BOARD OF FINANCE
DECEMBER 11, 2012
Page 1 of 2
Attendance: Chairman Janet Brunwin, Chip Spear, Robert Brinton Jr., Sally Huyser, Aileen Magda
First Selectwoman Derrylyn Gorski
Absent: John Grabowski
Chairman Brunwin called the meeting of the Board of Finance to order at 7:07 p.m. The meeting was held in the Conference Room of the Bethany Town Hall.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Approval of the minutes of the meeting of November 13, 2012 was tabled because the clerk had not sent them out prior to the meeting for members to read in advance of the meeting.
AMITY FINANCE MEETING
Chairman Brunwin gave a report to the Board of Finance on details of the Amity Finance Meeting she recently attended. The Amity audit is just about complete. The gas service conversion to Amity High School went well. It appears at this time that there will be a $90,000 surplus in fiscal year 2012-13. Work is in progress on the budget for fiscal year 2013-14. The budget increase at this time is 4.7%, however more cuts are still being made. The medical insurance account has to be carefully monitored since Amity’s health insurance is self funded. Next year Bethany’s student allocation will be under 20% due to decreasing enrollment for the town. Dr. Brady has announced his official retirement at the end of the school year.
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Chairman Brunwin alerted the Board members of a parent forum to be held tomorrow night at the Community School to discuss an addition to the school as well as the closing of the annexes. Dropping enrollment is one of the concerns of the Board of Finance.
BUDGET PLANNING SCHEDULE
Chairman Brunwin and the Board members reviewed the budget planning calendar. A few modifications were made to this schedule. The Board will have to take a conservative approach in planning this year’s budget due to the State of Connecticut’s deficit. The situation will have to be carefully monitored since the receiving of State grants makes a significant difference in our budget.
REVIEW OF TOWN OF BETHANY FINANCIAL POLICY MANUAL
The Board of Finance members reviewed the Financial Policy Manual. Chip Spear suggested some verbiage change regarding bidding and legal advertising that would coordinate with 12-1 of the Bethany Town ordinance 12-1. Board members agreed with this suggested change. The Financial Policy Manual was then accepted as revised December 11, 2012. (Copy of the revised attached policy attached)
AUDIT
Chairman Brunwin has not received an update on the Town Audit from the auditors. They will be at the January2013 Board of Finance meeting to present the final audit.
BUDGET REVIEW FISCAL YEAR 2012-13
Chairman Brunwin reports that the Tax Collector has received $81,536 in back taxes from a foreclosure. Tax collections have been good overall.
It appears that there is a large shortfall in the revenues for Park and Recreation at this time. Low enrollment in the Summer Camp was one of the causes noted. Lack of program participation in the after school programs is another cause. Board members questioned where in the budget are the revenues from the wrestling events. First Selectwoman Gorski will look into how this event is being handled and where the ticket sales for these events are being credited.
FIRST SELECTWOMAN GORSKI
First Selectwoman Gorski gave a brief report on the Amity Regional Study for Regionalization of Schools. Following a brief discussion and suggestion period by Board members Aileen Magda moved a motion to have First Selectwoman Gorski ask Amity to expand the preliminary study to include Pre-K – 6th grade in the analysis. Sally Huyser seconded the motion. The vote taken was unanimous.
The computer software for the financial system which the Town uses is no longer compatible with Windows environment. IMG has suggested moving to the cloud. If we move this would be the long term solution for problems that continue to occur. A meeting was held with Chip Spear, First Selectwoman Gorski, June Riley and Joyce Howard to discuss this change with IMG and IT Direct. Following the meeting it was determined this would be a solution to all the recent problems. Chip Spear moved to take $3,500 from the Contingency Fund to pay for this mid -year upgrade to the Cloud Based System. Chairman Brunwin seconded the motion. The vote taken was unanimous.
The Airport Hangar project has received a $500,000 grant from the State of Connecticut.
LONG TERM PLANNING COMMITTEE
The Long Term Planning Committee is completing their work and will be ready in a few months to present their findings to the Town at either the Budget Hearing or the Town Meeting.
ROAD STUDY
The Board of Finance would like to have a presentation of the Road Study made to them at the February meeting of the Board of Finance.
ADJOURNMENT
Adjournment was called at 8:15 after a motion was moved by Chip Spear and seconded by Aileen Magda. The vote taken was unanimous.
Respectfully submitted,
June G. Riley
Clerk, Board of Finance
