The Board of Selectmen budget deliberation meeting scheduled for January 27, 2004 was postponed due to inclement weather. The meeting was held on January 28, 2004 in the meeting room at the C. H. Booth Library, Main Street, Newtown, CT. First Selectman Rosenthal called the meeting to order at 7:30 pm.
PRESENT: First Selectman Herbert Rosenthal, Selectman Joseph Bojnowski, Selectman William Brimmer
ALSO PRESENT: Finance Director Ben Spragg, representatives of various departments and agencies, one member of press
VOTER PARTICIPATION: None noted
2004/2005 Budget Deliberations
Account 490 Land Use Agency
Land Use Agency Director Rita Macmillan was present.
Selectman Brimmer moved Account 490 Land Use in the amount of $498,055. Motion seconded.
Ms. Macmillan advised that Zoning and Conservation fees have not increased since 1994. She will be recommending increases this year. The only increase in the budget request is for salary increases. There is a decrease in the contractual services line item since the preparation of the Plan of Conservation and Development is nearly final.
MAIN MOTION UNANIMOUSLY CARRIED
Account 740 Economic Development Commission
EDC Chairman Chet Hopper was present along with Community Development Director Elizabeth Stocker.
Selectman Brimmer moved Account 740 EDC in the amount of $7,500. Motion seconded and unanimously carried.
Account 460 Building Department
Building Official Tom Paternoster was present.
Selectman Brimmer moved Account 460 Building Department in the amount of $290,234. Motion seconded and unanimously carried.
Account 410 Childrens Adventure Center
Board member Mae Schmidle was present and explained that they are requesting an additional $5,000 this year in order to hire an architect to look into expanding and enclosing the back porch area of the building. First Selectman Rosenthal advised that services of an architect would have to go through the bidding process.
Selectman Brimmer moved Account 410 Children’s Adventure Center in the amount of $25,000. Motion seconded and unanimously carried.
Account 300 Communications
Director Joseph DelBuono was present.
Selectman Brimmer moved Account 300 Communications in the amount of $697,002. Motion seconded.
Mr. DelBuono explained that salaries increased by 3%. In the budget printout, it looks like more because the contract was settled after the last fiscal year budget was finalized and it is not reflected that there was a 5% increase for dispatchers becoming EMD certified.
Selectman Brimmer moved to AMEND by decreasing line item 01300-1001 Full-time Operators from $441,209 to $431,209. Motion seconded and unanimously carried.
Selectman Brimmer moved to AMEND by decreasing line item line item 01300-1005 Overtime from $105,650 to $95,650. Motion seconded and unanimously carried.
MAIN MOTION AS AMENDED ($677,002) UNANIMOUSLY CARRIED.
Account 310 Police
Police Chief Michael Kehoe, Police Captain Joe Rios, Commission Chairman Carol Mattegat, members Richard Simon and Duane Giannini were present.
Selectman Bojnowski moved Account 310 Police in the amount of $3,323,766. Motion seconded.
First Selectman Rosenthal stated that his recommendation is not to hire any new personnel or increase employee hours across the Board. It was decided to eliminate the request for a new patrol officer to start in the middle of the fiscal year ($20,194)
Selectman Brimmer moved to AMEND by decreasing line item 01310-1003 Sworn Personnel from $2,379,894 to $2,359,700. Motion seconded and unanimously carried.
Chief Kehoe advised that the amount requested for a detective vehicle ($22,000) can be reduced to $6,800 which would be a town match to a grant for purchase of the car.
Selectman Bojnowski moved to AMEND by decreasing line item 01310-5002 Patrol Cars from $122,000 to $106,800. Motion seconded and unanimously carried.
There was a lengthy discussion of the Capital line item. It was decided to decrease the request for 5 computers to 3, and to decrease the AS-400 Upgrade from $70,000 to $55,660, and to eliminate the purchase of the AFIS at $28,000.
Selectman Brimmer moved to decrease line item 01310-5080 Capital from $111,960 to $64,620. Motion seconded and unanimously carried.
MAIN MOTION AS AMENDED ($3,241,032) UNANIMOUSLY CARRIED.
Account 315 Police Other
Selectman Brimmer moved Account 315 Police Other in the amount of $210,000. Motion seconded and unanimously carried.
This account includes private duty in the amount of $150,000 which is a “wash” item that is totally reimbursed. The remaining $60,000 is for the Heart & Hypertension allowance.
