Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Municipal Finance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Board hears briefing on townpresentation; off-budget accounts total about $15 million
Summary
At Mondaynight's Board of Finance meeting, staff presented how the town manages roughly 100 funds, explained fund-balance categories and controls, and said off-budget accounts total about $15 million, with temporary negative balances from reimbursable grants.
At its June meeting, the Old Saybrook Board of Finance received a detailed presentation explaining the town's fund accounting and how off-budget funds are authorized and managed.
Presenter summarized that the town maintains about 100 discrete funds across governmental, debt, capital, proprietary and fiduciary categories to keep project and restricted activity outside the general fund and avoid influencing the tax levy. "We want to keep all of these activities outside of the general fund so that we do not influence tax collections or tax levying of taxes," the Presenter said during the briefing.
The presentation reviewed the town's fund-balance policy adopted in 2019 and emphasized internal controls: segregation of duties, auditor oversight and formal processes for establishing, modifying or rescinding committed fund balances. The Presenter said auditors will return in January to finalize audit testing and that the accounting follows the Office of Policy and Management uniform chart of accounts to aid comparability with other municipalities.
Board members asked for specifics about several funds, including the dog/animal fund and park-related accounts. The Presenter said some funds are pre-funded by grants or donations (example: a $1.3 million North Main Street drainage project and an anticipated $3.5 million Route 1 project) while others are reimburseable grants that cause short-term negative balances until reimbursement arrives. "A lot of people worry that some of these offbudget funds are maybe like quote unquote slush funds. They are not," the Presenter said.
During Q&A, the Presenter and board members discussed broad cash and investment totals. The board was given a working estimate that the town's off-budget accounts totaled about $15 million; participants also referenced a broader cash/investment position that was discussed in aggregate but not reconciled to a single line-by-line figure during the meeting.
The meeting record shows ongoing monitoring is planned: staff recommended reviewing multi-year rolling balances to understand interest income and project roll-offs, and to track reimburseable grant timing to avoid extended negative fund positions. The presentation closed with an invitation for further questions and an audit review scheduled for the coming months.
