THESE MINUTES ARE FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. FOR OFFICIAL MINUTES, PLEASE CONTACT THE TOWN CLERK'S OFFICE.
BOARD OF FINANCE
DECEMBER 16, 2003
SPECIAL MEETING
1. CALL TO ORDER
The Special Meeting of the Board of Finance was called to order at 5:09 P.M. in the Board of Education Conference Room at the Simsbury Town Hall. The following members were present: Chairman Paul Henault, Peter Askham, Nicholas Mason and Kevin North. Also present were Finance Director Kevin Kane, CPA Vanessa Rossitto (Director of Governmental Services; Blum, Shapiro & Co., P.C.) and other interested parties.
2. AUDIT REPORT 2002/03
Mr. Henault stated that the purpose of this meeting was to have a discussion with the auditor regarding the Financial Audit Report for year ending June 30, 2003. He referred to the draft of the report which had been handed out to each member that evening. Mr. Henault turned the meeting over to Ms. Rossitto.
Ms. Rossitto emphasized that the report is only a draft at this point. She stated that there were some page numbers missing and a couple of footing problems which would be corrected for the final product. She stated that she does not anticipate any big number changes; it's probably just cosmetic changes that are going to occur.
She directed the members to the Auditor's Opinion on pages 1 and 2. She stated that it is a clean opinion, and that there is nothing materially wrong with the numbers on the financial statement. She reiterated that it is a "clean letter" and added that "this is what you want to have".
Ms. Rossitto stated that the Town's General Fund balance is very healthy. The undesignated, unreserved fund balance is about 8.7% of revenues which is very good. In answer to Mr. North's query, she stated that the auditors see anywhere from 3% to 7% in other towns. She noted that they feel around 5% is good and added that the rating agencies like to see a higher fund balance.
Ms. Rossitto stated that the Town had an excess of revenues over expenditures of $2.5 million before transfers and $1.4 million after transfers.
She referred to the Statement of Net Assets on page 19 and stated that she feels Simsbury is in a very good position. Part of that is due to the fact that Simsbury implemented capitalizing infrastructure this year which added to the asset part of the balance sheet. She complimented Mr. Kane for doing an outstanding job looking at all the fixed assets of the Town and actually putting infrastructure on the Statement of Net Assets.
Ms. Rossitto referred to the MD&A (Management's Discussion and Analysis) on pages 3 - 18. She stated that the MD&A contains the financial highlights and some analysis from the year. She commended Mr. Kane for including previous years' information in his input. She added that a lot of their clients are not doing that, but it is definitely more meaningful to look at a comparison from last year to this year.
Ms. Rossitto reviewed several other portions of the Annual Financial Report and engaged in discussion with the BOF members.
Mr. Henault stated that the auditors have to file a certified copy of the Annual Financial Report with the Town and with OPM by the end of the year. He asked the Board members to review the draft report, and Mr. Mason agreed that it would be good to have a little time to go over it since there are so many new items this year. It was decided that Mr. Henault and Mr. Askham would form a sub-committee for reviewing the report. Mr. North asked that if anything substantive is revealed or discovered it would be shared with the other BOF members. Mr. Henault said that after the review, the BOF would issue the go-ahead to release the certified copy.
Ms. Rossitto stated that Mr. Kane did a majority of the work included in the Annual Financial Report and should be commended.
3. ADJOURNMENT
Mr. North moved to adjourn the meeting at 5:48 P.M. The motion was seconded by Mr. Mason and carried unanimously.
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Paul Henault, Chairman Roxanne Farrell, Clerk
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