Selectmen still not clear on MBR funding

WINSTED — Under a mandate to do so from the state, the Winchester Board of Selectmen still has not developed a plan to provide the minimum funding required for this year’s school budget.Selectmen did not vote on how to fund the 2011-12 minimum budget requirement (MBR) during their meeting on Monday, Feb. 6. Instead, the board authorized Town Manager Dale Martin to meet with Town Attorney Kevin Nelligan to discuss the issue.The vote on the measure was five to two and was along political party lines, with Democratic Mayor Maryann Welcome and selectmen George Closson, Michael Renzullo, Candy Perez and James DiVita all voting for the motion.Republican selectmen Ken Fracasso and Glenn Albanesius voted against the motion.History of the MBRThe approved action by the selectmen is just the latest on what has become a long-running saga on the approved town budget for fiscal 2011-2012.In late May, town voters approved a budget set forth by the selectmen that set education funding at $18,600,000, which is $1,358,149 below the state-mandated MBR.In August, Brian Mahoney, chief financial officer for the state Department of Education, told the town it was not compliant with the MBR and asked for the town to come up with the remaining funds.In late November, the newly elected democratic majority on the Board of Selectmen approved a motion by Perez to fully fund the MBR.However, Perez put in her motion that town officials would be required to meet with Board of Education members and state officials to make sure that the school district is using proper accounting procedures and to address any financial discrepancies.Perez made the addition to her motion due to the release in November of an audit of the school system’s 2009-2010 fiscal year.The audit showed that as much as $636,000 in spending was not properly documented by the school district.In early December at a Board of Education meeting, Superintendent of Schools Thomas Danehy said the school district could prove the funds were properly spent. Danehy said the money was part of $1.1 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds that the school spent on salary payments to employees.As of Monday, almost six months after Mahoney told the town they were not compliant with the MBR, and almost four months after the Board of Selectmen voted to fund the MBR, the selectmen still did not reach a decision on how to fund it.Discussion at meetingAt the meeting, Town Attorney Nelligan told the selectmen that he had not been authorized by the town to research the issue and consult with Town Manager Martin.“You have not made any formal motion to do this,” Nelligan told the selectmen. “Obviously, I have thought about it. It has been hanging over you for months and months.”“I was working under the impression that both you and Dale were working to understand how to go about this,” Mayor Welcome told Nelligan.As part of the proposal, Martin presented a draft funding plan that would amend the budget by taking funds from budget-line items to fund the MBR.The draft funding plan was not directly voted on by the selectmen, but rather was given to the board by Martin as a “framework” for a potential future plan.In Martin’s draft funding plan, the funds to meet the MBR would come from a contingency line from the town’s fund balance of $735,000 and various available funds from budget lines and town departments.Also, payments to agencies outside of the town would receive reduced funding, including Foothills Visiting Nurses, Camp Lark, the Youth Service Bureau, the Susan B. Anthony Project, The Chore Service and other several agencies.Despite this, Martin said the town would still come up $54,000 short of funding the MBR if the “framework” was approved as is.Selectman Fracasso then brought up the issue of the estimated $636,000 that was allegedly not properly documented by the school district in school year 2009-2010.“When our auditor was here a few weeks ago, she was asked that, if the school district misappropriated funds in 2009-2010, what are the chances that this also happened in 2010-2011,” Fracasso said. “She said that if it happened in 2009-2010, then it probably happened in 2010-2011. If we are looking at $1.3 million we cannot account for, will we have to pony all of it up? Does this mean we will have to issue a supplemental tax? If we take all of this money that we are talking about tonight, I don’t think we will have anything let in the town coffers.”“We are going to have to spend it,” Mayor Welcome said. “The previous board decided to underfund the MBR, which is why we are in the position that we are in now.”“No, the taxpayers are the ones who voted on the budget,” Fracasso said. “We just put the budget forward.”Fracasso asked Nelligan to research whether it was legal for the Board of Selectmen to overturn a town budget once residents have approved it.Nelligan said he would research the issue.