Finance, Budget, Audit & Bonding Subcommittee - Regular Meeting

I don't have a gabble, but my name is Cindy Lloyd. I am a member of the finance committee. Welcome to the finance, budget, audit, and bonding subcommittee. Today is Monday, April 21st, 2025, and we are starting our meeting today at 6:09 p.m. Thank you all for your patience. And as far as a roll call, we have Council McCclary, myself, Council Merritt, and I see Deputy Mayor Harrington there. Are there any other counselors online? No, that's it. All right. I believe we have a quorum and so we will roll right into old business discussion and status update regarding the fiscal year 2024 audit. Mr. Hill, take it away. Thank you, councelor. Uh good evening, finance committee members and uh residents businesses of Bloomfield. As always, it's a pleasure to be before you this evening uh for our what month is it? April Finance Committee meeting. Uh four five topics on this evening's agenda beginning with the update for the fiscal 2024 audit. That is last year's audit. Uh we've made significant progress uh since the committee last met in February. Uh as reported previously, there was a significant amount of work that should have been completed during fiscal 2024 that current staff has been diligently working to accomplish. as well as ensure proper and complete accounting practices. Um to give you some perspective, the reconciliation that is the majority of the majority of the work that wasn't completed in fiscal 2024 uh involves the reconciliation of hundreds of millions of dollars of transactions across 27 bank accounts requiring over a thousand journal entries in

Munis for the entirety of 2024 uh is near complete. Um, thank you to deputy director and town accountant, Donna Stewart. Uh, we stand now with around a million dollars remaining to be reconciled. And again, that one just over a million dollars remaining uh is of hundreds of millions of dollars of transactions. So while we are uh not at the point where we've provided the auditors with everything that they need to complete their work uh they have begun their work and we are close to completing the reconciliation that would allow us to uh prepare uh the finalize the trial balance uh for CLA's review. uh that of course is is one of the key activities uh for the annual audit and then there's lots of other work that goes on after that but that is uh mostly focused on the presentation of the uh financing schedule or finance schedules. Um we are working towards completing the audit by the end of May next month. Um I know that each month I've presented to the finance committee. I've extended that. Um that is based on as I just mentioned uh learning and then working to complete all of the work in 2024 uh that wasn't completed that needs to be completed to move forward through the audit. So um we're done by the end of next month, end of May. Uh we'll be just over two months earlier than last year. Not that that is any measure that we are using uh to I guess quantify our work. Um our work is to complete the audit and file it based on the state's filing deadline which is of course December 31st. So uh when we're successful completing the audit by the end of next month uh we

will be five months late but two months sooner than the previous audit. With that, I'll I'll pause on the 2024 audit update before I go on to the 2025 audit preparation, unless anyone has questions. Any questions in the room? Uh the numbers, yes, I have. Okay. Uh the numbers that uh we were put into our coming budget still look good to you for what we have left. in the aggregate. Yes. Um that's all I care about. As as you know, we progressed through the audit. Um I believe my predecessor and my first report to the finance committee, which was as of June 3024 before I joined the town, um reflected, I think it was a little over $4 million surplus. That's a combined net of the revenues and expenditures u the financial performance for fiscal 2024. Um, as we've progressed through the audit of 24, those who know the work know that that work changes the number, right? So, I'm referring to that projected $4 million ending balance for fiscal 2024. Um, up and down, daily, weekly, monthly since then. Um, and where we are now, we are still not done. I think I saw about a 3.3 or 3.4 million number. So it's down 8 $900,000 still positive and we're not done. So don't lock in on the surplus the budget we assume we had. So not of the 24 surplus but of the projected fund balance there's the uh 3.75 million to balance the budget keep the mill rate lower and then the 4 million for the economic development trust. Well that

was different though. Oh, okay. They're both coming out of fund balance, though. So, 7.75. Okay. Anyone else in the room? Yeah. Um, thank you, Madam Chair. Uh, I just wondered what kind of impact did us uh foregoing hiring during the last year. There was a period where we were pretty much shut down and the hope was that we were going to save a considerable amount of money so we could uh be in a better position. Do you have an idea or sense of how that uh change may have impacted you know this this audit 24 audit last year. Um, so I numbers are unudited. So no, I don't have the audited number. Um, as we complete the audit, we'll we'll have that audited number. Uh, I've heard uh being in conversations in recent weeks. Don't quote me, but I believe that the number was a 6 or $700,000 number looking at the whole fiscal year for vacancy savings by freezing positions. Um, again, don't quote me, but I I have 680,000 in my head, but I can get that number and uh happy to provide it once we have it or and and report out on it at next month's meeting. And then the number that we saved through the changing of uh we had we had funds that we put into an account uh that uh former deputy mayor and uh uh now judge uh and uh Ken uh Councilman McCclary had put together

in a in an account and it was going very well. I I know it's not as formidable as the prior year, but um I'm wondering how that may have impacted uh this as well because it was it was a considerable amount um that was earned and I I know now is not necessarily uh going as as well as you know the prior year. Yes, I believe you're speaking to interest income and use of assets. um from this year's budget development, we know we reduced that amount um from I believe it was 1.1 million uh in last year's budget and it's in actually both months reports under interest income last year it was 1.357 million that was earned so higher than what was budgeted believe at 1.1 million if I'm correct on that number. Um but of course a lot's happened since then including uh the current interest rate environment which is declining um and has been declining for a number of months now and is expected to continue uh you know the talking heads and as you've heard me say before my crystal ball is always cloudy but the talk is that the declining interest rate environment may last a couple three years and we're all hopeful that it doesn't trigger a recession um which would be worse than just a declining interest rate environment. Um, but with our uh financial reports tonight that you'll hear a little bit later on through the end of March, uh we have brought in just under 950,000 of interest income or 95% of what was budgeted for this year. That's through the end of March. So, we have the whole fourth quarter left to to earn and that

