Video index
1. Call Meeting to Order
7:00 p.m.
2. A Moment of Meditation and Contemplation respecting those who are not affiliated with any religion: Councilor Wagner
3. Pledge of Allegiance
4. Roll Call
Roll call (10 Present, 0 Absent, 0 Excused)
Mr. Joseph Russo passed away on May 1st - Council took a moment of silence
5. Public Input [Per Town Council Rules, this segment of the meeting shall not exceed thirty (30) minutes unless extended by the Mayor, with the consent of a majority of the Town Council.]
Carl Werkhoven, Oakwood Drive - ask how many people use their phone and talk or text while driving. Thanked the Fire Chief for coming before the Town Council to apoligize for using his phone while driving. A child is going to get hurt from someone who is texting or talking while driving.
Bonnie Rabin, Collector of Revenue - requesting that the Town Council consider giving her a part time position in her office. Please make my part time employee a full time employee. There are other ventures that are coming into my office and the part time person to a full time person. Don Gonsalves, 40 Bayberry Trail - raise questions - what is the best estimate of the fund balance, actual fund balance as of today, what does Matt estimate underruns - what are you going to use for the fund balance for the budget. What to also know percentage of payroll for healthcare and pension. WPCA has a figure of 62% - have asked what makes up the 62%. you have 7.65% which is what we have to contribute. want to know what the percentage of healthcare and pension. on the BOE - pyublic should know they have 500,000 for retired people - people get 2x more sick and personal time - when they retire they get the pay. teachers is under a union contract. can do something about the noncertified. Secretary gets the same benefit. Town people and school people should get the same benefits. Surplus for BOE is used for pension (535,000) there is another item 470,000 that is still available - they are going to do another accounting on that at the end of May. Want to know what they are going to do with the 470,000 - that could help the budget.
6. Environmental Health & Safety Message
proclamation read recognizing the month of May as National Bike Month. Mayor Anwar read. Rob O'Connor from South Windsor Walk & Wheels came foreward - thanked the Council - this is a leadership program - 4th graders are being educated in bicycle safety as part of the school's curriculum. We are a bronze community. invited the council to a couple of events - May 7th ride your bike to school. Bike to work on May 16th, Bikeshop in SW - state wide ride. May 18th townwide bike ride. June 8th is CT Trails Day at Lawrence Road Park. All these items are on the website. Pendleton - address our bike folks - my child participated in the 4th grade program and learned a lot - thanked the committee Wagner - one of the things that happens is every year ther are a number of children who have not learned to ride a bike. We have been successful on teaching each of those children to ride. Anwar - mentioned this month is also skin cancer awareness month. Malinoma. use appropriate protection. COPD - stroke awareness month.
7. Adoption of Minutes of Previous Meetings
Yagaloff, Pendleton, unanimous
8. Public Petitions
9. Communications from Officers and Boards Directly Responsible to Council
Wagner - reiterate Open Space TAsk Force will be participating with the Trail Day on June 8th.
10. Reports from Standing Committees
11. Reports of Temporary Committees
12. Consent Agenda [All items listed with an asterisk (*) are considered to be routine by the Town Council and will be enacted by one Motion. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a Council member so requests, in which event the item will be removed from the General Order of Business and be considered in its normal sequence on the Agenda.]
13. Unfinished Business
14. New Business
A. Resolution Waiving Competitive Bidding for the Purchase of Technology Equipment
Haven - supend 14C, D, E, F and G forward, Prague second, unanimous
B. Resolution Waiving Competitive Bidding for the Purchase of a WatchGuard Server and Wireless Equipment
Prague, Snyder, unanimous
C. Resolution Adopting the Board of Education Budget for Fiscal Year 2014/2015
Pendleton, Havens Snyder - what was the BOA budget after 300,000 reduction? Galligan - 431,000 down. Snyder - this resolution is reducing by how much additional - above and beyond Galligan - 150,000 Snyder - has this been discussed with the superintendent? Anwar - no I have not. Snyder - the BOE 1.94% increase - when we had our work session they brought down 436,000 from healthcare savings. on top of that BOE has returned 203,000 from a security grant. Instead of board taking that money they are giving back to Town. BOE last week reduced by another 58,000. The TM last week took another 300,000 reduction - 1.94% budget they 997,000 - there was another 700,000 of healthcare from last year that was available to the Town. AT the end of the day the BOE went from 1.94 to .85% after the additional 300,000. Now we want to go back and take antoher 150,000 out of the budget. Galligan - correct Snyder - and no one has talked to the superintendent Galligan - not that I am aware of Snyder - it bothers me that we are handed this and only had one budget work session - handed this paper taking anothr 150,000 out of the board budget that they did not know about. This is very unsettling. The Town budget increases budget 8.33% Galligan - 8.33% Snyder - Town budget changed from last year is up 8.33% Galligna - 1M is capital which is on my side of the budget. Snyder - if you take 1M out of that what would be the increase? Anwar - because of the relation of the two budgets with eachother it is good to have conversations on both budgets. Snyder - 9.2% increase on the Town side and 1.94% increase on the BOE budget. Galligan - 3.74% for town - took out debt and capital Snyder - 600,000 Galligan - all debt is for board and town - has to be covered under the town budget. Snyder - very upset that council would