The Board of Finance last week requested one modification and rejected two of five requests in the Board of Selectmen’s $3.14 million capital plan proposal.
Now it’s back to work tonight for the Board of Selectmen, which will re-craft some elements of the plan at a meeting at Town Hall at 7:30 p.m.
The Board of Finance changes came despite requests from First Selectman Paul F. Roy and the Democratic Town Committee to pass the proposal along to voters “as-is.”
A capital plan is a list of expensive projects the town wants to fund. The plans usually prioritize the projects looking forward several years.
The Board of Selectmen formulates the plan, then send it to the Board of Finance, where changes can be requested or rejections can be made before the plan is sent to voters for final approval.
In Seymour, the majority of the Finance Board are Republicans, while four of seven members of the Board of Selectmen are Democrat.
Click play at the video at top, provided by citizen Frank Loda, to see the actions from the finance meeting.
Votes
At its meeting last week, the finance board rejected a request for $687,000 for a variety of town work vehicles and rejected $306,000 for road improvements, according to minutes from the meeting.
The board approved $1.36 million for emergency services equipment including a new communications console, and approved $428,000 for new bleachers at Seymour High School.
The finance board asked for one item to be modified — a $357,00 proposal for town building improvements, including energy efficient projects. The board requested that another $50,000 be added to the request, to cover the full cost of the public works department garage roof, according to minutes from the meeting.
Article continues after meeting minutes.
Minutes Board of Finance amended 1 – 25-11
Referendum
Roy said after the meeting he still hopes the revisions could be made in time to hold a referendum on the spending proposal before the regular budget vote in the spring.
“We could still get it in time for February 22,” Roy said after the meeting, referring to the tentative date of a referendum on the capital plan.
He wants it then so voters can understand the capital plan separate from the regular budget.
“We feel this is an important issue, and waiting until June, until May, we felt there are changes the plan would not be understood and assumed to be part of the whole budget which it is not,” Roy said at the meeting. “There is no impact on taxes.”
New Chairman
The meeting was the first with new member and new chairman Robert Koskelowski, the former first selectman, who has been calling for the finance board to tightly control the budget this year.
Koskelowski said he will be fair about this issue, and will even call for a joint meeting to help resolve the questions so the package of capital improvements can proceed in Roy’s timeframe.
“I’m going to call First Selectman Roy to have a joint meeting, to get in February, even though I object to it. In the past, I called joint committee meetings of both boards,” Koskelowski said Wednesday.
Finance board member Kristen Harmeling, a Democrat who had expressed strong resentment that Koskelowski was new to the board and already being made chairman, said Thursday she doesn’t see the point of a joint meeting.
“Our role is to make sure the financing is sound, not micro-manage the projects,” Harmeling said.
The issues are expected to be tackled quickly by the Board of Selectmen.
