Board of Finance Redistributes Contingency Funds, Obtains Higher Interest Yields on Investments; $500K State Grant Sought for Rt. 4 Municipal Garage
Goshen’s Board of Finance met on Wednesday, August 23rd for their monthly gathering. Board members James Korner, Scott Tillmann, and Robert Valentine were absent from the meeting while Patrick Reilly Sr. was excused to attend a meeting at the Goshen Firehouse. First Selectman Todd Carusillo also attended the meeting while Town Treasurer Matthew Sweet attended the meeting via Zoom. The meeting began with Edward Bixler motioning to seat Board member alternate Russell Murdock. This was unanimously approved. Bixler then motioned to approve July’s meeting minutes with one correction. Carusillo clarified that repairs done to the culvert on North Goshen Road were conducted by Lenard Engineering Inc., not Cardinal Engineering. Lenard Engineering, Inc. is registered to work in the state according to the Connecticut State Business website. July’s meeting minutes were unanimously approved.
For Financial reports, the Board received and reviewed reports submitted by Debbie Franklin for July 2023.The Board then received and reviewed Tax Collector Rebecca Juchert-Derungs’ report as of July 31st. No expanded comments or notes were made on either the Financial Reports or July’s Tax Report.
The majority of this meeting dealt with approving motions to move funds from the town’s Contingency Account. Towns can budget some of their finances into Contingency accounts in order to cover costs for unexpected circumstances, events, or help cover low board or commission funding. Board Chairman Alan Walker motioned to move $31.42 from the Contingency account to the Board of Finance account. Murdock motioned to move $5,174.96 from the Contingency account to the Building Official account. William Lane motioned to move $598 from the Contingency account to the Insurance account. Walker then motioned to move $4,868.87 from the Contingency account to the Land Use Enforce account. Murdock then motioned to move $1,436.47 from the Contingency account to the Newsletter account. Bixler motioned to move $821.28 from the Contingency account to the Planning & Zoning account. Lane then motioned to move $383.47 from the Contingency account to the Selectmen account. Walker then motioned to move $638.10 from the Contingency account to the Town Clerk account. Murdock then motioned to move $7,461.02 from the Contingency account to the Town Office Building Account. Bixler then motioned to move $617.23 from the Contingency account to the Treasurer account. All motions were unanimously approved. In total, $22,210.82 was moved from the Contingency account.
Following the Contingency report, Carusillo conducted his First Selectman’s report. Friends of Dog Pond Inc., sent a letter thanking the Board of Finance and the Recreation Department for moving a combined $16,000 toward weed mitigation and conducting future improvements on the pond. Carusillo had Tax Collector Rebecca Juchert-Derungs’ move $6,335,000 to a Union Savings Sweep Account in order to get a better interest rate. “On the sweep account for Union Savings, we’re getting 5.03[% interest],” Sweet explained. For the new STIF account, the funds will be receiving a 5.34% interest rate. “So hopefully we’ll earn some more interest on that…” Carusillo added. The funds were previously housed in a 5% interest STIF account and a 4.05% interest sweep account and only received around $460 in 2022 on interest. According to the CT State website, the Treasurer's Short-Term Investment Fund (STIF) is a Standard & Poor's AAA rated investment pool of high-quality, short term money market instruments managed by the Cash Management Division of the Office of the State Treasurer.
The Board received a Region 6 check totaling $247,538.96. Walker expects the school district will need that money back once it merges into the upcoming Region 20 school district, “The only thought I have about that is, they saved up that money for what were going to be necessary repairs on the buildings and I gotta believe when Region 20 inherits those buildings it’s still going to need that money.” Carusillo hopes the new region will save costs on fewer buses once the merger begins. He then brought up how he met with Federal Emergency Management Agency officials on covering road repair costs from the damage done by severe July rain storms. Goshen will have to wait on whether President Biden will declare a State of Emergency for the area before funds are distributed. Work on Holmes Road is finally complete. Public Works Supervisor Garret Harlow estimates that they spent $5,000-$6,000 in finished gravel costs but a total of $22,000 has been spent on blasting the area. This is $2,000 over the original estimated June project cost of $20,000. Carusilo ended his report by mentioning he applied for a Small Town Economic Assistance Program state grant for $500,000 to build the new Public Works and Fire Departments Storage Facility along Route 4.
Before the meeting concluded, Lane added the Board of Fire Commissioners will purchase a hydraulic rescue tool, otherwise known as the “jaws of life”, designed to rescue people from vehicle accidents for $63,000.
Bixler then motioned to adjourn the meeting which was unanimously approved.
