BOARD OF FINANCE
Minutes of the April 7, 2009 Special Meeting
Board Members Present: Cornelius O’Leary, Andrew Kulas, Jeffrey Krug,
Douglas Glazier, Ronald King, Michael Ciarcia and
Sandra Ferrari
Town Staff Present: Barbara Bertrand
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Chairman O’Leary called the meeting to order at 6:30 pm.
PUBLIC INPUT:
There was none.
BUDGET APPEALS:
a. Youth Services
Kate Barnard and First Selectman Wawruck were present.
Chairman O’Leary noted that all of the Board members had received Ms. Barnard’s letter and thanked her for submitting it.
Ms. Barnard stated that she was at the meeting that evening to appeal one item in the Youth Services’ budget; the Salary and Wages for the Director position. She went on to say that over the past year there had been a lot of collaboration with Town agencies, i.e. Park and Recreation, Social Services, Senior Services, and Windsor Locks Public Schools. She then pointed out that they had worked to increase visibility for Youth Services.
Ms. Barnard commented that they were trying to be as fiscally responsible as they could. She then explained that during the past year they had a budget of $12,600 for programs and that they had served 101 individual participants and 1,557 group participants. She noted that the average cost per participant was $7.60.
Ms. Barnard stated that she had been able to secure the following additional funds over the past year:
- $5,000 Enhancement Grant from the State Department of Education;
- $250 from the Rotary Club;
- $1,200 from the Capital Area Substance Abuse Council; and
- $3,000 from the LEGO Children’s Fund.
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She went on to say that they were also looking for additional funding sources and that they had recently submitted a grant application for $10,000 in a joint effort with the Police Department.
Chairman O’Leary commented that the fact that they were seeking outside funds was especially appreciated and that Ms. Barnard should be commended for doing so.
Ms. Barnard stated that she was concerned with the level of stress that parents were currently under and the fact that it could negatively impact the youth, family and home environment. She went on to say that stress could also lead to other issues such as depression, anger management issues, substance abuse, self-harm and violence. Ms. Barnard noted that they had surveyed high school and middle school students over the past year and that they had identified substance abuse and emotional well-being as the number one issues that they felt were affecting the youth of Windsor Locks.
Ms. Barnard commented that Youth Services was a valuable asset that had been somewhat overlooked in the past. She went on to say that they had adopted a three year strategic plan. She then highlighted the following from that plan:
- develop a Youth Commission;
- create a leadership conference;
- develop volunteer policy, application, and procedures;
- Advisory Board development;
- website design, management, and creation of web-based applications and tools;
- marketing Youth Services programs;
- increase outside grant funding to 15% of its total budget by 2012;
- more effective data collection methods;
- develop data evaluation instruments that promote Results Based Accountability
(RBA) practices;
Ms. Barnard noted that that was what the State Department of Education was charging them with; they were enforcing that all Youth Services Bureaus attend mandated training.
- develop a minimum of five annual programs that provide positive youth
development opportunities; and
- reduce the number of students reporting on Youth Services surveys that substance
abuse issues were the largest concern for Windsor Locks youth by 25%.
First Selectman Wawruck commented that when Ms. Barnard had come on board as the Youth Services Director they had a Youth Service Board that was in name only. He went on to say that there were only two or three members that showed up on a regular basis and that there was no regular meeting schedule. Mr. Wawruck
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acknowledged Ms. Barnard’s achievements (securing the grants, the resurrection of a very active Board, developing a mission statement and goals, the types of programs and the number of students and parents active in those programs) and stated that it was a much needed service in Town. He then noted that it was also being tracked at the State level, something that had not been done before.
First Selectman Wawruck stated that Ms. Barnard had been at work on her own time and that she had bought into the concept of reaching out to the children and their parents. He went on to say that she had collaborated with the Board of Education and the Senior Center on many of the activities. He then noted that Ms. Barnard was one of the most successful the Town had for grant writing purposes. Mr. Wawruck urged the Board to make Ms. Barnard’s position a full-time position or at least increase it in increments, five hours this year and five the following year.
Chairman O’Leary asked the Board members for any questions. Mr. Glazier asked Ms. Barnard if she received feedback from the parents after a program indicating that they had seen a difference in their child. Ms. Barnard replied that in the past there had not been any follow-up after a program, but that they had started distributing surveys after the Adventure Bound Program and that the parents were seeing improvements at home, with homework, chores and being more responsible.
Chairman O’Leary clarified that Ms. Barnard was looking for $16,000 to be added back into the budget to bring her salary up to the full-time level. Ms. Barnard stated that that was correct. Mr. O’Leary then asked how many hours she currently worked. Ms. Barnard replied that she currently worked 25 hours per week. Mr. O’Leary asked what that would go to. Ms. Barnard replied that it would go to 35 hours per week.
Chairman O’Leary asked for any public comments regarding the Youth Services appeal.
Hallie Wong, member of the Youth Advisory Board, addressed the Board and stated that Ms. Barnard was doing a fantastic job. He went on to say that in order to go forward with the strategies that they had for the Town they really needed a full-time Director. He then pointed out that although Ms. Barnard was getting paid for 25 hours, she was working 35 hours.
