The Board of Selectmen approved an in-departmental transfer of $261,000 March 2 as the only significant item of business on its regular meeting agenda.

The source funds, as explained by Public Works Director Fred Hurley and Finance Director Robert Tait, were all drawn from anticipated surpluses in the “salaries & wages” budget lines tied to the highway department, transfer station, and public building maintenance.

“Historically, we don’t do transfers this size,” Hurley told selectmen. Normally, Hurley said, such unanticipated expenses would be covered from state grants provided to aid in local road and highway maintenance.

Those funds were delayed this fiscal year after Gov Ned Lamont held off on bonding for them in anticipation of the General Assembly approving a sweeping state transportation infrastructure initiative that at the time included a proposal for tolling on state highways. In mid-February, the governor said he would initiate the process to ensure those grants were freed up and distributed by mid-March.

According to documentation provided by the state Office of Policy and Management, a proposed bond package for Newtown allocated $235,371. However, Tait told The Newtown Bee February 26 that he is also awaiting $471,024 in anticipated state Town Aid Road (TAR) funds, and $206,461 in Local Capital Improvement Plan (LoCIP) grants.

The hefty salary line transfers, which also need to be approved by the Board of Finance and Legislative Council, have been requested primarily to cover shortfalls of $175,000 related to new buildings coming on line, while upkeep and maintenance of formerly occupied municipal spaces and buildings was and is still required.

The bulk of this transfer covers shortfalls because the multipurpose building that formerly housed the Senior Center and storage for town registrars of voters still required utilities and maintenance even after it was vacated early last summer. Hurley said some of the stocking and utility costs for the new Senior Center were also underestimated.

About $30,000 of that allocation would also cover unanticipated contract cleaning services at Town Hall South that were incurred after a maintainer position opened up because of a retirement — but was not immediately refilled.

Approximately $16,000 would cover the unanticipated expense of generating two “materials condition” reports on two small dams maintained by the town, which were required as part of municipal insurance underwriting. A $50,000 transfer would be added to $20,000 already budgeted for police-required safety improvement as part of a large construction project on Toddy Hill Road, Mr Hurley said.

“We’re asking for 50 to cover 70,” he told selectmen.

Another piece of the overall transfer would offset a shortfall in the budget line for recycling processing, which has escalated significantly in recent months as global markets for recycled waste disappeared, leaving municipalities and regional waste and recycling agencies scrambling to process and dispose of those materials.

First Selectman Dan Rosenthal said it was fortunate that a situation existed where the transfer requests could come from other lines within their own department budget.

“Trying to adjust for new buildings after the budget was approved involved a guesstimate of what would be needed,” the first selectman acknowledged.

Hurley said most of the shortfalls were one-time concerns and that he did not anticipate any other significant transfers would be required this fiscal year, and that accommodations for known expenses based on current experience helped him more accurately craft the department’s 2020-21 budget request.