TOWN OF GRANBY
BOARD OF FINANCE
SPECIAL MEETING
MINUTES
MARCH 27, 2006
PRESENT: Michael Guarco, Chairman; Gordon Bischoff, Francis Brady, B. Scott Kuhnly, Frederick Moffa, OD; and Al Wilke
Also present: Board of Selectmen: First Selectman John E. Adams, Ronald F. Desrosiers, and Mark Neumann; Roger Hernsdorf, Town Treasurer; Barbarajean Scibelli, Administration Finance Officer; Board of Education: Chairman Cal Heminway, Marie Nicholls, Edward Ohannessian, John O'Connor, and Matthew Wutka, Gwen Van Dorp, Superintendent of Schools; and Harry Traver, Business Manager
Chairman Guarco confirmed a quorum and called the special meeting to order at 7:35 p.m. Chairman Guarco indicated the Board had received the town and school budgets and announced review of these documents for this evening.
First Selectman Adams presented the Board of Selectmen's budget. He began the presentation commenting that towns are struggling throughout the valley regarding budgets. He highlighted this budget just maintains the current level of services for the town. First Selectman Adams handed out an expenditure summary sheet showing comparisons from fiscal years 2005, 2006, and proposed 2007. The increase of the budget is 5.9%, which is a little above the Board of Finance guideline and can be attributed to the increase in energy costs as noted by the handout, “Utility Comparison by Budget”, accounting for 94.5% of the amount over the 5% guideline goal. There were additional fringe benefit costs, payroll, and some enhancements to part-time library wages. Two other significant increases were for the Inland
Wetlands and Watercourses Commission (IWWC) Consultant and the continuation of the new Public Works Maintainer. He then proceeded to highlight the budget under the following categories Administration, Personal and Property Protection, Libraries, Recreation, and Social Services, and Public Works and Environment.
Administration – 9.1%
IWWC Consultant - $15,000
Personal Property Audits - $5,000. This program would most likely pay for itself by finding personal property that had not been reported properly.
Personal and Property Protection – 2.8%
Temporary/Part-time/Overtime Dispatch has been increased $5,000 in an attempt to have a more realistic accountability of this account. Transfers have been requested to this account for the last several years.
Lost Acres Fire Department Contract - $5,288
Libraries, Recreation and Social Services – 4.1%
Temporary/Part-time/Overtime for Library staff has been increased $7,871 to upgrade payrolls to bring them more in line with average starting salaries in Granby and area towns.
Temporary/Part-time/Overtime for Senior Services has been increased $9,552 to add hours of work for the Administrative Assistant and Program Coordinator.
A reduction in the amount of $4,000 was made in Recreation Administration. This was a result of moving funding for the portable restrooms to Public Works.
Public Works and Environment – 5.7%
General Maintenance increased $13,000 to pick up ½ of a new maintainer started in FY ‘06. The maintainer cost was less because of reorganization in Public Works.
Other significant increases in cost were for gasoline, diesel, fuel oil, and electricity.
Solid Waste Collection showed CRRA reduced their cost by $1, however adding approximately 50 new homes causes collection services to increase.
Board of Education Chairman Cal Heminway presented their budget. He mentioned the enrollment and staffing relationship being consistent since 1996. He indicated that the Board of Education budget was a 6.9% increase. FY ’07 BOE operating budget would support level services, including an additional 49 students expected for next year. Some of the major factors impacting the BOE FY ‘07 budget are the rising costs for electricity, fuel oil, transportation, salary/health benefits, and the Kelly Lane School addition at a cost of approximately $1.4M. Steps have been taken to find ways to be more efficient against the rising costs of electricity and heating. Contracts have been entered into for electricity at 10.62 cents per kilowatt beginning in 2007 for five years and fuel oil will be $2.05 per
gallon for next year. Some goals achieved through the BOE FY ‘07 budget is to add .5 full time equivalent (FTE) intermediate technology teacher, .1 FTE fine arts teacher, .2 FTE high school classroom teacher, and .4 FTE high school special education teacher, and participation in the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) ten-year accreditation site visit tentatively scheduled for May 8, 2007. The cost leading up to and including the three day visitation from NEASC is estimated at $20,000. Under capital improvement, the Board of Education is requesting $460,000. This request would cover transportation, facilities, FFE, and technology. Chairman Heminway summarized the FY 07 budget as follows:
Operating budget $23,899,930
Capital Improvement $460,000
Quality And Diversity $171,550
Questions were answered by Chairman Heminway and Superintendent Gwen Van Dorp. Some were:
1. Quality and Diversity is a directed state grant. The fund helps Granby meet the legal requirement for Connecticut school districts to increase opportunities for their students to interact with students and teachers from diverse racial, ethnic, and economic backgrounds.
2. 18 students participate in the Magnet School.
3. Approximately 58 students are anticipated to participate in the Open Choice Program. Granby receives a state grant of $2,000 for each Project Choice student who attends Granby schools. If a student from this program needs special services, the state provides.
4. 48 out-of-town students (Hartland) are expected to enroll at Granby.
5. Technology equipment is typically used in the school for 5-7 years.
A FY '07 Rev. 3 Budget Worksheet was distributed to the Board of Finance members that showed the Grand List at 2.81% and the Mill Rate at 4.0%.
The consensus of Board of Finance observers for the budget workshops was that the budget was diligently thought out with planning work done well. The major driver for the increase in the budget was the rising energy costs, which the town should be sensitive to as residents are experiencing the same quandary.
Chairman Guarco thanked both boards for presenting their budgets and commented the budgets showed thorough, careful devised budgets. The budgets indicated service levels were sustained. However, the Board of Finance requested that the budgets presented be reduced by $40,000 from the Board of Education and $10,000 from the Board of Selectmen to allow the mill rate to be under 4% for FY ‘07. It was indicated that this reduction may come from Health Benefits, which was expected to decrease. A General Fund Surplus of $970,000 would be used and there would be $0 use of CNEF.
ON A MOTION by Gordon Bischoff, seconded by Al Wilke, to forward the budgets to public hearing scheduled April 10, 2006 for public comment, the Board voted unanimously (6-0-0) to approve the Board of Selectmen’s budget and Board of Education’s as presented with the following adjustment of a reduction to the budgets totaling $50,000 (BOS - $10,000 BOE - $40,000).
ADJOURNMENT
Chairman Guarco announced that a public hearing on the proposed budget is scheduled for April 10, 2006 at 7:00 p.m. in the High School Auditorium.
ON A MOTION by Chairman Guarco, seconded by Gordon Bischoff, the Board voted unanimously (6-0-0) to adjourn the meeting at 9:13 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Patricia I. Chieski
Recording Secretary
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