Initiates New Members—

Newly Elected Finance Board Begins Work

By John Voket

In an hourlong special meeting December 20 at the Senior Center, the newly elected Board of Finance moved through an orientation process and voted on a couple of pieces of official administrative business. The first was to elect a chair and vice chair.

A motion to reelect John Kortze to the chair came from James Gaston, Jr, and was unanimously passed. Mr Kortze then nominated Joseph Kearney as vice chair and that motion also passed unanimously.

Mr Kortze then ran through a list of procedural duties, and gave new members an outline of the town business they should expect to handle during their term. He referred to the descending order of authority under which the board is empowered to act, from state statutes down to local charter provisions.

The chairman explained the process of a typical meeting, and the types of documentation members should expect to receive to review ahead of time; he explained the duties of the secretary and how members might review and address minutes or any changes that may need to be made.

Mr Kortze reviewed Freedom of Information guidelines regarding correspondence and the definition of when a gathering of finance board members outside the meeting environment could still be legally viewed as a meeting.

He recommended each member read, or reread, the town charter to familiarize themselves with the provisions and timeline requirements for finance board actions.

First Selectman Pat Llodra invited members to attend her board’s scheduled budget deliberations.

“It will be important for you to come comfortable with it so when it comes to you at the Board of Finance level, some of it will already be familiar to you,” Mrs Llodra said. The first selectman reported to finance officials that the town was well into the process of requesting proposals for an administrator for the town’s self-funded health plan.

Responding to a status update request from Mr Kortze, Mrs Llodra then explained that she was still meeting with consultants from Bloom Shapiro, who are reviewing areas of possible savings the town might achieve through combining certain town and school district functions.

Mrs Llodra referenced the fact that the town currently uses the ADT company to handle and process payroll, when the school district has the ability to handle its payroll function internally. So one of the many areas examined included whether the district payroll office should also process town-side payroll accounts.

She also said the consultants were looking at the cost and benefits of creating a centralized purchasing office.

Mr Kortze distributed the municipal audit, and said that the auditor’s “management letter,” which outlines specific areas of suggested correction or concern, was pared down significantly from the half-dozen items noticed last year. The finance chairman said that the single point of reference was an administrative practice related to how certain subaccounts in the school district’s budget are “migrated up to the general ledger control.”

The chairman then reviewed the new state statute related to school districts being able to establish and maintain a fund to carry over some or all budget surpluses for specific purposes. Previous to the new law, the finance board suggested putting those funds into a capital nonrecurring account, which would require the district to go through a procedure to get that money back.

Mr Kearney said that the idea was to avoid spending surplus money on items that might not necessarily be needed, but were purchased nonetheless because the funds were available. Mr Kortze said that since those discussions, the new statute was enacted that permits the district to create its own account in which to place surplus funds for future educational purposes.

The board quickly reviewed the new town fund balance policy, and received a copy of the combined town and school Capital Improvement Plan. During a review of the school district’s latest monthly finance report, board member Richard Oparowski noted a $1.4 million notation related to the Excess Cost Grant that referenced an undefined “TBD” notation.

Mr Kortze replied that the detail of the district’s monthly reports has been an ongoing issue, but he was assured by the new school board chair that providing more detail in the monthly reports would be among the issues the board will be reviewing in the coming months.

The board then voted to accept its annual meeting calendar, and moved two nominal transfers before adjourning, with new members heading out with their piles of documentation to review before the next regular meeting, which is scheduled for January 9.