Sent: Thursday, June 10, 2004 12:28 PM
To: Avon Board of Finance; Avon Town Council; Avon Board of Education
Cc: 'Philip Schenck Jr.'; Dr Richard Kisiel (Central Office)
Subject: For the Record - Deficiencies in the Construction of the Budget
Importance: High
I have previously submitted a question regarding the exclusion of certain items of revenue from the Town budget. In
relation thereto, I have also submitted two other questions regarding the disposition of surplus funds. Mr Harrison
informed me last night that the Town Attorney's opinion regarding the three questions is favorable to the Town in all
three instances. The Town Attorney will prepare a written response in a few days and I am looking forward to reading it.
I don't know when I will receive the Town Attorney's opinion. The Public Hearing on the revised budget will be held on
June 17. As a matter of course and to preclude any deficiency in possible future courses of action, I am compelled to
write this letter, for the record, before the budget question is finalized and submitted to a referendum. This letter
itemizes my observations regarding the deficiencies in the budget as currently constructed. These observations are
predicated on the provisions of Section 7-344 of the General Statutes and the Town Charter.
A. Revenues
1. Conveyance Fees - The Board of Finance decided to exclude additional revenues from Conveyance Fees in
order to "rebuild" the surplus account. This is wrong. As required by statutes, all "other estimated income for the
ensuing year" must be deducted from expenditures. The amount being withheld from the revenue budget was
estimated by the BOF at $250,000.
2. BOE Special Program Fund - As stated in the BOE Newsletter of April 2004, "the money in this fund comes from
employee co-payments for health and dental costs, adult education tuition revenue, gate receipts from athletic events,
and insurance claim reimbursements." It is my position that these revenues are intended to reduce Town and BOE
expenditures. Accordingly, these revenues must be included in the budget.
It is also my contention that the BOE Special Program Fund has been operating outside mandated budgetary approval
procedures and, in effect, has been operating outside the law. In 2002-03, revenues into this fund amounted to
$656,535. On March 1, 2004, this fund had a balance of $354,317 (Source: BOE Newsletter, supra).
Continued on Page 2
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