The Board of Finance members used most of their regular meeting last night to consider the tax increase for the upcoming fiscal year. Their final motion of the evening summed up the result of their deliberations:
- Increase revenue by $22,000
- Reduce the New Hartford Public Schools Board of Ed Capital expenditures to a total of $85,000
- Increase the tax collection rate to 97.5%
Total expenditures were set at $21,542,637.00, which results in a 0.92% tax increase for the 2011-12 Fiscal Year Town Budget.
The motion passed with Dan Charest, Alesia Kennerson and Laura Sundquist voting in favor of it; Reggie Smith and Roy Litchfield voted against it. Roy was seated for Jim Fitzgerald who was not at the meeting.
The above increase includes a 1.79% increase for the New Hartford Public Schools (elementary schools), and a 2% increase in the town’s assessment from Regional # 7 (Middle and High Schools). It also maintains intact the Town Administration’s Capital expenditures, including $90,000 to complete Brown’s Corner and $50,000 for a new roof at the Field House at Brodie Park and to fund a Rec study for potential new playing fields. The one Capital Expenditures item requested by the Rec Commission, $25,000 for the septic system at Berkshire Hall at Brodie Park, was cut by the BOF members during their Special Meeting on March 22.
Regular Agenda Items
Before the discussion of the budget for the upcoming year got under way, the BOF members went through their regular agenda items (see agenda of this meeting at the end of this report). The regular items were dealt with speedily; following is a quick report of several of those items.
I.Seating of Alternates: Roy Litchfield was seated for Jim Fitzgerald who was not at the meeting. Jim, however, had emailed his fellow BOF members a 4-point motion regarding (at least in part) the Regional # 7 budget and he had asked that they act on the motion in his absence. Ben Witte, Chairman of the BOF, said it was unclear whether under the Freedom of Information Act such emailing outside of a formal meeting was legal. He said he wouldn’t act on Jim’s motion unless one of the BOF members present wanted to take it on as their own; no-one did so and the meeting continued.
IV.Opportunity for Public to Speak: Ben made clear to the handful of members of the public at the meeting that this was their only opportunity to make comments. Two residents spoke briefly: Denton Butler who said that he had emailed the BOF members that morning regarding his views on the budget and that he had nothing further to add. The following day our reporter obtained a copy of Denton’s email which we will post following this report. The second person to address the BOF members was our reporter, speaking as a taxpayer, who reminded the Board of Finance members that they had been entrusted by the taxpayers to take care of their finances and that she hoped that they would keep the taxpayers’ needs uppermost in their minds when they finalized their budget later that evening.
V.Reports:
The following reports were made to the Board of Finance:
a. BOE/Superintendents Report – Phillip O’Reilly
b. Bookkeeper’s Report – Annie Witte
c. Treasurer’s Report – Gordon Ross
d. First Selectman’s Report – Dan Jerram
These reports will be dealt with in a separate article so they will not be lost in the budget discussion.
VII. Other Items to Come Before the Board:
At the very end of the meeting Reggie addressed the letter that our reporter, Maria Moore and her husband, Bob Moore handed to the BOF during the recent Budget Hearing in which they asked for a return to considering the budget during the Annual Budget Meeting as provided by state statute; see our April 6 article for a copy of the letter and the relevant state statute and town ordinance. he said that the letter should be referred to the Board of Selectmen who could best address it. Ben agreed and said that the letter had been forwarded to the Board of Selectmen. He added: “I think the process is fine. If there are legal issues, they won’t come for this Board.”
Discussion Leading To The Proposed 0.92% Tax Increase
Ben started the budget discussion by asking the Board members whether they felt there should be any changes to the budget following the feedback they had received from the Public Hearing. Alesia Kennerson, BOF member, was the only one to comment, saying: “I don’t think we need to make any changes.”
Reggie started the discussion of specific items by saying: “For the doors and windows (replacement at Antolini School) there’s an estimate of $500,000. I want to discuss that.”
