TOWN OF SOUTH WINDSOR
MINUTES
TOWN COUNCIL WORK SESSION
COUNCIL CHAMBERS MARCH 3, 2003
SOUTH WINDSOR TOWN HALL 7:00 P.M.
1. Call Meeting to Order
Mayor Aman called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m.
2. Roll Call
Members Present: Mayor William Aman
Deputy Mayor Matthew Streeter
Councillor Barbara Barbour
Councillor Thomas Delnicki
Councillor Deborah Fine
Councillor Judith Paquin
Councillor John Pelkey
Members Absent: Councillor Paul Burnham
Councillor Edward F. Havens
Also Present: Town Manager Matthew B. Galligan
Town Attorney Barry D. Guliano
3. Public Participation – None
4. Communications – None
Town Manager’s Report – None
6. Items for Discussion
A. Recreation Department Proposed Fees for Fiscal Year 2003/2004
Ray Favreau, Director of Recreation, referenced materials prepared by his Department (attached Exhibit A). This information is in response to the Council’s comments regarding the Recreation Department’s proposal back in January when they presented their strategic budget and discussed their new fees, which had experienced tremendous increases due to new expenses which they had been asked to absorb.
6. A. Recreation Department Proposed Fees for Fiscal Year 2003/2004
These fees, primarily, were provided by divisions of the Public Works Department. Other fees were based on new IRS rulings which required the Recreation Department to reclassify contracted service providers as “employees,” and as such created an overtime situation for some programs.
With the Special Revenue Fund budgeting process, the only way to cover the additional expenses is to increase revenue, since the Department is not given tax subsidies to support their programs. The fees were adjusted based upon the new direct and fixed costs associated with the programs. The new fees were developed based on individual program costs, not across the board.
These fees had been presented to the Council in January, and in response, the Department has prepared a few proposals. One of those would be to incorporate all of those expenses at once as increases. Other proposals include a five-year phase-in and an eight-year phase-in. An inflationary factor was also added into those prices.
Mr. Favreau emphasized the need for his Department to get their promotional material out for the spring and summer programs as early in March as possible. He stated that both the five and eight-year plans would include changes, as a re-evaluation would be necessary on an annual basis.
According to Mr. Favreau, the original proposal of absorbing the increases all at once and charging the higher fees is their least favorite of the proposals. They want to accommodate the residents and maintain the customer base, and it is much easier to keep customers than to win new ones.
Deputy Mayor Streeter indicated that he favored the five-year plan over the raising of the fees all at once. Referencing the items on the Recreation Department’s Capital Improvement Plan for this year, he asked if there were other items in Years 2, 3 4 and 5. Mr. Favreau said that those items referenced are specific to the Special Revenue Recreation Fund only and is beyond what is already in the Capital Improvement Plan for the Town of South Windsor. Mr. Galligan said he thought there would be another five or ten-year plan for smaller items and explained that the Capital
6. A. (Continued)
Improvement Program is for items over $50,000. He said he wasn’t certain whether the review would be by the Capital Projects Committee first or whether the Council would first be involved. He said his intent was to bring the Recreation Department’s Capital Plan to the next Capital Projects Committee meeting for their review so that they could then make a recommendation to the Council. He wasn’t sure whether that was the process the Council preferred.
Regarding the item “Boundless Playground” listed on the Capital Improvement Plan, Mr. Favreau said the goal was to keep the boundless playground at Nevers Road Park, which is central to Town. He explained that there are a number of civic organizations that are interested in participating financially. If $70,000 can be committed up front from the Special Revenue Fund Capital Budget, “more will fall in place.”
Deputy Mayor Streeter spoke of the tough financial situation and suggested “postponing” some of the long-term goals.
Councillor Paquin said she was opposed to the entire plan of charging off the items in the regular budget so that Recreation would “pay their share.” Mr. Galligan said that wasn’t totally correct. He explained that Public Works provides these services out of the Facility Budget and they are directly associated with VMP. He said since there is a Special Revenue Fund, and it is supposed to be a “pay-as-you-go,” then those costs should be associated and matched to the appropriate revenues.
Councillor Paquin compared the cost of a pool pass of $275 to that of one in Glastonbury which is $45. In response, Mr. Galligan explained that residents had questioned why Recreation was being funded by General Fund dollars. He said that these programs have always paid for themselves. However the cost which has never paid for itself is the administration cost, which is still in the General Fund; and the other portion is that cost associated with Public Works providing services to the pool. He said that it has always paid for itself, it is being moved to a different fund.
