Special Meeting
Board of Selectmen
Jointly with
Board of Education & Board of Finance
Willington Public Library December 7, 2011
Meeting Room 7:00 P.M.
Meeting Minutes
BOF Members Present: BOE Members Present:
Ken Schoppmann, Chairman Dave Harding, Superintendent
Annemarie Poole Mark Jones
Betsy Trieber Barry Wallett
Robert Wiecenski Erika Wiecenski
Peter Latincsics Leo Mercado
Alan Ference
Elizabeth Marco BOS Members Present:
Ann Marie Brown Christina Mailhos, First Selectman
Butch Littell, Selectman
John Blessington
A. Introduce new board members
First Selectman Mailhos called the meeting to order at 7:02 pm. She then asked the members to introduce themselves. We have some new members on each of the Boards of Finance and Education.
First Selectman Mailhos asked Chairman Schoppman to review the budget process. Chairman Schoppmann said the process begins in early January with the review of revenue projections and changes for the year. The Board of Finance meets weekly with budget writers, starting with the Board of Education and then work with the smaller budgets. The budgets are presented to the Board of Finance, and are requested to be submitted a week prior to the meeting for the board to have enough time to review. The BOF reviews all of the budgets, evaluates in the terms of tax rates, the general fund and determine where the mil rate is determined. The final meeting will either approve all of the budgets, or make final adjustments. At the end, there is a public hearing, which presents the budget. A Town
Meeting is then called and adjourns to referendum.
Chairman Schoppmann stated that the BOF calendar will be set at their meeting next week. First Selectman Mailhos stated it is a good thing to remind people of the process early on. The time to start advocating for things to either be cut from or kept in the budget is now.
C. Discussion of upcoming budget season
First Selectman Mailhos began the discussion with a previous conversation she had with Superintendent Silva of Region 19. The new teacher contract has not been ratified; however it looks like there may not be an increase for next year (salary wise). It is not confirmed as of yet, however. We also have one more year of the student population increase at E.O. Smith. The good news is that Columbia has added more students, which will offset the costs. They are not part of the region, so they are paying on a “per head basis”. E.O. Smith was able to accommodate Columbia because of a decrease in student population. There is no need to add extra staff. Chairman Shoppmann also added that Region 19 will not be receiving $345,000 of federal stimulus money this year as they did
last year. The hopes are that the contract is minimal and the new influx of Columbia students offsets the costs and they keep their budget in line.
Discussion then focused on K-8 BOE budget. Superintendent Harding said it is going to be a good year. He stated that he had to make up for the gap created by the $144,000 of teacher job fund money from the federal government. He has preliminary numbers that are better than in years past. It won’t be as good as last year, which was -1.25, but not like other years at 3 or 4%. He then stated he will go out on a limb to say that the money expected to be returned to the town will exceed next year’s increase request. They have a 7.5 million budget. Half of that money comes from Education Cost Sharing (ECS). Looking at next year’s budget, ECS will remain the same. ECS might impact the 2013 – 2014 budget years. Chairman Schoppmann stated he feels the
suburban areas of the state might get hit harder than the rural areas and we might be in the middle. This is based on the per capita formula. Peter Latincsics asked about enrollment. Superintendent Harding said it is leveling. In terms of class size, we have three classes for each grade with the exception of one grade that has two. We won’t reduce to two; because you could have 30+ students in each class. The BOE budget meeting schedule will be set at the next regular meeting. The budget will be presented to BOE in January. Superintendent Harding then stated that the BOE will start the budget workshops in early January and have them until it is time to vote and present to BOF. Chairman Schoppmann suggested having BOF members to attend some of the BOE meetings to get a better understanding of their budget for when they submit requests. Superintendent Harding reiterated that he is confident he will have a strong budget
without cutting any services.
