2026-09-08 - Board of Finance

00:007 o'clock. So, call the me and daughter.

00:03Welcome back, everyone. Hope you had a

00:06wonderful summer.

00:10>> We will proceed. Um,

00:14would you do the roll call, Michelle?

00:15>> Sure. Uh, Michael Dherty,

00:18>> present.

00:18>> Fred Mura

00:19>> here.

00:20>> Bill Perzo

00:21>> here.

00:21>> Jeff Keller

00:22>> here.

00:23>> Ivar McDonald

00:24>> here.

00:25>> Marilyn Barker

00:26>> here. Wendy Costa

00:28>> here. and Margaret William who is

00:31attending remotely.

00:32>> She says here

00:33>> she's here.

00:34>> Okay. Very good. So we have a full board

00:38anyway. So we'll need to seat an

00:41alternate which is item three. Uh next

00:45item of business would be to approve the

00:47minutes from the June 9th, 2026

00:51regular meeting. Do we have a motion to

00:54approve?

00:55>> So move.

00:56>> Do we have a second? Second.

00:58>> All right.

00:59>> And Karen, thanks for getting them out

01:01early.

01:02>> Very welcome.

01:04>> Any uh discussion? Uh omissions,

01:08additions, whatever.

01:12>> Um

01:16>> could you just correct the spelling of

01:17my name? [laughter]

01:20>> We could get that done.

01:21>> Thank you.

01:22>> Yes, of course.

01:23>> But we know who you are. It was like

01:25that last round. So,

01:27>> okay.

01:29[laughter]

01:30>> Is it Is it correct on your budget book?

01:32>> It is. Yes.

01:33>> Oh, okay.

01:34>> That's all that counts.

01:37>> What's that? I'll get you my shot.

01:42>> All right. Anything else? Anyone

01:48hearing? None.

01:53>> Jeffrey, how do you vote? Hi

01:55>> I Mark.

01:56>> Hi

01:57>> Fred.

01:57>> Hi.

01:58>> I vote I Marilyn I mean n.

02:02>> Who are you?

02:04>> I bill. Okay. So the motion carries.

02:09>> All right. Public comment.

02:11All you people back here [laughter] got

02:13anything to say now?

02:16You have to pick one.

02:20All right. We'll move on to old business

02:24uh update from the

02:27state. Do we have anything?

02:29>> I do. Um [clears throat] so first I

02:31wanted to just say that I had submitted

02:34the second request for reimbursement for

02:36the urban development grant for the fire

02:38department exhaust systems.

02:41>> And instead of nine months, we got it in

02:43like a month. So we have been fully

02:45reimbursed. That money is going to be

02:48staying in CNR and I think we should

02:51just leave it in undesated

02:53>> in case future projects come up we don't

02:56have to take from general fund service.

02:59>> Right.

03:00>> We also received the first I'm hoping of

03:04two supplemental aid. We were supposed

03:07to be getting like about 199,000 but we

03:09just received half from what I read.

03:12were supposed to get it by September

03:1430th

03:16and it [clears throat] should have been

03:17$199 and like $692, but I'm going to

03:22wait till the end of September. If we

03:24don't get it, I'll see what I can find

03:26out if

03:28we're not getting the whole amount now

03:30because that sometimes does happen. So,

03:33we have received 99,811

03:36from the supplemental

03:38state aid for education and municipal

03:43Is that half of the total?

03:45>> Yeah, exactly. Okay.

03:46>> Yep.

03:50>> All right.

03:51>> Uh that's about it right now on the

03:53state.

03:54>> Okay. Item B is uh update on the local

03:58bridge project.

04:00>> Uh Kenyonville is going to have a

04:02construction time in 2028. Uh there is

04:05going to be some issues there because

04:07there are only two alternates for

04:09detours. Both of which are on fairly

04:12long stretches of dirt road and Dadco

04:14does not go down dirt roads. So

04:17>> so parents going to be hauling their

04:18kids to the end of the street or I don't

04:20know how they're going to work it out

04:21but they'll get plenty of notice on it

04:23but it is going to be an issue moving

04:25forward for sure. Um, which road are

04:28there children on the further west side

04:32of

04:34>> the road?

04:36>> It's going to be closed off completely

04:38from 171 up.

04:40>> Um, so you're going to have to come up

04:41Crystal Pond either way.

04:44>> So they're closing the whole room.

04:46>> Yeah.

04:46>> Yeah.

04:47>> Yeah. With the box covers, it's not you

04:49can't do half or, you know, one land and

04:51the other land

04:55on bus road. There was some issues

04:58raised by the wetlands commission that

05:00has been dealt with. I'm waiting for one

05:03final ement to come back. I got two of

05:06the three complete. Hopefully I'll get

05:08that very soon. Um I've dealt with

05:11Frontier. They're all separated and

05:12moved to bowl as soon as that easement

05:14comes in.

05:15um that is going to go out to bid this

05:18fall and hopefully we'll get some good

05:20numbers and we'll go for a spring uh

05:22startup

05:24uh rebuilding that one, replacing that

05:26one. Albert Rock Road. Um

05:30we thought that was going to be an easy

05:31one. It's a 9 foot span,

05:35but due to the new 100redyear flood

05:37plane rules, it now is going to have to

05:40go closer to 20 ft because in case snow

05:44comes down to the arc, we need enough

05:46room to get underneath. So, this is

05:48>> um so now it's not going to be just a

05:51simple single box cover like we were

05:53hoping for. Um there is currently the

05:56bridge itself, the platform itself is in

05:58good shape. It's the stone abutments

06:00that it sits on. And because the world

06:03gets everything delivered these days,

06:06oil trucks, fire trucks, cassella, all

06:08these big trucks going down this road

06:10all the time, the stone abutments are

06:12starting to move a little bit. That's

06:14what the red flag was.