decrease the board of education's budget even further. I think what I am worried about is the terrible way we have hacked away from the town side - the council is now started to hack away at the board side of the budget. It will start to erode - they did not target cutting sports, etc. If there is another 150,000 reduction, same on us when they have already given back. The town council does not have the understanding of what those ramifications are. Yagaloff - we have a good superintendent of schools. referendum passed with a large majority. BOE is a high functioning group. the turnabout in the BOE is a reflection of the team that is working together. They brought in low budget requst and recognize the specific needs. came with realistic numbers. although some people believe the economy has turned but it has not and the way this effects taxes - ther has been growth in the grand list but not in the real property growth and that is the way you tell the economy is getting better. This year's growth came from vehicles and perosnal property, not from real property. any tax increase in the grand list is going into motor vehicles. from my perspective we are still looking at tough economy. when looking at board budget we recognize that Dr. Carter had found 400,000 and also came back with 300,000 proposed cut. this is an additional cut. 150,000 is 0.2% of the budget. We know that 0.2% hurts because 150,000 is real money. at the same time the town side is real money also. The change tonight is small but is relevant. 0.2% we feel the Board can afford. Next year is entirely a different situation. Think is is a fair budget and willing to support. Mirek - What is the percentag eof increase in the proposed on the town side? Anwar - when we started the conversations, we want to keep it at 1.5% - we feel that the last year's budget was challenging for the community. We wanted to cap is at 1.5%. After conversations it turns out that the percentage is 1.75%. $1M in capital which is a decrease of 400,000. in the whole process making sure we get a police officer - we have no choice - need to keep cap on the taxes this is why we feel more of a cut from the BOE is necessary. We wish we were not in a fiscal challenge on the Town side that we need to make up for. Needs on Town side is higher this year. Mirek - we sat down and came up with other cuts to keep the Boards budget. Superintendent was making a concession with the 300,000. if we have this amount of cuts there will be larger expenditures next year. Think thi sis going to hurt the transparency on the Town side. $700,000 of unexpended funds that was still there. We are picking apart their budget and do not know how this will effect them. Should not be done. I don't support it. Wagner - I hear from two departments tht work very hard for the town that people are working long hours. I get concerned about their safety. Town is understaffed. the work load has increased. There is a vacant secretary posiiotn in Parks & Rec - they need someone to be a supervisor for special needs program. We feel that is a position tha tneeds to be funded. Town and Capital there are changes to the pool. repairs are necessary to keep water clean and reduce the chemical use. we are also going to paying for member of the sewer facility side to share service to help take care of pool. One of the areas - inspecting the fields and the turf - we can give one of the maintenance techs to be able to become a specialist of the turf. in addition cut down on the number of overtime. This offsets an outside contractor. Public Works - Executive Secretary - also Fleet Manager - replenish salt Prague - Capital Improvement, 432,000 it or is there more? Anwar - 832,000 Galligna - that is the increase from what I put into the budget. Prague - 350,000 in health Galligan - Linberg comes up with what should be in the budget. Ordinance says supposed to stay with fund. We created municipal fund by ordinance. this year I will be underbudget by 200,000 to 250,000 - 350,00 was already there - 350,000 to reduce the budget. Prague - you robbed 350,000 twice? Galligan - 700,000 from last year - 350,000 first year and 350,000 this year Prague - 3 months of reserves? Galligan - my payments are 2.5M - Prague - you borrowed 350,000 twice Galligan - I have a council here that does not want to cut the budget - you reduce to keep the budget impact to a minimum. Prague - since I believe this money was taken inappropriately - will vote against the BOE budget because I feel the BOE should get more. Galligan - 350,000 has nothing to do with the BOE budget. Havens - Have seen budget increases of 5-8% - there was a reason for that type of growth and that is because there was a need for it. go through this process and everyone can not get what they want. Have to compromise and cut. We have cut the Town Manager's budget. In the past have heard that the Council has given the Board too much money. There are many needs and can not fund everything. People can not pay their fuel bills - heating - electricity - this is a fair budget and should not be considered not fair. will support budget. Council should support Delnicki - last year was a watershed event had unanimously approved budget. Health fund crissi - 700,000 was taken - we are seeing the benefits of the 700,000 agreement this year. .8% - down to 0.63% increase - we will never see that again. I am concerned that there was not any buy in on the 150,000. was delighted to see buy in of the 300,000. an additional 150,000 is a concern. do we plan to take comments from the Board of Education. Anwar - we could if that would help the conversation. Pendleton - appreciate the BOE and Superintendent. I did ask Dr. Carter if she could live with a 0 and she said yes. The approach I took was safety, security, ---------needs and wants. We had to make critical choices. BOE is getting 99.35% of what they asked for. Anwar - just want to mention a couple of things. I think it is important for us as a community is that it is not about BOE versus the Town. There are difficult choices. The best choice