The Board of Finance held a Regular Meeting on Thursday, October 25, 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, Joseph Kearney, John Torok, Harrison Waterbury
ABSENT: Michael Portnoy
ALSO PRESENT: Finance Director Ben Spragg; First Selectman Herbert Rosenthal; Planning & Community Development Director Elizabeth Stocker; Interim Superintendent of Schools Tom Jokubaitis; Schools Business Administrator Ron Bienkowski; Board of Education Chairman Elaine McClure; Board of Education member David Nanavaty; Middle School Principal Diane Sherlock; Architect Joseph Costa of Fletcher-Thompson; six members of public; one member of press
VOTER PARTICIPATION: None noted
COMMUNICATIONS: None
ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES: Upon motion by Mr. Gaston, the minutes of the 10/9/07 meeting were unanimously accepted as presented, with the addition that Mr. Kearney had asked Finance Director Ben Spragg to prepare an updated chart using 4.5% as annual growth.
FIRST SELECTMAN REPORT: First Selectman Rosenthal noted that a certain political group in town has been making comments in the newspaper that the town utilizes “incremental budgeting” and that is not correct. These people should get the facts before making public statements.
FINANCE DIRECTOR REPORT: No report other than CIP.
NEW BUSINESS
Presentation by Planning & Community Development Director
Chairman Kortze advised that a committee consisting of himself and Mr. Waterbury of the Board of Finance plus Pat Llodra and Stacie Doyle of the Legislative Council have put out an RFP in order to have a “Build Out” Study done and had two responses. One firm was interviewed this evening and the other firm will be interviewed next week. The Town’s Planning & Community Development Director Elizabeth Stocker was present tonight to give an update on the current economic growth and the information that the town already has in terms of growth. She handed out a list, with pictures, showing the recent commercial development in town (available on the town website) and also distributed a list of subdivisions and building permits issued for new housing units. Last year, we had nine new
commercial units at a value of $5.6 million. “We are experiencing very health growth at this time.” Many different Planning & Zoning projects have moved ahead. One of the major projects was the South Main Street Village Corridor which will allow for re-use and development along the entire corridor, however, there is no build-out analysis at this time. There is no desire to make the Route 25 gridlock any worse than it is so we would try to make uses less intensive or uses with “off peak” traffic i.e. attorneys, CPAs and other low traffic generating type of businesses for buildings that are currently residential.
The Planning & Zoning Commission is currently updated the zoning regulations and have held approximately 20 public hearings to date.
First Selectman Rosenthal stated that with the current revaluation, the assessor believes there will be some shift in the current grand list back to commercial. With the last reval, the shift was from commercial to residential, especially smaller to mid-range homes.
Mr. Gaston asked Ms. Stocker to quantify the percentage of space that is currently available. Ms. Stocker will also get fiscal year numbers for new housing permits. Right now, the figures are available for calendar year and there have been 11 new house permits since July 1.
Mr. Kortze asked if the land remaining to be residentially developed is less desirable or more difficult to develop. Ms. Stockers feels that is true based on the subdivision applications that are being submitted now.
Mr. Gaston asked if our GIS (Geographical Information System) could plot out the land that could be the most developable? Ms. Stocker stated that it could but it would take a lot of staff time and she is not sure how many people we have right now who would be capable. The GIS Director is extremely busy. She would recommend going to a consultant in order to get the information in a timely manner.
FINANCE DIRECTOR REPORT: Mr. Spragg stated that he read an article in the newspaper that the schools expenses are higher than the estimates used in the budget. He realizes that this story was written from an informational report that Mr. Bienkowski had given to the Board of Education and not an actual request for more funding at this time. He advised that the town and school system exchange costs for services each year, i.e. the GIS Director is an employee of the school system but the town pays for his salary and benefits and the town gives money to the Board of Education to pay for him and his department. The town also provides services to the schools, i.e. Parks & Recreation plowing the parking lots and the schools give the town money for that service when it involves overtime. Two items came in less than last year including vehicle fuel ($343,000 last year vs. $318,000 estimated for this year) and the Fairfield Hills building that is shared by the school maintenance
department and the Parks & Recreation department. Last year, the schools paid $22,000 to heat this building. This year it is estimated for $18,600. Mr. Bienkowski pointed out that bus fuel is right on for what was budgeted. He also advised that special education tuition will require at least $100,000 more than was budgeted. We have had 13 involved special education students who have moved into the district since July 1, 2007. Regarding transportation costs, the VoAg school in Woodbury has changed their start times so students can no longer ride the bus that goes past their house to the high school and then be transported to Woodbury. Separate buses must now pick them up at their home and get them to a central location. Mr. Bienkowski added that at this point, it is too early to put a freeze on the budget. He was reporting that there are expenses that are above the budgeted amounts at this time.
Capital Improvement Plan
The Board of Finance had asked the Board of Education to be available to answer questions about requests in the CIP for the Middle School. Mr. Joseph Costa, principal with Fletcher-Thompson was present, along with Middle School Principal Diane Sherlock.
Mr. Costa handed out copies of a May 2006 Report on the Middle School, prepared by Fletcher-Thompson, outlining three different options for expansion of the auditorium and cafeteria. This report is a year and a half old at this point but he feels the approach is still valid, although numbers have escalated. He went over the three options, ranging in cost from $32,392,337 to $63,040,000.
Ms. Sherlock advised that there are currently 930 total seventh and eighth grade students in the Middle School. At this time it is not possible to house the entire seventh grade or entire eighth grade in the auditorium. There are currently four lunch periods, with the first one starting at 10:15 a.m.
Mr. Gaston asked for clarification as to whether the roof replacements for both the flat roof and the pitched roof were included in the options being presented, since they are listed separately in the CIP. This was not clearly answered.
Mr. Kortze asked the Board of Education to provide something so that we have a basis for what is being requested in the CIP. He requested the following: 1) operational costs from the high school and middle school once they are completed; 2) clarification as to the three items regarding roofs; 3) clear up cost and inflation; and 4) clarify schedule and adjust for inflation.
Having no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:45 p.m.
Jan Andras, Clerk
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