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Norwalk BET approves $156,200 in fiscal rollovers; contingency to cover union retroactive pay overage
Summary
The Norwalk Board of Estimate and Taxation on Oct. 6 approved $156,200 in budget rollovers and heard that completed union contract retroactive-pay calculations will exceed earlier contingency estimates, with the excess to be covered by the FY25 fund balance.
The Norwalk City Board of Estimate and Taxation approved $156,200 in fiscal-year rollovers and heard an update showing retroactive pay from recent union settlements will exceed contingency estimates.
At the Board of Estimate and Taxation's regular Oct. 6 meeting, members voted to approve requests to carry unspent funds from fiscal 2025 into fiscal 2026 for contracts and final invoices that were not completed before the June 30 close. Troy Gillarat moved the transfers for discussion and approval.
Tom (staff member) told the committee the rollovers were “surplus funds from the previous fiscal year being requested to roll over to fiscal 26.” He identified items including final purchase orders and a handful of deferred retirement payouts. A Board of Education rollover appeared in the meeting materials at $126,100, and the building management rollover was $30,100 for completion of office and conference-room work, which together the packet listed as $156,200. Tom said the building management project was delayed by design changes but should not exceed the original $70,000 request.
The board approved the rollovers by voice vote; a record of individual tallies was not provided in the meeting transcript.
The meeting also included a detailed contingency update tied to finalized union contracts. Jared (staff member) said the city will present the full retroactive-pay allocations at the November BET meeting after reconciling department budgets and final totals. Jared told the board the city started with “a little over $2,000,000 in contingency” and that the retroactive-pay calculation “came in a little bit higher. It's looking at, like, about 2,700,000.0.” He and Tom confirmed the expected overage would be covered by a draw on the FY25 fund balance rather than FY26 contingency.
Jared summarized settlement terms the board will implement, saying, “Everybody got 3% across the board for fiscal 25,” with out-year increases generally between 2.5% and about 2.8%. He noted that fire and police units negotiated five-year contracts while the others negotiated four-year terms. Jared said the contracts are finalized financially and the city was awaiting signed documents.
Board members asked clarifying questions about the building-management rollover timeline and whether contract terms exceeded initial estimates. Tom said the project is likely to finish within one or two months and that the price is expected to come in slightly under the original request. Jared confirmed the retroactive-pay overage would be accounted for in the FY25 deficit and fund-balance drawdown.
The board also approved the minutes of the previous meeting earlier in the session; the minutes motion was moved by Troy Gillarat and passed with one abstention noted in the record.
The board took no further formal action on contingency at the meeting; members were told full allocations and formal contingency requests related to retroactive pay will be on the November agenda.