may make everyone leave here upset. We had a position - people said they wanted to support Capital - SW was the last town in the Stateo fCT to fund their Capital Projects. we have to take care of our responsibilities. need to put resources back into what needs to be done. we did not have enough in our salt budget. we need to have police officers. This is one community and need to have the resource allocation. Everyone knows what the towns needs, trying to get there may be a challenge. Galligan - 10/11 reqeust from 1.1M - 11/12 - board 1M - cut by 400,000 town 1.5 cut by 4400 I am asking for items to be put back in the budget is because it is needed. asking htis year would like to see some items put back in the budget. We are working with less and have made it work. Snyder - do not begrudge the Town at all. I have no problem putting items back in. Apparently this document that was handed to us tonight, they want to keep tax increase at 1.75%. If we were to now cut 150,000 out of any budget what would the tax rate be? Snyder some of us do not want ot take 150,000 from Board and do not want to take it from the Town. Yagaloff - 1.96% Snyder if we say we don't want to reduce Galligan - 1.92% Snyder - how much more is that $128.10 - Galligan - average house 300,00 - 12.50 per year over the 175.00 Snyder - I would ask the council - shame on us for reducing the BOE budget. Answer - we want to give a break to the taxpayers. the reason we have to start off with what people can afford. there are over 500 seniors that pay 1,000 more. Snyder - don't cut the board budget and don't cut the Town budget. their budget has been cut 50%. Yagaloff - I have been someone who has put pressure on the organization. over the last 3-4 years we have done that. the excess got squeezed out. I don't want to go any further - already went from 1.5% to 1.75%. If we give the Board the 150,000 we are going to have to take from the Town. I am comfortable with the budget. Don't want to increase the taxes any further. Prague - Superintendent was not happy to cut by 300,000. She will do what the Council asks her to but she was hoping not to have to. the budget has been cut 50% from the original request. The salt shed was refilled several times 2012/2013. in 1967 we had garbage pickup and that is why we had so many employees. Galligna - it was private then. Town did contract because it was cheaper. We have no supervisors that watch trash pick up. how many miles of road 140 miles Prague - I think back in 1968 Prague - Was 86 miles? yes Joy - 100 Bramlebrae - we have not met to talk about your proposal. I am concerned about the message send to our community. Responsibolities/contracts - we it is disheartening - think about next year - it is goin gto be a steep climb next year. we have changed the way we have done buisness. Next year will be a steep climb. We did a lot for you next year, please remember that next year. Craig Zimmerman - 5A Amato Drive - the nine of you have a tough job. I heard compromise, fairness, question about what public thinks about 1.94% - may be one person came to speak against but don't remembers. 0% increase , Dr. Carter said, schools would not close, not we coudl do it. currenlty the discussion is we are talking about 3.8% versus .63% for Board - since both propsals brought forward - when propsals came to superintendent and town - 3.7M decrease BOE - Town 900,000 decrease. we are talking about spending additionl 2.4M - current discussion is spend 2M on town side. 400,000 on board side. Board is 2/3rds of the total budget - spend 1/6th of the increase. Anwar - it is worthwhile to talk about what is the propsal on the town side. we have already touched on it. Park & Rec - salary adjustments, turf manager, Special Needs Supervisor, Public Works - increase salt budget, Fleet Manager (start Jan 1), Rolling stock budget increase (300,000) Police Dept. - 43 officers (one position) Emergency Management fund 15,000 IT - capital projects - fiber options started (grant) position change (have new position after someone left, upgrade) Economic Development Coordinator funded (50,000) Fire Dept - Human Services - another driver - (trying to accomodate seniors) department has been restructured - 3 people upgrade - but still have reduction in that budget Fire Marshal - put things back to where it was - Health Dept. - put restaurants back in - inspection 1M capital improvements Fund balance - 1M - 6.6M total fund balance 6.7% of the budget Anwar - fund balance that we are using - 1M this year Galligan - 400,000 that we know is coming back to fund balance this year. One of the things - will look at sewer fund. required contribution 5-4 passed
D. Resolution Adopting the Budget for the Special Revenue Recreation Fund for Fiscal Year 2014/2015
Wagner, Delnicki, Galligan - no revenue, based on taxes unanimous
E. Resolution Adopting the General Government Budget for Fiscal Year 2014/2015
Yagaloff, WAgner, Wagner - Council approves the total budget but approves individual. include this in the record Yagaloff - you worked very hard on this budget. Delnicki - last year 34.8M, this year 37.7M - increase of 3M in spending - in 833,000 in cap - $2 M in spending. Anwar - 600,000 also as part of debt service Delnicki - we have one time revenues - 200,000 board of ed, 300,000 from board of ed, how many position has been either new or returned to the budget. We went through tough econimic times - we right sized staff. we have lost those economy's in this budget. new police officer good, we have stepped away from right sizing government and wan to know where it is going to end. 9.2% increase - there will be holes in revenue next year that will need to be filled with revenue. Havens - do not hear complaints about services provided. Mattt doing good joib, will support the budget. Prague - the rest is too high. Can we think outside the box - not hire Maintainer I Galligan - we do have kids who come in during the summer. double the things to take care of. position is needed. Prague - suggest considering for November election - 10M referendum