06:16>> Uh we have somebody coming out uh we

06:18just signed a contract last week. Uh we

06:21got a company coming out to do an

06:22inspection.

06:24We're hoping to do a single-sided pour

06:26on both of the abupments. that'll last a

06:28long time. It'll buy us quite a bit of

06:30time.

06:31>> The issue is what's underneath the

06:34water. We need to know what the base is.

06:36Uh that abutment that's been there for

06:39an awful long time is [clears throat]

06:40very positive that we will be able to do

06:43that, which would be great.

06:45>> But also the money that we're spending

06:46on that inspection

06:49would also go into the engineering for

06:52the final bridge design. So it's not

06:55like we're throwing money out. So, are

06:57you planning on doing test boring for

06:59the foundations?

07:01>> Yes,

07:03both sides and also into base right

07:06underneath the both of them.

07:08>> Okay.

07:09>> Um, but that's going to we're going to

07:12have to get into hydraulic analysis and

07:14analysis and all the rest of it. It goes

07:16to the next level. So, we're hoping that

07:17this inspection comes out clean.

07:22Does anybody have any questions,

07:24comments?

07:27I just want to speak a little bit on the

07:29financial side of all of this.

07:33[clears throat] So, we were under the

07:35impression that all the bridges that

07:36were under the federal bridge program

07:38are all 100% covered. 80% federal, 20%

07:42state. Well, we recently found out that

07:45we have to still pay for it all up

07:47front. And that's not what we were told

07:50in the beginning when we started the

07:52federal bridge program on Kenyonville.

07:55So, we had to put some of the other

07:56bridges on hold and we have to find a

08:00way. I mean, we have until 2028 and what

08:02I'm kind of hoping and leaning towards

08:05is once buts is done, whatever we get

08:08back for reimbursement.

08:10>> You just roll it.

08:11>> We'll hopefully be able to use that

08:15>> and then when Penionville is complete

08:17and we get reimbursed, then do Hopkins

08:20>> before we start any other federal. But

08:23either that or we're going to be trying

08:24to go out to bond for a lot of money.

08:26>> Right. We also had another issue come up

08:28and that was uh CHA

08:31is they originally had the state

08:33contract for all of these bridges.

08:35They're overwhelmed and they have now

08:38subbed out two of the four bridges in

08:40Woodstock to another company. That other

08:43company wanted to go now. So I had to

08:46put the brakes on. It took me some

08:48negotiations to make that happen. But uh

08:51I have gotten permission now to do one

08:53bridge complete, next bridge complete.

08:56>> We don't have the money. We need we need

08:58to get the money back before we can go

09:01on to another one.

09:03>> And how quick do you expect that?

09:06>> I mean I I'll be honest with you. So on

09:09the urban development grant which was

09:12225,000,

09:13>> right?

09:14>> It was like month nine and we still

09:17didn't get the first reimbursement. So,

09:19I reached out to Jeff Gordon and within

09:22a couple of weeks we got the money and

09:24I'm not sure if that's why the second

09:26installment came in so quickly. Um, so

09:29I'm hoping that, you know, he can help

09:31us get the money faster,

09:32>> but they don't give you any guidelines

09:34like after you do this within 60 or 90

09:36days.

09:37>> It's a percentage.

09:38>> It is a percentage, but we don't know.

09:40It depends on how fast they get the

09:42bills in. And once they hit 65% of the

09:45design,

09:46>> yeah,

09:46>> on paper,

09:48>> they will be able to give us a sheet as

09:50far as how much at this point, how much

09:53at that point with a timet so that we'll

09:55have a better handle on how that goes.

09:58>> John Guskowski just finished a bridge in

10:00this program down in Ledger and our land

10:03use officer and he said that the

10:05reimbursement was three or four weeks

10:07ago.

10:09>> That' be nice if it worked out that way.

10:13if you will.

10:15>> Yeah.

10:16>> Right.

10:17And so, so

10:20Kenyonville is the first one

10:22>> in the federal bridge.

10:23>> In the federal bridge,

10:24>> but Hopkins are in the state bridge

10:27program. That's the money we currently

10:29have

10:30>> that we went out for bond and permission

10:33on back in 2019. Since then those it was

10:38was Peak Brook buts and Hopkins and the

10:42prices quadrupled on Peakbrook. Can't

10:46imagine we don't know what the other

10:48bridges are going to do. So we only took

10:50out 2.5 million for this three bridges.

10:54First bridge was one almost 1.3 and we

10:57got 48% back. Now we don't now we have

11:01to do um buts and right now there's like

11:04a little over 2 million. So hopefully

11:06that'll be enough to cover and then

11:08we'll get 48% back to see where we stand

11:12before we even can go do another bridge.

11:15>> Great.

11:15>> So

11:20anyone else?

11:23>> Yeah.

11:25>> Okay. We'll move on. Thank you, Chen.

11:28All right, we'll move on to item seven

11:30business.

11:33Fiscal year 27 board of ed budget

11:36update. Do you have anything?