Dr. Philip O’Reilly, Superintendent of New Hartford Public Schools, said that he had met with Alesia, Roy and Denton with regard to that project. Alesia said that she’d like to see that project bonded in the future with the roof. Ben said he’d asked Philip to touch base with Alesia and to have a Plan B in place. He said it wasn’t ready yet and felt more like a bonding project and he’d suggested getting Denton from the BOC (Building Oversight Committee for the wastewater treatment plant) involved “for another set of eyes.”
The BOF members went on to discuss the various capital projects that could be done at the schools, including refurbishing the library. Steve Tuxbury, Board of Ed member and a member of their Facilities Committee, expressed his displeasure that they had all agreed to take on the project and that they’d hired the engineering company and spent $20,000 and that they will lose some of that if they do the project later. Ben responded: “The numbers (for the project) are all over the place.” Dan Charest said that the Board was now more amenable to bonding (now that they were that much closer to the bond for the Bakerville renovations being paid off).
Reggie made a motion to remove the doors and windows project from the 2011-12 budget but that project had not been included since the plan had been to pay for it with funds from the reserve fund which they were looking to draw down; see the discussion at the BOF Special Meeting on March 22. Ben said they were not ready to do the windows and doors project.
Ben then asked the BOF members: “What are we going to go to the taxpayers with a tax increase?” He said they should decide what they want for the budget and then look at capital.
Ben then said that there had been an error in the formula that they had been using to calculate the tax rate, that the Motor Vehicle taxes had been double counted. By correcting the formula, then the 1.8% tax increase based on a 96.5% collection rate would actually be 1.8% based on a 97.15% collection rate.
They calculated that for a 0% increase they would need $300,000, in a combination of reduced expenditures or increase in income. If Regional were to come in at zero, they said they would still need $180,000 taken out of the rest of the budget. They cut the Board of Ed Capital expenditures to $85,000 (bearing in mind that they would be looking at bonding the doors and windows project, the roof at Bakerville, etc.); they increased the collection rate to 97.5%.
They were still not at zero and at one point Reggie said: “If the local schools and the town government have cuts, (I’d) love to hear it.” No cuts in capital expenditures were offered by the First Selectman, keeping intact the $140,000 he had allocated to Brown’s Corner and to the Field House/Rec Study.
With no other cuts available, Ben said: “I don’t think it will be at zero. If the voters don’t pass it, we’ll be back (at working the budget).”
They had discussed cutting the $40,000 for the next revaluation of property from the budget, but later decided to put it back in.
In the end, they decided on the following:
- Increase revenue by $22,000 (including the difference between the actual and the estimate revenue from Burlington from sharing the Assessor, etc.);
- Reduce the New Hartford Public Schools Board of Ed Capital expenditures to a total of $85,000;
- Increase the tax collection rate to 97.5%.
This resulted in total expenditures of $21,542,637.00, which resulted in a 0.92% tax increase for the 2011-12 Fiscal Year Town Budget.
Capital Reserve Fund Approved For New Hartford Schools’ Board Of Ed Use
With $30,000 excess capital from this year’s budget, the Board of Finance members agreed to allow the local schools’ Board of Ed to establish a Capital Reserve Fund for them to use for unexpected expenses. The town had also received a $30,000 reimbursement from the state for the boiler replacement project at Antolini and Philip asked if that money could also be added to the Capital Reserve Fund. The Board of Finance members did not agree to adding that, saying that it was for reimbursement of funds that had been expended.
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BOARD OF FINANCE
AGENDA – April 12,2011
I.Seating of Alternates
II.Adoption/Revision of Agenda
III.Approval of Minutes
a.4/5/11 budget hearing
b.3/22/11 special meeting
c.3/8/11 regular meeting
IV.Opportunity for Public to Speak
V.Reports:
a.BOE/Superintendents Report – Phillip O’Reilly
b.Bookkeeper’s Report – Annie Witte
c.Treasurer’s Report – Gordon Ross
d.First Selectman’s Report – Dan Jerram
VI.2011-12 Budget – finalize budget recommendations
VII.Other Items to Come Before the Board
VIII.Adjournment
