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Council signs off on year-end transfers, Allentown Fire pension payment, Malloy tech funding and Halloween permit-waiver
Summary
Council and finance committee approved a WPCA surplus transfer back to the general fund, authorized internal pre-audit line-item transfers, increased the Allentown Fire Department FY25 budget to make an extra pension payment, reallocated bonded technology funds to the Malloy site, and waived permitting fees for Halloween on the Green 2025.
The West Haven City Council's finance committee reviewed and the full council approved a package of year-end fiscal housekeeping measures, a pension contribution for the Allentown Fire Department, reallocation of previously bonded police technology funds to the Malloy site, and a city permit-fee waiver for the Halloween on the Green event.
Finance Director Michael Gormeny presented three groups of items as part of the city’s FY25 closeout: (1) a transfer of surplus from the WPCA (sewer) fund back to the general fund—presented as $902,215 with an amount not to exceed $990,000 to accommodate audit adjustments; (2) pre-audit line-item transfers within the general fund covering overruns and savings across departments (the packet showed about $6.4 million of transfers at the line-item level, reflecting moves from positive line items to cover negative balances); and (3) a budget revision for the Allentown Fire Department increasing its FY25 budget from $9,005,367 to $9,273,596 with an additional appropriation of $231,569 to the AFD pension fund. Gormeny said collections and savings produced the FY25 surpluses that allow those moves and noted the audit could result in small changes.
On the WPCA transfer, Gormeny and committee members discussed whether moving funds back to the general fund could create future gaps for WPCA; Gormeny explained these are year-to-year matters and that the transfer is intended to restore funds the general fund covered for the WPCA deficit in FY24. The committee also discussed WPCA capital needs and the possibility of using the city operating side again for emergencies; Gormeny said the city would continue to treat WPCA plant emergencies as a high priority.
The council also approved creating a new capital project, “Communications and Technology Upgrades” (Malloy site) in the amount of $253,001, by redesignating previously bonded police technology funds: $100,000 (police phone system upgrade) and $153,001 (police technology). Gormeny said grants and other funding had reduced the need for those original bond funds, making them available for Malloy technology and communications upgrades. He said legal review confirmed redesignation is allowable if the new use has a similar useful life to the original bonded purpose (technology typically a five-year useful life).
Separately, the council approved a FY25 budget revision to increase the Allentown Fire Department budget and to make an additional pension appropriation of $231,569, citing higher-than-expected collections and modest expenditure overruns. Gormeny said the additional pension payment is intended to reduce future liabilities and is viewed positively by credit agencies.
Finally, the council approved a mayoral request to waive all permitting fees for the Halloween on the Green event in 2025.
Committee motions were presented in finance and carried; the council then approved the items in the council session. The council and committee discussion repeatedly emphasized that the transfers are pre-audit steps and subject to final audit adjustments.