11:37>> I don't have anything. Dina is away and

11:39I think she worked out with you that

11:41she's presenting.

11:42>> They've got a meeting coming up.

11:44>> We have a meeting on Thursday.

11:45>> Yeah.

11:48>> This Thursday?

11:49>> Yes.

11:53>> Yeah. They have all their reports. I

11:56guess it just has to be approved by the

11:58board of

11:59>> ed first and then showed

12:01>> when when and where is your meeting?

12:03>> Uh 7:00 at the Woodstock Middle School

12:08>> and I'm sorry your name

12:09>> Sonia Green. Thank you so

12:18item B fiscal year 27 general government

12:21budget updates.

12:24don't really have much to update on the

12:25new budget yet and it's still very

12:28early. Um, do we have I mean other than

12:32just the auditors are coming in next

12:34week for the fiscal year 26 audit. Um,

12:40really about it other than one update is

12:43I'm working with banks for better

12:46interest. I'm going to be probably

12:47closing out some accounts at one bank

12:49and I worked with bank hometown to match

12:51it but they did better. So, We are now

12:54going to be getting 3% interest on our

12:56money markets.

12:58>> So that's a really good amount compared

13:00to 1.39

13:03>> is what we were one of our other banks.

13:05I mean they can't quite match our stiff

13:07account. So I keep most of the money in

13:09the stiff account which is short-term

13:10investments for the state.

13:12>> Um but that's at this point there's

13:15really not much to update right now.

13:21question there.

13:24All right.

13:27Next item. Senior name of board board

13:30finance representative to the town asset

13:33committee. Uh

13:35>> did you see the email? Did you see the

13:37email? I printed it for everybody.

13:39>> Yeah. I I see you put it in there. Which

13:42>> was a little late. So

13:43>> I got it when I was on my I was on my

13:45way. That's why I told Kate I would

13:48print it for her.

13:48>> But uh yeah, you have a a print out

13:51there within your packet on what it

13:54entails.

13:55>> Question.

13:56>> Yes.

13:57>> This talks about a joint facilities

13:58committee. Is that the same thing?

14:02>> They're calling it an asset.

14:04>> Yeah, it's it's what are they calling

14:06it?

14:07>> This email.

14:09>> Yeah. Yeah.

14:10>> Because off the outline of the joint

14:11facilities committee and we're talking

14:13about an assets committee that

14:15>> kind of different

14:17>> same thing different thing two

14:18committees.

14:19>> I'm going to say when Kate originally

14:21asked me to put this on your agenda she

14:25called it a town asset committee.

14:27>> Yeah. Yeah.

14:28>> It is the same thing. That's

14:29>> So this is the same

14:31thing. when she started it, I I was

14:34working with her on sort of what the

14:38what the commission that I had said on

14:41originally and I had given her a lot of

14:43information about it. It was joint

14:45facilities and so I think that that was

14:47how she started it and then she said,

14:49"No, we're going to make it mass and I

14:51think this just didn't get changed." I

14:53know that name was discussed when it was

14:55all first first brought up and it took

14:58quite some time to get it actually

15:00rolling,

15:01>> but they are calling it the town

15:04for sure.

15:06>> So,

15:08we have anyone that would be interested

15:11in serving upon that committee?

15:15>> Michelle, don't you retire?

15:18>> Give me a break. I've been retired for

15:20like eight hours.

15:22I would do that. You would do that.

15:24>> Yeah. And just to say, you know, I um

15:29spent

15:3115 years working

15:33specifically in one arena of facilities,

15:37but for the University of Connecticut

15:40for all sorts of stuff. I've been in

15:42enough buildings in and out.

15:47I have a fairly good knowledge. Would

15:48you agree, Jan?

15:50>> Absolutely. And I was hoping that you

15:52were going to put your hand up and thank

15:53you. Yeah.

15:54>> Okay. I really don't want to. I check my

15:58wife. I'm allowed.

16:03>> But I would be will you know it's I

16:06think one of one thing I've learned on

16:07this is how much I don't know like so

16:10many things in life. But that's an arena

16:12I think I can bring some help to. So I'm

16:15happy to do that.

16:16>> Well, we have a nomination for Phil

16:18Perezo.

16:19>> Second. We have a second hand debate.

16:22Anybody else?

16:25>> Any other any other nominations?

16:30>> Hearing none.

16:31>> Jeff

16:32>> I I

16:34>> I

16:36>> Michael

16:37>> Michelle

16:39>> I

16:40>> Bill myself.

16:43>> Well then I'll vote twice for you.

16:48The one thing that kept me from getting

16:50thrown out of my house that is four

16:52o'clock meeting.

16:54>> Yeah, the first meeting is scheduled for

16:564:00 Monday the 21st

17:01>> and I won't be here.

17:04>> It's too late. It's too late.

17:06>> No, no, no, no. I I promise you I'm not

17:09coming back. If if if I am available, I

17:13am willing to attend in my all the

17:17meetings anyway. But

17:19>> that's why you didn't take notes very

17:20well.

17:21>> I I I don't want to be on the committee

17:23because I want I can't commit to it

17:25because of

17:25>> just get me the what we're doing, where

17:28we're going, what the purpose is.

17:33>> Congratulations, Phil.

17:34>> Yeah, I'm pretty excited. Usually you

17:36don't get elected to something like that

17:37until you have to excuse yourself to use

17:40the restroom.