last 5% and some hopefully. Yes, Calcio, thank you so much for the presentation. I was listening as I was driving in. I'm going to again apologize to the residents of Bloomfield for my tardiness, but just getting off of work and haven't even made it home yet. So, uh, just apologize for my tardiness. Uh, question related to the Munice adoption. Is there any timeline on when the BOE is scheduled to move over to Munice? So, we're working to set up the bank accounts to support it. Um, so that and that's important. So I mentioned it first because currently everything is coming out of essentially two accounts that are the towns. Uh, one for payroll and one for accounts payable. Um going forward, we'll have one uh one we'll have two accounts, two for the town, two for the board, so that the town's payroll is isolated and the town's general dispersements are isolated from the board of ed because they'll have their own payroll and dispersements account. Um the the cut over for January 1 is still in place because that needs to happen at the beginning of a calendar year. Uh we were optimistic that we'd be able to uh begin some of their account activity July 1. Um the challenge at this point is that it's likely going to take beyond July one for the accounts to be established and tested uh so that they could be put into use. the timing for that may push those activities out, the consolidation of or the the bifurcation of the bank accounts um to a later date. Um but I believe that the board of ed's first entry into Munice active uh will be in this is the fourth quarter

um late first quarter 2006 and at the outside the second quarter um with by the end of 2006 again save that July 1 2006 date they will be fully 2026 yes they'll be fully on board qu okay great thank you I see your hand, council lawyer, but I'm going to ask one more question because I did hear about the end of May for completing the fiscal 2024 24 audit. What happened to the beginning of April, the end of April, beginning of May? It's like in December, I heard January, January, I heard February, March, and then in February, I heard March, April. Then it's just like constantly moving consistent. I know it's been consistent, but that's not what I'm that's not has been my goal as the chair of this finance committee. Um, we've been micro focused on this audit and making sure that we can catch up so that we are not on track. And I asked time and time and time and time again about I know you you you mentioned about a a bunch of journal entries, over hund00 million worth of journal entries. Is it possible for us to bring in the the consultants to kind of I know it's a million dollars left, but why didn't we bring in the consultant to kind of help the deputy finance director with that? And if we didn't bring them in, did we do any savings from not having them here or cost avoidance? Sure. I'll I'll take the last one uh first. Yeah, we we avoided the tens of thousands of dollars that we would have paid those consultants. So, I should see those savings in finance department. It's cost avoidance, not savings. Those are two very different things. But didn't we budget in the budget this year for the consultants? My understanding from the previous uh admin finance administration that it was budgeted in the line item for um the audit. So they had audit I think $80,000 or $90,000 in the budget for it. And so I wanted to know where we see savings because they actually budget. So if you budget for it, it's

not a cost avoidance cuz you actually put dollars in the budget for it. And so we should be able to see it and it not be a cost avoidance. Hopefully that makes sense. Cost avoidance is if you didn't pay if you didn't budget for it and you have to find the monies elsewhere, right? Well, you you avoid paying for that expense, right, in your budget. So I savings is there's something that's quoted or projected to cost me $10,000. You budget it and I budget 10, right? But the budget is irrelevant. It's supposed to cost me $10,000. If I can get the work done or get the people doing the work to get it done for $9,000, is that avoidance or savings? I would suggest it's avoidance, right? Buy a,000 bucks regardless of the dollar. So, first penny, it's either avoidance or savings. Happy to happy to write it up and share it with the committee. Did we use the did we use any portion of the dollars that was used that was budgeted for these consultants to come in? Uh I'd have to look back at the budget because they may have done that before Miss Stewart and I started. Okay. Because um while while consultant fees were budgeted for f this year fiscal 2025 and some of those uh expenses may have been paid. We do know as will be is shown and will be discussed in a moment in the February and March financial reports those consulting costs uh were significantly overshot by uh the departures in the finance department and keeping the town's finances operational through that. So, so you repurposed it for other line items like bringing in PE probably temp workers that you have to pay a firm to bring in temp accountants and other things. Okay, perfect. That makes So that answer not only temp workers but also consultants. Yep. That answer my

question. You may recall our our payroll manager was a consultant as well. So as you look at February and March, you'll see we're over budget in finance administration, finance accounting, central office as well, but that central office is related to mail and supplies. Got it. Uh, so you're saying May, end of May. That's the auditors presenting to us at the No, that's us filing with the state and then the auditors presenting to this committee when I would assume I would assume in June. Okay. So the once the audit's done, it's just scheduling. We can do an emergency meeting, right? We could do We don't need to do an emergency meeting. I mean, the audit's done. It's not going to change. Perfect. And then what is the tracking? I don't know if we move to 25. We're finishing up 24 and then Okay, I'll hold my question for 25. Uh, Council Loy, thank you. Yes, we don't need another emergency meeting. Nobody needs another emergency meeting right now in Bloomfield. Thank you. Um, council, um, and as well, I would ask just for the public's sake and even sometimes for my own sake, you guys debating, you know, cost avoidance or cost savings. you're getting into weeds and terminology that is a little above the pay grade of some of our uh regular residents that are not accountants, CPAs or otherwise involved in um those type of financial services and careers. So if you guys could uh make it more plain that would be appreciated. Um because Darl you asked Kenneth a question after he asked you a question and that becomes confusing I think for the viewers and certainly it confused me a little bit because if you budget 10,000 and you only spend nine for me as a lay person that is a savings not an avoidance although you did avoid spending 10,000 so I can see the other side of the coin. So, I would just ask if we can make it plain for everybody. That's probably very helpful, particularly for me and our watching and listening public. I wanted to just bounce back and say thank you guys for catching up, although you

know, behind, but two months ahead of last year on this audit. Um, with the audit for 24 winding down, what does that look like? And this is probably segue into the next question, so you might want to wait. What does that look like for 25? That's my question. And as well, let me say this. Let me back up and say that I also understand there was competing priorities for this budget, which we had a very difficult budget year. We had some issues and some nuances and something not so subtle called a rebound, which significantly affected the capacity for folks to budget and create their budgets. and looking at a 2% and a 5% you it it was very difficult and so I know that there were competing priorities and so you guys may not have even started on that but I dare say I think you probably did because now that you're rolling as payables receivables and things like that come in I'm sure you're on the daily task as they arise as well so maybe that's a segue um council mccclary maybe you want to hold that until uh we start the 2025 conversation or I think it's perfect if no more questions for 24. I think we exhausted the questions for 24. I think we can roll into 25 and go right into your questions. Your question related to that because that was my question that I held on to. So where are we with 25 and have all of the journal entries for this budget year started to be inputed into Munis? And then same thing goes with the board of ed because I know historically there's been some duplicate efforts about reconciliation etc. not throwing the board of ed under the bus. They've been great partners during this process, but I just want to make sure that whoever's here next year um have a whether it's me or you trying to tell me something? No, I'm not telling you nothing. I'm not making no announcements. Oh, you're not talking

