BOARD OF FINANCE

JANUARY 9, 2018

Page 1 of 5

 

Attendance:  Chairman John Grabowski, Sally Huyser, Katie Erickson, John Ford IV, Sharon Huxley

Visitors:  Fran Doba, First Selectwoman Derrylyn Gorski; Tom Broesler joined the meeting at 8:00 p.m.

Chairman Grabowski called the meeting 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 called for a motion of approval for the minutes of the meeting of December 12, 2017.  Motion of approval moved by Sharon Huxley and seconded by John Ford IV.

Katie Erickson questioned meeting regarding Quick Books.  No changes were made to the minutes.  The vote was called.  The vote was 4 yes votes and one abstention that of Sally Huyser as she was absent from the meeting.

AMITY FINANCE MEETING

Chairman Grabowski gave a report on his attendance at the Amity Finance Committee Meeting.  John reports that a new chairman has been chosen for the Amity Board of Education.  His name is Chris Browe.  There is an $840,827 surplus in the current year budget.  Bethany’s portion of the surplus for fiscal year 2016-17 is $370,081, which will be returned to the Town.  The present draft of the Amity budget for fiscal year 2017-18 has an increase of 1.87% overall.  Due to a drop in enrollment from Bethany our budget will be $137,178 less that last year if the present draft were to be accepted.  Amity will present their budget to Bethany Board of Finance on February 13, 2018.  A tentative schedule of meeting dates discussed were as follows:

Budget Hearing                                                April23, 2018

Annual Town Meeting                   May 21, 2018

 

Board of Finance Budget Meetings

February 13, 2018            Regular Meeting              Amity budget

February 20, 2018            Special Meeting                               Bethany Community School, Library

February 27, 2018            Special Meeting                               Park and Recreation, Fire Department and Public Works

March 6, 2018                    Special Meeting                               Work on budget

March 13, 2018                  Regular Meeting              Work on budget

 

Chairman Grabowski has requested that all Annual Reports be submitted to him by January 31, 2018 for fiscal year 2016-17. 

 

 

 

AGENDA FOR SPECIAL TOWN MEETING

There will be a Special Town Meeting held on January 18, 2018 for the following purpose:

Item A

 Shall the Town of Bethany accept the transfer of real property containing 1.36 acres located at 453 Amity Road, Bethany Connecticut known as the FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST CEMETERY from the owner,

First Church of Christ 511 Amity Road, Bethany, Connecticut and take over the ownership, administration and operation of the Cemetery?

Item B

 To consider the adoption of a resolution to amend the Code of the Town of Bethany Connecticut Chapter 184  Effective October 1, 2018, and applicable to assessment years commencing on or after October 1, 2018, and pursuant to Public Act 17-16, upon application to the Assessor, any parent whose child was killed in action or the surviving spouse of a person who was killed in action while performing active military duty with the armed forces, as defined in Subsection (a) of Section 27-103 of the Connecticut General Statutes, which parent or surviving spouse is a resident of the Town of Bethany, shall be entitled to an exemption from property tax in the amount of $10,000, provided that such parent's or surviving spouse's qualifying income does not exceed the maximum income amount as provided under Connecticut General Statutes § 12-81l plus $25,000. The exemption shall be applied to the assessed value of any such eligible parent's or surviving spouse's property. The yearly application period shall commence on April 15 with a deadline of September 30 each year.

TAX COLLECTIONS

Fran Doba gave a presentation on tax collections for fiscal year 2017-18.  At this time $3,200,000 has been collected vs. last year’s collections of $1,931,000 for current year collections.  The supplemental collection was $221,286 for the current year vs. $226,681 for the previous year. 

CLOSE OUT UNEXPENDED CAPITAL EXPENDITURE ITEMS

First Selectwoman Gorski presented the Board of Finance with a list of the Capital Expenditure items on a spread sheet showing items still open and those that are completed.  (List attached)  Following discussion a motion was moved by Sharon Huxley and seconded by Sally Huyser to close out twenty -one Capital Expenditures completed per the attached schedule and return the funds as unassigned to the Capital Reserve Fund.  The vote taken was unanimous.

 

 

ADJOURNMENT

Adjournment was called at 9:10 p.m. after a motion was moved by Sally Huyser and seconded by John Ford IV.  The vote taken was unanimous.

                                                                                                Respectfully submitted,

 

                                                                                                June G. Riley

                                                                                                Clerk, Board of Finance