The new configuration of the Board of Finance began efforts on Tuesday night, Dec. 9, to plan how to proceed with getting the town’s finances back in order.
With the three most senior BOF members all having served just two years in their first terms, Democrat Timothy Birch was unanimously voted chair at the start of the meeting, and Rudy Escalante won a unanimous vote for vice chair; newly-elected member Kari Roberts was unanimously voted in as clerk.
Birch sought to inform the board’s newest members — joining Roberts were Eric Fanwick and Kim Healy — what was permissible under their mandate, also making some suggestions on what the next steps should be for the BOF, including requesting that the Board of Selectmen create some new subcommittees.
As promised on the agenda, the board received an in-person visit and report from interim Chief Financial Officer Joseph Centofanti. First Selectman Toni Boucher and other members of the BOS were present but did not participate or ask any questions.
The newly hired CFO Dawn Savo was also in attendance as a visitor Tuesday night, but, in a missed opportunity, she did not address the BOF nor was she publicly introduced to the town after being hired the day before. (When a board member asked if Birch wanted to introduce her, he said, “She [already] met all of us, that’s the important thing.” During public comment, resident Jack Suchy remarked on it as well, noting he was disappointed not to hear from her.)
While both Healy and Roberts appeared eager to begin collecting information on the town’s finances, including status reports on Board of Education expenditures and examination of questions regarding staffing, Birch highlighted the strict structure within which the BOF functions.
“The Board of Finance has very specific guidelines and responsibilities that are found in the Charter … and I think it’s important to note what those are,” Birch said.
He specified that BOF members must funnel all their interactions with the town administration through him — something he clarified was not based on CT State Statutes or the Town Charter but was “policy.”
“Any request made to Joe or to the Board of Selectmen actually has to run through me,” Birch said, including requests to see material or to interact with staff.
“Every board follows the same policy … Just email me. I look at my emails a thousand times a day … I check the town one at least once or twice a day,” he said.
Hearing a Long-Awaited Interim CFO Update
Centofanti spoke at length about his work as interim CFO.
“The priority has been looking at Fiscal ’25 … trying to get Fiscal ’25 closed so you have some benchmark for the budget,” he said, noting that while there are many other things that need to get done, that’s been the focus.
“The budgets are not correct, so the data is not meaningful,” he said.
Centofanti said that at this time, with Savo’s hiring she is now going to focus on creating the upcoming budget for Fiscal ’27 and examining the current Fiscal Year 2026, while Centofanti will continue his focus of reconciling the Fiscal ’25 numbers.
With the complicated switch over to the Munis software system from the previous New World system cited as the reason for so many of the problems that the Finance Department is facing, Centofanti said he continues working with the new controller to not only reconcile the two systems, but complete the arduous change over.
“This was the big unknown coming into the project, what needed to be done specifically with that,” he said, noting that some transactions are still not currently being properly recorded because of the system conflicts.
“There’s probably about 10 different funds with all the activity recorded in New World and none of it in Munis,” Centofanti said, including police overtime costs.
Asked when the department will finally be operating solely with Munis, Centofanti said that, while much of it is being fixed, it would still be about 18 more months, as payroll will take a great deal of time to switch over.
Centofanti said an extension was filed to push the audit back until Jan. 31, 2026, because of the unknowns in the records at this time.
Asked just how far off the 2025 actual budget may be in relation to the approved allocation, Centofanti said he didn’t think it would be off by a large number like $1 million, but warned that there will probably be a difference.
“I wouldn’t expect it to be significant for the General Fund, but I don’t know because I don’t know,” he said. “What I’m trying to do with that report is give you something … to have some perspective versus zero perspective.”
Centofanti provided a 20-page report with some financial information.
Centofanti also finally answered a lingering question about what staff he was using to assist in the process, as well as provided previously unspecified details about what his firm is billing for their services.
“I definitely have added resources when necessary … I employed a manager and staff, very limited,” he said, in order to speed up the process.
“In the short term I don’t think the additional resources will get you there any faster,” he said at this time.
It was finally learned for the first time that Centofanti was billing at an hourly rate of $375 — something the BOS has asked Boucher about, but has not previously been shared with its members. Centofanti also said the manager was billing at $255 an hour, while other staff were billing $120 an hour.
He said the total invoice for November was for 350 hours collectively, but did not share a total figure, though he said it was discounted 7% for reasons he did not explain.
Subcommittees Sought
Birch, meanwhile, said he wants to approach the BOS about forming and reforming at least two subcommittees.
“One of the subcommittees I’m going to suggest the BOS form is a committee to review bonding and to really look at the cost of bonding for a 10 to 15-year period of time … the increased cost of any of these projects over time,” he said.
Birch also said he wanted to see the Process Review Committee restarted once Centofanti is finished up with his analysis of Fiscal ’25.
He said the BOF representatives to that committee should be himself and Healy — a significant appointment, considering that her work looking into Town Hall and Finance Department irregularities had spurred the committee’s creation, yet she had not been appointed when she was a member of the Board of Selectmen.