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FINANCE / CLAIMS
COMMITTEE ACTIONS
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Approved FJG 06/12/03
ATTENDANCE: Bruce Kimmel, Chairman; Matthew Miklave; Kenneth Baker;
Christopher Perone; Douglas Sutton
STAFF: Jack Miller, Director of Finance Department; Lisa Biagiarelli, Tax Collector; Frederic J. Gilden, Comptroller
The Chairman called the meeting to order at 7:35 p.m.
APPROVE MINUTES OF THE FOLLOWING FINANCE COMMITTEE MEETINGS
MARCH 5, 2003
** MR. KIMMEL MOVED TO APPROVE MINUTES.
** MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.
MARCH 13, 2003
** MR. BAKER MOVED TO APPROVE MINUTES.
** MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.
MARCH 17, 2003
Corrections
Page 1, par. 5, line 1 - "Dave" should be "David Davidson."
MR. KIMMEL MOVED TO APPROVE MINUTES AS CORRECTED.
MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.
CLAIMS COMMITTEE: receive the monthly Claims report; review and approve claims as required for Claims Report dated April 2, 2003
The report detailed refunds (overpayments) processed by Claims Committee and approved by the tax collector. Mr. Miklave recused himself and left the room. Mr. Kimmel asked when do you recuse yourself and when don't you. Mr. Miller told him that one had to make an individual determination whether or not there is a conflict. Mr. Miller said that such situations are unavoidable.
** MR. KIMMEL MOVED TO ACCEPT THE CLAIMS COMMITTEE
REPORT.
** MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.
DELINQUENT TAX REPORT: receive and discuss
Ms. Biagiarelli said that last month she did not say much as there were guests in the room. She stated that she did not have a breakdown for March; but for February, they were on target. She believed past due collections are going to be significantly higher than they were last time. In February, they collected the two top delinquent accounts, totaling $152,000.00. In March, the number one delinquent account brought in $556,000.00 Her office issued 17,000 demand notices in February, much of which were motor vehicle delinquencies, in February; and filed 1,200 liens. This brought in $2,000,000.00 in March. Liens were filed the first of March. The second series of demands will be for anyone who had real estate taxes past due for four or more years. There are 93 of these. Fourteen have already been paid in full. $800,000.00 has been collected. The $556,000.00 account was among these. The largest account remaining is a nursing home, which owes $331,000.00. Anything over $20,000.00 is included in the 93 number. Ms. Biagiarelli expects recipients to start calling when the second notices go out. The Mayor wanted to make the announcements about the collections; but she did not know when this would be.
AUTHORIZE MAYOR, ALEX A. KNOPP, TO SUBMIT AN APPLICATION TO THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT FOR GRANT FUNDS PROVIDED UNDER THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT'S LOCAL CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT FUND FOR 2002-2003
LoCap is a grant from the state. Mr. Miller said the city has received notice from the Governor's office that they are not going to get the money this year; but will get this year's money next year. However, the city has not built it into its budget. This money had previously been used to apply against annual road paving program. They have completed the application for next year's funds ; and those funds will be applied against the road paving program which is now in the capital budget. The retroactive allocation for this year will be $643,000.00. The city will receive this amount next year plus next year's allocation in the amount of $650,000.00.
** MR. KIMMEL MOVED TO HAVE MAYOR APPLY FUNDS TO ROAD
PAVING.
** MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.
APPROVE RESOLUTION APPROPRIATING $200,000.00 for Maritime Ticketing Office Project and Authorizing the issuance of $200,000.00 bonds for the City to meet said appropriation and pending issuance thereof the making of temporary borrowings for such purpose.
Mr. Miller said there had been no provision in the financing of this project to include a ticketing area for the garage. He said it was decided that the garage should have a ticketing area. There was a discussion as to who was going to pay for it: the Department of Public Works or the Maritime Center. There was an agreement between the Mayor and the Maritime board that the board would pay for computer equipment and all other movable equipment in the ticketing area. He said that the Mayor agreed to recommend the balance for the permanent fixtures. This amounts to $200,000.00. This would be added to the Maritime's existing debt, which is about $1,600,000.00. He does not anticipate financing the $200,000.00 until they have the next bond issue, but thinks it should be paid out of capital funds with a 15-year amortization period at the existing rate. The $200,000.00 would be paid by net excess revenue (pursuant to indenture). It will be included in the $1,600,000.00 existing debt. Approximately $30,000.00 per year will be added to it. If they don't have excess revenue, the city pays it. The debt should be extinguished by 2012. This is, essentially, a request for the city to pay $200,000.00 for the center to have a ticketing booth in the garage. The decision to finance the aquarium was a business decision. Mr. Miller was the one who put together the financing. It was anticipated that in the event the center never generated any money to pay the debt, just having the center would be a stimulus for economic development. There have been additional tax revenues generated since the center has been there. Therefore, the center remains viable. Mr. Kimmel asked what would happen if there were no ticketing booth. Mr. Miller said that without it, some people, who would otherwise visit the center, might not visit. There would be a gift shop, for example. This might diminish staff requirements at other ticketing office as the system will be automated.
At this point, Mr. Miller left the meeting.
DISCUSSION
Mr. Miklave said that when the change in the design was voted, no one said there was an additional $200,000.00 that the city would have to pay. He believes there are a lot of benefits to the aquarium; but when CBDG grants and budgets for housing have to be cut, $200,000.00 is too much money to spend on a ticketing booth. He said the garage spaces are already being subsidized by the city, and the more people who use the garage, the less economical it is going to be. Mr. Kimmel also said the garage is not going to generate any more revenue, and thought $200,000.00 was a lot of money to spend on outfitting. Mr. Miklave did not understand why they should spend an additional $200,000.00 on the project when they, supposedly, already had a guaranteed maximum price.
** MR. KIMMEL MOVED THAT THE ISSUE BE TABLED UNTIL MORE
INFORMATION COULD BE GATHERED.
** THE MOTION CARRIED WITH MR. BAKER ABSTAINING.
Mr. Miller returns to the meeting.
Mr. Miklave told Mr. Miller that he thought the plan was amended to include all costs. Mr. Perone said he never got the sense that all of the final outfitting was included in the guaranteed maximum price, but never to the extent of $200,000.00. Mr. Kimmel agreed that the guaranteed maximum price should include everything. Mr. Miller said this component was not included. He said the contingency was $20,000.00.
Mr. Miller said he had spoken to the Mayor about conducting an audit regarding employee benefits, and had received proposals from three auditing firms. The smallest company was giving glowing references by previous clients. Their bit was less than $20,000.00, and would include the price for a Board of Education audit. This company would look at the entire program, and make sure care givers are complying with the plan.
** MR. KIMMEL MOVED TO ADJOURN.
** MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.
The meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Linda Maddox
Telesco Secretarial Services
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