Meeting Minutes

1. CALL TO ORDER
   Chairman Gallitto called the meeting to order at 5:01 p.m.

2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
   The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.

3. OPEN PUBLIC SESSION
   Chairman Gallitto opened public session at 5:02 p.m.

   James Mastroianni, President Firefighters Local 3918
   On behalf of the Union President Mastroianni thanked Chief Badamo for his efforts in preparing the budget. They believe it is a fair and good budget. One area of concern to theUnion is that the Training line item was reduced by $4,000. He requested it be refunded back to where it was last year if not increased as there is an increased number of members.

   Daniel Penney, 1101 Chamberlain Hill Road
   Mr. Penney began by saying his comments are related to budget issues and are not related to the Firefighters and the services they provide to the district. He stated that his comments are relative to what he called administrative overhead expenses and related operational opportunities for improvement. Mr. Penney stated that he recently filed an FOI request for budget related information. At this time he does not have all of the information he requested. He is looking for a list of overtime paid in dollars, budget year to date, with corresponding name and position held. He feels the holdup is related to semantics associated with the exact format. He feels this information should be tracked and be able to generate a summary with this information. He did receive information related to hours. His previous requests were handled routinely and efficiently and he appreciates that. Mr. Penney commented on the practice of sending out certified mail.

   Commissioner Russo-Driska called a Point Of Order stating that this is a budget hearing specifically relating to the budget and requested that Mr. Penney address his items to the budget or cease on any other comments at this time until the appropriate meeting.

   Mr. Penney continued by asking the Chairman to intervene and assure that he receives the above requested information in a timely manner.

   Mr. Penney feels the 5:00 p.m. budget workshop time should be reconsidered. He commented that control should be had over every item and if you have control, you will develop opportunities. He feels the raises for management and staff are unacceptable. He feels Commissioner compensation should be removed from the budget. Mr. Penney stated that the NRG money and possible overtime compensation coming in to the budget will present an opportunity. He wants to see ways to cut overtime costs. He would also like to see the cost for the new vehicle removed from the budget and better seek out and work relative to mutual aid as mutual aid presents opportunities especially relative to emergency preparedness and incident command.

   Mr. Penney concluded his comments by commenting on other areas he feels presents cost-saving opportunities.

   Earle Roberts, Former South Fire District Commissioner
   Mr. Roberts feels we should try to streamline the budget and tighten the belt. He feels anywhere this can be done will benefit everyone. Bottom line is we are looking at a 12% increase. The insurance line is where a lot of the issues are. Mr. Roberts commented that on the positive side we have the NRG contribution. He feels the Commission knows where the increases are and where they can negotiate.

   Edward Creem, 979 Saybrook Road
   Mr. Creem began his comments by citing his education in economics, his 20 years experience as a Journalist covering local governments and local budgets and his experience as an elected city official and Fire Commissioner. Mr. Creem feels this is a very tight budget with little or no wiggle room and no room to cut. He urged the Commission to adopt the budget as proposed and send a strong message to the voters urging them to approve it. He stated that the increase in the tax is negligible. Mr. Creem went on to urge the Commission to take a long term view of the district's finances. As he has stated before, by all nationally accepted measures, the South Fire District is understaffed for the potential fire load that exists but this is not the time to consider additional staffing. Mr. Creem stated his concern about the General Fund balance. He feels most private citizens don't understand the need for maintaining a fund balance. It is vitally necessary to deal with the unexpected. Mr. Creem is also concerned about the amount of money being budgeted for medical insurance. The newly enacted federal healthcare reform bill will impose several new costs on insurance companies.

   Mr. Creem went on to comment on CNR expenditures. He feels resurfacing of the bay floor is way overdue. Slips and falls in apparatus bays are a major cause of workers compensation injuries. He also commented on the command vehicle replacement stating that it is long overdue. Command vehicles are used at the scene of every major accident, every major fire or any other incident where there are multiple units in operation. Mr. Creem also commented on mutual aid. Mutual aid is a fact of life and occurs almost on a daily basis. Middletown Fire cannot extinguish a working structure fire without mutual aid from Westfield and South District and same goes for South District.

   Mr. Creem concluded by commenting on MDT's and urged the Commission to adopt the budget.

4. CLOSE PUBLIC SESSION
   Chairman Gallitto closed public session at 5:22 p.m.

5. BUDGET WORKSHOP
   A discussion ensued regarding possible adjustments to be made to the proposed budget.

   The difference between expenditures and revenue which was approximately $900 was moved into the training line item. Money was moved from electricity in to training as well to bring that line item back up to where it was in the previous year.

   Commissioner Gregorio stated that he has had some taxpayers express some concerns to him about vehicle replacement. He does understand the need for that type of vehicle. Other than that the comments were positive. Commissioner Gregorio said that Middletown Fire is facing a 1 mil increase. He feels we have kept costs under control.