about me. No, I'm talking I'm talking about whoever's up on here as the town council. I'm not making any announcements. It's up to the public. I know what you were saying. Um, whoever's here, I think you just they need to like be able and I want to get it on the record. So that whoever is here next, don't pass the buck to this previous because too often when whoever is not in office, they like to say it was the last person's um problem or the lack of doing it. And so that's why I'm always getting things on the record. Where are we with the 25 budget and are we on will we be projected to have stuff done by December 31st? Well, thank you for the the questions. Uh, both counselors. Um uh especially councelor Lloyd, you you actually must have been looking over my shoulder. Um as we continue to accomplish our daily task, right, which is I call the day job, uh which is the accounting for current activity. Um we're working to complete the audit of 2024 and all the work that wasn't done last year, including getting through that audit, right? So that's on top of the day job and on the back half of budget. Um it's it's been very challenging. Um the way that I've gotten to say it in recent weeks is very simply when I'm working on the audit, I'm not working on the budget. When I'm working on the budget, I'm not working on the audit. When I'm working on either one of them, I'm not working on the day job. Right? There's only so much time. I'm only one person. But the same is true for Miss Stewart. And it's really the two of us in central accounting, right? Because we have four and a half FTEEs. We're two of them. One is the payroll manager, one's accounts payable, and then there's a half of an FTE, a part-time position, uh that is a administrative analyst. Um so, Miss Stewart and I are working on one of those three things all day, every

day. and we focus our attention uh based on priorities. So for the past couple of months, the majority of my time has been on the budget, not the audit. And how I've managed the finance department is to allow Miss Stewart to continue to be focused on the audit so that both are moving forward. And then both of us as needed bring each other in to the audit or budget, right? So that we're both in sync. we talk every day, probably more than uh she wants, but um so uh with all three of those jobs going on at the same time, as they have been for the past five or six months, by the end of the first week of May, we'll release our fiscal year in closed memorandum that will include a listing of all townwide activities to ensure an orderly close to fiscal 2025. That's key to us meeting the deadline. And to specifically respond to the question of whether or not we're current now, are we current? I wouldn't say we're current, but we're a whole lot closer, right? Maybe a month behind, no more than two, right? Not what we've inherited, lest anyone forget. And I'm hopeful that this isn't, you know, complicated terminology. There was just a heaping load of work not done in 24 that had to be had to be done by people who weren't here then. And in this finance accounting space, it's very challenging to try and figure out what and how somebody else did something. when it was done in some ways not consistent with best practices and it was done in this financial space with numbers rolled up. You've got one big number and trying to

figure out what's in it. Everything is a research project, right? So that's very time consuming. But for fiscal 25's audit, um let me get through my last statement because I think that's what you want to hear. Um, we will file the 2005 audit by December 31st. This school 2025 is in good enough order and as we over the next 3 weeks come out of what I'll say called the formal budget process because after the formal budget process that concludes with the town meeting, well then got to prepare that adopted budget book, right? So budget may seem like it's over and all of the requests for my and our time will ramp up because we're done with budget, right? No, we're not done with budget. Even when we're done with audit, we're not done with audit. Audit is ongoing all year. The things that we do in the day job set us up for the audit. So again, we're in good shape this year. In the next several weeks, we'll be out of budget. in the next six weeks or so will be out of audit which has June the day job including closing fiscal 2025 preparing to open 2026 both of which have a process that the town needs to go through so that this information is as current and as accurate as possible I'll speak to that a little bit more during the financial reports but it's the same thing you've heard me say at each of the finance committee meetings I've presented The town has a practice that we are working to move the town away from of delaying information getting immunest. And if the information isn't immunous, I've said it before, it doesn't exist. It's our system of record. I call it our system of truth. That it exists in a

spreadsheet somewhere. Doesn't exist to me. It's great that my predecessors and current some current employees still lean on those spreadsheets for how they work and how they understand it. But my direction is that that information needs to get in Munice within 48 to 72 hours of the transactions happening, right? And if it's not 48 hours, it's 4 days. No big deal. What we're trying to get away from is monthly, quarterly, and annually, right? So since Miss Stewart and I came on board the beginning of August, we've received some of those annual and quarterly things that weren't done in 24, right? A whole year's worth of activity that previously would wait until June, but in June they were trying to finish the 23 audit that was filed on July 5th. Right? So everything works together. Where we are now, we're in a better place than the town was May of last year. And I'm saying all three jobs, the day job, the audit, and the budget. And as we get through the budget, then the audit, we are preparing not only ourselves, but that we're prepared, but preparing the town to be on track. Right. little bit of slippage is a week or two, but that doesn't impact our ability to meet December 31st. Thank you so much. Uh, council, is that a legacy hand or do you have a question now? Legacy? No. Oh, you have the floor. Thank you. Thank you for the update. Um, it's very encouraging and it's good to hear that you guys are chugging along. I know that, um, it was a lot because I've been around a little while, so I get it. Um, so certainly appreciate all you guys hard work and your consistency and

encouraging to hear that we will hopefully have the audit done by year end, give or take a couple of weeks. So I'm happy to hear that. I know that council mcclary asks on a regular basis and you guys have competing priorities, but uh our town manager knew what he was doing when he hired who he hired and reflecting upon with no names, you know, other people that may not have had that level of skill set. So, I think it shows that we're able to now get there in a more efficient fashion. So, I'm happy to hear that and you guys just keep doing what you're doing. And if you need the support, just ask for it. I I think that's why council mccclary is asking about consultants. I don't know about next year for 25. The budget's very lean. I don't think we have not in the budget. We could 80,000. Can we put that 80,000 back in? It's not in the budget. Consult money built in. But um as it relates well in reality the no we didn't put that 80,000 in for consultants for next year. We have proper funding for the audit but we did increase funding for munis training and I don't think it's 80,000 but it is you know tens of thousands of dollars not only for town staff but also for continuing the board staff the board and you got the budget management software to help you ease this that is talks to Thank you. Yeah, that talks to Munis and and back and forth which is good. Uh so we have some streamlining things to kind of ease the workload for you uh to make it a little bit more efficient. And thank thank you for mentioning that because that's a good example uh for how we close out a year and how we open a new year that Munis software in the coming weeks put out an RFP. We'll get responses back. We'll go through the evaluation. We'll select someone. We'll go through the contracting and in a perfect world that gets done on June 30th or July 1st. And on July 1st, the very first day of the

