Monday, March 27, 2017


BOARD OF FINANCE
FEBRUARY 14, 2017

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APPROVED
Attendance:  Chairman John Grabowski, Sharon Huxley, John Ford IV, Robert Brinton Jr., Melissa Spear joined the meeting at 7:20 p.m., Sally Huyser joined the meeting at 7:55 p.m.
Visitors:  Charles Dumais, Amity Superintendent, Terry Loomis, Scott Cleary, Jamie Stirling, Fran Doba, Thomas Broesler
Chairman Grabowski called the meeting of the Board of Finance to order at 7:10 p.m.  The meeting was held in the Selectmen’s Conference Room of the Bethany Town Hall. 
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Chairman Grabowski call for a motion of approval for the minutes of the meeting of February 7, 2017.  The motion of approval was moved by Sharon Huxley and seconded by Robert Brinton Jr.  There were no changes to the minutes.  The minutes were accepted on a vote of four yes votes.  Melissa and Sally were not present for approval of minutes.
CHANGE IN ORDER ON AGENDA
Chairman Grabowski asked the Board of Finance if they minded moving the Amity Regional School budget presentation up on the agenda.  There were no objections.
AMITY REGIONAL SCHOOL BUDGET PRESENTATION
Charles Dumais, Superintendent of the Amity School District #5, gave a budget presentation.  Charles reported that Amity is one of the top ten schools in the nation.  He explained all the honors and accreditations the system has received in the fields of sports, theater as well as academics.  This budget presentation has an increase of 1.95% overall from last year.  Due to decreasing enrollment in Bethany the difference to Bethany over last year will be a decrease of .86% in Bethany’s allocation. 
When the presentation was complete, Board of Finance members asked questions.  Robert Brinton Jr. commented that the budget seemed hostile about returning a surplus to the towns, since it listed planned uses of any surplus, including capital reserve fund, OPEB fund, and health insurance reserve fund, but not returning surplus money to the towns.  Sharon Huxley commented we would like the money back rather than Amity spending it on projects.  The Towns always have projects that would be nice to do also.
The Board of Finance discussed briefly reducing Amity budget in proportion to where all would share the burden of the State reduction. 
WOODBRIDGE YOUTH BUDGET ALLOCATION FISCAL YEAR 2016-17
There was an error in the appropriation for Woodbridge Youth in the budget of 2016-17 of $489.  Woodbridge Youth is requesting that this amount be corrected as they will be short for some of the programs they are planning.   No action was requested at this time.
 
 
DR. PLUMMER FUND
Discussion about the Dr. Plummer Fund was tabled as a resolution is needed to complete the transaction of withdrawal to reimburse the General Fund.
 
ADJOURNMENT
Adjournment was called at 9:20 p.m. after a motion was moved by Sharon Huxley and seconded by John Ford IV.  The vote taken was unanimous.
 
                                                                                                                Respectfully submitted,
 
                                                                                                                June G. Riley
                                                                                                                Clerk, Board of Finance