ADMINSTRATION COMMITTEE
OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
March 31, 2011 Meeting
The Administration Committee of the Legislative Council held a meeting on Thursday, March 31, 2011, in the Newtown Municipal Center, 3 Primrose Street, Newtown, CT
Present: Chair Gary Davis, Mary Ann Jacob, Jan Andras, George Ferguson
The meeting was called to order at 7:13 p.m.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
No one spoke during public participation.
COMMITTEE MINUTES
The Committee minutes from the meeting on March 22, 2011, were approved unanimously. Mr. Ferguson moved approval of the minutes and the motion was seconded by Mrs. Jacob.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
2011-2012 Budget Discussion: The Committee members reviewed the sections of the proposed 2011-2012 budget they had been assigned to review. Prior to the meeting, Committee members had contacted appropriate representatives involved in the budget sections they were assigned to obtain more information. Mrs. Andras presented her review of the budgets for all town departments except for those assigned to Mr. Davis; Mr. Ferguson presented his review of costs assigned to the budget for Fairfield Hills; Mrs. Jacob presented her review of the budgets for donations to non-profit organizations, the C.H. Booth Library and Edmond Town Hall; and Mr. Davis presented his review of the budgets for the Town Clerk and the Economic Development Commission. All committee members believed the proposed budgets to be
reasonable.
It was noted in the discussion on the Fairfield Hills budget led by Mr. Ferguson that the proposed budget was reduced from the current year. Mrs. Jacob said that she would like to see continued reductions in the future. She suggested that this section might be phased out in the next budget cycle with costs associated with Fairfield Hills integrated into appropriate town departments to reflect the integration of the property into town operations.
In her review of Edmond Town Hall, Mrs. Jacob noted the requested funding in the proposed budget was consistent with the current budget and was important to keeping operations at the facility viable. She noted that progress in raising more revenues from building operations was hampered by current Borough zoning which prevented businesses that might lease space from occupying Edmond. She noted that both Edmond Town Hall and C. H. Booth Library had pressing capital needs, and those potential projects should be discussed within the context of future Capital Improvement Plans.
Mrs. Jacob also reviewed the town’s contributions to non-profit organizations in the proposed budget. This is the first year that the town proposed such contributions under a new policy guideline approved by the Legislative Council that required non-profit agencies seeking town donations to demonstrate that they received cash or in-kind contributions from Newtown residents in an amount equal to 10 percent of the amount appropriated by the town to that non-profit agency. If his threshold was met, the non-profit agency would receive the final 10 percent of the budget allocation in the town budget. The Committee members felt the new guideline had been helpful in deciding which non-profits should receive support from Newtown. Mrs. Andras questioned how the First Selectman had carried out
the policy in developing this section of the budget. The Committee members agreed that a clarification on this matter from the First Selectman would be in order. However, they felt this would not prevent them from recommending this section of the budget be approved as currently proposed.
With the review complete, Mr. Davis moved that the following recommendation be forwarded to the Legislative Council’s Finance Committee, which Mrs. Jacob seconded:
At its meeting on March 31, 2011, the Administration Committee completed its review of the 2011-2012 budget as recommended by the Board of Finance. Upon completing its review of the sections General Government, Health and Welfare, Farifield Hills and Town Hall Board of Managers, the Committee unanimously recommends that these sections be accepted as approve by the Board of Finance.
The Committee members voted unanimously in support of the motion.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
No one spoke during public participation.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Mr. Davis noted that the next meeting of the Committee would be on April 20 at 6:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers to discuss possible changes to Legislative Council regulations. He reminded the committee members to forward him their thoughts prior to the meeting so the he could prepare a document for review and discussion at the meeting.
Having no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:05 p.m. Mrs. Jacob moved that the meeting be adjourned, and Mrs. Andras seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous.
Submitted by Gary Davis
* Minutes are not finalized until approved at the next regularly scheduled meeting.
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