MINUTES
SPECIAL MEETING OF THE
BOARD OF FINANCE
MAY 27, 2003
A SPECIAL MEETING of the Board of Finance was held on Tuesday, May 27, 2003 in the Council Chambers.
In attendance was Mayor Owen J. Quinn, Jr., members of the Board of Finance Theodore Miasek, Michael Nejaime, Diane Libby, Roger Dickinson, and Bruce Cornish. Also, present was Corp. Counsel Albert Vasko, Comptroller Alice Proulx, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Gregory Riccio, Business Services Administrator Hugh Murphy, Board of Education members Laurene Pesce, A. Bates Lyons, and members of the Board of Councilmen Richard Dalla Valle, Marie Soliani, James Reginatto, and Thomas Jerram.
Mayor Quinn called the meeting to order at 7:15 p.m.
Mayor Quinn indicated that the Board of Finance would take this opportunity to discuss changes, options, and mill rates prior to a special joint meeting with the City Council scheduled for May 28 at 8:00 p.m.
Mayor Quinn indicated that he had discussed the matter of the $219,000.00 with the Board of Education during their meeting last Wednesday. It was his feeling that it would be best to alleviate the matter as a discussion point so that it would not cloud the discussions of the 2003-2004 budget.
He reviewed a document in regard to the $219,000.00 entitled Draft Talking Points: Proposal for Consideration from the Office of the Mayor/BOF re: Capital Portion of the Education Budget for the City of Torrington. (Documents attached to the minutes.)
The document read “The capital portion of the Board of Education budget submitted to the Board of Finance each spring as required by the City Charter shall remain fixed and immutable in its sum total except under the following conditions:”
1) The Board of Finance reduces the Board of Education proposal by an amount that results in the Board of Education budget being funded at less than the cost of inflation, and
2) The Board of Education declares a fiscal emergency.”
Mayor Quinn added that the Board of Education had been desirous of keeping the capital portion intact and has been trying to live with those dictates of making sure that our schools and facilities are up to snuff and that we don’t get into the same situation that many people are concerned about, is that anytime there are cuts to the Board of Education, the necessary cuts came immediately from the capital side. It was his belief that the Board of Education and the Board of Finance had been working jointly to try to minimize that type of situation.
The document continued to say “In addition, the Board of Education agrees that in neither case shall the Board of Education have the right to move more than 20% of the proposed capital budget into the operating portion of the budget.
In the event that the Board of Education wishes to move more than 20% from its capital portion of the City of Torrington’s education budget, it must request approval from the Board of Finance and provide a rationale.
Should the Board of Finance not act to deny such request within thirty days of receipt of such, the Board of Education shall be relieved of being bound by the above agreement for the remainder of that year’s budget.
Under no circumstances shall the Board of Education be permitted to move more than half of its proposed capital portion of its budget without written authorization from the Board of Finance. Furthermore, no transfer of funds from capital to operating shall be made which diminishes the return of monies to the City of Torrington from the State of Connecticut.
This agreement, as outlined, shall be in effect without precedent or prejudice for the 2002-2003 fiscal year through the 2003-2004 fiscal year and shall be placed on the agendas of the respective Board’s to be renewed every two years.”
Mayor Quinn stated that this document allowed them to put the $219,000.00 in the 2002-2003 budget behind them, it allowed for the action to fall within the parameters of the protocol, and it set an agenda for the 2003-2004 budget year, which seemed to be somewhat compromised between both positions.
Mrs. Libby stated that one of her points in their discussions with Dr. Riccio was that they needed to define how cost of inflation was going to be defined and she didn’t see that in the document they had before them.
Dr. Riccio said they were open to whatever we used as a city or what the state used to get funding, which was mutually agreed upon.
Mr. Dickinson thought the first sentence in the paragraph beginning with “Under no circumstances” was redundant if we had the controls in place that precede that.
Mayor Quinn admitted that it seemed redundant, but it did re-state the situation.
Mrs. Libby believed the following sentence was important, “Furthermore, no transfer of funds from capital to operating shall be made which diminishes the return of monies to the City of Torrington from the State of Connecticut”.
Mr. Miasek expressed his concern that “emergency” was not defined.
Dr. Riccio stated that the Board of Education would be open for discussion with the Board of Finance to define an emergency. The best example of an emergency would be a roof collapse where they would actually have to shift money from operating into capital after their capital was already committed, creating an impact to the operating budget. It would have to be a larger event than what’s manageable.
Mr. Miasek reiterated that the least would be that both boards would meet to discuss and agree whether or not an event was considered an emergency.
Dr. Riccio said “Right.” He didn’t believe the Board of Education would want to declare an emergency without discussing it. Because they would have to act quickly during an emergency situation, Dr. Riccio stated that they would most likely take funds from the operating budget and look for a way to replenish it afterward.
Mayor Quinn stated that during an emergency, a non budgeted item would require the Board of Education to come back to the Board of Finance.