for capital projects. Our roads are falling apart. If we keeping funding capital project $1M at a time we will be no where. Is Mr. Caldwell par of this equalization of rate? Galligan - no Prague - amendmen to put 18,000 in budget. Snyder seconded Prague - I think John has gone too long to not being equal to everyone else. he is vastly underpaid. increase Galligan - when do evaluations will sit down and look at. Anwar - there is a mechanism that is done through Matt's office. There is funding in the budget - will not vote in increasing the budget further. There is a way to take care of it inside. Yagaloff - we have another situation - I think the TM is aware of these situations and will be done with existing funds. Think can be done within the budget. Galligan - will manage in the existing budget. Yagaloff - the concept is to allow the TM to make appropriate decisions. next year will have to absorb in budget. do no want to do just one when there are others. rather do it off line through TM Delnicki - this is terrible public policy. there is a process - can' support and have to go back to the process for everyone. Prague - withdraw amendment, second withdrawn Mirek - capital projects - wondering - having referendum for capital - what happens if any unexpended funds on the town side? Galligan - can't take it out. what we have done in the past - we have prior projects - Mirek - seems to fully fund is sacrificing a lot of other things. Snyder - on the sheet we received tonight - PW STreet Service - reduction of 100,000 Galligan - Street maintenance readjust. will work that out. Snyder - Fire Dept. increases on salaries Galligan - no control on increases - took 25,000 out - only town council can approve/deny Snyder - Human SErvices - funding everything they asked for Galligan - yes - 2 members - overall budget down by 18,000 Snyder - right sizing the remaining two? Galligan - yes they will get it in July. Snyder - police equipment - chief talked about replacing vehicle - do we have rolling stock equipment with police dept. Galligan - that will be purchase, not lease - only unmarked we lease. Snyder - 22,900 increase - change over with vehicles Galligna - yes Snyder - what are we not fudnign? part time person accreditation and part time person for animal control Snyder - we should be supporting that. - should consider down the line. Wagner - remind everyone how much of the key features are towards safety. huge fraction in the increase is towards safety of community. referendumn for cpaital projects - keep in mind that it is still coming out of the budget. Anwar - rather call it an infrastructure bond. really have no funds for infrastructure components. Infrastructure bond would be a good idea. Pendleton - compliment you on the budget. we have an excellent staff. thanked Dennis for his service. safety, security, critical needs and wants, we are not working with full staff - there are about 8 vacancies. everyone shares the work cooperatively. proud of our town - support budget. Delnicki - letter received - read into record - Mirek - hard to tell what is in the budget as far as raises. Anwar - in order to have raises - one is union and the other is other levels. there is an internal evaluation. Galligan - usually town council puts a limit of 2%. majority close to that. by Juen people will know where they are. union by contract Mirek - proposals for title change - HR Coordinatory as well as IT - Galligan - that is in the budget - went to CCM to get comparison Director of HR - that was a position that we did have - received her masters - also taking courses with Cornell 8-1 passed
F. Resolution Setting the Tax Rate for Fiscal Year 2014/2015
Wagner, Pendleon unanimous
G. Resolution Appointing a Rate Maker for Fiscal Year 2014/2015 and the Tabling of Same
Snyder - Delnicki unanimous
H. Resolution Approving a Refund of Taxes to Seven (7) South Windsor Taxpayers
Pendleton, Delnicki, unanimous
A. Resolution Waiving Competitive Bidding for the Purchase of Technology Equipment
Delnicki - Anwar Galligan - went out to competitive bidding and found out that the state contract was cheaper - unanimous
15. Passage of Ordinance
16. Communications and Reports from Town Manager [Per Town Council Rules, this segment of the meeting shall not exceed ten (10) minutes unless extended by the Mayor, with the consent of a majority of the Council.]
Galligan - did have petition to remove SWAC - read letter into record - revoked and allow ASM to provide. Thanked Councilor Yagaloff for his testimony. Bill was approved on EMS providers. Yagaloff - this have been almost two years of effort to make change in ambulance service. the Town Council stuck by this issue. Town Maanger stucdk by this issue. . TA did a wonderful job. When the hearing officer made determineation to suspend PSA for SWAC - town is going to have ASM provide ambulance service in town. Anwar - sad day also SWAC has been a part of this community for a long tim.e
17. Public Input [Per Town Council Rules, this segment of the meeting shall not exceed thirty (30) minutes unless extended by the Mayor, with the consent of a majority of the Town Council.]
Don Gonsalves, 40 Bayberry Trail - not one person asked - underrunning 480,000 - they will determine - concerned 150,000 and no one raised issue regarding 480,000. Property taxes in this region are the highest. The nation wide is less - other states are going to take new jobs. tax base too high to stay.
16 Foxbor Lane - I have been at the capital - our tonw is an example for all of the other towns. Our town is one of the first to have the people come together - thank you for fighting for our community.
18. Communications and Petitions from Council [Per Town Council Rules, this segment of the meeting shall not exceed twenty (20) minutes unless extended by the Mayor, with the consent of a majority of the Council.]
Liz - compliment Matt and Keith - thank you. SWS High School ranked as 1,362 out of 19,000 schools.
19. Executive Session
Delnicki - moiton to go into executive session Pendleton TM and Chief of Police at 9:51 p.m.