Peter Latincsics asked about healthcare costs. Superintendent Harding replied that healthcare costs have been down. It is currently at an 8% increase, but considering they started at 15%, it is aggressive. Annemarie Poole asked about retiring medical costs and prefunding them. Superintendent Harding attended the GASB meeting and stated that it is the Town’s decision to fund it or not. It was decided at that meeting that we would go with the “pay as you go” option. Chairman Schopmann said the costs rack up for many municipalities who have to pay into pensions for Police and Fire Department personnel. Our teachers fund their own benefits when they retire. It stands in our financial statements as an unfunded liability and the requirement is more in the reporting,
than the funding. Lisa Marco added that the 2014 regulations (where the State has bought into a public option) are still unknown. We should wait and see what will happen. Superintendent Harding said he is participating in the planning of a consortium with 36 Towns in Eastern CT; there is a meeting next week to draft the bylaws, but they do not know what the savings will be as of yet. It is hard to make a recommendation to bring to the board because there are a lot of unanswered questions. He is attending the meetings and is skeptical, but will not bring to the board unless it reflects savings.
First Selectman Mailhos said the Legislative discussions are not as active as last year. The state budget has also been set, whereas last year there were a lot of unknowns.
Superintendent Harding asked if the BOF will be giving direction as to what they are looking for in terms of budgeting requests. Chairman Schoppmann said it was discussed at the last meeting; he asked his members to send bullet points to add to the letter. He will then draft the letter next week. The discussion involved more about process than asking percentages. Boards should start at zero and then add the pieces. The requests will reflect not having a lot of money in the miscellaneous line items that cannot be explained and to defend the line items if they are questioned.
Barry Wallett asked if we have any revenue sources coming in to Town. Discussion was held on growing the tax base. Peter Latincsics said with the Planning and Zoning subdivision regulations that have just been passed, and the Plan of Conservation and Development, it is highly unlikely we will see any growth in the near future. Leo Mercado said there is a perception we are a very unfriendly town to businesses. There are too many hoops for the small business to jump through, so they go elsewhere. Selectman Blessington said to read the IWWC meeting minutes regarding the Love’s Travel Center and it will give you an idea as to what they are up against. First Selectman Mailhos defended the IWWC and said the board is tasked with making sure regulations are followed, but there are
many residents in opposition. All of those meetings and public hearings were filled with residents who live up there who do not want it. Lisa Marco added that those are the same people who come and vote. Mr. Wallett said that we should have some sort of target to entice businesses to want to come to Willington. Alan Ference said everyone is in favor of the business coming to town as long as it is not near them. We are ideal as we have three on and off ramps in our town. He has also heard that we are unfriendly to business and the process is cumbersome, but what it comes down to is nobody wants it near where they live. Superintendent Harding said the meetings tend to cater to those who go to the meetings to voice their opinions. Mr. Wallett reiterated that he doesn’t mean to sound like he is bashing the other commissions; we just need to focus on the potential.
Chairman Schoppmann asked the status of the Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD). One of his frustrations is that we as a Town do not do any long term planning. We go through the whole process, nickel and diming ourselves trying to hit a mil rate and all we have really done is solidify a year. We should spend the time to secure a three year plan and a vision of what all of the municipal buildings will be like in 5 years. We don’t know the downside of what we are doing, and that is what scares him the most. We don’t have a revenue source to plan for maintenance of the buildings, purchases of Public Works equipment and fire trucks. Superintendent Harding agreed with Chairman Schoppmann as it is hard to project without a revenue source. He was asked to put together a similar report
for the school’s technology, but there was no way he would have presented it to the Board, because the report showed the technology needed to be replaced every 4 years. The infrastructure we have now gets fixed and we rely on grants; we don’t address the needs, we address the mil rate. Peter Latincsics stated that the POCD was adopted years ago, but in a more prosperous time and the overwhelming sentiment of the Town was to remain rural. The plan is highly restrictive to residential as well as commercial. First Selectman Mailhos said the plan should be done every 10 years. Even though the POCD was adopted in 2006, the study began in 2000 and it was quite costly. Superintendent Harding said the budget process can get contentious; pitting one group against another. It is easy to develop infighting, which is not productive. We have been pretty good at not doing that. We should look to each other for
shared services and work together on things and think smart. Chairman Schoppmann feels we should look at the total impact of a 3 year plan based on flat revenues. We have a healthy general fund right now, but cannot take any risks with it. He has asked the budget writers to present a multiple year budget, but thinks they may have been intimidated and did not submit them. First Selectman Mailhos suggested forming a sub committee to work out the projections. Chairman Schoppmann said 85% of the budget is in this room, the rest of it should be easy. Barry Wallett suggested having Region 19 BOE come to a joint meeting in the future.
