MINUTES
SPECIAL MEETING
BOARD OF FINANCE
MAY 26, 2005
A SPECIAL MEETING of the Board of Finance was held on Thursday, May 26, 2005 in the Council Chambers.
Those in attendance included Mayor Owen J. Quinn, Jr., members of the Board of Finance Daniel Farley, James Zeller, Joseph Nader, James Nichol, and Bruce Cornish, Corporation Counsel Albert Vasko, and Comptroller Alice Proulx.
Mayor Quinn called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. immediately following a special joint meeting of the Board of Finance and the Board of Councilmen, which was held immediately following a regular meeting of the Board of Finance scheduled for 4:00 p.m.
ADOPT THE BOARD OF EDUCATION BUDGET #2635
Mr. Cornish made a motion to adopt the Board of Education’s Capital Budget for the fiscal years 2005/2006 in the amount of $736,000.00. Mr. Zeller seconded the motion.
On a roll call vote, Daniel Farley, James Zeller, Joseph Nader, James Nichol, and Bruce Cornish voted in favor of the motion to adopt the Board of Education’s Capital Budget for the fiscal year 2005/2006 in the amount of $736,000.00. The vote was unanimous.
ADOPT BOARD OF EDUCATION OPERATIONAL BUDGET #2700
Mr. Cornish made a motion to adopt the Board of Education’s Operational Budget for the fiscal year 2005/2006 in the amount of $51,858,758.00. Mr. Farley seconded the motion.
Mr. Cornish explained that the Board of Education has spent hundreds of hours deliberating their budget, coming in with somewhere around 11.50%. The kinds of reductions suggested at the eleventh hour would affect a number of teacher positions and would do the children disservice.
Mayor Quinn explained that he has already spoken with Dr. O’Brien in regard to the Board of Finance’s feeling that Capital Budgets need to be kept intact for capital improvements and touched only under extreme duress. His proposal to leave the Operational Budget intact is to let the new Superintendent, her administration, and the Board of Education prioritize and put the services back to the children. There is a commitment to share resources, expertise, and, in some cases, co-locations to make both, the Board of Education and the City of Torrington stronger. He has already received that commitment from the Administration. He charged the Board of Education members to move on that matter as his prime directive. He needed a commitment from the Board of Education to utilize the
New World system. Only then will the Superintendent have confidence in the numbers and will be able to direct those resources where she and the Board of Education see fit. The Board of Education has been given a life line to get its fiscal house in order and to convince us that what is there is real and that it is going where we all want it to go.
VOTE ON BOE’S OPERATIONAL BUDGET#2890
On a roll call vote, Daniel Farley, James Zeller, Joseph Nader, James Nichol, and Bruce Cornish voted in favor of the motion to adopt the Board of Education’s Operational Budget for the fiscal year 2005/2006 in the amount of $51,858,758.00. The vote was unanimous.
ADOPT CITY BUDGET #2910
Mr. Cornish made a motion to adopt the City Budget in the amount of $47,346,905.00. It was seconded by Mr. Zeller.
Under a discussion, Mr. Farley stated that a savings of approximately $16,000.00 a year was expected from the telecommunications line item, and asked if the telephone budget of $85,000.00 should be reduced by that much.
Ms. Proulx indicated that it didn’t seem to be the best choice to amend the telephone line item at this time because we don’t know what increase we may have in our telephone costs. Additionally, we will be looking for a new telephone system and we could use the savings for that purchase.
In regard to the recommendation to reduce the contributions to the city pension plans, Mr. Cornish said he had been assured that we are at the actuarial level. He acknowledged that we had received positive commentary at the annual budget meeting and was assured from those who manage our pension funds that our contributions over the actuarial estimate on a year to year basis, have helped us get to a point where we are reducing the unfunded liability for pension pay outs. Eventually, we have to close that gap. He stated that we should certainly maintain the funds at the actuarial level and do the best we can to contribute more to reduce that unfunded liability.
Mr. Cornish pointed out that Mayor Quinn had suggested using some of those one time, windfall funds from the state to fund the pensions over and above the actuarial level. He stated that the Charter had a provision that budget increases in excess of $100,000.00 would require a referendum. He asked Corporation Counsel Vasko if such a referendum would be necessary if we were to put funds back into the pension plan.
Corporation Counsel Vasko indicated that no referendum would be necessary because the additional funds would not have an effect on the budget. The extra money would essentially be a reserve fund which the Board of Finance has the authority to use. In years past, one time windfalls were used to purchase a fire engine, and put additional monies into the pension funds.
VOTE ON CITY BUDGET #3120
On a roll call vote, Daniel Farley, James Zeller, Joseph Nader, James Nichol, and Bruce Cornish voted in favor of adopting the City Budget. The vote was unanimous.
SET THE MILL RATE #3190
Mr. Cornish made a motion to maintain the mill rate at 32.76. Mr. Nader seconded the motion.
On a roll call vote, Daniel Farley, James Zeller, Joseph Nader, James Nichol, and Bruce Cornish voted in favor of maintaining the mill rate at 32.76. The vote was unanimous.
Mayor Quinn pointed out that they had just maintained the mill rate at 32.76. This is a mill rate that will not cost the taxpayers one additional penny.
ADJOURNMENT #3250
On a motion by Mr. Cornish, seconded by Mr. Farley, the board voted unanimously to adjourn at 5:45 p.m.
ATTEST: JOLINE LeBLANC
ASST. CITY CLERK
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