 |
TOWN OF GRANBY
BOARD OF FINANCE
MINUTES OF PUBLIC HEARING
APRIL 11, 2011
PRESENT: Michael Guarco, Chairman; Gordon Bischoff, Francis Brady, Robert Clark, Frederick Moffa, OD; and Al Wilke
Also present: John E. Adams, First Selectman; William F. Smith, Jr., Town Manager; Ed Ohannessian, Board of Education; and Alan Addley, Superintendent of Schools
Board of Finance Chairman Guarco confirmed a quorum and called the public hearing to order at 7:00 p.m. He opened the hearing by stating that according to Town Charter this hearing is held on the second Monday in April to present the budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year. The annual town meeting will be held two weeks later on Monday, April 25, 2011. Chairman Guarco introduced members of his Board.
Chairman Guarco commented in reviewing the budget, the school and town held the line on overall spending and the property tax is kept fairly flat. He stated the order in which presentations would be made: town operations budget, school operations budget, and questions and answers or comments would follow.
Chairman Guarco gave a presentation. Highlights were:
- The proposed budget is a few thousand dollars less than this current year and the 2009-10 budget.
- Board of Finance intent is to integrate the debt service peak into the mill rate and consider near-term future years.
- While the budget has been generally flat for this year and last year, the mill rate increase was 1% to make up the long-range reduction for use of the General Fund.
- He thanked the Boards of Education and Selectmen, Town Manager, and Superintendent of Schools for working hard on the budgets with the Board of Finance.
Chairman Guarco concluded his presentation indicating the proposed mill rate change increase is 1.0% for a proposed mill rate of 30.10 for Fiscal Year 2012.
First Selectman Adams presented the Selectmen’s Budget. He thanked the Board of Selectmen, Town Manager Smith, the Administration Finance Officer, and Department Heads.
First Selectman Adams highlighted the Celebrate 225 Granby event and committee volunteers. He announced the big event will be on October 1, 2011 with a parade, day of activities at Salmon Brook Park, and fireworks.
Other budget highlights from slides were:
- From the Plan of Conservation and Development, the major fundamental components are agriculture, volunteers, and open space.
- Granby is known for its rural character - small farms, fruit orchards, and dairy.
- Budget process consists of several meetings and workshops, the development of plus one budget, presentations to the Board of Finance, Public Hearing, and Town Meeting.
- Board of Selectmen strive to meet goals and state mandates, which are:
- Mandate services such as tax collector, assessor, and town clerk departments
- Meet debt obligations
- Maintain town services and meet residents expectations for services and facilities
- Anticipate future needs
- Open space preservation distinguishes Granby from other towns. Granby benefits from open spaces that include McLean Game Refuge, state owned land including Enders State Forest, land owned and controlled by Granby Land Trust, and town owned lands, including Holcomb Farm.
- Granby has had an overall annualized tax increase of 3.21% for the previous ten years, placing us solidly in the bottom half of all towns in Connecticut. This year the ten-year drops to 2.98% and 1.88% for the past five years.
Granby from a variety of open spaces that include the McLean Refuge, State owned land including the Enders State Forest, land owned or controlled by the
He indicated the 2011-12 budget request is $40,486,132, of which $13,503,131 is the municipal service budget including a debt service decrease of $595,798. The municipal expenditures are General Government Departmental - $8,992,717, Capital Budget - $930,000, Economic Development Funds - $10,000, Capital Non-recurring Expenditure Levy - $130,000, and Debt Service - $3,440,414.
First Selectman Adams indicated that the town’s labor agreements are mostly in place. The Granby Municipal Employees Union (GMEA) has a 2.45% increase, the Municipal Employees Union Independent (MEUI) has a 2.5% increase awarded by arbitration, the Independent Brotherhood of Police Officers (IBPO) is currently in arbitration. Insurance contributions will be at 15% on July 1, 2011. Other budget highlight increases and savings are:
- Total operations net change - $230,797
- Salary Reserves of $19,000
- Fringe Benefit increase of $96,714 [Includes $52,743 increase in pension, $8,505 in FICA and Medicare, and $35,466 net increase in health plan with a stop loss provision to protect the plan]
- Probate – $860
- Library Sunday hours and books - $5,146
- Insurance – ($25,380)
- Basin Cleaning and Sweeping – ($5,000)
- Solid Waste and Recycling Collection – ($10,000)
First Selectman Adams explained the slide “How To Fund the Budget Request”. The budget is funded with a little more than 75% of the total amount coming from property taxes, an increase of $522,726 over last year. Intergovernmental revenues in the amount of $6,940,381 from the State of Connecticut decreased by $102,704 from last year. Local revenues from fees for services, permits, rents, interest from short term investments, and use of CNEF total $877,809, a decrease of $156,616 from last year. Lastly, fund transfers in the amount of $1,357,000 for use of General Fund Balance. This is a drop of $298,000 from last year.
He stated that projects still on hold are Salmon Brook Park improvements, road reconstruction/overlay projects, capital needs at Holcomb Farm, town and school storage and wash-bay facilities, and municipal and high school track/fields.
