MINUTES
BOARD OF FINANCE
August 18, 2015
A REGULAR MEETING of the Board of Finance was held in the City Hall Auditorium on Tuesday, August 18, 2015.
Present were Mayor Elinor Carbone and Board of Finance members Bill Lamoin, Joshua Ferreira, Thomas Scoville and Laurene Pesce. Frank Rubino arrived at 5:20 p.m. and Mark Bushka was absent. Comptroller Alice Proulx was also present along with Ms. Leslie Zoll of BlumShapiro.
Mayor Carbone called the meeting to order at 5:10 p.m. starting with the Pledge of Allegiance.
MINUTES
On a motion by Mr. Ferreira, seconded by Mrs. Pesce, the Board voted unanimously to accept the minutes of the Special Meeting held jointly with City Council on June 1, 2015 regarding the Tax Collector.
On a motion by Mr. Scoville, seconded by Mrs. Pesce, the Board voted unanimously to accept the minutes of the minutes of the Special Meeting held on June 1, 2015 regarding the Mill Rate.
On a motion by Mr. Scoville, seconded by Mr. Ferreira, the Board voted unanimously to accept the minutes of the Regular Meeting held on June 16, 2015.
On a motion by Mr. Scoville, seconded by Mr. Lamoin, the Board voted unanimously to accept the minutes of the Special Meeting held jointly with City Council on August 3, 2015 regarding the Board of Education audit. Mr. Ferreira and Mrs. Pesce abstained.
OPEN TO PUBLIC
On a motion by Mr. Ferreira, seconded by Mrs. Pesce, the Board voted unanimously to open the meeting to the public. There was no one from the public present.
REFURBISH STREET DEPT. HOLE PATCHER #27
Pending City Council approval of a waiver of the bid process, on a motion by Mr. Lamoin, seconded by Mrs. Pesce, the Board voted unanimously to accept the recommendation of the Vehicle Replacement Advisory Board and authorize the refurbishment of Unit #27 for an amount not to exceed $24,260, by Tru-Hitch, Inc. of Barkhamsted, CT, which includes a $3,000 cushion for potential unforeseen expenses. Mr. Castro noted that the replacement value of the vehicle is $220,000 and the refurbishment will allow at least three years more time in service. He said that he will ask City Council to waive the bid process because Tru-Hitch is owned locally and has high recommendations from other towns. Mayor Carbone explained that City Council approved the expense, but not the bid process waiver, so a special meeting will be called for that
purpose. Mr. Castro added that the ten-year added life expectancy mentioned in the quote is for the frame and chassis.
REFURBISH 2 DUMP TRUCKS –STREET DEPT.
Pending City Council approval of a waiver of the bid process, on an amended motion by Mrs. Pesce, seconded as amended by Mr. Scoville, the Board voted unanimously to accept the recommendation of the Vehicle Replacement Advisory Board and authorize the refurbishment of Unit #24 and #32, for an amount not to exceed $27,000, by Tru-Hitch, Inc. of Barkhamsted, CT, which includes a $3,000 cushion per unit for potential unforeseen expenses.
Mr. Rubino arrived at 5:20 p.m.
AUDIT PRESENTATION, Leslie Zoll of BlumShapiro.
Ms. Zoll reported that the City received an unmodified opinion in their audit. She said that, on a full accrual government wide financial statement level, Torrington had a total net position of governmental activities of $68,000,000 and business-type activities of $9,800,000. In total that was up about $820,000 full accrual basis of accounting. Ms. Zoll noted that on June 30, 2014, the financial statements for governmental funds on the modified basis of accrual had a total fund balance of $6,800,000 and that $6,300,00 of that is considered unassigned, which is about 5% of the City’s budgeted expenditures. During fiscal year 2014, the net changed in the general fund and was about $418,000. She said positive growth has been seen in the WPCA enterprise fund of $910,000 during the fiscal year ending June 30,
2014 and there was a huge jump in change in net assets in the internal service funds of about $3,000,000. Ms. Zoll reported that the pension funds also had a good year with an $11,800,000 increase for the two plans combined for fiscal year ending June 30, 2014 for a total net position of $88,000,000. She said that the implementation of GASB 67 required some additional note disclosures on pension liabilities, and pointed out that even more disclosures, more required supplemental information and our total net pension liability will now be included in our government-wide balance sheet so there will be a change from the prior GASB 27 disclosures seen in previous reports.
Mrs. Pesce asked if that will negatively impact our bond rating and Ms. Zoll said that no impact is seen but there is an exposure draft coming. She said OPEB will be reported in a similar way as the new GASB 67 and 68 standard, so eventually the OPEB liability will also be shown on the balance sheet. Ms. Zoll said that she is not sure what the impact will be on the financial statements as that’s just an exposure draft right now. She reported that the net pension liability for the City is pretty well funded with 77% for the employees plan and 67% for the police and firemen as of June 30, 2014.
Ms. Zoll noted that budget schedules RSI 1 and 2 for the general fund indicate positive variances resulting from the City’s budget experience. She said that revenues came up positive of $474,000, which is similar on the expenditure side of $475,000.
Ms. Zoll said she is happy to report that there are no compliance issues relating to the state and federal single audits, and there were no findings in the programs that are required to be tested, based on our thresholds.
Mayor Carbone asked what the timeline is for the 2015 audit and Ms. Zoll replied they are uncertain right now, due to GASB 68 note disclosure requirements, and the need to wait for information from the state.
BUSINESS: Dept. Heads
On a motion by Mr. Scoville, seconded by Mrs. Pesce, the Board voted unanimously to consider business presented by Department Heads. No business was presented.
BUSINESS: Mayor and Board Members
On a motion by Mr. Lamoin, seconded by Mr. Scoville, the Board voted unanimously to consider business presented by the Mayor and members of the Board of Finance.
Mr. Lamoin asked if there is more information on budget reductions. The Mayor replied that will be available later this week.
Mrs. Pesce said she appreciates the Audit Report and its good news.
Mr. Rubino said he has requested updated numbers from the Board of Education and asked that the minutes of the August 3rd meeting be clarified to indicate that he was not recommending the superintendent contract be examined carefully, but rather the IT contract. **Note: a review of the August 3, 2015 recording reveal that the minutes are accurate as written.
Mayor Carbone updated the Board on her progress in forming an ad hoc committee for the Board of Education general audit and Mr. Rubino volunteered to serve on that committee. She updated the Board on the status of the IT contract forensic audit RFP and the feasibility study RFP, announced that FuelCell Energy and Wittmann, Inc. will be expanding and reported that the bond refunding process is moving forward.
ADJOURNMENT
On a motion by Mr. Scoville, seconded by Mr. Rubino, the Board voted unanimously to adjourn at 5:41 p.m.
ATTEST: JOSEPH L. QUARTIERO, CMC
CITY CLERK
Carol L. Anderson, MCTC, CMC
Asst. City Clerk
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