30 million to $25 million. Motion seconded and unanimously carried.
Mr. Gaston moved to prioritize the CIP projects for 2007/08 as follows: 1) Capital Road Projects; 2) Revaluation; 3) Technology Park; 4) High School Expansion Design; 5) Pumper Truck Engine 1; 6) Senior Center Expansion Design; and 7) Police Building Improvements Design. Motion seconded and unanimously carried.
Mr. Gaston moved to prioritize the CIP projects for 2008/2009 as follows: 1) Capital Road Projects; 2) Technology Park; 3) High School Expansion; 4) Pumper Truck Engine #221; 5) Middle School HVAC; 6) Sr. Center Expansion; 7) Replacement Grader – Public Works; 8) Police Building Renovations and 9) Baseball Field Lights. Motion seconded and unanimously carried.
Mr. Gaston moved to prioritize the CIP projects for 2009/10 as follows: 1) Capital Road Projects; 2) Technology Park; 3) High School Expansion; 4) Sandy Hook Pumper Truck; and 5) Middle School HVAC. Motion seconded and unanimously carried.
Mr. Gaston moved to prioritize the CIP projects for 2010/11 as follows: 1) Capital Road Projects; 2) Technology Park; 3) Sandy Hook Streetscape; and 4) Sandy Hook School HVAC, and to adopt the CIP. Motion seconded and unanimously carried.
Having no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:15 p.m.
Jan Andras, Clerk
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