MINUTES
SPECIAL JOINT MEETING
BOARD OF COUNCILMEN
AND THE
BOARD OF FINANCE
MAY 14, 2007
A SPECIAL JOINT MEETING of the Board of Councilmen and the Board of Finance was held on Monday, May 14, 2007 in the Council Chambers to discuss the city budget.
Those in attendance included Mayor Ryan J. Bingham, City Councilors James F. McKenna, Thomas C. Jerram, Rick E. Dalla Valle, Andrew J. Slaiby, Marie P. Soliani, and Drake L. Waldron, members of the Board of Finance Daniel Farley, Bruce Cornish, Mark Bushka, Thomas Scoville, and James Zeller, Corp. Counsel Ernestine Yuille Weaver, and Comptroller Alice Proulx. Board of Finance member James Nichol was absent.
Mayor Bingham called the meeting to order at 6:25 p.m.
SUBMIT BUDGET FOR APPROVAL #575
Councilor Dalla Valle made a motion to submit the budget as approved by the City Council to the Board of Finance for their consideration. Councilor Slaiby seconded the motion.
Councilor Soliani asked the Board of Finance if they were comfortable with the budget as presented and whether or not they felt the monies from the Appropriations Committee would come through for the city.
Mr. Cornish indicated that the growth in the budget, measuring under 5%, was reasonable. The revenues are clearly the concern and the risk we take in using those numbers is clearly on the Undesignated Fund Balance. He was uncertain there was a way to go back and make an adjustment once the mill rate was approved and the budget was implemented, should the revenue levels not come in at the levels that are showing from the state in the appropriations budget. He did agree that the appropriations budget was closer to reality, but this is a process that will take several more weeks to conclude. The process it went through to get to this point was in depth and thorough and the result is indicative of the hard work that went into the budget that’s now on the table. Clearly, the city is at risk
because there’s a big difference between last year and this year from the state revenue side and the Board of Finance will deliberate that comfort level and determine how much of the fund balance we wish to risk on this budget, and decide whether or not further cuts are necessary.
Councilor McKenna inquired whether the Charter provided the city with the ability to apply a supplemental increase after the budget is set.
Mr. Cornish said it might be helpful to determine what type of options are available prior to their meeting tomorrow.
Councilor Jerram thought they should perhaps review the allocations and make adjustments to the operating and capital expenses in both, the city and the Board of Education budgets rather than looking at a supplemental increase. He asked if there was something in the Charter that would allow them to make a change to the Board of Education budget within the six week span between the time the allocation is made on May 15th and when their actual budget begins on July 1st.
Mayor Bingham said, historically, the dates in our City Charter have never coordinated with the dates of state government passing their budget.
Ms. Proulx said she didn’t think the city ever had the state figures by May 15th.
Councilor McKenna agreed with Mr. Cornish that it would be beneficial for the Board of Finance to know their options prior to adopting the budget.
Mr. Cornish inquired about the additional $45,000.00 for legal support fees in the Corporation Counsel’s budget.
Corporation Counsel Weaver indicated that the deductibles will now be paid from this line item instead of Contingency, as was done in the past. That amount was removed from the Contingency line item, so it’s a wash.
Mr. Cornish inquired whether there was duplication in the Police Department between hiring new officers and overtime.
Mayor Bingham said the city is currently hiring new officers to get the force to the number the chief feels it should have. The city is paying the new officers while they are at the academy and using overtime to cover for the officers they are short by. He said that was the reason they used overtime as a one-time expenditure because when the force gets to the number they feel comfortable with, the additional overtime will no longer be necessary.
Mr. Scoville asked if the Police Department budget included the hiring of four new officers, and if there were any current vacancies.
Mayor Bingham said the budget included five new officers, for half a year. He also noted they just hired a person and they had either two or three vacancies.
Councilor Dalla Valle added that they were anticipating five retirements. New officers are out of commission for half a year while at the academy. That creates a shortage of manpower when officers retire. The city ends up paying the new officers at the academy and paying overtime to fill the slots for those who retire. Ultimately, they want a force of 83. They currently have 76, and that’s not taking into account any of the retirees.
Mr. Scoville inquired about the funds cut from the Fire Department’s budget and then put back in.
Councilor Dalla Valle explained that the original budget included two pair of trousers for each firefighter at the city’s expense, in addition to their regular clothing allowance. The purpose was to change over to new trousers that have cargo pockets and are better suited to carry more emergency equipment. The old trousers cost $85.00 as opposed to the new trousers which cost $130.00.
Councilor Dalla Valle said the Deputy Chief wanted to mandate the firefighters to buy the new pants, but was unable to do so unless they were provided with at least one pair. The Board of Safety said no. When the matter came before Council, he fought to get one pair paid by the city and that was approved. However, when the Fire Department was asked to make further cuts the trousers was the first item to be cut.
Mr. Scoville asked if the revenue they will be basing their decision on was not greater than either the Governor’s or the Democrat’s budget.
Mayor Bingham said he was going with the Democratic budget. The Governor’s budget was actually more.
Ms. Proulx indicated that there isn’t usually such a vast difference between budgets, but there’s a $2.5 million difference between the Democrat’s budget and the Governor’s budget this year.
Mr. Cornish indicated that the Board of Education took advantage of using the lesser salaries for new employees to replace those who were retiring at a higher rate of pay as a means to keep the increase in wages down. He asked if the turnover rate had been included in the city budget as well.
