ENFIELD TOWN COUNCIL
MINUTES OF A SPECIAL MEETING
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2, 2008
A Special Meeting of the Enfield Town Council was called to order by Chairman Kaupin in the Council Chambers of the Enfield Town Hall, 820 Enfield Street, Enfield, Connecticut on Wednesday, April 2, 2008. The meeting was called to order at 6:05 p.m.
ROLL-CALL – Present were Councilmen Bosco, Dumont, Edgar, Jones, Kaupin, Kiner, Lee, Mangini, and Ragno. Councilman Nelson entered at 6:06 p.m. and Councilmen Crowley entered at 6:10 p.m. Also present were Town Manager, Matthew Coppler; Assistant Town Manager, Daniel Vindigni; Director of Finance, Lynn Nenni; Chief of Police, Carl Sferrazza; Director of Libraries, Henry Dutcher; Town Clerk, Suzanne Olechnicki
Mr. Coppler stated this presentation will be available on the Town’s website tomorrow. He noted in mid-November, department directors were given all the instructions and materials to start this budget process, and it culminates with this presentation. He stated the Council’s work will then begin. He noted at the next meeting they will discuss the budget calendar with the Council so they can finalize budget meeting dates, as well as the public hearing dates to get public input.
Mr. Coppler stated staff worked diligently on this, and very few budgets had increases. He noted he also asked department directors to develop a 3% reduction budget as well, and that was very helpful so that he could see what could be taken out and what effect that would have within operations. He stated another parameter was that they wouldn’t be bringing on any new positions unless there was a revenue source tied to that. He noted they looked for ways to optimize the organization to reduce costs, but at the same time provide a high level of service.
He then highlighted changes to the budget document as follows:
· Moved Summary Information to the Executive Summary section
· Included breakout of Town Expenses related to School operations
· Distributed costs related to fuel to appropriate cost centers
· Distributed costs related to telephones to appropriate cost centers
· Inclusion of three new funds: Dog, IT, and Insurance
Mr. Coppler spoke about factors impacting the 2008/09 Budget. He noted the first factor impacting the budget is the State of Connecticut’s budget. He stated they factored in what the Governor’s proposal is and that is somewhat different than what the Appropriation Committee has put out. He noted he heard some information there potentially might be more money, which might make it easier to close any gaps within the Town’s budget. He stated this year they’re getting an increase of $1,196,098 in ECS Grant Funding. He noted approximately $550,000 of that must go to new school funding, which is the MBR requirement. He stated unfortunately in the Governor’s budget the State Property Pilot decreases by $319,000 and the casino funds are decreased in the Governor’s budget by $363,000. He pointed out this nets an increase from the State funds of about $509,000. He stated hopefully, within the next month as the Council goes through its deliberations, they’ll have more sound information which might help out the whole budget.
Mr. Coppler stated another factor impacting the budget is the increase in debt service. He noted Roads 2000 requires a $19 million dollar debt incorporation within the project process. He stated the Town already put some money in the current year’s budget, but the total cost will increase by $586,000 per year over the current year budget.
He stated another factor impacting this budget relates to an increase in Water Pollution Control costs. He noted last year the Town did significant reductions within the Water Pollution Control Fund and operational costs. He noted one item cut out was the Burns Avenue sewer replacement. He stated this is a critical issue and they put it back in this budget. He noted there is a growing budgeting problem with sewers, especially in the Thompsonville area. He stated if they don’t start working on these issues, they’ll have some serious problems resulting in higher costs. He went on to note the chemicals required to treat effluent are increasing. He pointed out a lot of those chemicals are petroleum-based and have delivery costs. He noted they’re projecting about a $96,000 increase for those chemicals based on the current bids they have.
Mr. Coppler reviewed the General Fund Expenditures. He noted in total, the Town General Fund appropriation is at $47,615,778, an increase of approximately 3.5%. He stated originally the School Department delivered to the Town a budget of $71,717,689, however, in the budget he has forwarded to the Council, that figure was cut down to $71,117,689, which represents a 2.1% increase over the current year’s budget. He stated overall this is approximately a 2.7% increase.
He presented a graph, which represented a historical viewpoint of the budget and the General Fund for both the Town and School sides.
Mr. Coppler reviewed other significant increases in the General Fund from the 2007-08 budget:
· About a 7% increase in health and dental benefit costs for employees (this number is continuously being refined) Human Resources is working with the insurance companies in an attempt to get this number down. It’s hopeful that figure will decrease.
· An increase in pension costs for municipal employees. There was a small increase in the Police pension costs.
· An increase in the EMS Fund (health insurance costs related to the employees). This is the first year they’ll have all the employees on board.
· An increase of approximately $212,000 in the Social Service Fund.
· A significant increase in fuel costs
Mr. Coppler briefly highlighted some other major funds such as the EMS Fund, Water Pollution Control Fund, Social Services Fund. As concerns the IT Fund, he noted this year they actually created that fund and the 2008-2009 budget is fully funding the IT Fund with a transfer from the Board of Education, as well as from the General Fund, which amounts to a $2,435,000 budget. He went on to note they’ve increased the CIP budget by approximately $700,000.
He then reviewed CIP projects as follows:
· $900,000 for road improvements
· $587,000 for replacement of Public Works and Public Safety vehicles
· $400,000 for Town Farm Road/Post Office Road improvements
· $150,000 for the Plan of Conservation and Development
· $120,000 for the next phase of the multi-modal transportation facility
· $100,000 for continued improvement to the Angelo Lamagna Activity Center
· $50,000 for preliminary work to develop site ready industrial/commercial land
Mr. Coppler stated this budget increases the mill rate from 23.88 to 24.19 mills. He noted a history of the mill rate has been provided. He noted the years with an asterisk are those years that the revaluations were put into place.
He shared a chart, which showed the impact of the mill rate on residential properties. He noted people with taxable valued properties in the range of $180,000 to $200,000 would experience a $55 to $62 increase from the current year taxes.
Councilman Nelson referred to the reduction of $363,425 in casino revenues and noted the budget book shows an increase of about $16,000. Mr. Coppler stated that was what they were told to expect during last year’s budget process. He pointed out he is now looking at actual numbers. He noted in actuality, the casino monies increased up to $2.3 million dollars.
Chairman Kaupin thanked the Town Manager and Town staff for all the time and effort that went into putting this document together.
There was no Executive Session.
ADJOURNMENT
MOTION #9133 by Councilman Mangini, seconded by Councilman Ragno to adjourn.
Upon a SHOW-OF-HANDS vote being taken, the Chair declared MOTION #9133 adopted 11-0-0, and the meeting stood adjourned at 6:39 p.m.