Drummer FO R I M ME DIAT E DE LI V E RY
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The Granby
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Volume LI, No. 7 • April 2021
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In the wake of COVID, town’s economic health is encouraging Coming soon—vaccines for all who want them! If there’s a wait to get an appointment or a wait in line to be vaccinated, it’s nothing compared to the YEAR wait since the pandemic started. So do your part to protect your neighbors as well as yourself—please get vaccinated. Public budget workshops are own over, and the mill rate looks like it will all be kept to zero again, any last-minalk pending ute surprises. Read by Jim Lofink details on the town website (granby-ct. gov) where the “budget book” should be posted under Public Documents by April 1. Next steps: Public Hearing on April 12 and Vote on April 22, unless special COVID related circumstances change the format. General Fund is almost $9 million. The General Fund balance has doubled since the levels of 2010-2017, and the Board of Finance, at the time of this writing, is considering ways to put that balance to work for taxpayers. Like your personal savings, there is a need to keep cash available for short-term needs but cash accounts do not earn much interest (if any). Investment accounts typically earn more but do carry risk. For taxpayer protection, regulations limit the type of investments municipalities can make, and the BOF will be making any recommendations deemed prudent in the final budget proposal. Grand List increases. This year the Grand List, or value of taxable property in town, increased once again, this time by 1.5 percent which will generate over $500K in tax revenue. This continues a trend started two years ago, following several years of less than a half percent growth. Continued development of
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the Copper Brook Circle single family homes and the Ridgewood apartment complex reportedly contributed to the increase. It should be noted that the number and value of home sales in Granby have been growing robustly during the pandemic period. Revaluation is coming in a couple of years and that will re-balance the distribution of taxes among homeowners, based on whether your property value increased more, or less, than other homes due to this home buying surge. Town departments are busy, as evidenced by their presentations during budget workshops and the Measures of Activity posted in the budget book. Some highlights: Absentee Ballots went up almost 10 times (of course) and registered voters grew eight percent. P and Z Commercial applications doubled to 15, with only four residential applications. Building permits came down from the Hail Storm highs, but up 15 percent from previous years as people stayed home and made improvements. Social service assistance (fuel, rent and food) all increased over previous highs. Department heads spoke to the significant changes that did not show up—such as number of buildings cleaned stayed the same, but frequency soared due to pandemicrelated cleaning measures. The Senior Van delivered food to seniors, rather than transport seniors to activities—and still provided rides to medical appointments and grocery shopping. Re-opening plans are underway. Every department spoke to the changes they made to adapt to COVID conditions, and the changes they are planning once vaccination levels rise and we re-open. Be safe and well, and please get vaccinated. So maybe we can enjoy summer or fall, together! –Jim Lofink
Granby’s Town Manager passes Town Manager John D. Ward passed away at his home on Wednesday, March 17, 2021, surrounded by his devoted family. A resident of Vernon, he served as its town administrator from 2008 to 2017, when he was hired as Granby’s town manager. Ward made significant contributions to the betterment of the town during his tenure. His commitment to the town and its employees was extraordinary, especially during the challenges that Covid-19 imposed over the past year. He was a valued leader, colleague and friend. Colleagues, friends, and the Town of Granby offer deepest sympathies to his family and friends. Ward will be greatly missed. First Selectman B. Scott Kuhnly, as per Town Charter, will assume the responsibility of Town Manager and can be reached at kuhnly@granby-ct.gov John D. Ward
Daybreak at the Drummer
One of the benefits of an early morning walk is being able to witness a spectacular sunrise like this. Photo by Paul McDonnell
Building the FY22 budget to help manage the next ones By Michael B. Guarco, Jr. Chair, Board of Finance The Fiscal Year 22 budget proposals from the Board of Selectmen and Board of Education have been forwarded to the Board of Finance. On Monday, March 29, the finance board will review them, ask questions of the two boards and administrations and then finalize a unified budget package to present to the Budget Public Hearing on Monday, April 12 as designated in the town charter. These budget proposals will fit within the target numbers requested by the finance board with the intent of presenting an overall budget with no change in the mill rate for another year. The budget package will contain a one-year transfer of $2 million from the General Fund to the Other PostEmployment Benefits (OPEB) Fund. This transfer will accomplish two things: 1) move existing cash on hand sooner that is earning little in interest in bank accounts and other restricted cash-like instruments into a fund that typically can be anticipated to garner much greater earnings growth (1 percent vs 5–6 percent) and 2) thereby allow us to remove this item from upcoming budgets FY2326 (four years). Removing this yearly expense from the next four budgets will help to hold the mill rate change lower. In a nutshell it is better to utilize a portion of our municipal reserves for an obligation we have to pay over time anyway rather than funding it through upcoming budgets or taxes.
This exercise will still leave us within the reserve parameters recommended by bond advisors and credit rating agencies. Simply put, it gets Granby a better bang for the buck in dealing with a bill it has to pay over time. OPEB concerns retiree healthcare. While the contracts of today are less generous than those of past decades, the public sector has a history of providing some level of healthcare for retirees. Over the past couple of decades, time period restrictions, cost sharing and incentives to move retirees onto the state system or Medicare have been gradually negotiated in, but change takes time in a labor-protective state like Connecticut. In the meantime, the Government Accounting Standards Board came out with the requirement that the books of government entities reflect the future obligation that a town like Granby will have to pay and this led to the need to come up with a mechanism to pay that obligation as it comes due. Hence, the OPEB Fund. Unlike the typical municipal reserves that can only be invested in bank accounts or similar cash-like instruments that currently earn about 1 percent, OPEB funds —like pension trust funds — can be invested in equity and bond markets that over time have performed far better in generating annual average returns of 5 to 7 percent historically. It is that historic earning power that gives the town reasons to use existing reserves
OPEB is the acronym for Other PostEmployment Benefits
FY22 budget cont’d. on p. 3
Read the Drummer online at GranbyDrummer.com Photo by Paul McDonnell