17:44>> Great.

17:46>> This is on

17:49We don't want to let all our secrets

17:51out.

17:51>> I didn't say anything. I

17:53>> I was super excited that this is gonna

17:56happen.

17:56>> Yeah. Yeah. I think it's important. So,

17:58it's it's a long time coming and there

18:01was a lot of work that went into the

18:02original Oh.

18:05project with the with the school to to

18:08look at that and

18:10I think going forward that that's

18:12probably one of the biggest priorities

18:15>> and one of our biggest assets. Yeah.

18:18>> So upcoming expenses. I agree.

18:21>> But uh you have a you have a good uh

18:23report to start working with right

18:26there.

18:27>> Yeah. Absolutely.

18:29>> Well, thank you, Phil.

18:31>> You're welcome. Uh we'll move on to item

18:33D which is the quarterly finance reports

18:36for the quarter ending June 30th. So the

18:40final quarter for [clears throat]

18:42>> Yep.

18:42>> last year's.

18:43>> So I'll start with the revenues. Um I

18:46think I gave everybody the profit. If

18:48you can see on page two under

18:51uncollected balance, it ends at a

18:53negative 57930296.

18:56That is how much more we collected than

18:59budgeted. So that should help grow your

19:01fund balance.

19:03Um [clears throat] some drivers in that

19:05was you know some extra um education

19:07cost sharing funds and a lot of extra

19:10collections and you know Norah's efforts

19:12for you know past due taxes and stuff

19:14like that. [clears throat]

19:16Building permits building permits are

19:21soaring out of control. I just it just

19:24seems like half the town is building or

19:26remodeling or something. So,

19:28>> how much of that is that's great. It is

19:30great.

19:30>> How much of that is solar?

19:32>> I don't have a percentage though, but we

19:34do get a lot.

19:35>> We do get a lot of solar.

19:38>> A lot of sheds, a lot of pools over the

19:41summer months, you know, additions,

19:42garages,

19:43>> right?

19:44>> But, um, so yeah, business for that is

19:47strong and it's bringing extra revenue.

19:50>> Just to let everybody know, the solar

19:52program has changed now. So everybody's

19:54been on the bandwagon of get solar, get

19:57remove that whole big program. Those

19:59funds are drying up. So

20:01>> over Yeah.

20:04>> Questions on the revenue.

20:06>> What's the line item in lie of taxes?

20:08What is that?

20:08>> That is a pilot program from the state

20:11and from in town. So payment in lie of

20:14taxes. We get a certain amount of money

20:17instead of them paying it through the t

20:19you know taxes on the property from the

20:21state. They give us a percentage portion

20:25as in lie of taxes like just money for

20:27us to be able to use but we don't go

20:29through the tax department and we also

20:31get the same thing from the Woodside

20:33housing authority.

20:35>> Um we get quarterly payments from them

20:37too. They don't pay taxes on the

20:39property.

20:44>> Anyone have any questions on that?

20:49anyone else?

20:52>> We'll go on to the expenditures.

20:58So, this year we um

21:02really only had a very small percentage

21:05of our budget left, which part of it is

21:07attributed to some line items that we

21:09didn't replenish with other funding. So

21:12we ended with a balance of $56,1353

21:17as a surplus on the expenditure part of

21:19our budget that has been attributed to

21:23number one. The biggest um department

21:25that was over was the contingency

21:28>> and we used all those funds for the

21:30middle school uh elementary school

21:32underground and above ground storage

21:34tank. Yep.

21:34>> It was voted on at town meeting to use

21:37CNR funds, but because we had other

21:41extra funding in our budget from other

21:43departments, it made more sense not to

21:46use CNR because we would have didn't

21:48have enough in our undesated. We'd have

21:51to take it out of the fund balance. So,

21:53this just instead of replenishing it

21:56with CNR funds, we're just going to ask

21:59for transfers from other department and

22:00break it even. So either way there would

22:04be money either going to the fund or

22:06coming out of the fund.

22:09>> Is there any action anybody has to take

22:12to under commitment that money?

22:15>> Okay.

22:16>> No.

22:16>> If you don't use it, it's just

22:17>> if you don't use it, you don't use it

22:19because it was up to the wording was up

22:21to a certain amount. Um,

22:25now that I got re got reimbursements

22:28though from another grant, now there'll

22:30be money in undesated CNR. So if another

22:32project comes up, but it just didn't

22:34make sense. It's just really all journal

22:36entries back and forth. So why keep

22:37taking from fund balance if we don't

22:39have to. The second one, um, the second

22:43largest overage was the highway

22:45department and that was all attributed

22:46to we had a very bad winter with lots of

22:50>> sand and salt. I think it was about

22:52122,000 over. We budgeted 120. We spent

22:56like 232,000

22:57just in sand and salt plus their

23:00overtime.

23:02Um

23:04we were over on

23:08public safety as a whole for the

23:10department, but it was really the um

23:12Nepod paramedic intercept. There was

23:14just more calls than that was actually

23:18budgeted based on what they sent us as

23:20an estimate.

23:22So, that being said, um I don't know if

23:24anybody has any questions or had time to

23:26look at this and then I will go over the

23:30transfers we're requesting.

23:36>> Everyone good?

23:36>> Yeah, she I read her email with the

23:39transfers and this just one question and

23:41I probably should know the answer, but

23:44what ever happened to the two

23:47I'm going to call them animal issues?

