Goshen Board of Finance

02/25/26

PRESENT: Ned Bixler, Chairman, Robert Valentine, Vice Chairman, Scott Tillmann, James Korner (Zoom), Paul Collins, Lorraine Lucas. Patrick Reilly, Alternate. Unexcused: Robert Layer, Alternate.

Jeffrey Villar, PHD, RSD 20 Superintendent of Schools, accompanied by RSD 20 Chief Financial Officer, Julia Cardello, presented the Supt.’s recommended budget for FYE 2027. Villar emphasized that the figures he was presenting were his recommendations and had not yet been accepted by the Board of Education, which will meet on April 9.

Villar talked about the cost savings associated with a reduction of 28.5 personnel in 2026, which would have otherwise led to a 13.09% higher starting point for 2027. His proposed budget would represent a 4.88% increase, to be divided among the four Region 20 towns as follows:

He further detailed the areas in which cost reductions and cost increases were anticipated.

The meeting then moved on to its regular business.

During discussion of Financial Reports, Vice Chair Bob Valentine asked First Selectman Seth Breakell about Woodridge Lake sedimentation projects. “We were working on an annual basis with Woodridge Lake Property Owners Association to take up some of their priority projects, that they identified as priority projects. And at that time, Woodridge was contributing $20 ,000 a year, we were contributing $20 ,000 a year. And if we had an $80,000 project, we would be two years and get it done.”

“That went awry. And I'm just curious where we are on that, since we still have the line item in our capital and non-reoccurring. Is Woodridge contributing any longer? And are we using our priorities or their priorities?”

Breakell responded that there hadn't been any detailed discussion of priorities, but that he did participate in a discussion with the Woodridge Lake Board of Directors. “We would like to continue, they would like to continue to contribute, as well as our contribution 20/20 or 20,000 to 20,000... I have a written agreement that itemizes, about four pages long, what the actual sedimentation consists of… what it applies to, what it doesn't apply to, who pays for what, and then what terms. I haven't finalized all that yet, so I think we both want to move forward.” Breakell said he would provide the Board with a copy of the proposed agreement.

The request by the Lake Weed Committee for funding of weed control at the town’s 3 public access lakes was discussed. Two years ago, Tyler Lake, Dog Pond and East Side Lake had each received $15,000, but that was cut to $7500 last year due to the Region 20 budget crisis. The 2027 request was initially $10,000, then increased to restore the original $15,000. After meeting with the Selectmen a final proposal of $12,000 was agreed upon.

During a discussion of road salt inventory and costs it was reported that 100 tons of salt remained in inventory with 300 more tons awaiting delivery. The town uses roughly 100 tons per event. Valentine questioned whether the town should move to a sand/salt mixture, particularly in view of availability issues and rising costs. Breakell replied that the town is currently under a 3-year contract, paying $77 per ton this year, increasing to $81 per ton next year. The expense of having to sweep the streets of sand in the Spring if sand/salt mixtures are used was also discussed.

During the January meeting of the Board of Finance, the issue of funds being expended for engineering services for the Town Garage STEAP grant and the West Hyerdale Bridge project was raised. Neither project had yet been finalized, so it was deemed premature, and perhaps impermissible, to bill any expenses to those projects. This was resolved by moving $7,230.00 for the town garage project to Engineering Services under the Professional Services operating budget, while the West Hyerdale Bridge Project (Trip Grant) of $57,656.89 was moved to Major Road Projects.

The following department budgets were received: