Board of Finance: School Debt May Require 3.5 Mill Tax Rate Hike
03/26/25
On Wednesday, March 26th, Goshen’s Board of Finance held their monthly meeting. In attendance were Chairman Edward Bixler, Vice Chairman Robert Valentine, Board members Scott Tillmann, James Korner, and Russell Murdock, and Alternates Carl Contadini and Patrick Reilly Sr.
Valentine announced that he met with the Boards of Finance of Litchfield, Morris, and Warren to discuss strategies on handling the finances of School District Region 20 and the hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt the four towns are responsible for. With the other Town Boards’ approvals, Valentine drafted a letter intended for Region 20 current Acting Superintendent ,Kristen Della Volpe, and presented that letter to the Region 20 Board of Education. Following that meeting, the Boards and the town’s First Selectmen met with Volpe, Region 20 Financial Officer Julia Cardillo, and Financial Consultant Thomas Ariola to discuss each town’s financial responsibilities. Region 20 has currently overspent $2.3 million. Goshen is responsible for covering 47.24% of the Region 6 School District debt ($180,401.05), Region 6 services ($97,180 ) pension and health insurance ($216,359.20.)The Boards will meet with the upcoming new Region 20 Superintendent Jeffrey Villar, who will begin his new role on Thursday, May 1st, and members of the Board of Education to continue financial discussions on resolving the remaining debts to Region 6. According to Valentine, the Connecticut State Department of Education declared that Region 6 no longer exists, “We still have, last number was $388,000, it might have changed a little bit, in outstanding bills because fiscal office for Region 20 is going through bills. Those are bills that, according to the auditor, we owe people from Region 6. Most of them are being assessed at 1.5% interest on a monthly basis, 18% annually.” Valentine expects Goshen’s mil rate would have to increase by 3.5 to cover Region 20 and Region 6 costs but predicts that increase will not be approved by residents. Goshen’s current mill rate of 14.2 will have to be updated by the end of the 2024-2025 fiscal year on Monday, June 30th.
Valentine then proposed the Goshen Public Library coordinate with the Board of Selectmen newsletter to include both of their newsletters within the Goshen Town Topics publication in order to save money on postage and printing. Horvay explained that the two newsletters’ release schedules don’t align perfectly as Town Topics is published infrequently compared to the library newsletter. Horvay suggested mailing out postcards that would include dates of upcoming library events instead, since library events are scheduled two months in advance. Valentine suggested the library and Board of Selectmen coordinate to better align the two newsletters’ release schedules for 2026. Horvay will discuss this proposal with the Library Board of Directors. She then requested to move $4,000 from the library’s budget used for blackout curtains, to instead purchase new desktop and laptop computers. $5,100 was already allocated for computer purchases and this transfer would increase funding to $9,100. After a brief discussion, Valentine motioned to re-allocate $4,100 to the library’s computer replacement budget. This was unanimously approved.
Public Works Supervisor Garret Harlow announced that the Public Works’ operating budget had an increase of $58,600 from last year. The department is currently reviewing all bridge and drainage structures in town to form a program that would determine which structures can receive state or federal funding for repairs. It additionally plans on eventually updating a multi-thousand dollar ten-year-old road study to review the condition of town road surfaces. “We look at the roads yearly and we get a new rating,” Harlow explained. “We assign a new rating to each of the roads. We haven’t gone through the process of taking those ratings and running them through the computer program for it to tell us ‘…(how much) to spend ….. a year.’” The updating of this plan has reportedly been delayed due to scheduling conflicts with an engineering firm.
Recreation Department Director Erin Reilly requested to move archery and shed finances totaling $5,572 into the 2024-2025 benthic barrier (a lake bottom blanket to control aquatic weeds) line item to purchase semi-permanent mats and replace old ones. “It doesn’t move. It doesn’t get build-up on it, no weeds come through it.” According to Reilly, the semi-permanent mats will last for five years and save the department $1,200 annually. Reilly additionally plans to begin to renovate Camp Cochipianee in the remaining 2024-2025 fiscal year and throughout the 2025-2026 fiscal year. Korner then motioned to approve Reilly’s request to re-allocate finances to benthic barriers for the 2024-2025 fiscal year. This was unanimously approved. Reilly informed the Board that the upcoming 2025 Camp Cochipianee Summer Day Camp is currently short one lifeguard and is struggling to hire another one.
After receiving and reviewing Tax Collector Rebecca Juchert-Derungs’ February 2025 report and financial reports submitted by Debbie Franklin for February 2025, the Board of Finance conducted a budget projection review for several boards and commissions in the 2025-2026 fiscal year. Under the reviews as accepted, the Board of Assessors budget of $98,709 is an increase by $43 in 2025-26. The Economic Development Commission budget of $1,592 is unchanged from 2024-25. Korner motioned to receive the Commission’s proposed budget with an omittance of a $1,000 marketing and research line item. This was unanimously approved. The Planning and Zoning Commission budget of $3,392 and capital of $10,000 is unchanged from 2024-25. A $14,000 item for street lights is unchanged from 2024-25. The Tax Collector’s budget of $41,764 is $5,641 less than the 2024-25 budget and capital of $2,500 remains unchanged. The Board of Selectmen budget of $161,910 remains unchanged over 2024-35 and capital of $88,000 represents an $8,000 increase. The Zoning Board of Appeals budget of $1,649 is unchanged from 2024-25.