20. Adjournment
May 05, 2014 Town Council Meeting
Full agenda
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Video Index
Full agenda
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1. Call Meeting to Order
7:00 p.m.
2. A Moment of Meditation and Contemplation respecting those who are not affiliated with any religion: Councilor Wagner
3. Pledge of Allegiance
4. Roll Call
Roll call (10 Present, 0 Absent, 0 Excused)
Mr. Joseph Russo passed away on May 1st - Council took a moment of silence
5. Public Input [Per Town Council Rules, this segment of the meeting shall not exceed thirty (30) minutes unless extended by the Mayor, with the consent of a majority of the Town Council.]
Carl Werkhoven, Oakwood Drive - ask how many people use their phone and talk or text while driving. Thanked the Fire Chief for coming before the Town Council to apoligize for using his phone while driving. A child is going to get hurt from someone who is texting or talking while driving.
Bonnie Rabin, Collector of Revenue - requesting that the Town Council consider giving her a part time position in her office. Please make my part time employee a full time employee. There are other ventures that are coming into my office and the part time person to a full time person. Don Gonsalves, 40 Bayberry Trail - raise questions - what is the best estimate of the fund balance, actual fund balance as of today, what does Matt estimate underruns - what are you going to use for the fund balance for the budget. What to also know percentage of payroll for healthcare and pension. WPCA has a figure of 62% - have asked what makes up the 62%. you have 7.65% which is what we have to contribute. want to know what the percentage of healthcare and pension. on the BOE - pyublic should know they have 500,000 for retired people - people get 2x more sick and personal time - when they retire they get the pay. teachers is under a union contract. can do something about the noncertified. Secretary gets the same benefit. Town people and school people should get the same benefits. Surplus for BOE is used for pension (535,000) there is another item 470,000 that is still available - they are going to do another accounting on that at the end of May. Want to know what they are going to do with the 470,000 - that could help the budget.
6. Environmental Health & Safety Message
proclamation read recognizing the month of May as National Bike Month. Mayor Anwar read. Rob O'Connor from South Windsor Walk & Wheels came foreward - thanked the Council - this is a leadership program - 4th graders are being educated in bicycle safety as part of the school's curriculum. We are a bronze community. invited the council to a couple of events - May 7th ride your bike to school. Bike to work on May 16th, Bikeshop in SW - state wide ride. May 18th townwide bike ride. June 8th is CT Trails Day at Lawrence Road Park. All these items are on the website. Pendleton - address our bike folks - my child participated in the 4th grade program and learned a lot - thanked the committee Wagner - one of the things that happens is every year ther are a number of children who have not learned to ride a bike. We have been successful on teaching each of those children to ride. Anwar - mentioned this month is also skin cancer awareness month. Malinoma. use appropriate protection. COPD - stroke awareness month.
7. Adoption of Minutes of Previous Meetings
Yagaloff, Pendleton, unanimous
8. Public Petitions
9. Communications from Officers and Boards Directly Responsible to Council
Wagner - reiterate Open Space TAsk Force will be participating with the Trail Day on June 8th.
10. Reports from Standing Committees
11. Reports of Temporary Committees
12. Consent Agenda [All items listed with an asterisk (*) are considered to be routine by the Town Council and will be enacted by one Motion. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a Council member so requests, in which event the item will be removed from the General Order of Business and be considered in its normal sequence on the Agenda.]
13. Unfinished Business
14. New Business
A. Resolution Waiving Competitive Bidding for the Purchase of Technology Equipment
Haven - supend 14C, D, E, F and G forward, Prague second, unanimous
B. Resolution Waiving Competitive Bidding for the Purchase of a WatchGuard Server and Wireless Equipment
Prague, Snyder, unanimous
C. Resolution Adopting the Board of Education Budget for Fiscal Year 2014/2015
Pendleton, Havens Snyder - what was the BOA budget after 300,000 reduction? Galligan - 431,000 down. Snyder - this resolution is reducing by how much additional - above and beyond Galligan - 150,000 Snyder - has this been discussed with the superintendent? Anwar - no I have not. Snyder - the BOE 1.94% increase - when we had our work session they brought down 436,000 from healthcare savings. on top of that BOE has returned 203,000 from a security grant. Instead of board taking that money they are giving back to Town. BOE last week reduced by another 58,000. The TM last week took another 300,000 reduction - 1.94% budget they 997,000 - there was another 700,000 of healthcare from last year that was available to the Town. AT the end of the day the BOE went from 1.94 to .85% after the additional 300,000. Now we want to go back and take antoher 150,000 out of the budget. Galligan - correct Snyder - and no one has talked to the superintendent Galligan - not that I am aware of Snyder - it bothers me that we are handed this and only had one budget work session - handed this paper taking anothr 150,000 out of the board budget that they did not know about. This is very unsettling. The Town budget increases budget 8.33% Galligan - 8.33% Snyder - Town budget changed from last year is up 8.33% Galligna - 1M is capital which is on my side of the budget. Snyder - if you take 1M out of that what would be the increase? Anwar - because of the relation of the two budgets with eachother it is good to have conversations on both budgets. Snyder - 9.2% increase on the Town side and 1.94% increase on the BOE budget. Galligan - 3.74% for town - took out debt and capital Snyder - 600,000 Galligan - all debt is for board and town - has to be covered under the town budget. Snyder - very upset that council would decrease the board of education's budget even further. I think what I am worried about is the terrible way we have hacked away from the town side - the council is now started to hack away at the board side of the budget. It will start to erode - they did not target cutting sports, etc. If there is another 150,000 reduction, same on us when they have already given back. The town council does not have the understanding of what those ramifications are. Yagaloff - we have a good superintendent of schools. referendum passed with a large majority. BOE is a high functioning group. the turnabout in the BOE is a reflection of the team that is working together. They brought in low budget requst and recognize the specific needs. came with realistic numbers. although some people believe the economy has turned but it has not and the way this effects taxes - ther has been growth in the grand list but not in the real property growth and that is the way you tell the economy is getting better. This year's growth came from vehicles and perosnal property, not from real property. any tax increase in the grand list is going into motor vehicles. from my perspective we are still looking at tough economy. when looking at board budget we recognize that Dr. Carter had found 400,000 and also came back with 300,000 proposed cut. this is an additional cut. 150,000 is 0.2% of the budget. We know that 0.2% hurts because 150,000 is real money. at the same time the town side is real money also. The change tonight is small but is relevant. 0.2% we feel the Board can afford. Next year is entirely a different situation. Think is is a fair budget and willing to support. Mirek - What is the percentag eof increase in the proposed on the town side? Anwar - when we started the conversations, we want to keep it at 1.5% - we feel that the last year's budget was challenging for the community. We wanted to cap is at 1.5%. After conversations it turns out that the percentage is 1.75%. $1M in capital which is a decrease of 400,000. in the whole process making sure we get a police officer - we have no choice - need to keep cap on the taxes this is why we feel more of a cut from the BOE is necessary. We wish we were not in a fiscal challenge on the Town side that we need to make up for. Needs on Town side is higher this year. Mirek - we sat down and came up with other cuts to keep the Boards budget. Superintendent was making a concession with the 300,000. if we have this amount of cuts there will be larger expenditures next year. Think thi sis going to hurt the transparency on the Town side. $700,000 of unexpended funds that was still there. We are picking apart their budget and do not know how this will effect them. Should not be done. I don't support it. Wagner - I hear from two departments tht work very hard for the town that people are working long hours. I get concerned about their safety. Town is understaffed. the work load has increased. There is a vacant secretary posiiotn in Parks & Rec - they need someone to be a supervisor for special needs program. We feel that is a position tha tneeds to be funded. Town and Capital there are changes to the pool. repairs are necessary to keep water clean and reduce the chemical use. we are also going to paying for member of the sewer facility side to share service to help take care of pool. One of the areas - inspecting the fields and the turf - we can give one of the maintenance techs to be able to become a specialist of the turf. in addition cut down on the number of overtime. This offsets an outside contractor. Public Works - Executive Secretary - also Fleet Manager - replenish salt Prague - Capital Improvement, 432,000 it or is there more? Anwar - 832,000 Galligna - that is the increase from what I put into the budget. Prague - 350,000 in health Galligan - Linberg comes up with what should be in the budget. Ordinance says supposed to stay with fund. We created municipal fund by ordinance. this year I will be underbudget by 200,000 to 250,000 - 350,00 was already there - 350,000 to reduce the budget. Prague - you robbed 350,000 twice? Galligan - 700,000 from last year - 350,000 first year and 350,000 this year Prague - 3 months of reserves? Galligan - my payments are 2.5M - Prague - you borrowed 350,000 twice Galligan - I have a council here that does not want to cut the budget - you reduce to keep the budget impact to a minimum. Prague - since I believe this money was taken inappropriately - will vote against the BOE budget because I feel the BOE should get more. Galligan - 350,000 has nothing to do with the BOE budget. Havens - Have seen budget increases of 5-8% - there was a reason for that type of growth and that is because there was a need for it. go through this process and everyone can not get what they want. Have to compromise and cut. We have cut the Town Manager's budget. In the past have heard that the Council has given the Board too much money. There are many needs and can not fund everything. People can not pay their fuel bills - heating - electricity - this is a fair budget and should not be considered not fair. will support budget. Council should support Delnicki - last year was a watershed event had unanimously approved budget. Health fund crissi - 700,000 was taken - we are seeing the benefits of the 700,000 agreement this year. .8% - down to 0.63% increase - we will never see that again. I am concerned that there was not any buy in on the 150,000. was delighted to see buy in of the 300,000. an additional 150,000 is a concern. do we plan to take comments from the Board of Education. Anwar - we could if that would help the conversation. Pendleton - appreciate the BOE and Superintendent. I did ask Dr. Carter if she could live with a 0 and she said yes. The approach I took was safety, security, ---------needs and wants. We had to make critical choices. BOE is getting 99.35% of what they asked for. Anwar - just want to mention a couple of things. I think it is important for us as a community is that it is not about BOE versus