North Stonington Board of Finance
Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, January 7, 2008, 7:30 PM
NEW TOWN HALL
40 Main Street, North Stonington, CT
1. Call to Order: Chairman M. Donahue called the meeting to order at 7:46 PM. Vice Chair L. Southwick, Secretary T. Oswald, and G. Herbert were present. Members E. Bresette, and E. Pavlovics were not present.
2. Public Comments and Questions: None.
3. Audit Report and Management Letter Follow-up:
1. Marcia Marien, town auditor, spoke about the results of her firm's audit of the Town. She spoke in regard to follow-up on matters of LOCIP and Entity-Wide Controls. She provided and presented an eleven 'slide' presentation about the internal controls issue.
2. First Selectman Mullane agreed to provide a copy of a draft of his proposal for internal controls to BoF members Herbert and Oswald.
3. T. Oswald complained about the lack of apparent conclusive action concerning the resolution of “control procedure” audit problems the Auditor has cited in the Management Report this year and the prior year. In two examples: 1) the Auditor Marion reports over and over that the Town does not have the proper cash control procedures in place; 2) it has been over a year the Town has been struggling to comply with the issue of connecting the new cash register (which has been on hand for over 5 months now) to the new Quickbooks accounting software. After some discussion G. Herbert promises to look into the matter and provide the BoF a solid, scheduled, plan of approach to deal with the outstanding repetitive accounting problems the Auditor has reported in the last two Management Reports
by our next meeting January 21, 2009.
4. L. Southwick suggested the Town look at the possibility of hiring a Finance Director with aegis over both the BoS and the BoE.
5. Auditor Marion specified what the Town needs to do to complete the audit process by the Management Report due date of 31 January 2009, barring any deferrals the Town may request.
6. The BoF plans to be able to “accept” the Management Report at our next meeting 21 January 2009 provided all items are present as discussed tonight.
4. BOS: Financial Reports First Selectman Mullane indicated the Town Treasurer recently underwent surgery and consequently no BOS financial report is currently available. The Town Tripartite (BoF, BoE, and BoS) meeting proposed, and tentatively scheduled for 6 PM 28 January 2009, was discussed (note item 6 below). Mr Mullane was requested to report on the following 4 items at the next BoF meeting.
1. Line item CC3.00: Ambulance Equipment
2. Line item CC1.10: Equipment Lease Buy Dump Truck
3. Town savings in fuel costs
4. Overview of line item spending variances
5. Assessor Report:
1. Town Assessor, Darryl DelGrosso, reports the Assessor's Report should be done by the end of January 2009.
2. He relayed how the State of CT has recently:
1) On the one hand, appropriated taxing authority for telecommunication equipment away from the municipalities, and;
2) On the other hand, the State increased the scope of previously untaxed telcom equipment that is subject to taxation;
3) While providing the Town with a portion of the enlarged tax revenue, which the Assessor expects to very likely net out as substantially less than the $40,000 of revenue the Town previously anticipated and budgeted for.
3. Darryl agrees to provide the BoF an estimate of the Town Grand List revenue expectation prior to the BoF next meeting Wed 21 January 2009.
6. 2009/10 Budget Preparation Schedule The BoF is still waiting response from the BoE concerning our invitation for them to participate in the proposed Tripartite Meeting 6 PM 28 January 2009 at the Elementary School Library.
7. Management Reports/Board of Finance as Audit Committee/GASB 45 OPEB.
1. Tax Collection Policy: Discussion of the Sample Tax Collection Policy provided
by Marien & Co, was included in the auditor's presentation on Entity
Controls during Item 3-1.
2. Management Letter: Mr. Mullane committed to complete the Management Report by January 31, 2009.
8. Town Report (June 30, 2008) There are 13 out of 22 Town entities that have their portion of the Management completed so far. M. Donahue agreed to expedite the missing reports.
9. Budget/Budget Spreadsheet – 2008/9 Revision E Discussion, no action.
10. Board of Finance Goals/Long Range Plans/Resources Discussion, no action.
11. Previous Minutes L. Southwick motioned the BOF accept the minutes for the 12-17-08 BOF meeting. G. Herbert seconded, the motion passed 3-0-1 with T. Oswald abstaining.
12. Correspondence:
1) Letter to Governor M. Jodi Rell,, from First Selectman N. Mullane, regarding her request the Town identify “Shovel Ready” Projects to be Considered for Economic Stimulus.
2) Letter Brian Elias, President, North Stonington Ambulance Association concerning Actual VS. Budget report for the quarter ending 12/31/08, dated 12/31/08.
3) Letter from John A. Danaher of 12/17/08 about the FOIA case involving the Town Assessor.
4) Letter from Frank Eppinger 1/2/09 concerning the FOIA case involving the Town Assessor.
13. Future Agenda Items Identification:
1) Nick Mullane will discuss his:
1. Operations budget,
2. Windmill project proposal,
3. Capital Plan,
4. Town savings of fuel costs,
5. Various updated financial report re various line items.
2) BoE representatives will attend the next BoF meeting for a budget Q & A session
14. Adjournment: L. Southwick moved to adjourn and G. Herbert seconded. The motion carried 4-0-0 and the meeting adjourned at 11:16 PM. The next BOF meeting will be held at 7:30 PM Wednesday, January 21, 2009 in the New Town Hall Meeting Room.
Respectfully Submitted,
Tom Oswald, Secretary, Board of Finance
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