By Sarah Opdahl

At the Wednesday, May 28 New Fairfield Board of Finance (BOF) meeting, a lengthy discussion took place about the Town’s legal lines and some concern expressed regarding whether this spending will continue. New Finance Director Mr. Adam Lawrence, who was in attendance at his first BOF meeting, addressed the spending matter of factly, saying the budget was $130,000 for the year and it has now surpassed $200,000, due to a variety of factors, including unexpected personnel issues, extended contract negotiations, and an extensive number of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.

Lawrence shared, “a substantial portion of the [legal] overage comes down to unique issues at work within the Finance Department. Those costs are trailing off. We have basically cleared the hurdle on the bulk of those costs, and we do not anticipate a repeat of that particular pool of costs in the coming year.” In addition, “FOIA requests have increased. There have been costs related to the revaluation. There have been a few unique things that have gone into it, and some of those may carry into the next year, but the single largest outlier is one that I don’t think any of us should expect to see again next year. A couple of the legal personnel items are not going to be there.” He supposed, regarding the legal labor line, “we should see relief on that line next year, maybe not all the way back down to the budget number, but hopefully much lesser.” There were a series of budget transfers approved, moving funds from flush budget areas to a variety of legal budget line items.

BOF Chair Ms. Thora Perkins gave a brief medical update, saying, “our trend is a bit better.” There are still many unknowns, but the total estimated final number has improved over the darker financial forecasts earlier in the year. The Town’s medical consultant, Mr. Tom Kowalchik, “thinks May is going to be a normal month,” though all involved are wary of what June will bring, following the massive spike in June in 2024. BOF member Mr. Wes Marsh pointed out that the numbers are positive, “I think we’re on the cusp of maybe heading into the next fiscal budget year with a positive fund balance, rather than a negative fund. That would be very good.” There was a possible policy item introduced “to ensure that we have some type of a build up in our reserve,” which will be discussed at the June regular BOF meeting. That evening will also include a thorough wrap up of the Renewal Policy, including the stop loss amount.

BOF members approved the Suspense Rate Book Report, which is a list that consists of personal property or motor vehicle accounts that are deemed uncollectible, which may be because the parties are out of state, are deceased, or are in an unknown location. The list will now be given to a collection agency. The collection agency will profit 15% of what they collect and, by state law, the town will add 15% to each of the late payments.

A brief discussion was had regarding frustration with the way the new finance software is reporting data differently than it used to, which has come up at previous meetings. Lawrence explained that he has a background in optimizing data visualization and plans to refine the reporting process to better reflect where line items stand. In addition, when grants were mentioned later, Lawrence noted that he has extensive experience in that area. “The bulk of the work that I did over the last three and a half years was assisting state, county, and city governments with federal grant implementation and compliance. So plenty of experience in the required reporting, in getting to know the terms and conditions of particular grants and making sure that the funds are handled appropriately,” he stated. BOF members mentioned a couple of projects for which grants should be sought out.

BOF members discussed the need for oversight of the board’s page on the Town website, Newfairfield.org. It was agreed that the members will share oversight, trading off every six months, with Mr. Patrick Hearty on the first shift. He, and others in the future, will bring potential updates to the BOF regular meeting and will work with IT staff to complete approved changes.

The next regular Board of Finance meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, June 25, 7:30 p.m.