SEYMOUR – The town’s interim finance director, Jason Vieira – serving in the role since last November – has been named to the position on a permanent basis.
The annual salary is $150,000.
Seymour First Selectwoman Annmarie Drugonis said money is budgeted for the position in the 2024 – 2025 budget, which voters approved in May. The position is 35 hours per week. Drugonis said Vieira puts in additional hours and is responsible for attending night meetings on all things related to the budget and town’s finances.
Contributed Photo
Vieira
Vieira replaces former finance director Doug Thomas, who Drugonis said retired last December.
The finance director, according to the town charter, is an appointed position by the First Selectperson.
Vieira, a Hamden resident, initially came onboard in Seymour in April 2023 as a consultant to assist the finance department while two employees were out on disability. He stayed on when one of the two – an accounting clerk – resigned, and when the town’s accounting manager.
As a consultant working 35 hours per week, Vieira was hired from April 2023 to December 2023 at a salary of $13,000, according to Drugonis.
“We saw that not only was Jason an asset to this department, but also to town hall,” Drugonis told the Valley Indy via an email.
During his time as a consultant, Vieira assisted the town with beefing up financial safeguards following a cyberscam that bilked the town out of $375,000 in 2022, Drugonis said.
A suspect, Charles Ukasanya, was arrested last July. He’s due back in court on July 31.
In that case, a school district’s email was compromised, allowing the thief to submit fake invoices for payment. A 2023 arrest warrant noted the school business director told police the town’s finance director had the authority to make wire transfers without a second person present or a second person authorizing the transaction. The warrant stated that the school district’s finance office didn’t look closely at an email because wire transfers were under the town’s jurisdiction.
No Seymour employees disciplined for falling for the ruse.
The town’s chief administrative officer Kurt Miller told the Board of Selectpersons during its meeting June 4 that Vieira’s worked to put better policies in place.
Vieira, who grew up in Yonkers, NY, reached out via email June 7 and told the Valley Indy he’s been enjoying the job.
“It’s been a little over a year and I have met some great people,” Vieira said. “There really is a team atmosphere at the town and I am happy to be named the finance director.”
Vieira, 48, has a degree in accounting from the University of New Haven. He obtained his CPA license in 2001. He worked for various CPA firms for more than 20 years before starting his own practice in 2019, where he provides consulting and tax work. He has several employees who handle his firm’s day-to-day operations, and said if he’s needed to assist, he will do so during the evenings or weekends.
