TOWN OF GRANBY
BOARD OF FINANCE
SPECIAL MEETING
MINUTES
MARCH 30, 2009
PRESENT: Michael Guarco, Chairman; Gordon Bischoff, Francis Brady, B. Scott Kuhnly, Frederick Moffa, OD; and Al Wilke
Also present: Board of Selectmen: John E. Adams, First Selectman; Sally King, Vice-Chairman; Ronald F. Desrosiers, and Mark Neumann; William F. Smith, Jr., Town Manager; Roger Hernsdorf, Town Treasurer; Barbarajean Scibelli, Administration Finance Officer; Board of Education: Chairman Cal Heminway, John O'Connor, Ronald Walther, and Deborah Torgeson, Alan Addley, Superintendent of Schools; and Harry Traver, Business Manager
Chairman Guarco confirmed a quorum and called the special meeting to order at 7:05 p.m.
MINUTES
The Board reviewed the minutes for the meeting of February 10, 2009.
ON A MOTION by Mr. Bischoff, seconded by Mr. Brady, the Board voted (4-0-2) to approve the minutes of February 10, 2009 as presented. Mr. Kuhnly and Mr. Wilke abstained.
2009-2010 Budgets from the Board of Education and Board of Selectmen
Board of Education Chairman Cal Heminway presented their budget first. He spoke about the economic climate, the district’s vision and mission, and the Board of Education budget goals. The budget goals are 1) support the mission, vision, values, and performance goals of the district; 2) maintain a level of program and services, which meets the district’s needs; 3) promote new educational opportunities and support for student learning; 4) support district infrastructure and operational needs; and 5) implement cost-saving initiatives.
On one of the slides, the budget summary was presented as follows:
Current operating budget |
$26,250,004 |
|
Proposed budget increases |
$709,950 |
|
Proposed operating budget |
$26,959,594 |
+2.7% |
(Excess Cost Grant Credit for Special Education |
($199,194) |
(0.8%) |
Operating budget with excess cost credit |
$26,760,400 |
1.9% |
Mr. Heminway indicated that federal statutes mandate special education services and the school has control how these services are delivered. This method allows for the best approach in managing the programs in mandated special education services. The utility accounts for electricity and heating oil show a savings in the amount of $176,794.
Revenues for the school on the state side, include Excess Cost Sharing $5,394,276 with a 14.34% federal stimulus feed; School transportation $131,754; Adult education $2,500; and Sped-Excess Cost Grant $362,058. The local revenues are Tuition-other Towns Regular Education $627,298; Tuition-other Towns Special Education $63,500; Rental fees $80,000; Pay-for-Play $32,500. The refocus, reorganization, and redeployment of administrative and certified teaching positions resulting in a net 0.5 FTE (full-time employee) reduction in administrative staff and a net 1.7 FTE reduction in teachers. Doing this reconfiguration created two positions, Director of Secondary Education and Director of Elementary Education. Positions not being filled are Administrative, Teaching, and Non-certified.
Administrative: Director of Curriculum, Supervisor of Special Services, and half-time middle school assistant principal
Teaching: A secondary level reading consultant, second grade classroom teacher, fifth grade teacher, and one section of kindergarten
Non-Certified: Two part-time secretarial and seven full-time teaching assistant positions have also been eliminated.
Mr. Heminway indicated these position eliminations were made to have the least impact on school curriculum.
Mr. Wilke attended the budget workshops of the Board of Education and commented these meetings held good discussions and he supports the education budget.
Responding to a question, Mr. Heminway indicated that the project choice program provides a little more money than the average $2,500 per student because Granby has a large number of children attending our school (approximately $3,000 per student).
Mr. Guarco questioned whether the school’s retirement account could be managed differently this year and next year. Mr. Traver remarked that the account was set up consequentially for multi years so that it would be manageable.
Bus transportation was discussed and reviewed. The school indicated the bus schedule is a 2 tier bussing system, the first being high school and middle school students driven to school and second tier is the elementary students. The two-tier system takes into account the amount of time on the bus, travel time to scheduled stops, and safety as the primary concern for the busses.
It was commented that the newly created positions Director of Secondary Education and Director of Elementary Education have resource teachers reporting to them.
Mr. Bischoff inquired if contract negotiations are being held. Mr. Heminway indicated discussions are being held and that salaries are in the budget per contract and they will be looking into the future for further contract negotiations.
Mr. Heminway reconfirmed from the school budget that the total number of students benefiting from the magnet schools is 30 and the cost is approximately $200,000. He also commented on a question that the Quality & Diversity fund is being used for tuition support in this budget and the magnet schools do enrich students who attend.