Ms. Proulx said yes.
Mr. Zeller asked if the decrease of approximately $150,000.00 in the regular wages line item in the Fire Department’s budget was due to the city’s ability to hire civilian dispatchers.
Mayor Bingham explained that they were in the process of transferring over to civilian dispatching. This budget will allow them to move to the Police Station as well. In addition to that, an extra Fire Marshal position was removed from the budget.
Mr. Farley stated, that often times the city pays a retiring employee for accumulated sick or vacation time, while at the same time paying for someone to cover for the retiree, resulting in paying for two people for one position. A similar situation occurs at the Board of Education when they pay a substitute teacher to replace a regular teacher who might be absent.
Mayor Bingham indicated that the Fire Department no longer has sick time accruals, and employees in the Local 1579 City Hall and Public Works will eventually lose that accrual benefit as well.
Mr. Cornish explained that the Board of Education contract with the teachers has a retirement incentive program which creates two significant line items in their budget for an eight year pay out of a portion of salary as well as a bonus for leaving. During the last contract negotiation, the eligibility time line was decreased so not as many teachers qualified. It’s part of the teacher contract like the most recent negotiations to reduce sick time accrual for one of our city contracts, where they’ve been able to reduce the exposure long term, which will save the city a significant amount of money over the life of the contract as well as future agreements.
Councilor McKenna said, when you talk about the turnover of staff from the high pay to the low pay, it’s really a long term savings as opposed to short term one- year budgetary savings, because when you cover it with overtime or a substitute teacher, you’re not seeing immediate savings but savings that will occur during the next four, five or six years.
Councilor Dalla Valle asked if the wages line item in the Purchasing Budget was bumped up a bit to train the new person to replace the Purchasing Agent who is retiring, in addition to her accumulated sick time.
Ms. Proulx indicated that the Purchasing Agent doesn’t have any accumulated sick time, but she does have accumulated vacation time that she’ll be using at the end of her tenure. The wage line item also has funds to train a new person before she leaves.
Mr. Farley said the Purchasing Agent had noted an addition of $5,774.88 to her budget due to her impending retirement. Her official retirement date will be August 10th, 2007, but her last working day will most likely be June 29th, 2007. She will use accumulated vacation time for the month of July and the first ten days of August. During this period, she expects the city will be paying a Purchasing Agent’s salary as well as her vacation pay.
Under Pensions & Benefits, Mr. Zeller asked if the 7% increase in the Police & Firemens’ Retirement Fund was coming directly from Hooker & Holcombe.
Ms. Proulx said that was correct, that amount was Hooker & Holcombe’ recommended level of funding.
Under Civil Preparedness, Mr. Farley asked if the hours which Mr. Vannini worked as Emergency Management Coordinator were in addition to his full time job as a police officer.
Mayor Bingham noted that Mr. Vannini is currently retired from the Torrington Police Department.
Mr. Farley assumed the increase in Building Maintenance, Police Department, did not include the masonry work to their building.
Mayor Bingham said it did not include the masonry work.
Mr. Scoville pointed out that there are greater efficiencies in electric heat pumps and suggested the city look into any possible matching monies for replacing old heat pumps with new, efficient ones.
Councilor Jerram asked if we were taking money from the city pension accounts to pay for pensions or if they were strictly out of current operating costs.
Ms. Proulx indicated that the cash flow is not positive between what the city puts in the pension fund and what is going out for the pension checks. A portion of the return on the investments is used to pay out current pension checks.
Councilor Jerram asked if we were deriving enough revenue from our pension plan to pay city retirees and their surviving spouses, or are we contributing money from current operating expenses to supplement that.
Ms. Proulx said we transfer the dollar amount in our current operating expense into the pension fund for them to invest and a portion of whatever revenue they make off that money pays the pension checks as well as whatever our transfers are.
Mr. Cornish said “I read the article about the reduction in the pension fund in this budget process and went back to the Hooker & Holcombe reports to make sure we were not dipping below the recommended levels.... On the city side, the contribution is $1,052,000.00 that is split between the future cost estimate of $576,000.00 this year; so, $576,000.00 of that $1,052,000.00 is for the future cost of existing employees as well we’re paying in $474,000.00 to amortize the unfunded balance of that account over the next thirty years.”
Mr. Cornish said the Police and Fire Pension fund is similar in distribution, but the numbers are slightly larger. We’re paying the actuarial estimates of current employees and re-financing for the unfunded liability in the account with the $3.5 million per year that the city puts into those two pension accounts.
Mr. Bushka asked if the $250,000.00 in the City Hall budget was for roof replacement or repair.
Councilor Jerram indicated that the goal of the Municipal Renovation Committee is to provide the Council with a plan that will address the much needed roof, doors, windows, heat, electrical, bathrooms elevator, etc. The money in that line item is to take care of the roof in case the committee fails to bring something forward.
Councilor Soliani didn’t think it was the best use of taxpayer’s money to put a new roof on city hall without doing the other renovations first, but stated that the roof has to be done.
Mr. Bushka inquired about the investment interest.
Ms. Proulx indicated that the estimate last year was very low, so it was increased to where it is more suitable.
ADJOURNMENT #1850
On a motion by Councilor Jerram, seconded by Councilor Slaiby, the boards voted unanimously to adjourn at 7:00 p.m.
ATTEST: JOLINE LeBLANC
ASST. CITY CLERK
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