TOWN OF SOMERS
BOARD OF FINANCE
SPECIAL MEETING
MONDAY, MARCH 12, 2007
The
special meeting was called to order by Chairman James Persano at 7:02 p.m. Present were James Persano, Michael Parker,
Marilyn Provonost and George Warner.
Also attending: Treasurer Edward
Sullivan, First Selectman David Pinney, Selectman Kathy Devlin, Interim Board
of Education (BOE) Superintendent James Chittum, BOE Director of Business
Services Bill Boutwell and Representative Penny Bacchiochi.
·
Board of
Education
Mr.
Chittum provided a summary of the BOE’s proposed budget and showed a PowerPoint
presentation. The BOE’s four goals in
drafting this budget were:
1. To improve the organizational system
2. To implement a system linking curriculum standards
to assessment and instruction
3. To recreate the learning environment
using new technologies
4. To improve communication between all
parts of the school community
The
focus of the budget is to maintain existing programs, to provide resources to
support students and to maintain the buildings. The total for the proposed budget is $17,981,485, a 6.16%
increase. Mr. Chittum stated that this
figure represents the cost of maintaining exactly what is currently being done
within the Town’s school system.
Built into this budget are $219,500 in
program improvements in the following four areas:
1.
Staffing to support students at a total increase of $102,000 as itemized below.
a.
$45,000 for
an additional Guidance Counselor at the High School. The two current counselors are responsible for 275 students each
and cannot provide the needed time for each student.
b.
$23,000 for
a part-time (.5) Special Education Teacher at the High School.
c.
$18,000 for
a Special Education paraprofessional in the Elementary School.
d.
$10,000 for
Special Education Consulting.
e.
$6,000 for
extra support for Hearing Impaired students.
2. More support for programs at a total
increase of $58,500.
a. $22,000 for a full time office secretary
b. $6,000 for expanding the Guidance
secretaries hours into the summer monthes.
c. Expanding Technology Support to the whole
year.
d.
Departmental
supplies, areas of technology, maintenance supplies and athletic supplies.
3.
Textbook
Replacement – total increase $30,000.
Board of Finance
03/12/07
Page 2 of 5
4. Building Maintenance – total increase
$29,000 as itemized.
a.
$15,000 for
a ½ time Custodian for the Middle School due to the school’s expanded square
footage.
b.
$10,000 for
maintenance materials and supplies for the Elementary and High Schools.
c.
$4,000 for
a new stove for the food service.
A
handout of the BOE’s proposed budget was provided. In the “6.16% Analysis” section were tables breaking down the
overall increase in this budget. Mr.
Chittum discussed this section.
He
explained that although enrollment projections anticipate that there will be 18
fewer students next year, the reduction in students will be spread out, thus
precluding the possibility of a staff reduction.
The
Salaries portion, which is 68% of their budget, will increase by 4.96% based on
existing staff and existing contracts.
This figure allows for current vacant positions to be filled.
Of
the total budget, $17,101,464 is for fixed costs, and $880,021 is
discretionary, i.e. textbooks, general supplies and staff improvements.
Mike
Parker asked when transfers for the 06-07 year would be submitted to the BOF so
the flow of money from budgeted to non-budgeted items could be seen. Terry Henderson said they could provide him
with general information on this.
George
Warner asked if the bus contract was put out for bid. Bill Boutwell answered that it can go to bid every five years. At
the last opportunity for this, the contract was not bid, but was renegotiated
with Laidlaw.
Mr.
Warner further asked if the BOE is trying to effect a sharing arrangement with
other towns. Mr. Boutwell said that
some sharing is done, for example the adult ed is done through a cooperative
arrangement with Enfield.
·
Penny
Bacchiochi
Ms.
Bacchiochi discussed the budget proposed by the Governor.
For
Somers, this budget would add extra money going into ECS, but would lose in the
statutory grant formulas. In projection
analyses, it is estimated that for every tax dollar paid by Somers residents
$0.28 -$0.30 will be returned to the Town.
However, Ms. Bacchiochi pointed out that the Governor’s budget is a
proposal and the final budget, after negotiations, may not reflect the
Governor’s proposals.
Board of Finance
03/12/07
Page 3 of 5
Ms.
Bacciochi suggested that if the Town uses the same statutory grant formula as
last year we should be OK. She expects
that the Town can count on about ½ of the change in increase in the ECS
monies. This would amount to about
$750,000 increase for ECS.
She
expects that there will still be an income tax increase. These monies will go to Health Care like the
Husky Plan and increased reimbursement to Hospitals for Medicare/Medicaid.
Ms.
