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Ad hoc committee accepts government departmental budgets after review of transfers, benefits and IT costs
Summary
The Danbury City ad hoc budget committee voted to accept the government departmental budgets after reviewing procurement threshold changes, transfers to capital, increased employee-benefit costs and IT maintenance shifts; the motion passed by voice vote and the meeting was adjourned.
Andrea Gardner, chair of the ad hoc budget hearings, moved the meeting to a vote after department directors reviewed their line items and answered council questions. Councilman Laughinghouse moved to accept the government departmental budgets as presented; Councilmember Spain Reichel seconded the motion. After a voice call for ayes, the chair declared the budgets approved and adjourned the meeting.
The finance director told the committee that two notable transfers were included in the financing lines: a $337,005.25 transfer to the bridal control fund and a $3,000,000 transfer to the capital fund. Director Garrett said the transfer language reflects routine choices between operating and capital financing and that the figures align with the mayor’s proposed budget. "Both, the $337,005.25 ... that's a transfer to bridal control fund," Garrett said, and the $3,000,000 would move to the capital fund.
Committee members had pressed directors on several areas before the vote. Directors explained that several enterprise software costs were moved from capital into operations to show recurring annual maintenance; IT staff said about $274,000 of maintenance is tied to the new ERP/payroll packages and roughly $70,000 to network/email security (Darktrace). The finance director also walked members through the employee-benefits request, which he said totaled $26,728,676 and included a roughly $3.8 million increase primarily driven by higher health-insurance costs, liability insurance and pension/OPEB funding.
The vote to accept the budgets was taken by voice and recorded as approved. Following the vote the chair closed the meeting.
