By Sarah Opdahl

On Wednesday, September 25, New Fairfield’s Board of Finance (BOF) began their discussion of member goals for the 2025-2026 budget season. Board Chair Ms. Thora Perkins asked all members to share goals with her by the October meeting, which new alternate member Mr. John Arizzi has volunteered to organize. Perkins went on to state her two main goals: “I would like the Board of Selectmen, the Board of Finance, and the Board of Education to work together for the financial benefit of our town” and “My second goal is, I would like to ask the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Education to present, early in the budget season, a very lean operating budget so that we can afford some capital expense.”

Continuing the discussion on goals, Mr. Wes Marsh said, “I think our goal should be that the Board of Finance will present a budget to the taxpayer, for approval by the taxpayer, that will pass on the first referendum.” Ms. Cheryl Reedy agreed and added, “My other goal would be that we spend at least $750,000 on capital.” Arizzi said, “my goals and objectives would be that we, at all costs, work towards a budget that protects our credit rating…We just saw how easy it was for our neighbor, Danbury, to lose theirs…and the second goal would be that we push the issue on right-sizing alternative revenue sources and doing market analyses across the town.” Ms. Peggy Katkocin suggested offering listening sessions for residents to share what is important to them in the budget.

Reedy gave an update on the new Capital Project Subcommittee, which recently had its first meeting. They discussed known capital improvements, some of which are on the existing 5-year plans while some are new to the list, and they brainstormed ways to increase revenue for capital improvements other than tax dollars. There was also a discussion regarding what kind of town services people might be willing to pay for, from a restaurant at the beach to additional boat slips to town broadband and advertising on town cars. Arizzi asked for further information on the boat slips and, in the ensuing discussion, it was explained that the Town is offering in-demand slips for far under the market rate. The boat slip fees are being slated for dock repairs now under the Parks and Recreation budget, but if they were increased, the Town could ideally split the funds with the department. Especially given the quagmire that resulted in the Field Fees Fund, all agreed that it makes sense to start doing market analysis for all fees and benchmarking against other municipalities and the private sector.

Reedy noted, Town Treasurer Ms. Terry Friedman created a model for the group that is “a way to work back and forth between capital spending and debt service,” going on to say, “As debt service goes down, we can put more into capital.” She continued, “The more that I dig into this, the more I realize that the Town needs a Capital Project Subcommittee, probably on a permanent basis.” Reedy went on to praise some educational videos and webinars that were suggested by Town Finance Director Mr. Vladimir Kan.  For example, one on the Inflation Reduction Act was extremely informative about how to benefit from opportunities for green energy grants and credits that are open to the State and municipalities over the next 10 years and that go way beyond solar.

There was a discussion regarding Kan’s plan to have each department create a mission statement to be submitted with their budget requests. He downplayed the work involved to  create the statements and offered the Finance Department’s help in creating them. He believes the statements will help promote accountability and transparency. BOF members liked the idea of measurable, transparent data but wondered whether  the one-size-fits-all plan would work best for New Fairfield (NF). Kan was asked to bring a real example from one NF department to the next BOF meeting.

There was an update on medical insurance claims, which were noted to be up in July due to two large claims, one of which has now hit the stop-loss amount. It was stressed that August “definitely looked better.” There was a discussion about shifting the medical report a bit to reflect the positive balance so that it is less apt to “scare people.” BOF members asked that any modifications in the report continue to contain the current way of reading it, instead offering both the positive and negative balance. They agreed that budgeted amounts should also remain on the report, in order to closely track all figures.

Continuing, Arizzi asked, “Is there a reason that, through the first six months of the fiscal year, we just don’t use a rolling average, as opposed to just using the first month or the first two months of the current fiscal year? It seems to me that we’re weighting the current month or the current two months too heavily, as opposed to using a rolling average going into the first half of the year.” It was explained that the current reporting model was created many years ago, but there was agreement that it makes sense to use the official data from the medical insurance consultant, and simply divide the total number by twelve months. Following that reporting, they would adjust the past months as the data comes in. Arizzi added, “I’m not trying to add too much work on top of it, but really, you kind of need to know the difference between what our rolling average is and what we’re seeing in any quarter when we look at this, because that dramatically changes our outlook.”

A quick discussion was had regarding tax revenue, which was significantly delayed due to the five budget referendums. It was reported at 10% complete as of mid-September, which seemed quite low to Reedy. She was assured by Friedman that payments were steadily rolling in.

The next regular New Fairfield Board of Finance meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, October 23, 7:30 p.m.