Account 340 Canine Control
Selectman Bojnowski moved Account 340 Canine Control in the amount of $92,030. Motion seconded and unanimously carried.
Account 670 Library
Library Director Janet Woycik, Board Chairman Philip Kotch and three other board members were present.
Selectman Bojnowski moved Account 670 Library in the amount of $879,609. Motion seconded.
It was pointed out that this request indicates a 14.8% increase over the current fiscal year, which includes salary increases and a request for $20,000 in a Reserve account. Mr. Rosenthal stated that the financial statement for the library shows a significant amount of reserve. Mr. Kotch distributed a list of salaries comparing Newtown to other towns in the state. Mr. Rosenthal pointed out that all town personnel salaries look similar in comparison to other towns.
Selectman Brimmer moved to AMEND by decreasing Account 670 Library to $799,700. Motion seconded and unanimously carried. (This reflects a 4.4% or $33,700 increase over the current fiscal year).
MAIN MOTION AS AMENDED ($799,700) UNANIMOUSLY CARRIED.
Account 550 Parks & Recreation
Director Barbara Kasbarian, Commission Chairman Larry Haskell and Commission member Ed Marks were present.
Selectman Brimmer moved Account 550 Parks & Recreation in the amount of $1,813,158. Motion seconded
After discussion, it was decided to decrease request for backstop repairs and to pay for this from the Parks & Rec surcharge funds.
Selectman Brimmer moved to AMEND by decreasing line item 01550-4060 Contractual Services from $229,460 to $222,460. Motion seconded and unanimously carried.
After a lengthy discussion, it was decided to decrease the capital requests by eliminating the purchase of a dump truck ($49,000); decreasing the amount to purchase the rotary motor ($69,895) by leasing at $15,883; decreasing the request for picnic tables to $3,500; decreasing the skateboard facility to $7,000; eliminating the fencing at Walnut Tree ballfield ($11,940) and at Oakview field ($18,000) by using surcharge funds.
Selectman Brimmer moved to AMEND by decreasing line item 01550-5080 Capital from $473,335 to $305,383. Motion seconded and unanimously carried.
MAIN MOTION AS AMENDED ($1,638,206) UNANIMOUSLY CARRIED
Account 570 Contingency
Selectman Brimmer moved Account 470 Contingency in the amount of $200,000. Motion seconded and unanimously carried.
Account 600 Legislative Council
Selectman Bojnowski moved Account 600 Legislative Council in the amount of $38,680. Motion seconded and unanimously carried.
This account includes funds for the annual town audit.
Account 730 Hattertown Historic District
Selectman Bojnowski moved Account 730 Hattertown Historic District in the amount of $500. Motion seconded and carried: 2 YES – Mr. Brimmer abstained.
Account 750 Local Housing Partnership
Selectman Bojnowski moved Account 750 Local Housing Partnership in the amount of $100. Motion seconded and unanimously carried.
Account 870 Fairfield Hills
Selectman Bojnowski moved Account 870 Fairfield Hills in the amount of $750,000. Motion seconded and unanimously carried.
Account 260 Pension
Selectman Bojnowski moved Account 260 Pension in the amount of $416,247. Motion seconded and unanimously carried.
Account 240 Social Security
Selectman Brimmer moved Account 240 Social Security in the amount of $710,000. Motion seconded.
Selectman Brimmer moved to AMEND by decreasing Account 240 Social Security to $696,613. Motion seconded and unanimously carried
MAIN MOTION AS AMENDED ($696,613) UNANIMOUSLY CARRIED.
Account 270 Health Insurance
Selectman Brimmer moved Account 270 Health Insurance in the amount of $2,021,750. Motion seconded.
Selectman Brimmer moved to AMEND by decreasing Account 270 Health Insurance to $2,000,750. Motion seconded and unanimously carried.
MAIN MOTION AS AMENDED ($2,000,750) UNANIMOUSLY CARRIED
Account 280 Professional Organizations
Selectman Bojnowski moved Account 280 Professional Organizations in the amount of $33,578. Motion seconded and unanimously carried.
Account 100 Selectmen
Selectman Brimmer moved Account 100 Selectmen in the amount of $399,751. Motion seconded and unanimously carried.
The only increase in this account is 3.5% for salaries.
Budget deliberations will be continued at the regular Board of Selectmen meeting on Monday, February 2, 2004.
Having no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 10:30 p.m.
Jan Andras, Clerk
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