Dr. Gregory Little, Superintendent of Schools, addressed the Board and stated that, from the perspective of the Board of Education and all of the principals, Ms. Barnard had truly collaborated with all of the school administrators, teachers, counseling staff, after school programs and the Shattered Dream Program. He went on to say that at every turn Ms. Barnard had been there surveying the students and working with the
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principals. Dr. Little reiterated that Ms. Barnard was serving the youth of Windsor Locks and that they were working together as a team. He concluded by saying that any additional time would be put to good use in the Town and that he fully supported her position.
Chairman O’Leary stated that it was unfortunate that the Board had had to cut a number of budgets because of the year’s situation. He went on to say that the Board recognized the good work that Ms. Barnard was doing and that they did not want anyone to feel that the reductions were any reflection on the people performing the tasks.
b. Ambulance
David Renouf, Hallie Wong, and Steve Molinari were present.
Mr. Renouf distributed a letter to the Board members and staff. He then stated that he would limit his comments to the comments that had been made by the Board as the rationale for the cuts that had been made. Mr. Renouf then noted that the Board had suggested that the line item for payroll expenses be held to no increase from the 2008/09 amount along with a pro rata adjustment to the payroll tax expense line item. He went on to say that it had amounted to a reduction request of $22,400 which the Board had then rounded up to $30,000. He then commented that the Board had also mentioned that the shortfall caused by the reduction could be paid out of the savings and made up in another year. Mr. Renouf responded to that reduction and the Board’s rationale for it by saying that the Ambulance’s payroll was very different than many of the other Town functions. He explained that it was affected by many things that were beyond their control; a mix of the Paramedics, EMTs (what talent was available based on the salary amounts they could offer), a mix of the number and type of calls that came in, and call volume variations. Mr. Renouf stated that there were situations in payroll when they would have to pay overtime because they were covering additional calls and that that could actually be a positive thing. He then reiterated that it was very different from the rest of the Town payroll. He then commented that they were not expecting any large swings, but that there were changes that would happen.
Mr. Renouf stated that holding the increase in salary based upon the budget that had been prepared in January, 2008 was not a realistic way of looking at it. He went on to say that they should look at how the payroll was actually running for the 39 weeks that they had had and then project it forward for the next 13 weeks. Mr. Renouf stated that a more accurate projection for the salary and wages would be $467,030.
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He then commented that for payroll taxes they generally used a percent of the gross pay, but that some factors such as unemployment had gone up and therefore the rates had been increased. Mr. Renouf stated that they would not be getting much of a reduction in payroll taxes (a $474 reduction). He went on to say that the total of the two adjustments was $14,644 less than had been originally proposed.
Mr. Renouf referred to a comment that had been made by the Board that the shortfall in the budget could be paid out of savings and possibly made up in a subsequent year, but then pointed out that they knew that they had to save money and that every three or four years they had to purchase an ambulance. He explained that their goal had always been to have the operations steady where they could save money towards the ambulance replacement rather than operating on a shoestring and then needing $130,000 in a relatively short amount of time to purchase an ambulance. He commented that it was a bad policy to spend money out of savings just to pay for their operating budget as opposed to saving towards the ambulance, especially with the uncertainty of future budgets.
Mr. Renouf referred to a comment that had been made by the Board that the Ambulance was supposed to be decreasing their reliance on Town funding and stated that he found that comment a little troubling, because they had decreased the use of Town funding. He explained that from the first year that they had gone to the Town for funding to the present they had reduced the Town’s contribution by $64,000. He went on to say that they had also come up with an extra $40,000 of their own savings to put toward the most recent ambulance that had been purchased, reducing the Town’s contribution to the ambulance from $80,000 to $40,000. Mr. Renouf commented that their goal was still to wean off of Town funding, but that it may not be achievable as was the case in many towns.
Mr. Renouf suggested that they compromise and agreed to eliminate payroll and payroll tax increases which would be a reduction of $15,000 from what had originally been requested; the total budget would go from $68,000 to $53,000.
Chairman O’Leary thanked Mr. Renouf and commented that they were moving in the right direction. He then clarified that the Board had eliminated $30,000 from the Ambulance budget, but that Mr. Renouf was saying that they could live with $15,000 added back into their budget. Mr. Renouf stated that that was correct.
Chairman O’Leary asked the Board members for any questions. Mr. Glazier commented that he wanted to compliment the entire Ambulance Corp for the good job that they did and reiterated that over the years the Town funding had gone down.
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Chairman O’Leary asked for any public comments regarding the Ambulance. There were none.
c. Town Clerk
There was no one present from the Town Clerk’s Office.
First Selectman Wawruck informed the Board that Bill Hamel, Town Clerk, could not make it that evening due to a family emergency. He went on to say that Mr. Hamel had planned on appealing the part-time position reduction, because of the situation that was occurring they needed the part-timer to fill in.
Chairman O’Leary asked for any further comments. There were none.
d. Park and Recreation
David Farr was present and distributed two hand-outs to the Board members and staff.
Mr. Farr stated that he was there that evening to appeal one item, but that realistically he should be appealing three items. He went on to say that he was appealing the Salary and Wage line item for the summer help. He then explained that the minimum wage had gone up on January 1, 2009 and that it would be going up again on January 1, 2010. Mr. Farr stated that they would need a 1% increase to meet the minimum wage.