fiscal year, they're engaged. They're under contract. It's on board. They're starting implementation. We got a full year to go, right? Which is just very different than waiting until July 1st to issue the RFP being 3 months into the year and then it's almost budget time. We're crunching trying to get everything up and running to support next year's budget process, right? So, that's an idea and an approach for things townwide. Now, there are some things that don't start at the beginning of the year. They start in the winter or they start in the next spring, right? But similarly, it's the planning of how long is it going to take to get through whatever procurement requirements we have and contracting so that um we can meet the operational needs and have things happen when they need to happen without unnecessary duress. Meaning the fire drill of this contract's expiring the end of the month. We got to do something like well you know the end of that's nine days from now. We didn't know this, right? which is not a Bloomfield issue. It's just a government issue. It commonly happens, right? So trying to put processes and procedures and systems in place to standardize not the work because we still need our most valuable resource, our people to do the work, but we need reminders and we need ticklers so that things happen when they they're supposed to happen. And even when we determine when they're supposed to happen, we add some padding to it. Weather, vacations, what have you, who knows, right? But we don't want to have a schedule that's so tight that we can't realistically meet it. We should have a schedule that's so padded that if we need and want to take a week break, we can and still hit the target, right? So that that approach and that mentality, I think, is important to

file an audit on time. But I would go so far as to suggest, you know, directors across the town are doing things similarly with how they won their department because they've got this program starts on this day. Has to happen, right? We we put a schedule out for the year. We can't say it's not going to happen this month, it's going to happen next month, right? Um, but while I I speak so firmly about some of the financial issues in the town, right, town is financially sound. We're double A plus rated. One notch, not one rating notch, one rating category off of the highest in the country. AAA healthy reserves, solid year-over-year financial performance. Save the last three years of filing the audit late, right? We're in good shape. So, don't don't take my comments as though the town is broken and in disrepair and, you know, we need to pull the fire alarm and fix things. It's just that there are some very simple best practices that Bloomfield hasn't embraced in finance that are going to make everybody's lives easier, especially ours. Yep. When I I'm going to go to you, council me, and then uh council lawyer. Especially when you've had three to especially when you've had three to four town finance directors in the last uh five to seven years, it has been very hard to plan. Same thing with the uh and town managers. when you go through four or five town managers in the last right the two of those positions over that same fairly short time period uh the town should be commended for being where it is and having gotten through that and to a place of stability now agreed and and and I know people talk about and council member I'm going to go to you I know people talk about how the rating is not a big deal because it's just for Wall Street and it's the credit card let it fall but let that fall you pay more interest that's like saying your credit

score goes down and you go out buy a car, see how much you pay more because of it. If you don't, and we just got $900,000 more on our debt service. Can you imagine if our AAA rating has dropped how much more interest we'll be paying towards it? A plus double A plus, excuse me, have fallen what we would do. And so I think you're right that we're in a good spot, but that doesn't um we shouldn't get we shouldn't go to sleep at the wheel. We should find those efficiencies. we should find where technology can fit and help things efficient because that helps with labor costs and some other things. So that's just my little two cents. Um but it is important to say we've had at least three to five town finance directors over the last seven years. And the same thing with the town manager and if I was an investor and looking at this as a corporation, I wouldn't put a single retirement dollar or invest in an organization that the top leadership is running over and over and over and over again and I think we stabilize it. Council Merritt, thank you. Um, I uh before I ask my question, thank you. Before I ask my question, am I I'm having a senior moment and I can't quite remember. We we were going to hire another accountant right into the budget for next year right up to near the end. But is it true that we're not going to hire another accountant? It was a budget modification. Uh that was I was afraid of that and it seems to me that was not a very smart thing to do cuz you're still in the catchup mode. You've been in a catch-up mode year ago you were in the catchup mode. I mean you're saying we're better off now but it really doesn't sound much better. I'm sorry, but I'm just hearing you you've got so much catching up to still do. And so I you you've got you may be one man so you can do the day job if that's all you had to do and maybe do our our budgeting,

but uh I I I'm I'm still worried that you need help because I don't see you getting there. you I mean you you're you're obviously more on top of it than you were when you just arrived, but uh I I I'm I think we're still in trouble in the accounting area because we just staffed. You're you're you may be staffed to stay up with it, but not to catch up with it. And I'm I'm I'm worried about that. It seems to me that um you may not need a full-time other person accounting, but boy sure looks like you need a shot in the arm temporarily. Thank you for that, counselor. I um um I'll say this. Uh Miss Stewart, would you stand? Right. So, we are better off Come in the camera view on my right side. So, we are better off um you know, leadership matters, right? from the council on down. Uh town manager uh swap is a phenomenal leader. Deputy town manager Howal a phenomenal leader. The other department heads across the town are are are great leaders. Right? I' I've been in this business for state and local government for over 30 years. Right? The folks here, they know their work. They've been doing it for a long time. Everybody is very uh professional, collegial in all their relationships. they own their department, right? That is not always the case, right? So, Bloomfield is in really good shape from a leadership perspective now. And the reason I asked Miss Stewart to stand is while yes, we uh we need another senior accountant, not a junior accountant, a senior accountant. We need someone not at our level but close to our level who can take and own things without lots of

