Board of Finance

Approved by the Board of Finance July 16, 2024 MINUTES Vote: Unanimous Vol. 7. Page 425 BOARD OF FINANCE REGULAR MEETING CITY HALL AUDITORIUM / ZOOM May 21, 2024 A REGULAR MEETING of the Board of Finance was held on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. Attendance was in person and by Zoom. Present at City Hall were Mayor Elinor Carbone, Comptroller John Monks, Manager of Budgets and Planning Erika Johnson, Treasurer Dan Farley, and Board of Finance Members Deborah Iannacito, Laurene Pesce, Wendy Traub, and James Wright. Board of Finance member Christopher Anderson joined via Zoom. Board of Finance member Christopher Beyus was absent. Mayor Carbone called the meeting to order at 5:02 p.m. beginning with the Pledge of Allegiance. PUBLIC COMMENT On a motion by Mr. Wright, seconded by Mrs. Traub, the Board voted unanimously to open the meeting to the public. No one from the public wished to speak. Mr. Anderson arrived at 6:03 p.m. APPROVE MEETING MINUTES On a motion by Mrs. Traub, seconded by Mrs. Pesce, the Board voted unanimously to accept the Regular Meeting Minutes from April 16, 2024. On a motion by Mr. Wright, seconded by Mr. Anderson, the Board voted unanimously to accept the Special Joint Board of Finance and Board of Education Budget Meeting Minutes from April 23, 2024. On a motion by Mr. Wright, seconded by Mr. Anderson, the Board voted unanimously to accept the Public Hearing Minutes from April 23, 2024. FY 22-23 BUDGET AMENDMENTS AND TRANSFER REQUESTS On a motion by Mr. Anderson, seconded by Mr. Wright, the Board voted unanimously to acknowledge the budget transfer and amendment requests for FY 22/23 as further described in the Manager of Budgets’ letter dated April 12, 2024, pending City Council approval. Mayor Carbone told the Board these requests are from FY 22/23 which was over a year ago. The old Comptroller didn’t do transfers and amendments. They wanted the totals to reflect where all the departments ended the fiscal year. None were ever put before the Board to be approved, and now that they are working on the audit the transfers and amendments must be made. Mrs. Traub asked why the $28,000 transferred from department 7, isn’t reflected anywhere on the lists, Ms. Johnson will be looking into this, and amending the request for the Board. Mrs. Pesce thanked Mr. Monks and Ms. Johnson for starting the transfers and amendments again, it was a past practice. She said that it does help when approving the budgets to see where departments are year to date. FY 23-24 BUDGET AMENDMENTS AND TRANSFER REQUESTS On a motion by Mrs. Traub, seconded by Mr. Anderson, the Board voted unanimously to authorize the budget transfer and amendment requests for FY 23/24 as further described in the Manager of Budgets’ letter dated March 28, 2024, pending City Council approval. CITY PERFORMANCE REPORTS On a motion by Mr. Wright, seconded by Mrs. Iannacito, the Board voted unanimously to accept the Performance Reports for the City. ADD SECTION B – BOE BUDGET PERFORMANCE REPORT On a motion by Mr. Anderson, seconded by Mrs. Traub, the Board voted unanimously to add section B to the agenda. BOARD OF EDUCATION BUDGET PERFORMANCE REPORT On a motion by Mrs. Pesce, seconded by Mr. Anderson, the Board voted unanimously to accept the Board of Education Budget Performance Report for April 2024. BUSINESS BY DEPARTMENT HEADS On a motion by Mr. Wright, seconded by Mrs. Traub, the Board voted unanimously to consider business by department heads. Comptroller John Monks said the audit is going well. He also shared that training has been scheduled for July 30th and 31st for New World. He told the Board that the new hires are doing well. BUSINESS BY MAYOR & MEMBERS On a motion by Mrs. Traub, seconded by Mrs. Iannacito, the Board voted unanimously to consider business by the Mayor and members of the Board of Finance. Mr. Anderson would like an update on the budget process, Mayor Carbone told him that the Council had met with the Board of Safety to review where the budgets were cut. Then the Council approved all Level 2 budgets for Finance. Mayor Carbone said that it was a $4.8 million increase