the Town. There are difficult choices. The best choice may make everyone leave here upset. We had a position - people said they wanted to support Capital - SW was the last town in the Stateo fCT to fund their Capital Projects. we have to take care of our responsibilities. need to put resources back into what needs to be done. we did not have enough in our salt budget. we need to have police officers. This is one community and need to have the resource allocation. Everyone knows what the towns needs, trying to get there may be a challenge. Galligan - 10/11 reqeust from 1.1M - 11/12 - board 1M - cut by 400,000 town 1.5 cut by 4400 I am asking for items to be put back in the budget is because it is needed. asking htis year would like to see some items put back in the budget. We are working with less and have made it work. Snyder - do not begrudge the Town at all. I have no problem putting items back in. Apparently this document that was handed to us tonight, they want to keep tax increase at 1.75%. If we were to now cut 150,000 out of any budget what would the tax rate be? Snyder some of us do not want ot take 150,000 from Board and do not want to take it from the Town. Yagaloff - 1.96% Snyder if we say we don't want to reduce Galligan - 1.92% Snyder - how much more is that $128.10 - Galligan - average house 300,00 - 12.50 per year over the 175.00 Snyder - I would ask the council - shame on us for reducing the BOE budget. Answer - we want to give a break to the taxpayers. the reason we have to start off with what people can afford. there are over 500 seniors that pay 1,000 more. Snyder - don't cut the board budget and don't cut the Town budget. their budget has been cut 50%. Yagaloff - I have been someone who has put pressure on the organization. over the last 3-4 years we have done that. the excess got squeezed out. I don't want to go any further - already went from 1.5% to 1.75%. If we give the Board the 150,000 we are going to have to take from the Town. I am comfortable with the budget. Don't want to increase the taxes any further. Prague - Superintendent was not happy to cut by 300,000. She will do what the Council asks her to but she was hoping not to have to. the budget has been cut 50% from the original request. The salt shed was refilled several times 2012/2013. in 1967 we had garbage pickup and that is why we had so many employees. Galligna - it was private then. Town did contract because it was cheaper. We have no supervisors that watch trash pick up. how many miles of road 140 miles Prague - I think back in 1968 Prague - Was 86 miles? yes Joy - 100 Bramlebrae - we have not met to talk about your proposal. I am concerned about the message send to our community. Responsibolities/contracts - we it is disheartening - think about next year - it is goin gto be a steep climb next year. we have changed the way we have done buisness. Next year will be a steep climb. We did a lot for you next year, please remember that next year. Craig Zimmerman - 5A Amato Drive - the nine of you have a tough job. I heard compromise, fairness, question about what public thinks about 1.94% - may be one person came to speak against but don't remembers. 0% increase , Dr. Carter said, schools would not close, not we coudl do it. currenlty the discussion is we are talking about 3.8% versus .63% for Board - since both propsals brought forward - when propsals came to superintendent and town - 3.7M decrease BOE - Town 900,000 decrease. we are talking about spending additionl 2.4M - current discussion is spend 2M on town side. 400,000 on board side. Board is 2/3rds of the total budget - spend 1/6th of the increase. Anwar - it is worthwhile to talk about what is the propsal on the town side. we have already touched on it. Park & Rec - salary adjustments, turf manager, Special Needs Supervisor, Public Works - increase salt budget, Fleet Manager (start Jan 1), Rolling stock budget increase (300,000) Police Dept. - 43 officers (one position) Emergency Management fund 15,000 IT - capital projects - fiber options started (grant) position change (have new position after someone left, upgrade) Economic Development Coordinator funded (50,000) Fire Dept - Human Services - another driver - (trying to accomodate seniors) department has been restructured - 3 people upgrade - but still have reduction in that budget Fire Marshal - put things back to where it was - Health Dept. - put restaurants back in - inspection 1M capital improvements Fund balance - 1M - 6.6M total fund balance 6.7% of the budget Anwar - fund balance that we are using - 1M this year Galligan - 400,000 that we know is coming back to fund balance this year. One of the things - will look at sewer fund. required contribution 5-4 passed
D. Resolution Adopting the Budget for the Special Revenue Recreation Fund for Fiscal Year 2014/2015
Wagner, Delnicki, Galligan - no revenue, based on taxes unanimous
E. Resolution Adopting the General Government Budget for Fiscal Year 2014/2015
Yagaloff, WAgner, Wagner - Council approves the total budget but approves individual. include this in the record Yagaloff - you worked very hard on this budget. Delnicki - last year 34.8M, this year 37.7M - increase of 3M in spending - in 833,000 in cap - $2 M in spending. Anwar - 600,000 also as part of debt service Delnicki - we have one time revenues - 200,000 board of ed, 300,000 from board of ed, how many position has been either new or returned to the budget. We went through tough econimic times - we right sized staff. we have lost those economy's in this budget. new police officer good, we have stepped away from right sizing government and wan to know where it is going to end. 9.2% increase - there will be holes in revenue next year that will need to be filled with revenue. Havens - do not hear complaints about services provided. Mattt doing good joib, will support the budget. Prague - the rest is too high. Can we think outside the box - not hire Maintainer I Galligan - we do have kids who come in during the summer. double the things to take care of. position is needed. Prague - suggest considering for November election - 10M referendum for capital