questions about how they should be doing their job. Um, but with Miss Stewart here and I'll go back and folks can rewind and listen to my remarks about the 2024 audit, right? Hundreds of million dollar, hundreds of millions of dollars of reconciliations, 27 bank accounts, over a thousand journal entries. That is the woman standing to my right. Right. So, we're in better shape. I'll leave this response with this analogy. Um, we can keep the wheels on, right? Um, but on a car, but we might never not ever get to cleaning the car. The car is going to roll. We're going to do the things that the car is supposed to do. It just may not be pretty. Um, a few minutes ago, the conversation in my head was about continuous improvement, right? We're always continuously improving every day. We may not do the thing that is the improvement but we take the note so that we don't lose sight of it. And as we have more I won't say free time but more time we revisit our list and start implementing and doing those things that are going to not only benefit us and the finance department but the town going forward. I yeah I I hear you and I I I am pleased that we and yes I know we've one thing that this town has done right it's hired good managers generally not all of us in the finance department but and other departments um but we we have had a collection of good people and that's one of our strengths but I I I'm

just worried about this budget which I I think we made too tight Um, and I I I'm not I'm not happy with our surplus. Um, I'm not we I I think we should have more money in our reserves. We have in the past and I I just think we've done this too tight and I'm really worried and I I you hear the people harping um negative stuff. Sure. Oh, democracy is great, but I start arguing with these pure nonsense they're putting out. They're running for office, so they keep telling us our our increase isn't enough. Well, I think our taxes should be higher to be quite honest with you. I I just don't think we have a fiscally responsible budget. And wait, wait. You don't Sorry. What What's not fiscally responsible? I would like to have not just a minimum reserve. Well, the if you look at the new report and you do the math, the reserves is going to be somewhere near 16.5% projection based on what I see tonight in the even with the $3.75 million put in the budget and with uh the uh economic development trust fund which we can again move over in case of emergency back to that's still our reserves. That's right. Yeah. Still our reserves. It's $16.5 million. Um, and I think I I I I had a lot to say about do something about accounting. I'm sorry. I I'm glad to hear your progress. We've been listening to positive stuff for a long time and you're still in catch-up mode. So, back to Council Mary. All right. That's all the the fiscally uh responsible budget. it too conservative not raising taxes enough or you think so you are suggesting the Republican party

in this town is suggesting that we raise taxes the Republican party isn't oh well you as a member of the Republican party is suggesting that we raise taxes more yes you know that ain't going to fall I know it isn't but it should I think this is reasonable and I think this puts us on a good track we don't cut services we keep the level of services at the at the level that people expect uh to a certain degree. Um and I think um not knowing what's coming I agree with most people not coming down from the federal government but I still think that the town government cannot um fill in the gap or step in the gap where the federal government neglects us. It is not our role as a local government to do that. That is going to be left to the state government. It is not the role of the Bloomfield Town Council or the other 168 town 16800 t 168 other towns to fill in the gap where the federal government is neglecting us. That is not our role. Um and so um I think this budget is fiscally prudent. I think it is reasonable. I think it sets us on the path to invest in things that we need to um while keeping the affordability rate um at the forefront of everything that we do. uh councelor uh Lloyd and then deputy mayor Harrington. Okay. So, going back to finish where I started a little earlier. Thank you, Council McCclary. Um I wanted to just piggyback on what you were saying, Mr. Hill about um understanding that things were operating on a delay for layman's terms. Uh being reported quarterly, semiannually or even on an annual basis and that you're putting in policies and procedures to make that more efficient utilizing best practices is absolutely what we need. And although we did have um a little bump in the road, we we did

have um a time not in the too distant past, but we did have on time or close to on time audit and things of that nature and budget was done pretty well. So I think you guys came in, we had the foundation. Uh there was some disconnect when we lost a couple of good people and I think you guys have picked up and got us back on track well and I appreciate that. most particularly the part you said about policies and procedures and hopefully very shortly we will have a townwide initiative for all directors to be able to do that and analyze their departments for efficiency sake and for best practices and to be able to operate in the most modern way that we can like learning munis right it's functionality not only you guys coming up to speed with it as such um but the town departments the department heads or whomever they allocate to do their own entries into the system which helps you guys do your work at the end of the week, the month, the quarter of the year. So, I'm glad to hear about the policies and the procedures that are ensuing as you find uh gaps or disconnects because we need that kind of across the board. We've been running well, but it doesn't mean that we can't run better. So, I'm glad to hear that. Um I'm certainly not going to debate the budget here. There's a meeting coming up that council mccclary may talk about a little bit later on Wednesday where I think um we can have more robust conversations about budget and whether it's being supported by a certain individual or not or it's conservative or not conservative enough and that type of stuff. So I'll stay off of that one. But thank you for letting me finish the thought council. Thank you Darl for you guys work most particularly the policy person because if I can see it and I can read it and it's in black and white it it provides a road mapap for me to do what I have to do. And so I think that's an awesome thing that we need and you guys are I'm sure taking a great stab at it bringing your experience to the table um as such. So thank you guys for the ability to comment. You're welcome. One

second. Uh a question for you councelor Loy. Um does your uh HR policy standard policy procedure RFP that went out would that cover some of the standardization of finance policies that Mr. Hill was talking about about standard practice of standard practices being implemented across the town about what goes into Munice how many hours etc exceptions like creating those standardizations of financial policies does that fall under to what councelor Lloyd's initiative has been over the last year the council initiative yeah council for the community standardize policies within the town operations across the board so that we not only have consistency in things that were pointed out in a study previously, but things that will help the daily operations. If you have standardized practices and daily operations, no matter what it is, you will have equity. If you know the job, you follow the policy, the policy provides a procedure, you do the work, people will be treated equitably. the residents will get equitable services and everyone will be treated as they should be treated in a town that will be operating uh from a good level now to a great level. So it covers every department and the directors or managers or designate of each town department or to look at their policies and procedures as Mr. Hill is already doing as um Miss Pausniac, our new clerk, has come in and started doing and be able to determine what they look like now and then recommend areas of improvement and then take some areas or recommendations for areas of improvement from the consultants. So, it's going to be um a team effort, right? Because someone who's not an accountant can't come in or a CPA can't come in and tell Mr. tell you know hey XYZ but they may have high level understanding of administration and governing finance

