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
C. Use of Surplus
1. Unless proven otherwise, I maintain the Town has no statutory authority to transfer end-of-year surplus into a
surplus account. Accordingly, any amount residing in the surplus account is "unauthorized." At the end of June 30,
2003, the undesignated fund balance in the General Fund was $3,845,984. Subsequent to this date, approximately
$400,000 was appropriated for unbudgeted expenditures leaving a balance of approximately $3.4 million at the end
of March 2004.
2. In December 2001, the Town Council adopted a resolution to accumulate surplus funds equal to 10% of the
Town's operating budget. It now appears this resolution is in and of itself against the law. Furthermore, the Town
Council resolution was in direct violation of Section 10.3.3 (a) (1) of the Town Charter. This provision requires a vote
at a Town meeting for appropriations that exceed "one tenth (1/10) of one percent (1%) of the current grand list." To
my knowledge, this appropriation of public funds was never submitted to a Town Meeting.
3. In the interest of good and prudent fiscal policy, I completely agree that the Town needs to maintain a rainy-day
fund. The amount kept in this fund however is a matter of policy and not law. Absent any statutory authority as
noted in the above discussions, any accumulation of surplus must be approved by the taxpayers on an annual basis -
either at a Town Meeting or concurrently during the budget referendum.
I would respectfully request this letter to be entered into the record. I am also reiterating my request for the above
questions to be resolved before the submission of the revised budget to the third referendum.
Respectfully,
V Santos
63 Meadow Ridge
In the afternoon of June 10, I received a message from the Town Manager that the Town Attorney will
"have an opinion by the weekend." Actually, I received the opinion via e-mail on Tuesday, June 15, 2004 - three
weeks after the question was raised on May 25.
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