Town of Somers

Annual Town Meeting

Minutes

Monday, May 03, 2004

Somers Town Hall Auditorium

The Town of Somers Annual Town Meeting as called to order at approximately 7:02 p.m. by First Selectman, David A. Pinney. Mr. Pinney requested that all citizens in attendance stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Item #1 – elect a moderator

A motion was made, seconded and unanimously voted that David Pinney, First Selectman be elected as moderator.

Item #2 – budget discussion

David Pinney welcomed any citizen in attendance to comment on the proposed budget as submitted by the Board of Finance for the fiscal year 2004-05.

E.Jekot, Tax Collector – Distributed a letter stating his concerns regarding the loss of revenues because of cuts made to his proposed budget. He stated that 10% of his proposed budget was cut by the Board of Selectmen, amounting to approximately $3,000-$4,000. It costs approximately $80,000 to run his office with both full and part-time staff and by cutting the budget he would be forced to reduce the tax office hours of operation. The town would also be risking the potential loss of $400,000 in collections with the Board of Selectmen cuts. The Town of Somers Tax Office is currently ranked within the top seven (7) in the state for collection rates. In his opinion, the Board of Selectmen is showing poor financial management and that the Board should be enhancing this office rather than reducing. Mr. Jekot also noted the following: real estate bill would be sent directly to property owner to be forwarded to their escrow agents, refund requests will be delayed, delinquent tax notices will be reduced, and tax bill corrections will be delayed. He concluded that he does not support the proposed budget and encouraged citizens in attendance to do the same.

E.Allsup, Board of Selectman – Responded to Mr. Jekot stating that in actuality, his overall budget was reduced by 1% and that all departments were requested to make cuts. The Board of Selectman understands that these cuts may or may not create minor inconveniences, but his concerns should have been brought forward to the Board of Finance and the Public Hearing. The Tax Collector’s position is a full-time position, and therefore, the office would have sufficient staffing coverage to maintain the current hours of operation of all town offices. E.Allsup questioned what actions would be taken by the Tax Collector in the operation of the office. The tax office budget, even with cuts, would have sufficient monies to accommodate part-time staffing.

B.Buck – Questioned whether the Town is currently employing two (2) building inspectors. D.Pinney stated that there is one full time building inspector and one is temporarily contracted for assistance in reviewing the school building project plans.

M. Provencher – Stated that he is in full support of the proposed budget. He indicated that all departments, both town and school, have been impacted with budgetary constraints. By rejecting the proposed budget, departmental budgets will be reduced further.

M.Barry-Plotkin – Stated that the Public Hearing on the budget, although attended by few, was the place for Mr. Jekot to express his concerns about department cuts.

E.Jekot – Noted that he is the administrative head of the department, elected by the citizens and presented his budget to the Board of Finance. To his knowledge, the budget, as presented, was accepted and approved by the BOF. It was the Board of Selectman’s decision to reduce his proposed budget. He also stated strongly that he felt the cuts to his proposed budget were personal in nature and politically motivated.

Annual Town Meeting

May 03, 2004

Page 02

H.Broer – Questioned whether or not the tax collector was threatening the town by his statements? He further stated that Mr. Jekot is the tax collector and therefore, should do his job and collect the taxes

T.Geib – Commented that the statements being made this evening between the Tax Collector and the Board of Selectmen sounds like there was a breakdown in communications and an internal issue. A lot of time, energy and efforts were put forth in the development of this budget as directed by the Board of Finance. By rejecting the proposed budget would be counter productive, since the Board of Finance would further reduce budgets.

D.Pinney – Stated that Mr. Jekot can request additional appropriations through the Board of Finance.

Item #3 – set date and time of adjourned town meeting to machine or ballot vote

A motion was made by K.Devlin, seconded by M.Provencher and unanimously voted to adjourn the Annual Town Meeting to Tuesday, May 11, 2004 on which date the vote by voting machine will be held at the Town Hall, 600 Main Street, Somers, Connecticut between 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. for the electors and citizens qualified to vote in Town Meetings on the Annual Budget for Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 2005 reflecting aggregate revenues of $23,565,680.00 and aggregate expenditures of $23,565,680.00.

Respectfully submitted,

Ann Marie Logan, Town Clerk

Town of Somers