Date: Fri 19-Apr-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

Spragg-charter-budget

Full Text:

Finance Director Urges Charter Panel To Streamline Budget Process

B Y K AAREN V ALENTA

Finance Director Benjamin Spragg believes the town should significantly

streamline its budget process and vote on all spending, including capital

projects, in one referendum each year.

Speaking before the Charter Revision Commission last week, Mr Spragg

recommended that all projects which require bonding should be on the same

ballot with the town's annual municipal/school operating budget.

"My theme this year is to get things packaged, get things organized," he said.

"I think we should be voting on both the capital and operating budgets at the

same time."

If the capital budget is defeated, it shouldn't be cut - it should be

eliminated and placed on the ballot again the following year, he recommended.

Putting everything on the same ballot each year would provide an answer to the

financing problem which occurs every time a capital project is approved after

the operating budget is adopted. This year Legislative Council tried to

address the problem by including $3.1 million in debt service for the proposed

Hawley School and high school building projects in the proposed 1996-97

operating budget, even though the town won't actually vote on the construction

proposals until the middle of June, two months after next Tuesday's budget

vote.

Mr Spragg said the town should put together a capital improvement plan (CIP)

every year instead of every other year. He said the charter should direct all

agencies of the town, including the Board of Education, to submit to the Board

of Selectmen by February 1 of each year an outline of all capital and

nonrecurring expenditures that are anticipated for the next five years.

"We should bring this into the budget process," he said. "Currently

Legislative Council gets a `laundry list' of proposed capital projects from

the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Education. It would be much more

informative to have the Board of Selectmen turn over an entire budget -

operating and capital - to the council all at one time instead of piecemeal."

Mr Spragg admitted that there will always be instances of unanticipated

"high-priority, big-ticket" items that aren't in the CIP. The charter does

have provisions for special and emergency appropriations, he said, but if the

amount requires bonds or notes in excess of $500,000, this should be approved

by machine vote at the next budget referendum.

Combine Budget Workshops

The finance director said the existing charter creates a protracted budget

process that requires the Board of Selectmen and the Legislative Council to

hold separate workshops. Public hearings aren't conducted until the very end

of the process, he noted.

"The point is to get both bodies in the same room at the same time with the

public there instead of having two separate sets of meetings," Mr Spragg said.

"As it is, the Board of Selectmen says `why bother' when the Legislative

Council will hold the same meetings again. If everyone is together, as a

committee of the whole, there is no need to repeat the meetings with the

department heads."

"I think the public hearings are too late in the game," Charter Revision

Commission member Stan Karpacz agreed. "People should be able to get their

comments in at the beginning."

Mr Spragg also presented his opinion about the form of government Newtown

should have.

"I don't have any problem with our current form of government, but if you are

thinking of making a change, I'd look to a first selectman/mayor (format)," he

said.

Along with a stong first selectman or mayor, Mr Spragg recommended a

six-member Board of Finance and Taxation plus a 10-member Legislative Council

which would assume the powers of the existing Board of Selectmen.

He said the Board of Finance should set the dollar amount of the total

proposed budget each year, then the council should make adjustments to the

municipal budget to get it to fit, just as the Board of Education currently

does with its budget.

The charter should be changed to require a petition signed by at least 15

percent of the electors - instead of the current five percent - to bring

appropriations or ordinances to a machine referendum, he said, explaining that

15 percent seems to be the "norm" in the charters of other communities.

Other Recommendations

Mr Spragg also recommended the charter be revised to allow the town to carry

an "undesignated fund balance" or surplus from year to year in the budget so

that the town can qualify for a better rating from the bonding agencies. "We

are kind of doing it now with our Reserve Fund for Capital and Nonrecurring

Expenditures, but we aren't getting credit for it," he explained.

He also recommended that the charter be amended to allow the finance director

to negotiate, rather than bid, the refunding and restructuring of bonds at a

lower rate. He explained that the bid process is lengthy and he is reluctant

to incur issuing costs when he can't be sure that rates will still be

favorable by the time the bids are received.

He said the finance director also should be empowered to approve transfers of

funds within town department budget accounts rather than having to wait until

the next meeting of the Legislative Council to get this approval. For better

continuity, all grant applications should be processed through the first

selectman's office, he recommended.

Mae Schmidle, vice chairman of the Charter Revision Commission, said she

understood the need for coordination but feared that the concentration of

power in one office could "allow politics to rear its head."

"I could see an elected official of one party opposing a project wanted by an

official of another party - it happens in other towns," she said. "The charter

needs to protect all agencies and departments."

Among his other recommendations, Mr Spragg said the Board of Selectmen should

be empowered to prepare a set of personnel rules for elected officials just as

they do for appointed officials. There are no defined policies and benefits

for the positions of first selectman, town clerk or registrars of voters, he

pointed out.

"I have nothing to go by in regard to elected officials. There should be

minimum standards," he said. "We have no problems now but what if we had a

first selectman who didn't come to work for two months? Eventually someone

would come to my office and ask if we are still paying him. Well, should I?"