It appears Newtown’s Board of Finance (BOF) is not going away any time soon — although the scope of its official responsibilities and status may be shifting.

Elimination of the Board of Finance was taken off the table after discussions by the Charter Revision Commission (CRC) members at a November 10 meeting, and the consensus of the commission appears to be to keep the board, but in a more advisory role or policy-only role.

“The overall mood is we want to keep the Board of Finance in some capacity,” said CRC Chairman Andy Buzzi.

The issues of just how much power the BOF will retain and whether it should be an elected or appointed board were still up in the air, with Buzzi hoping his commission could finalize the board’s fate, and wrap up a number of other charter revisions, by March 2022. The decision represents a large step forward for the commission, as the BOF was the CRC’s largest charge and its most controversial.

At the previous meeting on October 20, the commission members discussed four ways the commission can move on revising the BOF.

1. Do nothing.

“The board seemed to work pretty well until recently,” said CRC member James Gaston, referring to recent incidents where the BOF made a recommendation and the Legislative Council (LC) ignored the recommendation and started work on an issue from scratch. “Whether that was an aberrant situation or not, we can encourage the Legislative Council and the Board of Finance to work more cohesively.”

2. Give it the financial policy decisions but not have it involved in the budgetary process.

“They would be involved in things like the non-lapsing account and the debt policy,” said Gaston. “It would remove some duplication [of responsibilities between the two town bodies].”

3. Give the Board of Finance “some teeth.”

This course would give the board increased ability to make binding decisions instead of being a mostly advisory board. The CRC is seeking input from Town Attorney David Grogins on a number of issues surrounding this, including whether a town can have more than one fiscal authority, and whether the board is a fiscal authority if the council requires a supermajority to override its budget recommendations. Currently, the LC requires a supermajority if it wants to add anything to a budget recommendation from the BOF.

“The supermajority requirement makes the Board of Finance a quasi-legislative board,” said Buzzi.

4. Abolish the Board of Finance.

If this course is followed the Legislative Council would go back to dealing with all financial matters.

Polling Commissioners

The decision was made following Buzzi asking each of the commission members which of the four directions they would prefer.

Gaston said his first preference would be to leave the BOF as it is, with his second being eliminate their budget responsibility. Gaston said he had spoken with a number of voters and said they seemed to like the “extra layer of scrutiny on their tax dollars.”

“They believe that having a Board of Finance is keeping their taxes lower,” said Gaston.

Gaston said he has noticed that elected officials don’t seem to like the BOF, but the voters do.

CRC member Tony Filiato said that when he was serving on the Legislative Council, he noted that the council did not have to pay attention to the BOF, which were also elected officials.

“Things go round and round, and sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t,” said Filiato. “If you’re elected someplace, you tend to do your own research and make your own decisions. When I served on the council, we had an effective Board of Finance that gave some good advice, but we knew we could ignore them.”

Filiato also felt that the council was the town’s “most democratic board,” since it was divided into districts and thus reflected the will of different parts of the town. He recommended getting rid of the BOF and instituting an advisory board like the pension board. He said by shifting to an appointed board, nominating officials could ensure that it would be staffed with financial experts.

CRC member Dennis Brestovansky said he preferred an appointed board because he wanted to “preserve something” of the BOF.

“We could establish a group of people whose skill is finance, and transcends the town and board to give advice,” said Brestovansky. “Not that I don’t trust the election process, but someone’s skill in finance is not the whole of how people choose their elected officials.”

Gaston disagreed with the idea of the BOF being solely an advisory board, saying that they should respect the vote of the people and keep them elected. He said an advisory board would be like having six finance directors.

“We don’t need six more [Finance Director] Bob Taits,” said Gaston.

CRC member Elias Peterson said he was on the fence regarding what to do with the BOF. His initial take was to give the BOF the purview over fiscal policy, but also liked Filiato’s idea for an appointed board.

“I hate to be a fence sitter but I’m not sure where I stand,” said Peterson.

Checks And Balances

CRC Scott Davidow said he thought the BOF was part of a system of checks and balances.

“I think we need checks and balances,” said Davidow. “I think there’s been good work and some anomalies [by the BOF over the years]. I don’t see a reason to get rid of it.”

Buzzi said he felt “there is a role” for the BOF as it’s given “a lot to the town,” but the town does not “need two fiscal authorities.”

“The people that make the ultimate decisions have to be accountable to the people,” said Buzzi. “That is why the fiscal authority rests with the Legislative Council.”

Buzzi didn’t feel that requiring the council to have a supermajority to override BOF decisions was appropriate, as it created two fiscal authorities.

Feeling that the majority of Newtown residents wanted a Board of Finance, Buzzi said that BOF members usually want to be involved in financial policy and “out of the weeds” of making day-to-day budgetary decisions.

CRC member Tony Filiato said that the current set-up for the BOF was not what was originally intended. The original intention was that the BOF be the new Fiscal Authority, but after questions the BOF faced on referendum prior to its formation, it “ended up halfway.”

“What we have is broken from the outset,” said Filiato. “The Board of Finance has no checks on the Legislative Council or the Board of Education. By statute it can’t.”

Filiato pointed to the Board of Fire Commissioners as an appointed board that “has a lot of power” and “asks for a lot of money each year,” that is “doing a good job.”

“We should pay attention to that,” said Filiato.

Buzzi recommended that CRC members begin to develop some language on the BOF for the final charter revision, but whether the board would be elected or appointed is up to further discussion.

Reporter Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com.