The Board of Finance held a regular meeting on Thursday, February 11, 2008 in the Meeting Room at Town Hall South, 3 Main Street, Newtown, CT. Chairman John Kortze called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.
PRESENT: John Kortze, James Gaston, Martin Gersten, Joseph Kearney, Michael Portnoy, Harrison Waterbury.
ALSO PRESENT: Members of the Board of Education and Legislative Council, Attorney Monte Frank (8:10 p.m.), two members of public, one member of press.
VOTER PARTICIPATION: Ruby Johnson, 16 Chestnut Hill Road, did not feel that the Town should have purchased the property at 300 Berkshire Road. She said that re the CIP the lights at Fairfield Hills should have been put into Fairfield Hills Authority money; $300,000 was spent for one field when seven were called for in the bond issue. She would like to know what the cost overruns were for Fairfield Hall. Mr. Gaston asked if Mrs. Johnson was talking about the $300,000 out of the Fairfield Hills bond issue; Mrs. Johnson replied that she was. Mr. Gaston noted that a legal opinion was received from Town counsel that the lights were not part of the plan. Mrs. Johnson was not aware of this. Mr. Kortze said that perhaps the Board of Finance should discuss oversight as referred to by Mrs. Johnson and
obtain an answer from the appropriate parties.
Ben Roberts, 19 Farrell Road, feels that the bond issue itself was general and feels that the state statutes would allow for the lights to be part of the issue because the plan was not approved by the Town.
Mr. Kortze does not feel that this Board should be discussing a legal opinion. The relevant question is do we have oversight and Mr. Kortze will ask the appropriate officials about that matter.
COMMUNICATIONS: Mr. Kortze discussed the Town’s procedures for the purchase of open space. He noted that the Town is pursuing a grant for the purchase of the property at 300 Berkshire Road, but would look to the Town to purchase the property is the grant is not received. Mr. Kortze said that the Board of Finance did a lot of work to determine a cost benefit analysis about buying open space and what we could save in development. He is concerned that the Conservation Commission placed an extremely low rating on tax issues. The Board of Finance would like to understand exactly what the cost will be from our perspective and understand the savings from a development perspective. He said that when the open space bonding was first approved, the Board of Finance was to be given a metric advising the cost of
developing each parcel vs. the cost of purchasing the parcel. He noted that this procedure has never been followed and requested of Mr. Borst that this information be provided to the Board of Finance going forward for future open space parcels.
A letter was received from Mr. Borst referencing the CIP noting that on February 4 the Board of Selectmen voted to move Engine #441 for Sandy Hook from 2008/2009 to 2009/2010, add the Animal Shelter to 2008/2009, and remove the Park & Recreation Building from the CIP. Mr. Spragg and Mr. Kortze feel that the impact to the debt service by these changes will be very insignificant.
The CIP was presented to the Legislative Council at the Council’s meeting of February 6, 2008.
ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES: Upon motion of Mr. Portnoy, the minutes of the regular meeting of January 24, 2008 were unanimously accepted as presented.
FIRST SELECTMAN REPORT: Mr. Borst said that the Botsford Fire Department was due to replace an engine this year, but did not wish to replace it now because the engine would not fit in the existing garage (which will be replaced). So the request by Sandy Hook to replace engine #441 was moved up to 2008/2009. He apologized for any confusion regarding the fire engine.
Mr. Borst reported that the lease for Newtown Hall has been signed by himself and Hawley Realty and that we have the official copy. He said that Kevin’s Community Center pursued the grant money of $500,000, not the Town, and it must be determined how to handle the $500,000, such as possibly subleasing.
The Board of Finance requested that Mr. Borst prepare an Executive Summary to accompany the Board of Selectmen’s budget submission, including the impact on the debt service. This information had been provided with previous budgets.
FINANCE DIRECTOR REPORT: Mr. Spragg discussed the Town’s proposed budget (Attachment A to original minutes). The proposed increase is from $36.9 million this year to $40 million next year, or an 8.2% increase. Debt service would increase from 9.3% to 10.7% and would represent 3.95% of the total budget. Of the increase of 8.2%, 3.9% is debt service; without the debt service the requested increase is 4.25%. The new debt service for the Town is $366,850, or 1%, for a 5.25% increase with the additional projects. Mr. Spragg distributed “December 31, 2007 Revenues” (Attachment B to original minutes). Board of Selectmen’s revenues are down $491,000 through December 31 as compared to last year; school revenue is $200,000 more than last year, for a net increase of $292,000. The
projected revenues (Attachment C to original minutes) includes the conveyance tax with the assumption that it will be renewed. If it is not renewed, Mr. Spragg feels that probably more than half of the projected revenue of $625,000 would be lost. He noted that municipalities include this projection in their figures to put pressure on the State legislature to renew the tax. Mr. Spragg noted that for the Board of Education, the Legislative Council agreed a few years ago to decrease their budget by $300,000 and the Board of Education was to generate $300,000 in fees. The difference between Student Activity Fees collected and the decrease in the budget for that item is turned back to the General Fund each year so that the fees generated do not exceed the budget decrease, so that this is not really a surplus.
Mr. Kortze asked if the proposed budget shows a growth of 5.25%, to which Mr. Spragg says it does. Mr. Spragg said that the school debt service for next year is $6.4 million. Of that figure, the High School addition is $1.2 million.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Budget Schedule.
The Board of Finance will meet on the following dates to discuss the proposed budget (7:30 p.m. Town Hall South except for the Public Hearing on Feb 27):
February 21 (Thursday) Board of Selectmen budget
February 27 (Wednesday) Public hearing on the budget (Middle School Auditorium)
February 28 (Thursday) Board of Education budget
March 3 (Monday) Board of Finance deliberations
March 10 (Monday) Board of Finance (this is an extra meeting if it is needed)
Transfer.
Mr. Gersten moved to transfer from Account 01270-2001 Health Insurance $3,000.00 to Account 01260-2011 Pension Services $3,000.00. Second by Mr. Gaston. Mr. Borst explained that this is due to an increase in actuarial services. Motion unanimously carried.
Executive Session. Mr. Gersten moved to enter executive session at 8:15 p.m. to discuss a legal matter and to invite Attorney Monte Frank, Mr. Spragg and the clerk to attend. Second by Mr. Gaston an unanimously carried. Executive session was exited at 8:37 p.m.
Mr. Gersten moved to authorize the Board of Selectmen to settle the comprehensive litigation in Waterbury in exchange for approved settlement documents and to approve a special appropriation of $150,000 to settle the matter, funds to be expended from the Reserve for Capital and Non-Recurring Account. Second by Mr. Gaston and unanimously carried.
ADJOURNMENT Having no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:40 p.m.
Ann M. Mazur, Clerk
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