Government Finance Officers Association of Connecticut

Government Finance Officers Association of Connecticut Executive Board Meeting Minutes Thursday, February 4, 2016

Radisson Hotel

100 Berlin Road

Cromwell, CT 06416

Mike Lupkas called the meeting to order at 9:30 a.m.

Members present: Mike Lupkas, Rick Darling, Bob Barron, Greg Simmons, Jim Wren, Beth Bauer, Jonathan Perugini (9:45), Bob Tait, Diana Doyle (9:40), Mike LeBlanc, Linda Trzetziak, Rob Buden, Mary Jane Malavasi, Peter Erodici, Jim Reynolds, Diane Waldron (9:34), Jim Finch, and Maryanna Stevens (9:34).

Members absent: Emilia Portelinha and William Hogan

I. Approval of minutes

The minutes of December 3, 2015 were reviewed with no comments. Mike Lupkas requested a motion to approve the minutes which was made by Bob Tait and seconded by Rick Darling. Passed Unanimously with Mike LeBlanc abstaining

II. Treasurer’s Report

Greg Simmons presented the Treasurer’s Financial Report for the period ending December 31, 2015. Greg reported that he had purchased two $45 thousand certificates of deposit from the Manchester Credit Union, one with a 6-month maturity and the other with a 12-month maturity. Also, that roll- over decisions will now be made every six months for each new 12-month CD purchase. A motion to approve the Treasurer’s Report was made by Rob Buden and seconded by Maryanna Stevens. Passed Unanimously

III.Old Business

a) Update on GFOA-CT Retiree Presentation at Quarterly Meeting Mike Lupkas and Rick Darling reported that they had talked with Alan Desmarais regarding his presentation proposal. Mike told Alan that there was a general lack of interest in the presentation and that it would not be considered as an agenda item in 2016. Both Rick and Mike promised that the board would talk more about the format, possibly a short lunch presentation, and the timing of the presentation for the upcoming calendar year. Jim Reynolds reported that topics for quarterly meetings have historically been focused on current topics affecting municipal financial professionals and perhaps that this presentation proposal was not an appropriate agenda item for the organization’s quarterly meetings. b) Update for the NESGFOA Spring Training Raffle Diane Waldron reported that she has approximately 35 active members entered for the raffle from which a winner will be drawn after the break. Two awards will be made with two back- ups and Rick Darling will add the announcement of the raffle drawing to his opening remarks.

IV. New Business a) Appointment of the Nominating Committee Mike Lupkas appointed Maryanna Stevens and Jim Finch along with the automatic appointment of the Past President Jim Wren to the Nominating Committee. The committee will search for and recommend candidates for the Second Vice President and expiring 2016 Directors’ positions.

b) Motor Vehicle Grand List/Mill Rate State Reimbursement Issue Mike Lupkas read from a Connecticut Association of Assessing Officers’ publication that prompted a discussion of the following component of Public Act 15-244, “…(c) (1) For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2017, motor vehicle property tax grants to municipalities shall be made in an amount equal to the difference between the amount of property taxes levied by a municipality on motor vehicles for the assessment year commencing October 1, 2013, and the amount such levy would have been if the mill rate on motor vehicles for said assessment year was 32 mills; and (2) for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2018, and each fiscal year thereafter, motor vehicle property tax grants to municipalities shall be made in an amount equal to the difference between the amount of property taxes levied by a municipality on motor vehicles for the assessment year commencing October 1, 2013, and the amount such levy would have been if the mill rate on motor vehicles for said assessment year was 29.36 mills.”

c) CCM Meeting with Municipal Associations Blight was a topic of discussion along with the State of Connecticut’s Legislative Session which opened February 3rd, and continues through May 4th. Mike Lupkas reported that he made 400 changes to the UCOA file that he received for Meriden. Two other board members discussed having issues with their UCOA and the responsiveness from Blum Shapiro and reported that other communities had issues with their implementations. All were encouraged to closely review the UCOA crosswalks for their municipalities. A discussion regarding the maintenance of the crosswalk for new accounts ensued with no real understanding on how communities will update the state with these changes. A suggestion was made to have CTGFOA contact the state regarding the unresponsiveness of Blum Shapiro to UCOA questions.

V. Reports a) Accounting Standards Bob Tait reported on the GASB’s November 2015 response to the New York CPA Journal’s June 2015 articles calling for replacing GASB with FASB. GASB Chair David Vaudt’s response, which was published in the November issue of the CPA Journal stated, “While there’s always room for improvement, we believe that GASB standards yield information that helps citizens, investors, and other financial statement users reach informed decisions and enhance governments’ accountability to their stakeholders. Replacing standards that have been developed with more than 30 years of input from state and local government financial statement users, preparers, and auditors is not an advisable course—and would not bring about the results imagined by the authors.” b) Education Diana Doyle reported that the committee is considering the content of the program for the upcoming year. Bob Tait reported that he is willing to develop training sessions for transaction flow through financial statements or basic accounting.

c) Historian’s Report No report.

d) Internet Jonathan Perugini reported that he’s working on the posting of all agendas and minutes.

e) Walsh and Miklus Scholarship Mike Lupkas read the following email report from Bill Hogan, “I won’t be at the Board meeting due to a.m. budget meetings but I want to report that I have released to the membership the Don Miklus Scholarship to the NESGOFA [sic] Spring Training and the John Walsh Scholarship to the UConn MPA program for (2) $2,000 scholarships. Both are due back by February 26th. There is no AGFI scholarship this year to the University of Wisconsin as GFOA offers it every other year. Diane Waldron and Ann Harter assist me with application reviews. I will be in attendance for the afternoon program. Bill”

f) Legislative Beth Bauer reported that the Governor was supporting an exemption for the first $10,000 of business personal property. Also that he has called for a 5.75% reduction in state departmental budget cuts this year and 9% next year. Beth reported that there is a movement, on the national level, to remove the tax exempt status from municipal bond issues.

g) Membership Jonathan Perugini reported that there are 371 current CTGFOA members compared to 325 last year and 343 the year before. Also that there are 130 registered attendees for today’s quarterly meeting.

h) National Event No report

i) Program Rick Darling reviewed the sessions for the February 4, 2016 meeting that included presentations about Energy Savings Performance Contracts, Fraud Risk Assessments, Connecticut Legislation on TIF districts, and CCM updates on state budgets.

j) NESGFOA Representative No report.

VI. Adjournment A motion to adjourn was made by Rick Darling and seconded by Maryanna Stevens at 10:52 a.m. Passed Unanimously