23:50Um, one of them has been absolved and is

23:53done. The other one is still ongoing.

23:56>> Which one?

23:57>> Donovan.

23:58>> The big one. The big one.

24:00>> Yeah. We've been getting about $2,000 in

24:03legal fees monthly.

24:05And we as long as as long as she has the

24:08money to keep appealing, it could go on

24:10for as long as she wants it to go on

24:12for. M

24:15>> off the top of your head, what was the

24:17final or where are you generally

24:20speaking? Plus or minus 10%.

24:23>> We still have money in the animal fund.

24:25Um I I want to say it's somewhere like

24:28around 20,000 or so. I didn't reimburse

24:32everything um from the last set, but I

24:35will tell you it's been to date 75,000

24:38in legal fees.

24:41and almost 16,000 in um NECOG.

24:47It would have been 37,000, but they were

24:50using a lean on the property with hopes

24:53to get some of that money back. So, they

24:55deducted it off of our bill.

24:56>> Did they?

24:57>> Yes.

24:58>> They've got a lean on her house in

24:59Woodstock and her house in Thompson.

25:01There are currently 23 dogs still in

25:04cages 25 months later. Okay.

25:06>> And there's over 50 animals that have

25:08been fostered.

25:11But unfortunately, as long as she keeps

25:13appealing and trying all these different

25:15legal tactics, this could go on for

25:18quite a while.

25:20Uh that's according to DOAG and the

25:23attorney's team.

25:24>> Well, I mean, you look at, you know,

25:28the bottle on us and now we are the

25:31defendant or the Niko is the defendant

25:34and she's the

25:41It's crazy.

25:43>> Yeah. When you look at the fact that,

25:45you know, a $75,000

25:47curveball to the down and then you're,

25:50you know, missed your budget by 56

25:53grand. Good for you. That's I wish I

25:56could budget my business that well, but

25:58it's doing a good job.

26:00>> Shout out to Howerins,

26:02>> right?

26:04We get bills for 7,200 bucks.

26:06>> Oh, yeah. minus professional discount

26:085,000. So they really

26:11>> yeah done what the candidate

26:15>> but they still got a

26:16>> I mean the $2,000 bills they can't

26:18really do much with but seven eight

26:20$9,000 ones they they have

26:23>> gone out of their way to help us out.

26:25>> Yep. And now we're being constantly um

26:28foied.

26:29>> Oh god

26:31>> by her

26:32>> Yeah.

26:33somebody else. It just

26:36keep asking for the same things over and

26:38over,

26:39>> which all has a cost.

26:41>> It's not it's not it's not an obvious

26:44>> it's just it's really a timing cost,

26:47>> right?

26:48>> Because you're wasting an awful lot of

26:50time to do things like that that

26:53shouldn't be necessary and so other

26:56things suffer in the meantime.

26:57[clears throat]

26:58>> Yeah. They're asking for all

27:00correspondence between myself and me

27:02going back to four years.

27:03>> Yeah.

27:06>> Yeah.

27:08>> Okay. Anything else?

27:13>> Thank you. And uh yes, thank you very

27:16much. And we will have uh next month we

27:18will have the uh report the pending

27:22report for the uh board of ed.

27:25Uh so we'll move on to item E.

27:29You're in transfers.

27:31[clears throat]

27:32>> So, you did actually get a breakdown

27:36both in my letter, email, and

27:40>> spreadsheet. I don't know if you want me

27:42to go over them line by line.

27:44>> Would you prefer I do that?

27:46>> Uh,

27:47>> just for record,

27:48>> anybody want that? I mean if if you

27:52think it's necessary to be out there we

27:55could just

27:56>> put this on the website attach this to

27:59the minutes

28:00>> attach it to the attach it to the

28:02minutes. Okay.

28:04>> All right. So [clears throat] basically

28:06um altogether in department transit is

28:101093461

28:14and I'm just going to give you the

28:15overages just so it is on record. Um, so

28:18contingency was over by $81,900.17.

28:24Um, [clears throat]

28:29sorry. Paramedic Intercept, which is

28:31through NECOD services, was

28:33[clears throat] over by $4,71743.

28:39The highway department was over by

28:41$22,345.32.

28:48and um Cotney Hill Environmental $7169.

28:53So I'm taking money from our current

28:56budget. I take that back from the fiscal

28:59year 26 budget that was voted on at

29:01referendum.

29:02>> Yeah. Yeah.

29:03>> The departments that had overages or

29:07surpluses will use those funds to

29:09transfer them to these items and it will

29:12bring those budgets to a zero. So then

29:15there's no actual overage, but it

29:17doesn't change that we still have 56,363

29:21[clears throat]

29:23left.

29:25>> And then I'm asking for 10,000

29:29actually 10,000 from surplus to go into

29:32our um employee benefit. Every year we

29:37have to give out benefits to people's

29:39per contract or due to you know the

29:42highway department their contract says

29:45excuse me [clears throat] if they didn't

29:46use all of their comp time we have to

29:47pay them out before the end of the year

29:49right

29:50>> things like that so it's down it's it's

29:52right now it's down to about 40,000 and

29:54we have about 56,000 in actual liability

29:59but I don't foresee everybody leaving

30:02tomorrow and getting paid out 56,000 so

30:04I'm just kind

30:06with it.

30:06>> Yeah.

