Board of Finance Minutes

Members Present:                                        

• Jim Bulick, Chairman                           
• John Patton, Vice Chair                        
• Robert Wiecenski
• Barry Wallett
• Peter Tanaka
• Elizabeth Treiber

Members Absent:
Annemarie Poole - Alternate
Geoff Prusak – Alternate

Also Present: Donna Latincsics, Business Manager; Tish Ignatowicz, Treasurer; Alex Moore, Chief WFD #1; Tom Snyder, Chief WHFD; Mike Makuch, Lieutenant/Training Officer WHFD; Kelly Trueb, CIP Chairman and member of WHFD; Members of the WFD #1; Members of the WHFD; Members of the Public.

Chairman Jim Bulick called the meeting to order at 7:03 pm.

SEATING OF ALTERNATES – None needed.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Elizabeth Treiber motioned to approve the regular meeting minutes of January 19, 2017.  Barry Wallett seconded.  All were in favor, motion carried.  

PRESENT TO SPEAK – no one

NEW BUSINESS

Emergency Services Budget Presentation

All presenters submitted an annual report for the July 2015 – June 2016 year when requested this past summer Thank you!

0518 Emergency Preparedness

Steward Cobb (Captain WFD #1) presented the Emergency Preparedness budget request for $0.

0221 Ambulance Payroll

Alex Moore (Chief WFD #1) presented the Ambulance Payroll budget request for $501,987, an 8.1% increase over last year. Health Insurance costs and wage increases were the primary factors driving the increase (wages are rising 3% per contact, hours work are projected to be constant next year).

0232 Fire Marshall

Dick Palmer (Fire Marshall) sent his regrets for not being able to attend the meeting. He presented his request for $23,948, a 0% increase over last year. His budget did not include any labor increases as these are currently being negotiated by the Town.
 

0232 Willington Hill Fire Department

Mike Makuch (Lieutenant, WHFD) presented the Willington Hill Fire Department budget request for $113,455, a 0.22% request over last year. They recently purchased some new fire equipment and the resulting savings in maintenance offset increases in other areas of their budget. Mike explained that there was a significant increase in training cost as there had recently been a spike in new membership. Also, there will be an increase in administrative expenses as the WHFD plans to purchase new software to manage reporting and other regulatory requirements.

The Board of Finance asked the Emergency Services members present (Mike Makuch, Alex Moore, Stuart Cobb) to see if it would make sense (in terms of labor efficiency and cost savings) to use the same management software at both fire stations and with the Fire Marshall. All agreed they would review this request and report back to the BOF.

Fire Marshall was not present, but the others agreed to work with him on the software investigation.

0234 Emergency Management Director Stipend

Steward Cobb (Captain WFD #1) presented the Emergency Management Director stipend request for $6,000, a -3.2% decrease from last year.

OLD BUSINESS

Governor’s Budget Impact to Willington

Donna Latincsics gave an update to the board how other towns are handing the proposed TRB contribution and obtained an opinion from the Town Auditor, Mike Vandeventer, on February 23, 2017. Two scenarios were presented: 1) Not budgeting for the payment, or 2) Budgeting for the payment by including it in the BOE or General Government budgets. In any case, it was clarified that showing this as a reduction in intergovernmental revenue is not an option. Detailed discussion followed. Resident Randy Belair of Village Hill Road commented that the TRB assessment could vary considerably from year-to-year depending on how the pension fund was invested. He asked Board Members if any information from the State was received regarding the variability of this assessment going forward. Tish reported no such information was received.

Key points were made:

There still may be an additional assessment from the State coming for Region 19. Superintendent Jacoby is checking with Bruce Silva regarding this now.

Board members were in favor for doing some form of planning for these State imposed assessments to minimize abrupt changes to the mil rate.

Board members were in favor of clearly communicating the State’

Annual Report

Deb will have a draft available for review at the next BOF meeting.

Contract Negotiations

John Patton will be representing the Board of Finance at the Friday meetings.

Crumbling Foundations Risk Management

A bus will be leaving from the Willington commuter lot (at Exit 70 off I-84 next to the River Road Athletic complex) at 8:30AM on February 28, 2017, to attend the hearings held at the Legislative Office Building. The bus will return at 12:15PM to the commuter lot. Space is limited so please reserve a spot by calling (860) 487-3100.

Joint Discussion P&Z, IWW, ZBA, BOF

December 2016 meeting minutes were approved at the 6-Feb BOS Meeting and sent out.

CORRESPONDENCE

• Donna Latincsics: 23-Feb-2017 regarding a discussion with auditors handling the TRB payment
• Geoff Prusak: 23-Feb regarding his BOF meeting absence
• Christina Mailhos: 23-Feb Selectmen’s budget
• Jim Bulick: 22-Feb to Finance Department regarding the final Willington Budget Calendar
• Jim Bulick: 17-Feb to Superintendent Jacoby regarding possible changes to the Spec Ed formula
• Various emails to the Finance Department regarding the budget calendar
• Robin Campbell: 14-Feb Joint P&Z/IWW/BOS/BOF minutes approved at the 6-Feb BOS meeting

GOOD & WELFARE

Donna Latincsics plans to schedule the next CIP meeting for 1-March to finish the out years plan.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned at 7:39 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Debra L. Lewis
BOF Recording Secretary