I am the Chairman of the Board of Finance
In August 2011, I moved to the small town of Union, CT. In fact, we moved in the weekend Hurricane Irene hit our state and we were out of power for a couple of days. Incidentally, we were clobbered two months later with an early snowfall that knocked out power for 10 days.
One item on my to-do list after moving here was to find ways in which I could be active in the community. My boys aren’t involved in organized sports and we don’t attend church so I sought another form of involvement.
Having an affinity for politics, I checked with the town committee for vacancies on any of the Boards. I learned of a vacancy as an alternate on the Board of Finance so I attended a meeting and was accepted as such.
The Board of Finance suffers from a lack of participation, which is not good for the town, but it was good for me. Without my attendance to the meetings, there wouldn’t have been meetings because of a lack of a quorum.
After serving as an alternate for 8 months, I ran for an open seat in the upcoming election. The Chairman had not only decided to step down from his seat, but had also decided not to run again.
After winning my position by a landslide (I ran unopposed), the Board had to make a decision as to who would be the Chairman. I was the newest member of the group and felt that I would be better suited as a member while I learned the ropes. I had an interest in Chairing the Board but wanted to be groomed into the position.
Because of scheduling issues with the other members, I became the logical choice. The other members and the Secretary have decades of experience under their belts and I am able to lean on their experience and support.
Since becoming Chairman, I have spent dozens of hours learning the town’s budget and financial reports. I spent several hours with the town’s auditor reviewing statements and preparing an Analysis that is sent to the State and published in the town’s Annual Report.
This was a difficult budget year for the town. The revaluation of the real property saw roughly a 10% drop versus the previous Grand List. Even if expenses didn’t increase, the tax rate would have increased substantially to offset the reduction in the Grand List.
However, because of a decrease in several state grants and an increase in unfunded mandates to the Board of Education, tax increases were warranted. Nobody would be happy about that!
Maybe that’s the real reason the other Board members didn’t want to be Chairman!
After holding two town hearings and cutting whatever we could from the town-side of the budget, the citizens were satisfied and the budget passed on the first attempt.
I am very fortunate to have had the support of the members of the Board. Now that I have gone through every major aspect of the position once, it will be that much easier the second time around. Our fiscal year just ended so I will be reviewing the income and expense statement from FY2014 ahead of our meeting on Tuesday. Wish me luck!
Board image courtesy of cooldesign/freedigitalphoto.net
Comments(7)