First Selectman Adams concluded his presentation by summarizing the following dot points.
- Long-range planning supports stability such as increase capital funding and maintains current service levels
- Debt Service requirements reduced by ($595,798)
- Attempts to maintain quality services to meet the basic needs of Granby’s Citizens
Board of Education member Edward Ohannessian gave the budget presentation. He thanked the Superintendent of Schools, the Business Manager, the Board of Finance and the community for their continued support of the school system.
He highlighted the budget goals as:
1. Support the mission, vision, values and goals of the district;
2. Be responsive to the economic climate and the guidelines set by the Board of Finance;
3. Maintain levels of personnel, programs, infrastructure, and services that meet the essential needs of the district; and,
4. Utilize redeployment of efficiencies and resources.
Mr. Ohannessian spoke about how the schools have obtained outstanding recognitions from Vanguard Schools for the high school, The Connecticut Association of Schools for the middle school, and the National Schools of Excellence for the intermediate Kelly Lane School.
The Budget Summary slide highlighted their budget as:
Operating Budget Request |
$26,983,001 |
Less Federal Education Jobs Fund Grant |
($315,407) |
Net Operating Budget Request (0%) |
$26,667,594 |
Educational Capital Improvement Fund |
$525,000 |
Quality and Diversity Fund |
$366,382 |
Board of Education Appropriation Request |
$27,558,976 |
Some other highlights from the slides were:
- Return on Educational Investment for Granby students (grades 3-10, reading, writing, and math) was 85% for FY 2009-10.
- Students completing 8th grade algebra in 2007 was 47% and in 2011 it is 82%.
- Efficiency investments were made for utilities and fuel oil (purchase of efficient fixtures), special education (a comprehensive study), and a grant is being applied for to add photovoltaic arrays to Wells and Kearns Schools. There was a reduction in oil usage (20%) and electricity usage (15%), however, prices continue to rise.
- Government spending growth over a 5 year period FY2012 vs. FY2007 was Federal 36.6%, Connecticut 14.2%, Town 14.3%, and BOE 11.8%.
- Major Changes FY2012 vs. FY2011 – percentage of total budget increase is 1.18% or $315,407 in the categories of salaries, benefits, special education (tuition and transportation), utilities, regular ed transportation, and other.
- Showed several school districts with zero increases in budget for the last two years that included Granby. Others were Mansfield, Preston, Bridgeport, Chaplin, Eastford, and Enfield.
- Special Education Outplacements for FY12 are increased costs of $152,947, Excess Cost Grant ($7,569), leaving a total net cost to the town of $145,378. Five percent of special education students are outplaced in Granby compared to 5.4%-8.9% from surrounding towns (FY09 state data).
- Assistance from our teachers in FY11/FY12 (Approx. $483K & $165K)
- Operating Line Items (FY09-FY12)
- Purchased services instructional (-$61K, -23%)
- Communications (-$36K, -29%),
- Conference & Travel (-$21K, -28%)
- Text and Workbooks (-$54K, -24%)
- Supplies (-$ 23K, -4%)
- Library Support (-$16K, -24%)
- Special Education Tuition & Transp. (+$342K, +44%)
- Transportation – Costs contained through efficient routing ($76,000 over two years)
- Program decisions for a zero budget are:
- No new programs in operating budget.
- Elementary World Languages:
- Not funded in FY12 budget
- GEF Global Learning Academy
- Town Intermediate Spanish Program
- Early Childhood Education – No changes to current program.
- High School Reform – Not funded.
- Link and Learn Program – Discontinued
- Personnel net changes resulted in -5.7FTE.
- Reduction of teaching assistants -1.7
- Reduction of teaching assistants -2.5
- Career Center Teaching Assistant (Perkins Grant) -0.6
- School Psychologist (ARRA Grant) -1.0
- Speech Pathologist (IDEA Grant) -0.2
- Special Education Consulting Teacher (Open Choice Grant) +0.3
- Quality and Diversity FY12 expenditures are $366,382. They are for:
- Magnet School Tuition and Transportation
- Extended Day Kindergarten Program
- Academic Support (summer school and school year)
- School/Student/Family Support
- International Education
- Enrichment
- Small Capital Plan – Transportation $215,922; Building Maintenance $68,903; Furniture and Equipment $11,045, Technology $229,130.
- Large Capital Priorities – athletic field facility and maintenance and facility storage.
PUBLIC INPUT FY 2011-12
There were several comments from residents supporting the budget indicating that the town seems to be using the middle of the road theory to sustain our service levels, volunteers is good, and the school system receives a great return on its educational investment. Others expressed dissenting comments regarding the number of school administrators, salaries and fringe benefits costs, binding arbitration, and no new borrowing for capital projects. The public overall expressed their appreciation for developing the budget.
ADJOURNMENT
After all public input was heard, Chairman Guarco adjourned the public hearing at 8:55 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Patricia I. Chieski
Recording Secretary
| |
