These minutes are for informational purposes only. For official minutes, please contact the Town Clerk’s Office.
BOARD OF FINANCE
MAY 20, 2003
REGULAR MEETING
CALL TO ORDER
The Regular Meeting of the Board of Finance was called to order at 8:30 P.M. in the Henry James Junior High School cafeteria. The following members were present: Chairman Paul Henault, Peter Askham, Candace Fitzpatrick, Nicholas Mason, Kevin North and Michael Wade. Also present were Finance Director/Treasurer Kevin Kane, Board of Education Business Manager David Holden and other interested parties
APPROVE MINUTES
April 1, 2003 Public Hearing
April 1, 2003 Special Meeting
Ms. Fitzpatrick moved to approve the minutes from the April 1, 2003 Public Hearing and the April 1, 2003 Special Meeting. The motion was seconded by Mr. North. A vote was taken, and the minutes, as amended, were approved unanimously with Mr. Wade abstaining.
April 10, 2003 Regular Meeting
Ms. Fitzpatrick moved to approve the minutes from the April 10, 2003 Regular Meeting. The motion was seconded by Mr. Askham. A vote was taken, and the minutes, as amended, were approved unanimously.
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Mr. Kane stated that the Fixed Assets infrastructure is pretty much done. He added that Financial Statements are being worked on now. He also added that he is not comfortable with the inventory of smaller items. He stated that the BOE has hired an industrial appraiser and that he would like to do the same thing, but he doesn't have enough in his budget. Mr. Kane stated that come July, if Mr. Vincent's budget has a surplus, he would like to ask the BOF for a transfer. If the budget does not have a surplus, he would then ask the BOF to provide enough money from Reserves to hire an appraiser. Mr. Kane stated that the cost would be under $10,000 for the initial study.
Mr. North stated that he thinks the Selectman's budget ought to incorporate the cost of this study. He added that he feels any operating surplus this year should be directed toward this as the highest priority.
Mr. Holden noted that Simsbury's BOE is part of a ten-town consortium of communities in the area who pay an annual membership fee. A portion of the inventory appraisal is being paid for out of what would have been paid for membership fees.
FINANCIAL REPORTS
Board of Education
Mr. Holden handed out and reviewed his ten-month budget analysis highlighting eleven expenditure accounts and projecting a surplus of $1,963. The largest deficit is for out-of-district tuition expense. This deficit is being offset by an excess cost grant in the current year.
Board of Selectmen
Mr. Kane went over his ten-month performance report which BOF members had received in their packets. He stated that he is projecting that the surplus will be minimal. He added that he feels there is a good possibility that Meadowood legal fees will be covered internally. There was considerable discussion concerning the projected deficit of the Simsbury Farms Special Revenue Fund. Mr. Henault expressed great concern over the continuing self-insurance fund deficit. He asked when the next opportunity would be to eliminate this as a fund. Mr. Wade noted that they would have to switch to a fully insured plan. Mr. Henault stated that self-insurance is not working. Mr. Holden noted that they would have to wait for contract negotiations. Mr. North compared this issue to the
issue of funding the pension plan. He stated that he feels the cost needs to be accurately reflected in the operating budget. Ms. Fitzpatrick expressed her agreement.
DISCUSS RESULTS OF REFERENDUM; POSSIBLE ACTION
Mr. Henault stated that the referendum passed. The Operating Budget question had 999 yes votes and 705 no votes. The second question which was for the Police Station Renovation Project had 1,031 yes votes and 640 no votes.
Mr. Henault stated that voter turn-out was just over 10% which was incredibly low and disappointing.
MILL RATE CONSIDERATION
Mr. Kane handed out his projected mill rate worksheet (Addendum I), and it was discussed by the Board. Mr. Henault noted that a mill rate of 32.6 contemplates no use of surplus.
Mr. North moved to set the mill rate at 32.6 mills for the operating year 2003/04. The motion was seconded by Ms. Fitzpatrick.
Mr. North stated that the Fire District mill rate has already been set and that it is a decrease from 1.3 mills to 1.09 mills.
A vote was taken, and the motion carried unanimously.
OTHER BUSINESS
High School Project
The Board discussed Mr. Kane's memo pertaining to the proposed High School Bond Issue and an updated financing timetable.
Mr. Henault asked Mr. Holden where they were on bids. Mr. Holden answered that the bids are due at 1:00 on June 3rd in his office, and they will be opened at 3:00 in the high school auditorium. He added that on May 14th they had a mandatory pre-bid walk-through at the high school, and there were over 80 contractors' representatives present.
Mr. Askham asked when they will be going for the bond rating. Mr. Henault answered that the presentation will be June 19th, and the rating will be somewhere before the sale date which is July 8th. Mr. Kane noted that these dates could be pushed off a week or two.
Mr. Askham asked when they will start digging. Mr. Holden stated that they were planning on the asbestos abatement work to begin after school gets out and be completed by the end of the third week in July.
Eno Air Conditioning Project
Mr. North reported that the night before, the Public Building Committee interviewed two consultants to potentially do the design portion of the Eno Project. They interviewed the consultant who had performed the prior building assessment study and an additional consultant. Both appeared to be well qualified, and they directed the chairman to seek actual fee proposals from each of the consultants. They are expected to make a decision at their June 9th meeting. He added that he does not think it is realistic to expect to see cooling for Eno in this season, but he thought is was realistic to expect that there will be a design completed and a contract awarded early in the fall.
Low Voter Turn-out
Mr. North stated that if all they can expect is a 10% turn-out on these important budget matters, then he would think that the next time Charter Revision comes up they ought to consider returning to a Town Meeting. He noted that the whole process is very time consuming and very expensive and that the taxpayers would be better served to go back to the old Town Meeting form of government and avoid the cost.
Summer Workshops
Mr. Askham revisited an item from a previous meeting: He asked if, due to current budget pressures including insurance & pension costs, they were still going to have workshops with the three Boards over the summer to start strategizing on how to handle it.. Mr. Henault assured him that he would set them up.
ADJOURNMENT
Mr. Wade moved to adjourn the meeting at 9:20 P.M. The motion was seconded by Mr. Askham and carried unanimously.
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Paul W. Henault, Chairman Roxanne Farrell, Clerk
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