from FY 23/24. MINUTES Vol. 7. Page 426 BOARD OF FINANCE REGULAR MEETING CITY HALL AUDITORIUM / ZOOM May 21, 2024 Mr. Wright asked where the City stands regarding the Board of Education letter and Atty. Magistrali’s response, Mayor Carbone told the Board that when Mr. Corey requested to be refunded $51,000 over insurance payments, he was using the net budgeting methodology and not gross budgeting. Mayor Carbone said that she is trying to get a joint meeting with Finance, BOE, and Council, but the BOE cannot commit to a date until after the school year. Mr. Wright asked if Mr. Corey represented the whole Board of Education and if the Superintendent and the Business Director had commented, Mayor Carbone said that she has had no conversations with either one. She added that she has a long-standing meeting with the superintendent weekly at 1 p.m. on Tuesday and there was a last-minute cancelation. She told the Board that she had met with the Council last night to discuss possible options if the BOE doesn’t cooperate. Mr. Wright stated that he would like to know who was represented in Mr. Corey’s letter and how the professionals feel about it. Mayor Carbone told the Board that she would like to engage the Superintendent and the Business Director before moving forward with any decisions. She did say that Mr. Corey requested that all further communication go through their Board attorney. She mentioned that when they could get the BOE co-chairs along with their attorney, the superintendent, and the business director together she would like a representative from the Council and Finance to have a balance of representation from the City. Mrs. Traub asked if the employee contributions were still going toward the health insurance fund, Mayor Carbone said that in the Fall they were holding onto the employee withholdings for three months. Mrs. Traub said that the BOE doesn’t understand the seriousness of not paying health insurance premiums, ** in private businesses, if you don’t pay your health insurance premiums, they will cancel. Mayor Carbone said that how the health insurance payments from the City and the BOE have been calculated are well documented in the minutes from decades ago. This is when the auditors suggested doing a gross-to-gross budgeting instead of a net budget. Mrs. Pesce asked if the Board would need to know the status of the ARPA funds with setting the mil rate and if they would be able to use any funds to offset some of the negative budget cuts, Mayor Carbone told her that they would look at the ARPA funds and see what City projects or Capital projects the funds would possibly be able to help with. Mrs. Pesce asked if the auditors had any suggestions for governance documents, and Mayor Carbone said that she would ask this Friday. She did add that Joe Spurgeon sent several examples and that auditors prefer gross-to-gross budgeting. Mrs. Iannacito asked if having an educational meeting with a consultant would be beneficial, Mayor Carbone said that is up in the air until after June 13th. Mayor Carbone added that it is too late to resolve the BOE’s expenditure issue. Mr. Anderson explained to the Board that there is no way to change how they are budgeting. He would like to see a BOE budget without positions being offset by grants. He wants a clear picture of what the Board is approving of. Mayor Carbone explained the handouts to the Board. She explained that as of right now the City and BOE budgets are a $12 million increase over FY24, and that will have an impact on taxpayers. She said right now the City is 38% of that request and the BOE is 62% of that request. She mentioned that $2.1 million of the City’s increase is from debt service. Mayor Carbone said that the Budget Subcommittee felt that they should have a zero-mil rate increase, especially with a revaluation coming soon to help the grand list. ADJOURNMENT On a motion by Mrs. Iannacito, seconded by Mr. Wright, the Board voted unanimously to adjourn at 5:45 p.m. Respectfully submitted by ATTEST: Heather Abraham, Asst. City Clerk CAROL L. ANDERSON, CITY CLERK CAROL L. ANDERSON, CITY CLERK **Correction by Mrs. Traub from July 16, 2024