Mrs. Libby suggested having several members of each board sit down and, in a greater way, define fiscal emergency, so that everyone knows the parameters of an emergency, in addition to the cost of inflation.
Mr. Nejaime didn’t agree that the paragraph within the document was redundant. On the contrary, he thought it definitely needed to remain within the document. He said, “What it’s saying is ‘Under no circumstances, if we don’t respond, then it does away with this agreement and they can do what they please, but the last paragraph says ‘Under no circumstances, can they move more than 50% of that capital budget.” Only the part where it states “without written authorization” was redundant.
Mr. Dickinson said he would like not to tie their hands to 50%.
Mr. Nejaime indicated that anything above 50% would be a serious matter and the Board of Finance would have to deal with it in some fashion.
Mayor Quinn stated that the Draft Talking Points were agreed upon by the Board of Education at its last meeting and they had issues with language and intent as well. Although the document seemed to have some flaws, it still allowed them to move forward on the 2003-2004 year. Since the Board of Education had already approved the document, he preferred not having to re-visit it with them over one or two minor changes unless there was an overwhelming consensus that this was a flawed document.
Dr. Riccio said “I think we all agree that that paragraph that we’re discussing, saying ‘Under no circumstances’, that means if you don’t respond in thirty days, we really, we never have the ability to move more than half. Let’s say you don’t give us inflation, we never have that ability without, in writing, so I don’t think you’re giving up anything, you’re actually keeping something so that this board is always, it’s signing off on always being committed to keeping 50% intact, whether or not you respond in thirty days. So, I think we’re saying the same thing and those other definitions, we obviously want to have mutual agreement to everything. Obviously, if we say it’s an emergency and you’re not sold on it and
it doesn’t fly, and ultimately....(inaudible) if we reach the point that this is inflation, one of us is going to have to live with, it’s either split between the two or accept the fact that here’s an inflation number coming from the state and we’re going to have to live with it. I think it’s a liveable, dynamic document.”
MOTION #600
On a motion by Mrs. Libby, seconded by Mr. Miasek, the board voted unanimously to have the Mayor and the Superintendent of Schools accept and sign, on behalf of the Board of Finance and the Board of Education, the proposal for consideration, the capital portion of the education budget for the City of Torrington.
DISCUSS THE BUDGET #610
On a motion by Mrs. Libby, seconded by Mr. Nejaime, a discussion took place in regard to adopting the budget and setting the mill rate.
Mrs. Libby stated that the Board of Finance will have to officially move the $219,000.00 from one line item to another during their next meeting.
Mrs. Libby suggested adding $60,000.00 to the management contingency line item to fund the position of Finance Director. The dollar amount was targeted because it would probably take six months to fill the position.
Mrs. Libby proposed re-instituting $8,000.00 from the $16,400.00 cut to the Police Department budget with the provision that they move forward with the computer technology and software upgrades.
Mr. Dickinson recommended a $100,000.00 cut to the Fire Department. He felt that 33% of the calls the fire department responded to were questionable and should be researched. He hoped to sit down with several key people to look at their expenses and revenues so they could net out $100,000.00 from that department.
Mr. Cornish supported the Mayor’s budget as presented with a 3.1% increase. He agreed with the hiring of the Finance Director but disagreed with the $100,000.00 cut to the Fire Department at this time.
Mr. Miasek believed the City of Torrington was in need of a Finance Director and that it would pay for itself in the long run. He agreed with Mr. Dickinson that the Fire Department’s budget needed fine tuning and that it was a good starting point to correct other things in terms of the process.
Mr. Nejaime was totally committed to a Director of Finance in order to get a better grasp of the budget and the finances of the city and pull together the shared services between the city and the Board of Education. He expressed his concern over whether a significant amount of savings could offset the proposed cut to the Fire Department. He would agree with the cut as long as there was a total commitment from the board and a fall back plan in place.
Mrs. Libby recommended a decrease of $1 million to the Board of Education in order to bring the mill rate to somewhere around a 1.5 mill increase. Additionally, there’s approximately $400,000.00 in Blue Cross money that they could allocate proportionately to both boards. That would be in addition to the $1 million decrease, totaling $1,266,000.00. The board concurred.
Mrs. Libby pointed out that Ms. Proulx had estimated the surplus to be a little over $900,000.00 and the board had talked about using $800,000.00 of it in this budget and they would have to decide whether they wanted to remain with that amount or use
more. Additionally, $89,000.00 from encumbered funds that wouldn’t be used could be added to that amount. The Board of Finance could work with those numbers during tomorrow’s meeting in order to come up with the lowest mill rate possible.
ADJOURNMENT #1270
On a motion by Mr. Dickinson, seconded by Mr. Nejaime, the board voted unanimously to adjourn at 7:55 p.m.
ATTEST: JOSEPH L. QUARTIERO, CCTC, CMC
CITY CLERK
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