The Board of Finance held a Regular Meeting on Thursday, April 26, 2007 in the meeting room at Town Hall South, Main Street, Newtown, CT. Chairman John Kortze called the meeting to order at 7:35 p.m.
PRESENT: John Kortze, James Gaston, Michael Portnoy, Harrison Waterbury, John Torok, Joseph Kearney
ALSO PRESENT: First Selectman Herbert C. Rosenthal, Finance Director Ben Spragg, Schools Superintendent Dr. Evan Pitkoff, Schools Business Manager Ron Bienkowski, Board of Education Chairman Elaine McClure and members Tom Gissen, David Nanavaty, Lisa Schwartz, Legislative Council member Pat Llodra, one member of public, one member of press
Public Participation: None noted
ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES: Upon motion by Mr. Gaston, the minutes of the 4/9/07 meeting were unanimously accepted as presented.
FIRST SELECTMAN REPORT: Mr. Rosenthal advised that we are still not certain about the State budget, however, we do not that the State’s Finance Committee “killed” the Governor’s proposal to change the re-imbursement scale which would have had an impact on us. The Legislative Council approved a $750,000 reduction in the impact on taxes for the 20097/2008 proposed budget (2/10 of a mill).
Mr. Gaston stated that he feels when the Charter Revision Commission reviews budget procedures, it would be a good idea when a budget fails, for it to go back to the Board of Finance. He especially feels this way after watching the Council deliberate on budget modifications last night. He opposes bonding things like computers, even short term. Mr. Kortze added that he thought we put together a good budget that addressed the needs of the town and the schools. However, the taxpayers thought otherwise and chose to reject it. He has an issue with the Legislative Council “predicting” that the Board of Finance would approve bonding for the computers. First Selectman Rosenthal advised that in the past, we have leased computers for the
schools. He would not support any long-term borrowing for computers but short term borrowing would have a lower interest than leasing.
Proposed High School Expansion
Chairman Kortze received a letter from Dr. Pitkoff, dated 4/11/07, requesting a special appropriation of $2,750,000 for architect fees for the proposed high school expansion, as included in the Capital Improvement Plan for the 2007/2008 fiscal year.
Mr. Gaston moved to request that bond counsel prepare a bonding resolution for $2,750,000 for architect, engineering, construction management, and other necessary required costs to design an addition and renovation project for the high school. Motion seconded and unanimously carried.
Mr. Kortze then received a letter from Dr. Pitkoff, dated 4/24/07, requesting that the $38 million for the expansion and renovation be approved for borrowing upfront. The Board of Education has projected that the town could lose $558,865 in State Grant reimbursement if the money is borrowed later as outlined in the CIP, due to an anticipated change from 32.86% reimbursement to 31.43%.
At a recent meeting with the Board of Education, Fletcher Thompson presented two different options. They have been instructed to design an addition to accommodate 2,022 students with decreases the size of the addition from 90,000 sf to 70,000 sf at a cost of $42,894,472. A second option would be to leave the gym as is and build a field house for a cost of $46,869,398.
Mr. Torok stated that we do not have actual design and bids, so he is concerned that we are looking for $38 million when that may not be the actual final number.
Mr. Kortze asked the Board of Education if this possible lost revenue is the only reason they are requesting approval of the construction funds now? The answer was “yes”. Mr. Kortze asked if a new Superintendent and a new Assistant Superintendent could change the specs for this project? Dr. Pitkoff answered that it could only happen if the Board of Education approved it. Mr. Gissen pointed out that new Board of Education members could make changes. Mr. Kortze asked the First Selectman how “comfortable” he would be calling for a vote for funds without the debt service funds in the budget? Mr. Rosenthal replied “not comfortable at all”. Mr. Nanavaty stated that it is not necessary for the money to be bonded and available
just to be able to present to the State that the money has been approved by the town. Mr. Rosenthal advised that once you have an approved authorization and you want to go forward, then the budget is defeated, debt service can not be lowered because you are already obligated. You may have to reduce operating costs in order to reduce a budget.
Mr. Gaston moved to continue with the high school project and borrowing for said project in the same time frame as outlined in the Capital Improvement Plan. Motion seconded.
Mr. Kearney felt that we should consider going ahead with the proposal that could save $500,000 in lost revenue. First Selectman Rosenthal pointed out that there is a risk in going back to the voters a second time if the project costs run higher than estimated. Other towns, such as Bethel, have had problems doing that. Mr. Waterbury pointed out that he was not sure how he felt about this proposal until all of this discussion and now he is certain that he does not agree with approving the funds upfront.
MOTION CARRIED: 5 YES – 1 NO (Kearney)
Mr. Kortze thanked the Board of Education members for looking ahead and for bringing this issue forward and he felt that having this discussion was very helpful.
Having no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:15 p.m.
Jan Andras, Clerk
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