Thursday, April 8, 2010

BOARD OF FINANCE
SPECIAL MEETING
APRIL 6, 2010
Page 1 of 3

Attendance: Chairman Janet Brunwin, Sally Huyser, Stephen Squinto, Chip Spear, John Grabowski, Robert Brinton Jr., First Selectwoman Derrylyn Gorski

Chairman Brunwin called the special meeting of the Board of Finance to order at 7:05 p.m. The meeting was held in the Conference Room of the Bethany Town Hall.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Chairman Brunwin called for a motion of approval for the minutes of the meeting of March 23, 2010. The motion was moved by Chip Spear and seconded by Sally Huyser. There were no changes made to the minutes. The vote was called. The vote was four (4) yes votes and two (2) abstention, those of John Grabowski and Stephen Squinto, as they had been absent from that meeting.

CORRESPONDENCE
AMITY REGIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
Chairman Brunwin acknowledged correspondence from Amity Regional High School regarding recent Finance Committee meeting, Public Hearing on Budget and Regular Board meeting, with regard to the budget as presented. Chairman Brunwin had forwarded this correspondence to the Board of Finance members prior to this meeting. The Town of Orange requested the elimination of five positions within the Regional District #5 schools, before they would accept the budget. There has been a $58,000 reduction to the Amity budget as it was first presented. This savings has been accomplished through recent refinancing of the bonds, a full time teacher moving to part time and a slight reduction in Special Education due to cost reimbursement.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
The Board of Education has agreed to reduce their budget by $75,000. They understood that the cost reimbursement for Special Education from the State would be 70% of cost. Amity understood that reimbursement would be at 80%. Following discussion it was the consensus of the Board of Finance to increase excess cost reimbursement for the Board of Education to 80% and to increase the funding of the Contingency Fund by $20,000 with acknowledgement if Special Education costs come in higher, then a transfer can be made from the Contingency Fund.

FIRST SELECTWOMAN GORSKI
First Selectwoman Gorski discussed with the Board of Finance members, handling of the salary increase for Town of Bethany employees under union negotiation. In talking with the Town of Orange First Selectman, he had indicated that a line item was put in their budget titled Reserve for Negotiations and Salary Based Benefits. The Board members agreed this would be a good way to manage the salary negotiations and still include it in the budget proposal.

The State Legislature has a new bill before it presently, to make some towns in Connecticut do curbside recycling by July 2011. At this time we do not know if Bethany will be one of those towns, should the bill pass. This would affect the 2011-12 fiscal year.



BUDGET 2010-11
Chairman Brunwin moved to approve for recommendation to the Budget Hearing the General Government budget at $1,009,075. Stephen Squinto seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous.

Chairman Brunwin moved to approve for recommendation to the Budget Hearing the Public Safety budget at $494.025. Stephen Squinto seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous.

Chairman Brunwin moved to approve for recommendation to the Budget Hearing the Public Works budget at $1,000,639. Stephen Squinto seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous.

Chairman Brunwin moved to approve for recommendation to the Budget Hearing the Health budget at $653,361. Stephen Squinto seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous.

Chairman Brunwin moved to approve for recommendation to the Budget Hearing the Human Services budget at $74,959. Sally Huyser seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous.

Chairman Brunwin moved to approve for recommendation to the Budget Hearing the Community Services budget at $490,068. Stephen Squinto seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous.

Chairman Brunwin moved to approve for recommendation to the Budget Hearing the budget for Fixed Charges at $838,434. Chip Spear seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous.

Chairman Brunwin moved to approve for recommendation to the Budget Hearing the budget for Debt Service at $ 842,880. Stephen Squinto seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous.

Chairman Brunwin moved to approve for recommendation to the Budget Hearing the budget for Amity Regional High School at $ 8,607,468. Stephen Squinto seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous.

Chairman Brunwin moved to approve for recommendation to the Budget Hearing the budget for Bethany Elementary School at $ 6,276,791. Stephen Squinto seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous.

With the recommendations for Revenues and Expenditures complete, and there are not changes at the Budget Hearing, the mill rate would be 27.475 or an overall increase of 1.8% from the 2009-10budget to the 2010-11 budget.

To balance this budget $100,000 will have to be taken from the General Fund.








ADJOURNMENT
Adjournment was called at 8:10 p.m. after a motion was moved by Chip Spear and seconded by Sally Huyser. The vote taken was unanimous.

Respectfully submitted,


June G. Riley
Clerk, Board of Finance