projects. Our roads are falling apart. If we keeping funding capital project $1M at a time we will be no where. Is Mr. Caldwell par of this equalization of rate? Galligan - no Prague - amendmen to put 18,000 in budget. Snyder seconded Prague - I think John has gone too long to not being equal to everyone else. he is vastly underpaid. increase Galligan - when do evaluations will sit down and look at. Anwar - there is a mechanism that is done through Matt's office. There is funding in the budget - will not vote in increasing the budget further. There is a way to take care of it inside. Yagaloff - we have another situation - I think the TM is aware of these situations and will be done with existing funds. Think can be done within the budget. Galligan - will manage in the existing budget. Yagaloff - the concept is to allow the TM to make appropriate decisions. next year will have to absorb in budget. do no want to do just one when there are others. rather do it off line through TM Delnicki - this is terrible public policy. there is a process - can' support and have to go back to the process for everyone. Prague - withdraw amendment, second withdrawn Mirek - capital projects - wondering - having referendum for capital - what happens if any unexpended funds on the town side? Galligan - can't take it out. what we have done in the past - we have prior projects - Mirek - seems to fully fund is sacrificing a lot of other things. Snyder - on the sheet we received tonight - PW STreet Service - reduction of 100,000 Galligan - Street maintenance readjust. will work that out. Snyder - Fire Dept. increases on salaries Galligan - no control on increases - took 25,000 out - only town council can approve/deny Snyder - Human SErvices - funding everything they asked for Galligan - yes - 2 members - overall budget down by 18,000 Snyder - right sizing the remaining two? Galligan - yes they will get it in July. Snyder - police equipment - chief talked about replacing vehicle - do we have rolling stock equipment with police dept. Galligan - that will be purchase, not lease - only unmarked we lease. Snyder - 22,900 increase - change over with vehicles Galligna - yes Snyder - what are we not fudnign? part time person accreditation and part time person for animal control Snyder - we should be supporting that. - should consider down the line. Wagner - remind everyone how much of the key features are towards safety. huge fraction in the increase is towards safety of community. referendumn for cpaital projects - keep in mind that it is still coming out of the budget. Anwar - rather call it an infrastructure bond. really have no funds for infrastructure components. Infrastructure bond would be a good idea. Pendleton - compliment you on the budget. we have an excellent staff. thanked Dennis for his service. safety, security, critical needs and wants, we are not working with full staff - there are about 8 vacancies. everyone shares the work cooperatively. proud of our town - support budget. Delnicki - letter received - read into record - Mirek - hard to tell what is in the budget as far as raises. Anwar - in order to have raises - one is union and the other is other levels. there is an internal evaluation. Galligan - usually town council puts a limit of 2%. majority close to that. by Juen people will know where they are. union by contract Mirek - proposals for title change - HR Coordinatory as well as IT - Galligan - that is in the budget - went to CCM to get comparison Director of HR - that was a position that we did have - received her masters - also taking courses with Cornell 8-1 passed
F. Resolution Setting the Tax Rate for Fiscal Year 2014/2015
Wagner, Pendleon unanimous
G. Resolution Appointing a Rate Maker for Fiscal Year 2014/2015 and the Tabling of Same
Snyder - Delnicki unanimous
H. Resolution Approving a Refund of Taxes to Seven (7) South Windsor Taxpayers
Pendleton, Delnicki, unanimous
A. Resolution Waiving Competitive Bidding for the Purchase of Technology Equipment
Delnicki - Anwar Galligan - went out to competitive bidding and found out that the state contract was cheaper - unanimous
15. Passage of Ordinance
16. Communications and Reports from Town Manager [Per Town Council Rules, this segment of the meeting shall not exceed ten (10) minutes unless extended by the Mayor, with the consent of a majority of the Council.]
Galligan - did have petition to remove SWAC - read letter into record - revoked and allow ASM to provide. Thanked Councilor Yagaloff for his testimony. Bill was approved on EMS providers. Yagaloff - this have been almost two years of effort to make change in ambulance service. the Town Council stuck by this issue. Town Maanger stucdk by this issue. . TA did a wonderful job. When the hearing officer made determineation to suspend PSA for SWAC - town is going to have ASM provide ambulance service in town. Anwar - sad day also SWAC has been a part of this community for a long tim.e
17. Public Input [Per Town Council Rules, this segment of the meeting shall not exceed thirty (30) minutes unless extended by the Mayor, with the consent of a majority of the Town Council.]
Don Gonsalves, 40 Bayberry Trail - not one person asked - underrunning 480,000 - they will determine - concerned 150,000 and no one raised issue regarding 480,000. Property taxes in this region are the highest. The nation wide is less - other states are going to take new jobs. tax base too high to stay.
16 Foxbor Lane - I have been at the capital - our tonw is an example for all of the other towns. Our town is one of the first to have the people come together - thank you for fighting for our community.
18. Communications and Petitions from Council [Per Town Council Rules, this segment of the meeting shall not exceed twenty (20) minutes unless extended by the Mayor, with the consent of a majority of the Council.]
Liz - compliment Matt and Keith - thank you. SWS High School ranked as 1,362 out of 19,000 schools.
19. Executive Session
Delnicki - moiton to go into executive session Pendleton TM and Chief of Police at 9:51 p.m.
20. Adjournment
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