BOARD OF FINANCE
APRIL 4, 2006
SPECIAL MEETING
1. CALL TO ORDER
The Special Meeting of the Board of Finance was called to order at 8:35 P.M. in the Simsbury High School Auditorium. The following members were present: Chairman Paul Henault, Peter Askham, Nicholas Mason, Anita Mielert and Kevin North. Member Candace Fitzpatrick was absent.
2. APPROVE MINUTES
Mr. North made a motion to approve the minutes of the March 14, 2006 Regular Meeting and Mr. Askham seconded the motion. Ms. Mielert asked that a clarification be entered on page 2 of the minutes relative to the phrase “child find”. Mr. Askham noted that, based on information received at this evening’s Public Hearing, a statement made by Mr. Holden on page 3 of the minutes relative to an increase in student population is incorrect and Mr. Holden acknowledged the error. The motion to approve the minutes passed 4-0 (Ms. Mielert abstained).
Mr. North made a motion to approve the minutes of the March 14, 2006 Public Hearing and Mr. Askham seconded the motion. Mr. North commented that he felt the public’s comments could be summarized with less detail in the future; however, Ms. Mielert commented that she found the detail helpful as she had been unable to attend the Public Hearing. The motion to approve the minutes passed 4-0 (Ms. Mielert abstained).
Mr. North made a motion to approve the minutes of the March 14, 2006 Special Meeting and Mr. Askham seconded the motion. The motion to approve the minutes passed 4-0 (Ms. Mielert abstained).
3. APPROVE OPERATING BUDGETS 06/07
Mr. North made a motion to move the operating budgets that were presented at the Public Hearing on April 4, 2006 on to a Town Meeting and referendum with the additional provision that $300,000 be added to the BOS operating budget and $300,000 be added to the BOE operating budget to be set aside for the specific purpose of meeting the future OPEB liabilities imposed by GASB 43/45. Mr. Askham seconded the motion. Mr. Mason stated that he would prefer having separate motions for the BOS and BOE budgets; however, Mr. North left the motion as it stood. Ms. Mielert wanted to know how the $600,000 being set aside for OPEB would be handled absent guidance from the State legislature. Mr. Kane stated that, at the very least, it would be put in a special revenue fund using short-term investments. Mr.
North stated that setting aside these funds in a phase-in mode is preferable to setting up a trust fund now as “jumping” the 2009 effective date of the GASB 45 funding would necessitate recognizing the remaining unfunded liability on the financial statements.
Mr. Henault stated that the BOF is driving the budgeting for GASB 45 this year and, hopefully, the BOS and BOE will do so next year in their respective budgets. He also noted that this item will show as a separate line item for the budgets that get presented at the Town Meeting.
Mr. Mason asked why the grand list projections cannot be better forecasted in January and Mr. Kane responded that he purposely uses a conservative number in January to prevent any unfavorable surprises later on in the budget process. Further, this year there was a large item whose exempt status was under discussion and had to be decided by the Board of Tax Review.
The motion passed 4-0 (Mr. Mason abstained).
Mr. North made a motion that the Town Treasurer be authorized to establish a Special Revenue Fund for purposes of transferring the $300,000 BOE OPEB funds and the $300,000 BOS OPEB funds. Mr. Henault stated that he preferred to defer that item to a future meeting and not take it up at a Special Meeting that was set to approve the operating budgets.
4. AJOURNMENT
Mr. Askham made a motion to adjourn the meeting and Ms. Mielert seconded the motion. The motion passed 5-0 and the meeting adjourned at 8:57 PM.
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Paul Henault, Chairman Debra L. Sweeney, Clerk
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