Councillor Paquin indicated her opposition to the increases. She felt that what the Town has is affordable and that young families would have a
6. A. (Continued)
very difficult time coming up with the higher fees. Councillor Pelkey agreed with her comments and stated that he also had serious reservations.
Indicating that he was not comfortable with raising fees, Councillor Delnicki said that there is a reality this year that we need to keep a handle on taxes per se and look at modest fee increases.
Mr. Galligan said that other communities are dipping into their reserves; but when you do this, bond ratings are affected. He said in examining programs and the revenues that are needed for those programs, the decision may have to be to discontinue certain programs.
The Work Session was recessed at 7:35 in order for two public hearings to be held. The Work Session was reconvened immediately following the public hearings.
Although acknowledging tax increases as a result of the State Legislators and the Governor, Councillor Delnicki said he did not want to see any of the programs cut. He was not in favor of a huge increase in fees all at once.
Councillor Fine suggested “cutting back” on some of the programs, rather than cutting them out completely. Mr. Favreau stated that many of the costs are fixed, and he emphasized that he didn’t want to compromise the quality of the programs in South Windsor. He said they will take another look to see if there are areas where money can be saved.
Mr. Favreau then spoke of costs which they have absorbed this year in the Special Revenue Fund, such as the cost of their advertising brochure, which was previously an administrative line item. That amount was $43,200.
When asked if the other towns in the comparison are absorbing costs 100%, Mr. Favreau said that they are not and it is difficult to compare since they all subsidize at various levels for various things. He said that only West Hartford was a true enterprise fund, completely self-sustaining. Mr. Galligan stated that other towns fund their entire operation out of the
6. A. (Continued)
General Fund and whatever revenues they get offset those costs. Councillor Delnicki pointed out a few other towns which were absorbing costs at 100%.
The Work Session was recessed at 7:58 p.m. in order to call the Regular Meeting to order; the Regular Meeting was then recessed and the Work Session was immediately reconvened.
Mr. Favreau calculated the number of residents who use the pool at between 7 and 10%. He said the hours of operation of the pool are greater than those of most other towns.
Mayor Aman advised the public that the Council does not set the fees; the Recreation Department has always set their own fees. He said it appeared from this meeting that the Council was rather split; they were uncomfortable with raising fees; and they were also uncomfortable with the idea of raising taxes to subsidize someone else’s swimming.
Mr. Favreau stated that the actual bottom line amount is $134,281, and it was broken out evenly on the five and eight-year phase-in charts, with 3.4% on top. It included the following:
Rotary Ball Field - electricity for the 90-foot baseball field. Users of that ball field (in the proposed budget) would have to pay $100 per game if they wanted to play under lights.
Rotary Pavilion - all of the electricity, custodial fees, refuse removal, exterminator costs, telephone and supplies. Prior to that, the Recreation Department was only responsible for the staff that opened and closed the facility, as well as some minor improvements. ($7,000)
At VMP - vacuuming, scuba diver to vacuum bottom of the diving well, electric costs, water costs, chemical costs, labor for the Parks Department to come in and assist, supplies, Pollution Control’s labor to come in and help balance the chemical content of water and the filtration system, and daily maintainers. ($100,000)
6. A. (Continued)
Rye Street Park – electricity to run the softball Fields. ($7,000)
Weekend Costs to Rent the Community Center – Cleaning service and refuse removal. Utilities were not included at this point.
The costs to maintain Nevers Road Park – watering of the field and cutting of the grass, etc., were not included.
Councillor Pelkey felt that this was a clear indication that certain usage was being excluded and that it should be “all inclusive” or “all exclusive.”
At this point in the meeting, Mr. Galligan pointed out that the Little League has paid for lights for a number of years.
Mayor Aman stated that there seemed to be three or four Council Members who were in favor of a phase-in, there were two that felt that there should not be a phase-in, and there were a couple who were “sitting on the fence.” Mr. Galligan said that he felt, at this point, that they would be starting off with the eight-year phase-in, and they would see what else could be done to bring it down.
7. Executive Session – None
8. Adjournment
A motion to adjourn was made at 8:40 p.m. The motion was duly seconded and was unanimously approved.
Respectfully submitted,
Merlyn P. Guild
Assistant to the Clerk of the Council
Attachments
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