department so they kind of know what it should look like and if they see something missing that's when the conversation happens with the director of finance so the answer to your question a long answer that I gave is yes yes it will hopefully affect and help improve every department where they may have a disconnect or just might miss something maybe the tactical stuff is, you know, all set, but there could be some other policies that a director may forget to put in place that can be recommended. So, yeah, it's across the board for all departments. Thank you, Deputy Mayor. Thank you. Uh, so I hope I can I can make this congruent with what was discussed just a moment ago. Um we had a lot of discussion about the position and the software and it was felt most definitely we did not want to dismiss both but we felt that if we could provide the software that would enable the the office to do much more than it does now. Um, so we were we I don't want to say we were penny pension, but it's tight. The whole thing is tight and it was just felt that bringing in the software would be helpful um as opposed to not providing that at all. No. And I I appreciate and very very thankful the council for considering both of the finance departments u recommended or proposed budget mods. Um I'll be brief and say it this way. you both of them would have been a leap forward. One of them is a jump forward. Still forward and with the budget modification being the what council has recommended uh I would suggest that you know in a year no more than two we'll know one

what the impact of the budget software is and its impacts not only on finance staff but townwide staff that are involved in the budget development process. Um but at this time next year when we're at the backside of the 27 budget development, um Miss Stewart and I will have uh a clear understanding and opinion about that senior accounting position and whether or not we could use Yeah, we could always use more staff, right? Particularly with uh where we are and where we're going with the board of ed. Um but the budget being such a significant lift and manual right the software I think is going to be significant again not only for finance uh but townwide thank you is there any additional questions related to the 20 audit planning if not we'll go into the discussion regarding fourth quarter transfers and the plans around that and How are we going to handle that? So this evening we're going to provide an initial look at where we stand uh as of the end of the fiscal year. Uh that initial look will come in two forms. One is the F February financial report and the other is the March financial report um which has that far right hand column populated on the revenue and expenditures report and the detailed expenditure report. Um you know February uh let's see that's the seven eth month eth period of the year. uh March the 9th um the end of the third quarter you'll notice differences which I call progression from February to March right the remaining balance has changed uh I did after sending out uh notice um in the February report for finance uh there are two lines that are off uh both

finance accounting and finance central office the remaining budget and the projected expenditures uh are unrealistic. Right? So, I'm happy to go through the February report, but I believe that the March report would be uh more meaningful uh to walk through. But in that March report, and again, we're at fourth quarter transfers, you'll see how we're kind of shaken out and uh u believe just north of $3 million that is currently projected. Uh 3,031 as of the end of March. um is our first indication as to where we'll stand with still the fourth quarter to progress through. As I stand here uh in the middle of April, right, with two and a half months left in the year, we're planning in the coming weeks to take that deep dive into incumbrances, looking at all monies that aren't encumbered. uh going through the decisioning with each department head and office head on not only whether or not monies that are encumbered need to remain encumbered through the end of the fiscal year suggesting that I may have encumbered $10 because I thought it was going to cost me $10 but it actually cost me nine so I can release that dollar of encumbrance to either transfer to a different department or to the fall to fund balance but that deep dive will come uh in the next 3 to four weeks and at the finance committee's May meeting we will present that deep dive with our recommended fourth quarter transfers not only to keep departments in balance as we know finance and HR are going to be over budget uh because of the turnover in finance um I say finance and HR finance bore the cost of paying uh those part-time for temporary or

consultants. And in HR, they picked up the buyout of those temporary employees that were hired away from their firm. So, both HR and finance are impacted by uh the turnover in the finance department, but that'll be clear as I I uh walk through the March financial statements. You can just roll right into the March. Um turning to just go right over there. Mr. Apple, I don't want to, you know, gloss over too quickly February, but it would refer folks to the memo, the details behind it. Um, because that intermediate step of showing that our total revenues as of the end of February, uh, or just under 97% of budget um, with our tax collection at 100% of budget, uh, is positive uh, and informative. And that as asked previously, our interest income through the end of February was uh at 946,491. Um moving to March, the first nine months of the fiscal year, our total revenue received is at 97.7%. Compared to 99.2% the same period last year, with tax collections increasing from February to March to 100.8%. 8%. Interest income through the end of March uh stands just under 950,000 or 95% of uh the budgeted number uh which is positive with the uh entire fourth quarter remaining as of this March report. Our building demolition uh permits stand at 966 just over 966,000 uh which is down from the 1.4 million last year. But with the warmer weather coming, we start to see our uptick in uh permits being applied for and paid for. Um so we're remaining optimistic that

the fourth quarter uh will have our building demolition permits uh hit if not exceed budget. Similarly, but more concerning with real estate conveyance. Um sitting at 86.5% of budget, just over a half million dollars. Um I think and hope that similarly the warmer weather the spring buying uh will will get there but I am less confident in that real estate conveyance tax number. Um which is good that we are over in our tax collections to the tune of a half million two $790,000 higher than budget. Right? So, we're compensating for some of the other revenue sources that may be below budget and our expenditures sit at just under 58% through the end of March. Um, which is lower than the same period for the prior year. Um, flipping back past the the cover memo now to uh the detail. where I referenced the 790,000 of tax and assessments already above budget that is through um actually where am I looking here? Revise. Yes. Um taxes and assessments at 790,000 above the budgeted number uh which is positive. Uh we may see some revenues continue to come in for tax and assessments during the fourth quarter. I don't think there'll be a meaningful number. Uh folks may or may not know that uh from time to time uh there are taxpayers that pay early. They'll pay before July 1st. Um but those revenues don't get credited 2025. They get pushed forward to next year. Um down under expenditures you'll see mostly red which is under budget aggregating to just over 3 million as I

previously mentioned. But town administration and board commi boards and commissions as of the end of March are projected to be above uh budget. In greater detail on the following three pages are uh the detail. The first section this is an expenditure detail. The first section is similar to that revenue and expense summary page, right? Uh it it takes those same lines but then below it breaks them out. So, the town administration uh is what I was speaking to previously, and you'll see that for finance and administration under town administration, we're currently projected or as of the end of March projected to be uh just under $210,000 above budget. Now, that's an estimate. That's a projection. And Munice is behind, right? We've been catching up in Munis every month, meaning getting better and better information out of Munis. And uh leadership knows that the push was to um get current before the fourth quarter transfers. We're not there yet. We will be for next month, right? And actually my hope is that we will be by the end of this week. So that next week and the week after Miss Stewart department heads and I begin to evaluate incumbrances and what's projected to be spent through June 30, we can look at Munice for our accuracy, not somebody's spreadsheet. Better information is what that means. Question. So I as I review this um I see fixed cost underperform well doing positive positive. It's a negative number but it's doing well and $1.2 2 million. What's the reason for that? Is that because OPE or big Trump didn't come out in the fourth quarter? So, if you look

on page, you look at fixed cost of 09110, it's 1.267747. Yeah. So, I mean, with a budget of for 14.7 million year to date at 7.3, right? We're projecting that $13.4 million through June 30th, which is the res resulting in that 1.2 2 million. Yeah. But what's the cause of that? Is that like is will we see next month that there's going to be a big payment for OPED or health care or taxes? I know last year they told us around this time they forgot to pay was it the police department taxes? Uh Cindy the the it was some they forgot to pay some type of taxes. Payroll tax was not payroll taxes. Yeah. For the police department. So, will we see that next month or the No, we we've paid the payroll taxes and we and we don't have any penalties and interest coming from the IRS for not or you using the right tax table. Oh, yeah. We're doing all those things. It's wonderful that you're mentioning things that we found in the past eight months. Okay. I just was wondering. Yeah. You know, that that's part of the getting us back on track doing things. I'm I'm asking for a reason because ultimately that is going to affect the fund balance and absolutely I am watching that fund balance roll over for the next year given all of the chatter um good bad or different out there. Um you know as I told you Mr. Hill, this body um and previous bodies, we've always started budgeting by looking at that number and that percent and what that percent is going to be. And we make decisions based on that number. And two years ago, they told us that it was going to be below 15% and we raised taxes 6.5%. Um and the same people that is criticizing us for um raising taxes by 3.1 at the same time didn't care about the economy at the time and people's ability to pay. and now I'm being

criticized. So, um, well, we're being criticized. And so, you know, I'm asking because I don't want to see next month that, oh, we forgot to pay something and fixed cost. And then I have another question related to why it's such a gap between the actual fixed cost. We should know what fixed cost is, right? That's cost. We should not be estimating that. Um, yes, we we do know. I'll uh point you back to that the year to date through the end of March is at 7.3 million. So we are projecting through June 30, let's an additional just under $6 million of expenditures. Those are the things that we know they happen on a schedule. They happen quarterly or monthly and they haven't happened yet. So we're projecting and the projection currently not with great confidence save that for next month where we will have the detail for each line item under fixed charge and where it is year to date what we're projecting to June 30 and what's available to fall the fund balance. Um, you know, if if as we budget, and this will be some of the conversation for Wednesday evening, as we budget, you know, some folks think we know every number and we can budget every number to the dollar, right? I I say to the dollar, not the penny for a reason, because we don't budget to the penny. We budget, not for you, counselor. You're the finance chair. You know this stuff well, right? There's how many other people online watching that are in the conversation as well. Um, so we we budget to the dollar and we budget based on the best available information at the time and things change. So as we unpack what is projected to be a surplus of just under 1.3 million for fixed charges, we'll identify what they are and why we believe they will be under

budget. Right? Next month's presentation, that deep dive into encumbrances, we'll put that presentation together in a way that will hopefully can be reviewed in advance. If anybody has questions, they can answer them, but not sit here for hours and hours going through line by line asking question after question about why this is $6 instead of $5. Right? The presentation itself will be designed to answer. I won't go so far as to suggest all because we don't know all questions that will be asked but all the obvious obvious questions and the questions that not we come up with but internally leadership comes up with right as we present it and are meeting with departments about their department the line each line in their department what's been spent is water under the bridge what hasn't been spent what's encumbered and what is not needed is where the attention will be spent and that'll be part of the presentation. Not that there's going to be a bunch of verbiage about why, right? But, you know, key areas, big things. We'll we'll speak to well, when this came in lower than projected, right? So, you'll be able to tell us next month what's the lines that's causing the variance of the 1.2 million or do you know what line? I mean, I can look now. I just don't have it in front of me. Which one is it? I don't have it in front of me. I could I could look at that detail and I think there's 14 different things under fixed charges most of which are fixed and known MDC we know the number right so that's why I'm that's why I'm like so we don't know the back half of the number which might be some of the variants right MDC a good example four quarterly payments but on a calendar year basis not a fiscal year basis so as we're building have built the 26 budget we know the first two payments in the budget We estimate the second two payments and

then in December we find out from MDC what those two payments are going to be. Is there variance? Probably. Got it. Hopefully it's high, not low. Yeah. Right. Cuz low would have us overbudget. Yeah. That that's that's my concern about just an example for why we would be under budget and fixed charges. Got it. Everything else looks pretty good. you know, police always does a good job giving money back. U I shouldn't say giving money back, but um managing their money and being good stewards of our taxpayer dollars. Same thing with public works. So, everything to me is not surprising. The only thing that stood out to me was the $1.2 million and fixed cost because I've never seen that in my time of being on the town council that fixed charges was $1.2 million. Yeah. And after the deeper dive, I it may be zero. I don't think it will be but again first look look and my first look at for both of these reports is not only what are they but I'm looking at munice and its use and it is it rational if departments townwide have gotten caught up does this information make sense and it's closer it's better we're almost there almost there and with that um I conclude my report and subject to any questions. Uh, okay. I see the board of education numbers moving up compared to February report. The year-to- date expenditures. Yeah, they're ticking up. So, they're starting to get things in over to you. Well, yes. Th those are actual expenditures. So, those are dollars that have gone out the door. Yeah, because I think during the budget season budget hearing, I think Dominic said that they were going to finish the year with more

than $400 or $500,000 more than $100,000 over, but they're going to then put that into their 1% non-lapsing account, which they're allowed to by state law. And I think she's also trying to do another 2% non-lapsing account that we can apply to their bottom line last next year as she mentioned in her budget presentation. So, it's good to see that. Yes. And that's why we're projecting uh zero surplus from board of vet. Yep. But they have a surplus but it's just moving into their non-lapsing account from our perspective. Yep. But I just for the public standpoint because I pay attention to it because you know me. Um okay. Any additional questions? Well, I have one um debt service the bond premium. Can you talk about where how we are using our bond premium this year to offset some of the let me rephrase it. Can you tell us the plan for use of the bond premium that we got recently? So there's just under 900,000 of bond premium generated from taking the bond anticipation notes issued in January of 2024. In January of 2025, we refinanced those bond anticipation notes into general obligation bonds, long-term 20-year. Um, that's that bond issue in January of 25 is where the 900,000 of premium was generated. It can only be used for either project expenses or to repay interest, not principal. Our plan is to utilize those monies over multiple years to reduce the town's interest expense in the smartest way possible. We know that our debt service is increasing because of the 2024 and 2025 bond issues um with a little step up this year. I think it's right at 8 million. Right.