Peter Latincsics asked Superintendent Harding and First Selectman Mailhos how a “zero based budget” might change the BOE and BOS thinking and how we will get there. Superintendent Harding said they always use the zero based budgeting. Mr. Latincsics said the BOE budget looks the same every year. Superintendent Harding says it will look the same because although specific line items may change year to year, the categories remain fairly fixed. He stated that over 85% of the budget is fixed costs. Mark Jones stated that the BOE always make it known in their workshop minutes what the line item is for. Chairman Schoppmann also reiterated to the BOF to make sure to ask questions, if something is not clear.
First Selectman Mailhos discussed the snow budget. You never know what it is going to be like. She said we use a five year average based on amounts of materials and man hours used (contractors and employees). The number we are at for this year does not have last year’s numbers, and appear to be low. She added that she hopes that last year is an anomaly and is not the start of a trend. Chairman Schoppmann added that the BOS and Public Works used a strategy this year by cutting out a contractor on the snow route.
Mr. Latincsics asked what the incentive is for BOE or BOS for them to rethink of what they are doing. Superintendent Harding said that is what he is doing now. He outsources when he can; switched to energy efficiency savings his first year as Superintendent. That is his job; always finding ways to be innovative, save money and get still maintain the product. Chairman Schoppmann clarified zero base budgeting does not incentivize him to do that, what it does is have him justify what he is presenting to the board. He then added First Selectman Mailhos was re-elected because the voters believe that fiscal responsibility is important for her job. The only other way to do that is take more money away from them. We shouldn’t rely on just Dave or Christina to come up with a
plan; it is all of our responsibilities. First Selectman Mailhos said part of the budget process is going over every line item, and justifying all requests. We want to do the right thing with the money we have.
First Selectman Mailhos stated the first CIP Committee meeting will be next Monday, at 6:30 PM in the Common room. She is hopeful it will be an active year for them. She noted that Chairman Schoppmann has been appointed as an ex-officio member of the committee. It is really important to have a member from the Board of Finance on the committee, in addition to Mr. Latincsics. She gave a background on the plan; the Plan is a big spreadsheet with projects, funding sources and timeframes for each project (could be next year or many years out). A project will not make the list if there is no funding source designated. We need to put money into the reserve funds from the budget each year. Last year, it was at zero, and the decision was based on keeping jobs rather than fund projects. Chairman
Shoppmann clarified that a decision was made last year to fund a new truck and brush cutter over the CIP reserve fund, instead of putting into CIP reserve future fund.
First Selectman Mailhos noted that contract negotiations will start after the holidays. We will not know the staff cost until the negotiations are over. The current Municipal agreement will expire in July (the end of this fiscal year). It was a three year contract, agreed upon in 2008 with a 3.5% increase for each year. Last year, the BOS tried to come to an agreement with the Union regarding concessions, but they could not make a deal. This current year, all non union staff did not get an increase. A negotiation committee will be formed. One goal is to get a 0% increase for union employees; similar to what the Board of Education did. They will also look at premium share increases. Peter Latincsics asked about the Fire Department union negotiations. First Selectman Mailhos
said it has not been ratified yet, but it does not affect our budget.
Lastly, First Selectman Mailhos informed everyone that they will be getting an invite to the Town Employee / Board Member Holiday Open House, which will be on December 20th at Willington Pizza.
Meeting was adjourned at 8:45 PM
Respectfully submitted,
Robin Campbell
Administrative Assistant
Board of Selectmen
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