BOARD OF FINANCE
SPECIAL MEETING
FEBRUARY 21, 2017
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APPROVED
Attendance: Chairman
John Grabowski, Sharon Huxley, Robert Brinton Jr., Sally Huyser, Melissa Spear,
John Ford IV
Visitors: Colleen
Murray, Superintendent of Bethany Elementary School, Susan Carpenter, Olga Simoes,
Christopher Pittenger, Thomas Broesler, Robert McSherry, Tim Sharon, Robert
Davis and 14 parents of students at the Elementary School.
Chairman Grabowski called the meeting to order at 7:07
p.m. The meeting was held in the
Selectmen’s Conference Room in the Bethany Town Hall.
BOARD OF EDUCATION
BUDGET – ELEMERNTARY SCHOOL
Superintendent Colleen Murray and Christopher Pittenger gave a presentation on the Elementary School budget. They explained the special programs and how they were able to keep expenditures down without cutting too deep into quality of education. Most increases are due to contractual obligations. The total request for the 2017-18 fiscal year budget is $6,654,933 or $124,395 more than last year, for a 1.9% increase. This budget was approved by the Board of Education before the Governor’s budget had been published with a $1,500,000 decrease in educational grants to the Town of Bethany from the State of Connecticut. The Board of Finance is requesting that the Board of Education provide enrollment numbers and cost per student to them for the new budget.
Superintendent Colleen Murray and Christopher Pittenger gave a presentation on the Elementary School budget. They explained the special programs and how they were able to keep expenditures down without cutting too deep into quality of education. Most increases are due to contractual obligations. The total request for the 2017-18 fiscal year budget is $6,654,933 or $124,395 more than last year, for a 1.9% increase. This budget was approved by the Board of Education before the Governor’s budget had been published with a $1,500,000 decrease in educational grants to the Town of Bethany from the State of Connecticut. The Board of Finance is requesting that the Board of Education provide enrollment numbers and cost per student to them for the new budget.
Melissa Spear had just attended a presentation in Hartford regarding
the Governor’s budget where suggestions were made to reduce costs in school
districts, i.e using one superintendent for more than one town.
CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
Chairman Grabowski reported that the Amity Finance Committee
will hold a special meeting on Thursday to address the Governor’s budget cuts.
BETHANY VOLUNTEER
FIRE DEPARTMENT
Chief Robert McSherry presented the Fire Department
budget. The only increase over last year
is a $6,000 request for an administrative assistant to work in the office to
complete clerical work. No Capital
Expenditures were requested for next fiscal year. No plan was submitted for future years
however he did indicate that perhaps there would be a request for a new fire
truck in the 2018-19 budget.
APPROVAL OF
MINUTES
Chairman Grabowski called for approval of the minutes of the
meeting of February 14, 2017. A motion
of approval was made by Robert Brinton Jr and seconded by John Ford IV. Robert and Sharon opened discussion regarding
amending of the minutes. It was
determined that approval would be tabled until the next meeting. Robert agreed to get modification to the
secretary for amending the minutes for the next meeting.
BUDGET 2017-18
The Board discussed briefly where they thought budget cuts
could be made. The Board requested
updated budget draft from Tom Broesler for the next meeting. The Public Works and Library will present
their budget at the next meeting.
ADJOURNMENT
Adjournment was called at 8:50 p.m. after a motion was moved
by Sally Huyser and seconded by Robert Brinton Jr. The vote taken was unanimous.
Respectfully
submitted,
June
G. Riley, Secretary