30:07>> And I have those records. If anybody

30:09wants I can email them. There's two

30:10different records. There's one for

30:12budgetary purposes and then there's one

30:13for reporting with the state. The state

30:16is like 80,000, but that's not

30:18technically what we owe. It's a new

30:19formula that they wanted to calculate.

30:22So, it looks like it's more than it is,

30:24but it's not. It's literally the state

30:27came up with this new reporting last

30:28year and they want us to come up with an

30:32average. I know that I think um Dina

30:35went through this too with how it was

30:37reported. So they basically want us to

30:39guesstimate how much time we think

30:41people are going to take while they're

30:42still here before we have to pay them

30:44out and then they do a an average and

30:47it's just for reporting purposes. It's

30:50it's not that. But I'd be more than

30:52happy to email if anybody would love to

30:54look at it. You're more than welcome.

30:56>> So I I don't want to look at it, but I

30:57just want I have a clarifying question

30:59that I

31:00>> I so don't understand it. No, just just

31:02at at a at a high level.

31:04>> Okay.

31:04>> Right. That

31:07>> you said that that fund has around

31:1040,000.

31:11>> Yeah. Like around around

31:14>> and you want to supplement that with

31:16another 10,000 from surplus. Y

31:18>> which will bring us to around 50,000.

31:21>> And a target that we have might be

31:23around 56. Correct. So it gets us close

31:25to that target.

31:26>> Yes.

31:27>> Okay. I just just wanted to make

31:30>> a little bit each year. Yep.

31:32>> Yeah. Just trying to do a little bit

31:33each year to keep it in there as we

31:35spend some down every year, too. So,

31:37>> and just because this is my first time

31:39going through this process, I think I

31:41followed, but I just want to say it out

31:43loud for confirmation. So, in terms of

31:46the transfers overall, we had I guess

31:49four departments that were over budget.

31:51>> Correct.

31:52>> And that overage was a total of 109,000.

31:56fresh [clears throat]

31:58>> and the rest of all the departments were

32:01under budget by

32:0566,000 something like that.

32:08>> And so we take the first chunk that's

32:10the overage transfer that to which is

32:12what we're discussing transfer that to

32:14the ones that are over and the rest is

32:16that 56 and then from that 56 we take 10

32:19to go to this fund and the rest goes to

32:20the general fund.

32:21>> Correct.

32:22>> Perfect.

32:23>> Got it.

32:24>> I said okay. No, I mean I you said it

32:25too, right? I was just trying. I just

32:27wanted to make sure like I was following

32:28along. So, thanks. I appreciate that.

32:31>> pretty pretty well pretty well.

32:33>> Pretty well observed.

32:34>> And you're okay on the animal part?

32:37>> I will let you know, but I think we

32:39should be okay. I'm not seeing more than

32:422 to 3,000 on the bills. Um, I don't

32:46know if any surprises comes up, but if

32:48surprises do come up, I will come to you

32:51then. I'd rather see the money stay in

32:53an investment account and make more

32:55interest for the town and take it when

32:57we need it.

32:58>> Agreed.

32:58>> I also think like where the stage is,

33:00you're kind of like in this obeyance

33:02where there's not going to be attorney

33:03fees for a bit, you know, like you're

33:06you're like in the court system though.

33:10So anything else if it comes up this

33:12year would be shocking to me.

33:14>> Yeah.

33:14>> Based upon the calendar.

33:17So

33:19>> Okay.

33:21Hey there.

33:21>> Anybody good with that? Yep.

33:25Excellent.

33:27So, we need a motion to uh accept.

33:32>> Well, since I understand this, I move

33:34that we accept these transfers

33:36by and then you have to word them out.

33:39>> Oh, do I have to say exactly what they

33:41>> No, no, no.

33:43I I move that we accept the transfers as

33:45laid out in the document which will be

33:47attached to the minutes.

33:49>> There you go.

33:49>> Titled General government year end

33:51transfers to fiscard 2526 ending June

33:5430th 2026.

33:57>> Thank you. Do we have a second on that?

34:00>> I'll second.

34:01>> Okay, we have a motion. We have a

34:02second. Do we have any further

34:04discussion?

34:07>> Hearing none. Jeff

34:08>> I Ivan

34:10>> I

34:12>> I

34:13>> Michelle

34:14>> I

34:15>> and I also vote I

34:16>> unanimous and take care.

34:20>> Okay. And then we have uh

34:25the $10,000 to be moved into the uh

34:30health insurance account. We need a

34:32motion for that.

34:35employee retirement

34:36>> or it's the uh

34:39>> insurance and retirement benefit, right?

34:42>> I move to do a special fund transfer

34:46from the account of health insurance to

34:49the fund 51 employment employee

34:51retirement benefits and the amount of

34:53$10,000 for the federal government year

34:56ending uh fiscal year 2526 ending June

34:5930, 2026.

35:02Okay, I second that. We have a motion.

35:05We have a second. Do we have any

35:07discussion on that?

35:11>> Hearing none. Jeff

35:13>> I I

35:17>> Michelle

35:18>> I Bill

35:19>> I

35:20>> and I also vote I so that takes care of

35:22that. All right. So we have a remaining

35:25fund balance of $46,1353.

35:31And I would move that we put that into

35:35the uh unassigned capital

35:38non-reoccurring

35:40account balance.

35:44>> Well, let me just say it's un audited.

35:46So, I'd like to wait till we get the

35:48final numbers. But,

35:49>> but but based on this current figure and

35:52then what what the auditor says. Yeah.

