WILLINGTON BOARD OF FINANCE
Town Hall
Common Road
Willington, CT ~06279
7:00 P.M.
MEETING FOLLOWING THE BUDGET HEARING
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Members Present: Members Absent:
Ken Schoppmann, Chairman Annemarie Poole - Alternate
Ann Marie Brown, Vice-Chair
Alan Ference, Secretary
Peter Latincsics
Robert Wiecenski
Elizabeth Marco
Elizabeth Treiber - Alternate
Also Present: Donna Latincsics, Business Manager; Tish Ignatowicz, Treasurer; Christina Mailhos, 1st Selectman; Dave Harding, Superintendent; members of many Boards and Commissions; members of the public.
Chairman Ken Schoppmann called the Meeting Following the Budget Hearing to order at 7:34 P.M.
SEATING OF ALTERNATES - not needed
PRESENT TO SPEAK
Alex Strong, Fermier Rd - asked that the Board consider using more of the reserve fund considering it ended up being larger than expected. Chairman Schoppmann replied that it had grown larger than expected but in terms of where it's at the auditors state that 2 months of spending in the reserve fund which would be 2.5 million and we ended with 1.8 million.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Motion to approve the minutes of the March 21, 2013 Budget meeting was made by Alan Ference with the following amendments, Elizabeth Marco seconded. All were in favor, motion carried.
Chairman Schoppmann asked that comments be added to any of the budgets that we changed.
Ambulance Grant - reducing emergency fund contribution by $18,700.
Emergency Preparedness - add this amount reflects the actual spending anticipated for the budget year.
Public Works - discussion on how many miles of roads would be chip sealed vs the amount of asphalt we were spending. Shouldn't some of these projects be added to CIP opposed to in the operating budget.
WYFSS - adjust was made to apply $2,800 from their fund balance.
Board of Finance -2- April 9, 2013
Health Insurance - reduced by $40,000 to take out place holder and eliminate the planning position.
page 6 under comments - 4th paragraph, last line should read - quite a bit this year.
last motion for CIP - add Peter Latincsics voted no.
NEW BUSINESS
Budget adjustments if needed
Chairman Schoppmann opened up to the Board for any suggestions or requests.
Elizabeth Marco stated that the Planning and Zoning position that we cut that an engineer is not needed but they do have to have experience. She wasn't clear on that and wanted to bring that forward.
Alan Ference stated that is important because we have been throwing this back and forth for the last four years. It wasn't clear if we were looking for someone with state certification, technical expertise or someone to supplement the office.
Peter Latincsics spoke about the reserve fund and possibility of using the surplus and transferring them to the CIP fund instead of raising taxes . Chairman Schoppmann said that we could go to Town Meeting or do a onetime transfer knowing that next year that we have to come right back down. Right now we don't have to worry about minor crises that might happen in the Town.
Discussion was held concerning the bus routes and possibility of consolidating to reduce costs. Chairman Schoppmann stated this is a good discussion but would need to be held before the next budget. Superintendent Harding said he had suggested to Region 19 consolidating and would follow up with them for future discussion.
Chairman Schoppmann asked if there were any more discussion or suggestions. None we made.
OLD BUSINESS – none
CORRESPONDENCE - none
GOOD & WELFARE
Chairman Schoppmann thanked everyone for coming out and sharing their opinions. Asked to get people out to the polls. The last several years 400 people have come out to vote on a 4 million dollar budget.
ADJOURMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 7:55 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Debra Lewis
BOF Recording Secretary
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