Marcia Chambers Photo
The Board of Finance (BOF) will soon begin the process of evaluating a 10-year financial overview designed to bond a number of needed facilities, including a public works building, a senior center and public schools.
The plan envisions major capital construction through bonding, which Town Finance Director Jim Finch said “should not hurt us.” The town is one of the few in the state with a triple A bond rating. At the same time the plan envisions the taxpayer as a strong part of the ten year equation. When it comes to the schools, the state will pay part of school building construction but not all.
At its final meeting of the year on Nov. 25, Finch presented a financial capacity analysis for future capital projects, an outline he said he knew the board wanted to explore. His analysis spans a 10-year budget, beginning in 2014 and ending in 2024. It would support between $45 and $90 million in new borrowing.
Marcia Chambers Photo
Finch (pictured) has been working on the projected capital building plan since the BOF decided at its September meeting that the board would institute a plan whereby it identifies and prioritizes “all the capital needs of our community,” both for schools and municipal buildings. Click here to read that story.
How Full Is The Grocery Bag?
In short, the BOF will have to say “yes” before any major capital town project gets the green light. Finch said it will be up to First Selectman Jamie Cosgrove, the BOF and “various boards and commissions” to determine how full the town wants its grocery bag to be. Cosgrove is pictured here with Marianne Kelly, the outgoing town clerk (left) and Lisa Arpin, the incoming town clerk.
“How do we go forward at the grocery store?” he asked. “How do we define the size of the bag?”
A 10-year chart projecting the town’s budget, grand list, mill rate, taxes and other designations, shows the mill rate jumping to 34.59 by 2024 from 25.59 for the 2013 – 14 year, with taxpayers picking up the tab.
The next step, he said, is to identify the projects and their projected cost. “That’s the missing piece here.” He said increases in the overall budget might be “in the 2 to 4 percent area.”
One of the BOF members, Kurt Schwanfelder, asked Finch: “Why not trim it a bit? I am a lot more conservative than you are, he said, adding that the town’s overall budget is driven by salaries and pensions. “We get so little from the state and the federal government,” he said, adding that in the end it is the taxpayers who will foot most of the bonding bill.
Mooney Reviews BOF Powers for First Selectman
This was the first Board of Finance meeting Jamie Cosgrove, the newly elected first selectman, attended in his new capacity at the town’s top leader. He is an ex-officio member of the board and votes only to break a tie. The BOF is arguably the most powerful board in town.
Before the meeting began, BOF Chair Joseph Mooney gently clarified the authority of the board for Cosgrove, authority set by the town charter. He did so, he said, because a press release Cosgrove issued just after his election created ambiguity and confusion for the public. The press release also appeared on Cosgrove’s Facebook page, along with a photo of Mooney.
The headline of the press release read: “Mooney to Remain Board of Finance Chair.” The sub-headline said: “Democrat who endorsed his opponent is still best person for the job.” Click here to read the release.
The press release went on to say that after the two men discussed the issue, Mooney “accepted Cosgrove’s offer to stay on as chair.” Cosgrove said in his press release that “although tradition holds that the Chair of the six-member board is typically a member from the same party as the First Selectman,” he believed “that experience was more important than partisan politics.” Cosgrove is a Republican and Mooney is a Democrat.
Mooney told the BOF meeting audience that he has been a member of the BOF for 18 years and has served as chair since 2002. He said when he read about the press release, he took Cosgrove’s words “in the spirit in which they were intended, which was supportive of my role on the board of finance and also as my role as chairman. That’s the way I took the comments.”
He then went on to explain what the town charter decrees regarding the Board of Finance.
He noted that the town charter and not tradition “govern our responsibilities as well as who selects the chair. So I just wanted to clarify that. I also want to mention that three Republicans and three Democrats” serve on the board under the town charter.
Cosgrove said in his press release: “In fact, the last Republican First Selectman, John Opie, made the same decision to retain Mooney as chair when he was elected in 2003 although Mooney didn’t publicly endorse his opponent that year.”
Since 1997 when Unk DaRos first became first selectman and over the administrations of the subsequent selectmen, no first selectman has removed a chair of the BOF based on party affiliation. When DaRos, a Democrat, first won election in 1997, he kept Don Jackson, a Republican. Along with Opie, former first selectwoman Cheryl Morris, then a Democrat turned Independent, kept Mooney. DaRos returned to office in 2007.
Under the town charter, the first selectman has no authority to decide who chairs the Board of Finance.
That decision to appoint the chair, according to the town charter, belongs to the six-member Board of Finance itself. “Such board shall choose one of its members to be Chairman thereof,” the charter states.
According to the town charter, “no more than three members of the six-member Board of Finance shall be appointed from the same political party.” Currently there are three Democrats and three Republicans on the board. Unaffiliated voters do not constitute a party, under the charter.
After Mooney spoke the Republicans on the board noted that the most experienced person on the board should serve as chair. One told Mooney: “You are extremely well qualified.”
Mooney concluded by saying: “Again my role and our role are to support not only the board but the front office,” he said of Cosgrove’s new digs at Town Hall. He noted he had done so for all prior first selectmen. “And with that I welcome Jamie,” he said.
Cosgrove did not respond but appeared a bit taken aback.
Then the meeting formally began.
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