35:56Would that be transferred into the

35:58capital reoccurring as undesated at this

36:01time?

36:04>> What happens if we don't do that?

36:07>> Then we got to put it goes into

36:08>> put it somewhere else.

36:11>> And so then when we need something in

36:12capital reoccurring

36:15>> going emergency money. Yeah. And and a

36:19good one of the things that it could be

36:22used for

36:24if we should run into a problem would be

36:27the animal account,

36:28>> right?

36:29>> It's already in undesated and all we

36:32have to do is now designated and then we

36:35can spend it for designated.

36:37>> I don't think we can spend it on the

36:39animal fund from CNR because that is not

36:41a capital project.

36:44>> No, unfortunately

36:46a bad example. One other thing I'll

36:48bring up before you make, if you don't

36:49mind me just saying before you make your

36:51decision,

36:52>> there is about 23,000 in ARA

36:55>> left. That is not from the actual grant.

36:59The grant, it's all the interest.

37:02>> So once the audit is complete, you'll

37:04have a decision on what you'd like to

37:06repurpose that for.

37:07>> So maybe

37:09>> maybe that

37:10>> I'll look at the animal fund to see how

37:12much is left to see if we really need

37:14anything. Um, so keep that in mind as

37:18well just in case because you cannot use

37:21CNR for the animals.

37:22>> Okay, makes sense.

37:23>> But the TA funds are unrestricted. That

37:26interest is unrestricted.

37:27>> All that interest that we earned

37:29>> was not part of the grant and it was at

37:33the town's leisure to spend it. And

37:36everything's been closed out. We got a

37:38letter from the credit saying it's been

37:41closed out. So, I don't want to close

37:43out the bank account or anything yet

37:45until we get audited and then we'll have

37:47five years to keep all those records.

37:49But yes, you can spend it on anything

37:51you want so you can repurpose it.

37:53>> All right. So, back to the motion.

37:55>> Yeah, we'll just leave all the excess

37:58discussion out.

37:59>> Well, I just wanted to No problem. And

38:02move it to the uh capital

38:05non-reoccurring account as undesated.

38:09And we'll use this number now

38:12>> and whatever the audited final figure is

38:17would be the final actual

38:20>> actual.

38:21>> So do you want to vote on the actual

38:23case that's more

38:25>> yeah whatever whatever the actual

38:27>> okay

38:28>> I guess that's what yeah

38:30>> Michael's saying

38:31>> either one or the other. Yeah. But but

38:33but if if it comes out higher then

38:36>> or lower

38:38>> it is whatever that is then that's what

38:40>> this is after audit you'd like to go to

38:42CNR on designated

38:44>> correct

38:45>> correct

38:47do we have a second on that

38:49>> whatever it is yes

38:51[laughter]

38:54>> you said whatever it is yes whatever you

38:57said we're moving into the captain

39:00current that's not designated

39:03And the amount of

39:05>> whatever it is

39:06>> subject to audit.

39:07>> There you go.

39:08>> Yes.

39:09>> So the total amount is subject to audit

39:11review.

39:11>> Correct.

39:13>> Would you accept that clarification?

39:15>> Yes. Yes.

39:18>> I was going to say no, but now we have

39:20that clarification. I'm all

39:23>> Well,

39:25I haven't said anything else tonight.

39:29>> All right. have any further discuss

39:31discussion on that?

39:33>> I don't know. Like should we just wait?

39:36Like I think we should just wait because

39:38then we'll know actually what the number

39:40is. We'll know what's going on with the

39:43interest and we'll know better what's

39:45going on with our variables which we

39:48have on the table right now. So I

39:51there's no harm in waiting, right?

39:54Unless we need that money

39:56to transfer it. Is there going to be at

39:58least 250

40:01in undesated now that we got fully

40:03reimbursement?

40:05>> I guess my [clears throat] thought is

40:07>> if we wait

40:09>> that's something we have to do down the

40:11road and why not

40:13>> right now we got to put it in the

40:14general fund

40:15>> and then we got to turn around and move

40:17it again anyway. So that's that's why I

40:19think that we should just say never

40:21touches the general fund.

40:22>> Right. Bingo. Got it.

40:24>> And we're done. And then when we get

40:26busy.

40:27>> All right. Well, well, that's cool. I

40:29was just expressing my opinion. So, this

40:32just don't have the extra hop into the

40:33general fund first. Is that what you're

40:35saying?

40:36>> Yes.

40:36>> Okay.

40:37>> Yeah.

40:40>> All right.

40:42>> Yeah.

40:42>> Bye,

40:43>> Iva.

40:43>> Fred.

40:45>> Bill. Hi, Michelle.

40:49>> [laughter]

40:49>> I

40:51there's always junk

40:53>> that's tonight.

40:55Neither is a wrong answer. I just

40:58>> It's just It's based on a pinch.

41:00Correct. Correct. Okay.

41:04Now we'll move on to item eight, which

41:07is public comment. Again, all you people

41:09out there,

41:11>> don't all march up here at once.

41:13>> Go ahead, Sonia. related to the assets,

41:18whatever we're calling that. Um, last

41:20year Chris reached out to Veraritoss

41:22because we received the report but we

41:24never received any sort of verbal

41:25feedback or opportunity to ask

41:28questions. Now it's two years past the

41:30original assessment. So, they are

41:32willing to do a virtual meeting with us.

