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MINUTES
SPECIAL JOINT MEETING CITY COUNCIL & WPC AUTHORITY AND THE BOARD OF FINANCE
MAY 5, 2011
A SPECIAL JOINT MEETING of the City Council & WPC Authority and the Board of Finance was held in the City Hall Auditorium on Thursday, May 5, 2011.
Present were Mayor Ryan Bingham, City Councilors Gregg Cogswell, Elinor Carbone, Paul Samele, Gerald Zordan, Marie Soliani and Drake Waldron, Board of Finance members Daniel Farley, Mark Bushka, Thomas Scoville, Laurene Pesce, Brian Paganini and Wendy Traub, Comptroller Alice Proulx, Police Chief Michael Maniago, Deputy Police Chief Christopher Smedick, Fire Chief John Field, Deputy Fire Chief Gary Brunoli, Board of Public Safety Commissioner James Potter, Assessor Donna Patchen, Administrative Assistant to the Mayor Stephen Nocera, City Clerk Joseph Quartiero and Personnel Director Thomas Gritt.
Mayor Bingham called the meeting to order at 5:05 p.m.
PRESENTATION
Mayor Bingham explained this meeting is for the Council’s upcoming vote on the budget. Knowing full well that revenue would be down this year, with no indication from the State as to what level municipal aid would be funded at, he said a goal was set for each Department Head to reach a 7% reduction in their budget. Although that goal would be extremely difficult, while keeping City services at current levels, Mayor Bingham said this was the best initial submission from Department Heads in all his tenure as Mayor.
He said he continued to work with Department Heads, and together they found $380,000 in additional cuts.
Mayor Bingham said the major cost increases over the last year were a $688,000 contribution to pensions, $326,696 in police and fire wage increases, an increase of $120,000 for gas and fuel, a $77,000 contractual obligation for trash removal, and $49,300 for electricity.
Mayor Bingham said the pension contribution highlights the liability associated with defined benefit level pensions. A new system will put the onus on employees to invest as they wish, to take some more risk themselves, and take away the risk from our taxpayers. He said as we move beyond these traditional government pension systems and more into private 401k types of systems, we will start seeing significant changes that will enable projections of what contribution levels will be because they will be based on salary percentages. Mayor Bingham said that this will save the City significant amounts of money, both in the long term and during those poor economic times when we have to increase contributions due to losses in the market.
Fuel, gas and electricity have also been driving costs up in the last four or five years, Mayor Bingham said, and we have to start weaning ourselves away from our reliance on electricity, fuel and oil. He pointed out that the renovated City Hall uses less fuel and is more efficient, and said we will start to look at hybrid vehicles, have a testing site for the first electric fuel station, move toward LED streetlights, and discuss streetlight removals.
Mayor Bingham said the Blue Ribbon Commission has produced quantifiable recommendations ranging between $58,000 and $70,000 in savings.
He said this budget will successfully stop our dependency on the fund balance for the next fiscal year, and this is the first time in the last ten years that the City will not budget any portion of our fund balance to our general fund. Mayor Bingham said he wants to prepare for being competitive in the market, as school renovations are considered, which could mean referendums and bonding.
Mayor Bingham said the revenue is expected to decrease by $71,219. He listed some grant-funded projects including a1.5 million dollar surface transportation pavement preservation grant at Kennedy Drive, a $750,000 Main Street realignment grant, an application for an additional $200,000 in Brownfields Assessments, an extension of the Water Street project through $80,000 in savings in the Maiden Lane Reconstruction, and Main Street Marketplace grants and donations.
Mayor Bingham discussed the potential sales tax funds that may benefit Torrington, if passed in the State Legislature. He recommended the Board of Finance avoid relying on this number, because, as we’ve seen in the past, the State is not always good on their promises. He cited the conveyance tax as an example. He further recommended that 95% of this revenue be applied directly to capital improvements such as road reclamations. He said the other portion should be used to initiate a Business Referral Program to ask our local manufacturers and businesses to refer and encourage their partner businesses to move to Torrington. This would save them money in transportation costs and give an incentive to their partner businesses, but it would take a financial incentive to bring them to the table. Mayor Bingham said
he would like to start putting some money aside to initiate this program.
Mayor Bingham said the budget now presented is $49,650,410, or a .2% mill rate increase. He said this is unacceptable and that $442,348 in cuts must be found by May 17th. He said he is working diligently with Department Heads and is in negotiation with three City Hall unions, with tentative agreements made for a high deductible HSA plan to start July 1st. He thanked Local 818 for being receptive, saying it’s significant that they are coming to the table as managers and leaders and considering this plan which could be beneficial to the City.
Mayor Bingham noted there is still $174,000 in unidentified cuts to be found, which could come from labor concessions, straight across the board cuts, or from City Council and Board of Finance. He said $174,000 is very difficult to find without seeing additional layoffs. He said the target number of $49,208,064, which represents a 32.5 mill rate and a no-increase tax budget, would be the first time in nearly a decade that we’ll see city spending decrease, and the largest decrease in city spending in known history. We’ve never seen a million dollar decrease, he said, as the closest was about ten years ago with a $600,000 decrease or 2.25% in total reductions.
He said this shows the City of Torrington coming to the table for our taxpayers, stepping up and saying that we know you’re hurting, we know you don’t want to see increases in taxes, and we’re coming together to be more efficient and cut spending. He encouraged the Boards to work over the weekend to deliver additional cuts.
Mrs. Traub asked about how transfers were represented. Ms. Proulx replied that transfers are never reflected on the revenue. Mrs. Traub said it is important for the public to realize that even without budget transfers factored in, we still managed to decrease our spending.
Mr. Farley asked about the $80,000 budgeted for revaluation, instead of the usual $100,000. Mayor Bingham said the Assessor felt this is enough.
Mr. Bushka questioned the additional pension contribution of $688,000. Mayor Bingham said it has traditionally been funded to the level recommended by the actuary, and we are catching up from a significant loss in 2008.
Mayor Bingham noted the City employees, specifically our Department Heads, have stepped up this year in reducing their budgets. He said it was great working with them as they’ve been incredibly professional about it.
Mrs. Pesce asked what the timeline is for the negotiations. Mayor Bingham said more will be known in the next few days, but they are going well, and he hopes to have them solidified before the mill is set.
ADJOURNMENT
On a motion by Councilor Cogswell, seconded by Councilor Carbone, and unanimously approved, the meeting was adjourned at 5:41 p.m.
ATTEST: JOSEPH L. QUARTIERO, CMC
CITY CLERK
Respectfully Submitted,
Carol L. Anderson, CCTC
Asst. City Clerk
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