And next year is projected to be above 8 million I believe to the tune. It's been a while since I looked at it. It was an increase of 996,000 somewhere around there. But for for for fiscal 27, I believe we are four or $500,000 above 8 million. Mhm. And we would strategically use some of that premium to bring us down to the $8 million level. And because we issue debt on a level principal basis, we have with a graph like this a declining a steep declining repayment schedule. So that with the strategic use of that bond premium to buy down the interest expense resulting in our annual debt service being at or below $8 million just for a year or two, the natural decline in our repayment of debt service will bring us back below $8 million. Now, that's not to suggest that um how to say this. We again, we can use we're going to use that bond premium to repay interest and we can use it at any time to repay interest. There's no restrictions with the IRS. Uh they tend to want things like this to happen within a three-year time frame. Um, but I think that's more of an early issuance question for bond council. Uh, we won't have these proceeds around for that long. So, good. So, the debt payment is going to 8.257, which is an increase from last year of $92,000 um, and $632. So, it's almost about a million, a little under a million. Um, and so, and that's a net number because the it's declining and then the debt service is going up more. So the debt service is going up more than that 900,000. So and and that whole debt service is not just for the library. You have

public works, you have 230 park, you have Philly Park, and any bond issue uh in the last 19 years is still on there. Public works. Yeah. I think the schools are off. Hence, if you look at the uh page 14 in the budget book, it has um it has the non has a fund balance debt service and then fund balance capital. Mhm. uh we got uh some refunds for overpayment and at the time Carrie created those two lines and we were carrying that over reimbursement for the schools and some overpayment of debt and then she put it in there and then we used that in the last budget year. And so that's why you see on page 14 you see the capital and the debt service zeroed out because those were onetime expenses right in 24. Yes. Yes. They were appropriated. Yep. They were appropriated. Yep. So, um, just for history. Yes. Sakes. Weird way to do it because it all should have just went into our non should have been in our fund balance, but they Well, I mean, you can assign things if you, you know, it's a soft restriction. Yeah. Council does you assign it for this purpose. You can either use it for that purpose or council just like the economic develop just like the economic development trust fund, right? Essentially, it's a trust fund that has a designated purpose for economic development, but we put some language in it to say that if there's an emergency, we can reappropriate this during our budget season into our fund balance. Yeah, trust is is different than an assignment of fund balance. I get your point. It's similar things. We can do it right. So, all right. Any other questions? If not, thank you so much. I appreciate that. Thank you, counselors. We'll now go to public comment. Uh Say it again. As a thank you, Mr. Hill. Yep. Thank you and your staff. Public comment.

Yep. Mr. Goff, you have three minutes. Please state your name. India, please start the clock. Kevin G, five Bear Ridge Drive. Um, very interesting conversation and I do thank the finance staff for looking forward and not just getting the job done but fixing things so that they work properly and they work efficiently. I think that's very good. Um, one other comment though in terms of um your comment about the budget once the budget is approved at the town meeting um you still have work to do to get the final budget book and everything online for next year. uh one exhibit and I'm noticing going through the budget this year some of the questions that came up and looking having looked for years at this and the board of educ you know the um schools the board of education proposed budget one thing we don't have in our budget book is an executive summary and if you're familiar with the board of educations what they do they have an indepth um section where they give the accounting They give the accounting codes, here's the school code, here's the salaries, blah blah blah, but then they do a roll up of that in, you know, using the chart of accounts into a budget and into an executive summary. So, what they have is, you know, here's the certified staff salaries, non certified staff, benefits, transportation, etc. Uh I think when you get to the point of rolling this out and certainly when you work with the Munis consultant to create a budget program uh having that roll up of the chart of accounts into a form so that we can see for all the operational departments we can see a aggregate salary benefits um you know technology whatever the right numbers are right categories are for those rollups and then below them you know fix debt service fixed char you know the fixed pieces which we sort of

know what they are um and not you know for those fixed charges you've got the MDC you've got waste refuse then you have a lot of you know probate and things like that that are small so thank you thank you so much is there any other public comment oh one more I got to ask twice is there any other public comment seeing none uh the next item on the agenda Is the approval of February 18, 2025 minutes? Moved by councelor Lloyd, seconded by the deputy mayor. Any corrections? Is there omissions? Any updates? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Motion passes. Uh, quick question before we adjourn. I know that some counselors are interested in uh a special revenue account, Mr. Hail. so we can um talk with um CLA and some other folks on how we do it. We would like to have a presentation uh potentially on the use of special revenue accounts um and establishing one for um prior to next year. And so if you can get that to us for the next month's meeting, we can roll it up to council and move forward. Happy to provide some examples of other communities to you and your team. No, I don't need any uh other examples from other communities. We're we're doing what's consistent with uh accounting practices in the United States and best practices for local governments. And if they're doing that, then we'll get to the same place. Yep. They are doing it. Especially GAP, Gazsby, all it works in in tandem, transparent. I think this body just needs to adopt a resolution um to establish one um with specific um I look forward to having that conversation. Yes. with specific criteras around it and I think we'll be

set and specific special revenues dedicated for it. Hence, hence the name. Yes. Yep. Got it. Perfect. Perfect. Thank you, Council Lloyd, for reminding me. Appreciate that. Um that with that in mind, is there a motion to adjurnn? So move. has been.