41:35Um, we're envisioning doing that for our

41:37long range capital uh, planning

41:39committee, but we wanted to wait until

41:41the asset committee was up and running

41:44and we'll be inviting you

41:46>> all of you, but awesome.

41:48>> Especially the asset committee to that

41:50so there can be some Q&A around that

41:53report.

41:53>> And you said that's a virtual so we can

41:55just

41:55>> It will be virtual. Yeah, we'll stream

41:57it. We'll probably we may all be in a

42:00room but it will be we'll figure out how

42:02to work that. any sense of when you

42:04might

42:05>> they said they this is last year we

42:07contacted them and then we put the

42:09brakes on. We are waiting for this

42:11committee to get that up and running. So

42:13once maybe not your first month but

42:15pretty shortly after that we'll schedule

42:18something.

42:21>> Anyone else? Thank you Sonia.

42:26No one

42:29respond other from the board. Anyone?

42:37Any other contrary opinions?

42:41>> So, who are you going to pick up?

42:42>> Oh, wait a minute. I I knew Ivar was

42:44coming up. I just heard

42:48I just have a question. I just have a

42:50question. This is my as as I was telling

42:52Karen earlier, this is my first time in

42:55the in the September part of the of the

42:57calendar year. So,

42:59>> what is like what is upcoming just sort

43:02of big picture for the board of finance

43:05as we move through the rest of this

43:09calendar year?

43:10>> Did you read the wonderful little thing

43:12that um Karen sent you on board of

43:15finance by I forget the term?

43:17>> Oh, did you?

43:18>> Yeah.

43:18>> Oh, so I have this.

43:20and it lays out the year for you.

43:22>> But if you'd like us to repeat that,

43:24[laughter]

43:26>> are you talking about the calendar?

43:28>> No, you sent out a thin

43:32>> and so you got it and hopefully it's on

43:34there. [laughter]

43:37>> If you have specific question

43:38>> I mean I have been totally checked out

43:40for the summer. So

43:42>> if I I I withdraw my question.

43:45[laughter] Ivar, if in fact you're

43:47invited to check back in,

43:50>> then what I would suggest is that you go

43:53over all the information that Karen

43:56passed out tonight on the town budget

43:59and get started on that looking towards

44:02the next budget because we'll be working

44:05on that

44:07>> January. You're going to be overwhelmed

44:12in another month when you see the school

44:16budget as compared to the town budget.

44:19So you can get all right on that.

44:22>> I will say he was part of the budget

44:23last year. He came in.

44:25>> Yeah. So, normally we never used to have

44:27an October meeting, but a couple years

44:29ago we started having October meetings,

44:32>> then the November regular meeting and

44:35then that's probably like December is

44:38when or maybe January, depends when the

44:40auditor will come out and do their

44:42presentation.

44:44>> Then it's all budget after that.

44:46>> Yeah. And it's really thank God in the

44:47winter when there's nothing else to do.

44:50>> Can I just add

44:51>> Yes, you may. Um, I would just say, uh,

44:55if there's something specific that any

44:57of us wants to bring up either in the

44:59board of selectment or the board of

45:01education budget that we have opinions

45:02about already, the polite thing to do is

45:05to bring it up now. It's not to bring it

45:07up like after they've done their budgets

45:09and then you go back and say, well, why

45:11didn't you do this and why didn't you do

45:12that? So, if you want to look at like if

45:14any of us have opinions about that, like

45:16go to a board of selecting meeting or

45:18board of education meeting now before

45:20they start working on their budget and

45:22start talking. It's not really

45:24>> That's a good point.

45:25>> It's our job to do it afterwards. But if

45:27you know now, bring it up now. Don't

45:29wait.

45:29>> Yeah,

45:30>> that's all I'd have to say.

45:31>> And you [clears throat] can always email

45:32me questions.

45:35>> Why was an October meeting added?

45:38>> Because Mike was bored. No, that thing

45:41that was actually Mike and I because I

45:43was like why don't we have an October

45:45meeting because things happen monthto

45:46month and I think a lot of it was more

45:48because with your ways about if somebody

45:52comes to you say in September and they

45:54ask for CNI you don't approve it right

45:56away then they would have to wait till

45:58November and it was kind of things like

46:00that things come up so it just makes

46:02sense. Yeah.

46:05>> All right. Anyone else have anything?

46:10All right, we'll move on to item 10,

46:12correspondence and announcements. Uh I'm

46:16sure that uh any of you would be welcome

46:20to the uh asset committee meeting if

46:23you'd like to sit in a net that it's

46:25going to be a a regular meeting open to

46:29the public. So I mean if anybody has any

46:33interest uh it will be

46:36>> I would like to take my spot. Monday the

46:3921st at 4 pm here.

46:42And uh the only other thing I have is

46:46our next meeting won't be October.

46:50It Oh, yes it will.

46:52>> This

46:53>> Yeah, that's right. We want to talk

46:55about something.

46:56>> Somebody decided to have October

46:58meetings. What is that?

47:00>> It will be

47:02October the 13th

47:05and we can all get ready for Halloween.

47:08Pastels are optional.

47:13>> All right.

47:16Next item.

47:18>> My favorites. My personal favorite.

47:22>> I move to.

47:23>> We have a motion to adjourn.

47:25>> I gladly happily second. We have a

47:27second. All those in favor?

47:30>> I.

47:31>> All those opposed. Have fun. We're going

47:34home.

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