First Selectman Adams presented the Board of Selectmen's budget. He commented that the budget is regulated under state statute and it would be hard to cut staff and maintain services, such as tax collection, assessor, etc. because our services are, for the most part, one-person operations.
First Selectman Adams stated that the Selectmen’s budget is a 1.88% increase in operating services which is under the 2% guideline recommended by the Board of Finance. The budget is primarily made up of operations, capital equipment/improvement, and debt. The debt service is up this year and should fall off starting in next year’s budget. He commented the salary under payroll includes steps only and are included in the budget. There is an amount in reserve for future contract negotiations.
Some other highlights mentioned are:
Administration shows a 6.8% difference from last year; Personal & Property Protection shows a 0.8% difference from last year; Libraries, Recreation & Social Services shows a 1.6% difference from last year; and Public Works & Environment shows a 2.1% decrease from last year, resulting in a 1.88% increase in the operational budget.
The Lost Acres Fire Department contract was re-negotiated this year assisting the budget.
Public Works Department has an increase in spending for the purchase of salt for next year.
The introduction of a new solid waste and recycling program entails a single stream recycling to be picked up every two weeks (all recycled materials can now be recycled in one bin, no separation is necessary). The solid waste barrel will continue to be picked up every week. The solid waste bin barrel is 65-gallons and the recycling barrel is 95-gallons. Other details about this program will be disseminated during the next few months. This program is part of an effort to reduce costs while increasing recycling participation as the state’s landfills begin to close and waste stream expenditures are and will continue to increase.
See below chart for proposed budget.
Proposed FY 2010 Budget |
Dollars |
Operations |
$8,841,920 |
Capital Equipment/Improvement |
$765,000 |
Debt |
$4,312,936 |
TOTAL |
$13,929,856 |
Responding to a question on purchasing a large barrel for solid waste, First Selectman Adams indicated the savings realized would be less than half of the $50,000 savings currently proposed and would deflect the promoting of recycling. Town Manager Smith indicated the average barrel collection holds approximately 39.5 lbs or about one-half the barrel space, which is the average amount from residential curbside collection.
First Selectman Adams mentioned the town has applied for some stimulus shovel ready projects, but are unsure whether or not the town will receive funding, since there are many other towns competing.
Chairman Guarco distributed a budget worksheet for Fiscal Year 2010. The budget worksheet showed the Board of Selectmen operating expenditures at 1.88%, Board of Education operating expenditures at 2.64% before and 1.9% after the excess cost grant credit, resulting in a 1.99% increase in total expenditure budgets for the town and school. Chairman Guarco indicated the Board of Education general budget is reduced by $15,000. Also reduced is the expenditure feed to the Capital Equipment/Improvement fund from $800,000 to $765,000. He then asked the other Board of Finance members to comment. The Board members expressed appreciation for the hard work by the town and school in the budget process and in meeting the guideline. Chairman Guarco commented the debt service increase keeps the
budget very tight and integrating this expenditure into the budget in a phase-in manner is important.
ON A MOTION by Al Wilke, seconded by B. Scott Kuhnly, the board voted unanimously (6-0-0) to forward for public comment, the budgets of the Board of Education and Board of Selectmen as presented in the attached worksheet, with changes as noted 1) Board of Education reduce its general budget by $15,000, 2) a reduction of $35,000 in the expenditure feed to the Capital Equipment/Improvement Fund, 3) an increase in use of General Fund Surplus of $74,000 for a total use of $2,161,000.
The Capital Equipment/Improvement program and the other funds presented by the Board of Selectmen are also part of the public hearing presentation.
ADJOURNMENT
Chairman Guarco announced that a public hearing on the proposed budget is scheduled for April 13, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. in the High School Auditorium. A Special Meeting of the Board of Finance will be held on April 13, 2009 at 8:00 p.m. or immediately following the public hearing on the 2009-10 proposed town budget.
Chairman Guarco announced the following for the cable TV audience.
- April 13, 2009 at 7 p.m. is the public hearing for the annual budget. This hearing will be held at the High School Auditorium.
- April 27, 2009 at 7 p.m. is the Town Meeting for the annual budget. This meeting will be held at the High School Auditorium.
- Mr. Guarco would be available for Finance Q & A for two days -- April 9th from 12 noon to 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. and April 13th from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.
ON A MOTION by Mr. Kuhnly, seconded by Dr. Moffa, the Board voted unanimously (6-0-0) to adjourn the meeting at 9:10 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Patricia I. Chieski
Recording Secretary
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