Cheshire Town Council Reviews Fiscal Year 2019 Budget Across Cultural Services, Administration, and Finance

Town Council · Meeting of March 26, 2018

CT CHESHIRE — Cheshire Town Council held a fiscal year 2019 budget workshop Monday, taking no formal votes but pressing department heads across cultural services and administration. Library Director Ramona told the council the library's proposed $89,600 budget increase — bringing total spending to roughly $1,701,447, still below the fiscal year 2016 level of $1,725,727 — is driven entirely by a request to restore a frozen 25-hour senior library associate and a 15-hour clerk position, warning that without them the library cannot staff Saturday hours for summer 2019. She said an outsourced cataloging contract with Baker and Taylor has cost the library as much as $60,000 annually from its $213,000 materials budget while producing "an unbelievable amount of work for staff." Finance Director Jim reported that pension and retirement contributions account for $257,000 of a $654,567 administration-wide increase, with police pension costs rising from $702,765 in fiscal year 2013-14 to a proposed $1.752 million, while the town's retirement portfolio posted a one-year return of 13.06 percent.

Town Manager Michael Milone said medical benefits rates and workers' compensation costs are still being negotiated and could fall before final adoption, and the council was told a heart-and-hypertension reserve fund holding approximately $516,000 in cash faces continued pressure from a single longstanding claimant.

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Source: the Town Council meeting of March 26, 2018, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

CHESHIRE — March 26, 2018 — The Cheshire Town Council convened a budget workshop Monday to review fiscal year 2019 spending requests from the public library, Arts Place, elections, and several administration and finance departments, with no formal votes taken on appropriations during the session.

Town Manager Michael Milone opened the evening by flagging a scheduling conflict that will require the previously planned April 5 public works budget presentation to be moved to either April 2 or April 4. He also previewed the overall administration and finance increase before individual department heads made their cases.

The Full Story

Library Director Ramona presented the most detailed and contested portion of the evening. The library's fiscal year 2019 budget request stands at roughly $1,701,447 — below the $1,725,727 the department held in fiscal year 2016, Milone noted. The proposed increase of approximately $89,600, or just over 5 percent, is driven almost entirely by a request to restore two staff positions: a 25-hour senior library associate position that was eliminated in last year's budget process, and a 15-hour clerk position that was funded but frozen in summer 2017 because of state budget uncertainty.

Ramona told the council the outsourced cataloging arrangement the library entered into after losing the senior library associate had failed to deliver acceptable results. The vendor, Baker and Taylor, processes catalog records and physical materials at roughly $4 per item, consuming as much as $60,000 annually from a materials budget of approximately $213,000 to $218,000. That expenditure, she argued, would be better spent on a staff member who could perform the same work at higher quality while also covering public service hours.

"We have been very unhappy with this service. In my opinion, I've been doing this for 13 years now, the most efficient and effective way to do this is to hire this staff member." [00:00:00] — Ramona, Cheshire Public Library Director

The council also heard from the director that full-time equivalent staffing is at the same level as in 2005, while library usage indicators — circulation, reference questions, program attendance, door count, and website traffic combined — have grown approximately 67 percent per full-time equivalent. Cost per usage, adjusted for inflation, is down about 30 percent. She warned that without the restored positions, the library will again be unable to open on summer Saturdays, as it was unable to do in summer 2017.

Joanne, the director of Arts Place, presented a nearly flat budget with one exception: a roughly $5,900 increase in program services. Milone said he expects revenue, currently budgeted at $115,000 for fiscal year 2019, could exceed that projection by $5,000 to $10,000 given enrollment trends. He noted that Arts Place was merged with the library's administrative umbrella about three years ago, a move he called more successful than anticipated. Joanne highlighted that Arts Place draws 36 percent of its students from outside Cheshire, including from Maryland, Massachusetts, and New York City, citing internationally recognized faculty as a driver.

Town registrars Tom and Susan appeared before the council to raise two unresolved compensation issues: whether recounts should qualify for the $450-per-person stipend currently tied to primaries and referendums, and whether their recognized weekly hours — currently set at 17.5 each, or 35 combined — should reflect the actual 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. schedule they maintain. Milone said he would compile the relevant prior council minutes and bring the matter back within three weeks for formal clarification. No action was taken Monday.

Finance Director Jim reviewed the administration and finance section, where total projected spending rises by $654,567. Pension and retirement contributions account for $257,000 of that increase, and medical benefits account for approximately $212,000. Police pension contributions are proposed at $1.752 million for fiscal year 2019, up from $702,765 in fiscal year 2013-14, the result of closing the defined-benefit plan and enhancing benefits to secure union agreement on the closure. The retirement portfolio reported a one-year return of 13.06 percent and a return since inception of 11.3 percent, against an actuarial assumption of 7.5 percent.

"The investments here have gone from A to Z over the last decade. We're very risk averse at this point. Just when the market's going down, not all of our investments are going down." [00:00:00] — Jim, Finance Director

Milone also said the town attorney's budget, proposed by the attorney at $408,600 and recommended by management at $393,800, could reasonably be set lower — perhaps as low as the prior year's $360,000 — given the absence of any large pending litigation comparable to prior years' Department of Corrections lawsuit or charter-revision legal work. The council was told that the medical benefits trust fund carries a projected year-end balance of approximately $1,190,000, and that workers' compensation and property and casualty insurance rates are also expected to decline before final budget adoption. A longstanding heart-and-hypertension claimant is driving roughly 80 percent of expenditures from a reserve fund that currently holds approximately $516,000 in cash.

Why It Matters

Cheshire residents will feel the outcome of these discussions when the Town Council finalizes the fiscal year 2019 budget. The library staffing request carries direct service consequences: without the two restored positions, the library will be unable to staff Saturday hours during the summer of 2019 for the second consecutive year. The cumulative budget pressure on the library — $59,000 below its fiscal year 2016 level even as usage has grown sharply — gives the council a concrete equity question to weigh. On the finance side, pension costs and medical benefits now consume 9.4 percent of the general government budget compared to 6 percent five years ago, and the pace at which the town reaches its required annual pension contribution depends on whether the council holds the current $300,000 annual increment or scales it back.

Key Motions & Votes

No formal votes taken at this meeting.

Source

Cheshire's community access TV: Town Council meeting, March 26, 2018