   Commissioner Darling stated that there isn't any doubt that our staff and Commission has investigated all possible alternatives and have come to a realization that this budget is understandable and workable.

   Commissioner Gregorio commented on a previous comment made about a 12% increase in the budget. He said that is true but the actual expense to the taxpayers is only around 3% due to additional revenue coming in.

   Commissioner Russo-Driska addressed the Commissioner's stipend. She stated they do not get paid per meeting nor do they get paid for all of the hours that they put in as Commissioners. They were happy to cut it down last year as it was an exceptionally difficult year. She does not think it's excessive or unfair.

   Chief Badamo stated that a change of verbiage needed to be addressed. Financial Advisor Sharon Maloney stated that she has a concern with uncompensated absences.

   She explained that what she is referring to is accrued sick and vacation time and post retirement benefits that are going to have to be funded. There are a number of employees approaching retirement age. We have nothing in the budget for this. Ms. Maloney advised the Commission that what she would like to do is to put in verbiage stating that excess revenues over expenses from year ending 2010 be appropriated into an account for future uncompensated absences. It would stop any excess revenue from going in to the General Fund but this has to be funded.

   Commissioner Gregorio expressed his concern over the General Fund but agreed that this money needs to be set aside.

   Further discussion ensued regarding the cost of funding these expenses and possibly creating an actual line item for them. Ms. Maloney advised the Commission that we will be hiring an Actuary to determine how much money will need to be allocated.

   As he does every year, Chairman Gallitto asked Ms. Maloney if there is anything the Commission should look at where there is a possibility of savings. Ms. Maloney responded by saying there are some line items that could be cut by $500 or $1,000 but it won't make much of a difference. She doesn't want to have to dip in to the General Fund.

   Commissioner Gregorio commented that we need to gradually start increasing the General Fund.

   Commissioner Gregorio also stated that he has had several people tell him they would rather see small increases than be hit with one big increase.

   Ms. Maloney stated there is income that we don't budget for and used prior year interest as an example. For year ending 2009 it was $23,000 which would be considered excess revenue.

   Further discussion ensued and a line item was created to reflect uncompensated absences. $10,000 was put in to the line which increased the proposed mil rate to 3.492.

   Chief Badamo suggested moving the $7,000 overage from the purchase of the new Car 37 from CNR and add it to the new line item. Ms. Maloney said it would offset $7,000 of the $10,000 that was just added. Doing that reduced the proposed mil rate to 3.486.

6. RE-OPEN PUBLIC SESSION
   Chairman Gallitto re-opened the public session at 5:56 p.m.

   Daniel Penney, 1101 Chamberlain Hill Road
   Mr. Penney began his comments by saying that he has a different perspective on the resources available through emergency preparedness which he feels would help us with this budget. Having developed some of them himself he feels he can speak to those issues.

   Mr. Penney continued by saying if the apparatus floor was an issue it wouldn't be in service and a simple slip test could confirm that and could result in significant savings. He feels the amount of time spent on the budget workshops is failing the taxpayers. Mr. Penney stated that the gap is not just looking for cuts but it's addressing the spending issues. He feels it's sad to hear that some things aren't controlled.

   Mr. Penney continued by saying it's his civic duty to come to these meetings. He spends his time because he cares about the fiscal health and stability of the district. He said we can make progress with this budget and anything less is a disservice to taxpayers of the South Fire District.

   In conclusion, Mr. Penney stated that it's time to axe the tax.

   James Mastroianni, President Firefighters Local 3918
   President Mastroianni reiterated his thanks to the Chief for coming up with a fair and good budget. He thanked the Commissioners for looking at the budget and trying to get the best bang for the buck. President Mastroianni suggested that reducing the collection rate might help the General fund.

7. CLOSE PUBLIC SESSION
   Chairman Gallitto closed public session at 6:04 p.m.

8. SET MIL RATE FOR FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2010 - JUNE 30, 2011
   MOTION to set the mil rate at 3.486 mils for Fiscal Year July 1, 2010 - June 30, 2011 by Comm. Russo-Driska/Comm. Gregorio. Unanimously approved.

9. SET DATE AND TIME FOR BUDGET REFERENDUM
   MOTION to set the date for the budget referendum as Tuesday April 27, 2010 with hours of voting to be 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. by Comm. Russo-Driska/Comm. Gregorio. Unanimously approved.

   When completed, the proposed budget will be available on the South Fire District website at www.southfiredistrict.com.

10. ADJOURNMENT
    MOTION to adjourn by Comm. Russo-Driska/Comm. Gregorio. Unanimously approved.

Cheryl H. Creem
Recording Secretary