Bacciochi reiterated Mr. Warner’s question regarding the sharing of services
between towns, stating this is the “hot topic”. The Legislature is considering incentives to encourage this type
of Regionalism. Cluster zoning for low
income housing also will be encouraged with financial incentives.
David Pinney
offered that it may be possible to participate with the Capital Region on the
Emergency Notification portion of this project. The Selectmen are looking into this.
At
this time there is not enough additional information to develop a specific
proposal on the Emergency Shelter and Generator. This discussion was deferred to next week.
Mr. Pinney
stated that the Town’s Tax Collector suggested that if furnished with
additional software, the monies for the Sewer Project could be collected from
the tax office.
There was no
correspondence.
James Persano
asked Mr. Boutwell to discuss the School Building project contingency
status. This was in light of an
Emergency Preparedness proposal to use contingency monies and a School request
to transfer contingency money to the Mabel B. Avery (MBA) project for the gym
floor and bleachers.
Per Mr.
Boutwell, the gross contingency from the (MBA) and Central Office projects is
between $600,000 and $700,000. At this
time about $480,000 of this has been used.
When the High
School project closed there were about $75,000 left in that contingency
fund. There was about $50,000
contingency remaining when the Elementary School project closed.
Board of Finance
03/12/07
Page 4 of 5
There are
concerns that when the Town’s projects are completed and contractors are paid
the Town will need to cover the State’s retainage amount. The state retains a percentage of grant
money until after the State audit is completed. The audit process takes up to 1 ¼ years. By Mr. Sullivan’s calculations the retainage
amount that may need to be covered is about $424,000.
Mr. Sullivan
stressed the need to have the projects closed out because the State had six
months from the project closing to begin the audit.
A motion was
made by Tom Mazolli, seconded by Marilyn Provonost and unanimously voted to
approve the following transfers and appropriations:
From the
Assessor a transfer of $900.00 from Mapping Acct. (10-15-545.1) to Computer
Services Acct. (10-15-532.1).
From the Selectman
a reimbursement appropriation of $1,964.67 to Kibbe Fuller Maintenance Acct.
(10-10-531.2); a transfer of $3,500.00
from Health Insurance
Acct.
(10-10-511.1) to Kibbe Fuller Maintenance Acct. (10-10-531.2).
From the Fire
Department a reimbursement appropriation of $250.00 to Ambulance Uniforms Acct.
(41-24-565.1); a reimbursement
appropriation of $1,000.00 to Ambulance New Uniforms Acct. (41-24-530.5).
From the Tax
Collector a transfer of $1,000.00 from Q D Computer Acct. (10-13-543.1) to Postage
Acct. (10-13-533.1); a transfer of $650.00 from Q D Computer Acct.
(10-13-543.1) to Part-time Acct. (10-13-508.2); a transfer of $550.00 from
Supplies Acct. (10-13-520.1) to Part-time Acct. (10-13-508.2).
From the Fire
Department a reimbursement appropriation of $626.76 to New Equipment Acct.
(20-16-530.5).
From the
Selectman a reimbursement appropriation of $14,147.17 to Street Lights Acct.
(10-10-586.1).
From the
Selectman a transfer of $200.00 from Health Insurance
Acct.
(10-10-511.1) to Other Acct. (10-10-523.1).
From the Fire
Marshall a transfer of $200.00 from Training Acct. (20-10-568.1) to Equipment
& Supplies Acct. (20-10-520.1); a transfer of $300.00 from Training Acct.
(20-10-568.1) to Vehicle Maintenance Acct. (20-10-531.5).
Board of Finance
03/12/07
Page 5 of 5
From the Tax
Collector a transfer of $300.00 from Supplies Acct. (10-13-520.1) to
Advertising Acct. (10-13-516.1); a transfer of $110.00 from Supplies Acct.
(10-13-520.1) to Dues & Seminars Acct. (10-13-534.1).
From Capital Equipment
a transfer of $2,509.00 from Reserve Capital
Acct.
(68-10-990.1) to FD Hydraulic Tools Acct. (68-10-382.2).
From the Library
a reimbursement appropriation of $143.36 to Books
Acct.
(50-21-520.2).
The following transfer was not approved:
From School
Construction a transfer of $29,283.95 from BOF School Contingency Acct.
(10-52-311.0) to MBA Construction Acct. (10-52-301.0).
Jim Persano
moved to adjourn the meeting at 8:35 p.m. and it was unanimously approved.
Respectfully submitted,
Jeanne Reed, Recording Secretary
MINUTES ARE NOT OFFICIAL UNTIL APPROVAL
AT A SUBSEQUENT MEETING