Board of Finance Minutes

Members Present:                                      

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

  Members Absent:

• Geoff Prusak – Alternate
• Annemarie Poole - Alternate

Also Present:  Donna Latincsics, Business Manager; Tish Ignatowicz, Treasurer; Christina Mailhos, First Selectman; Andrew Marco, P&Z; Jackie Silverstein, EDC;  Suzanne Chapman, Registrar of Voters; Members of the Public.

Chairman Jim Bulick called the meeting to order at 7:06 pm.

SEATING OF ALTERNATES - none needed

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Peter Tanaka motioned to approve the budget meeting minutes of March 9, 2017 as amended.  Robert Wiecenski seconded.  All were in favor, John Patton abstained. Motion carried.  

        Add Under New Business:

• 0511 Dog Fund – The request from the Town is $22,842, a decrease of $1,600, or -6.55%.
• 0512 Rec Dept – The request from the Town is for $63,601, an increase of $15,356, or 31.83%.
• 0513 Human Services–The request from the Town is for $43,500, a decrease of $1,910, or -4.2%
• 0517 Library – The request from the Town is for $191, 313 an increase of $6,124 or 3.31%

PRESENT TO SPEAK

Peter Latincsics, 94 Trask Road – questioned the Board about the liability of the teacher’s pensions and if the Board has a grasp on the size of the number and what we are doing as a Board doing to mitigate this?  Chairman Bulick explained that the Board asked for conservative budgets to start with.  We plan to use the fund balance to soften the impact to taxpayers. It is not positive that the TRB liability is a done deal so we are trying to understand how it relates to Region 19.  The CIP Plan focused more on the use of reserves, grants, and debt rather than funding that would impact our current budget..  Discussion continued.  Vice-Chairman Patton asked Donna Latincsics to check with the tax collector how late we can send out the tax bills.

NEW BUSINESS

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

0121 Tolland-Mansfield Probate District

The Town’s share of the Court Costs is $3,552 which is an increase of $148 or 4.3%.

0126 Registrar of Voters

Suzanne Chapman presented the request to the Board.  Their request is for $30,321 which is a decrease of $3,708 or -10.9%.  

0131 Board of Finance

The request is for $4,544 which is flat from last year’s request.

0132 Treasurer

The request is for $31,294 which is flat from last year’s request.

0135 Board of Assessment Appeals

The request is for $1,335 which is flat from last year’s request.

0151 Town Clerk

The request is for $105,779 which is flat from last year’s request.

0161 Conservation Commission

The request is for $1,500 which is flat from last year’s request.

0171 Planning & Zoning

The request is $138,964 which is an increase of $30,000 or 27.5%.  The request is adding a Zoning Agent Assistant.   Discussion followed.

0172 Zoning Board of Appeal

The request is for $4,579 which is flat from last year’s request.

0175 Economic Development

The request is for $5,400 which is a decrease of $1,345 or -19.9%.  The decrease is a result of cutting back on the hours required of an assistant.

0176 Inland Wetland Commission

The request is for $2,000 which is flat from last year’s request.

0507 Housing Authority

The request is for $2,114 which is an increase of $47 or 2.3%.

Budget Discussions

Chairman Bulick asked the Board to review the requests and be ready to vote on the budgets next week.  We will have a discussion before the budget requests are voted on.

OLD BUSINESS

Governor’s Budget Impact to Willington – Tish Ignatowicz presented the latest revenue analysis and several TRB funding and Fund Balance application scenarios last week.  The Board discussed the impact each scenario will have on the mil rate.

Annual Report

Copies were given to the Board members for their review.  Motion to approve the report will be added to next week’s agenda.

Contract Negotiations – nothing to report

Crumbling Foundations Risk Management – Meetings have been held with the State is starting to come up with options for the people affected.  

CORRESPONDENCE - none

GOOD & WELFARE - None

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Debra L. Lewis
BOF Recording Secretary