BOF Hashes Out Many BOE-Related Issues

Monday night’s Board of Finance (BOF) meeting kicked off with a lengthy executive session to discuss attorney/client communications and “Possible Actions on Town’s Bank Accounts,” according to the agenda. The First Selectman and a State Trooper were also in the executive session. While the content of executive sessions are private, if you were lucky enough to be at home watching, and stuck around after the board retreated to the back room, you may have learned all about the attendees’ poison ivy remedies, travel habits, or my strategy for trying to sit behind the biggest guys in the room to stay off-camera whenever possible. If you couldn’t quite hear, Stafford Garden Club’s Donna Wright says Domeboro worked for her recent plant-related irritations. But, I digress. Eventually, Selectman John Whetton arrived and saved us all from infamy by pausing the live stream until the board returned from its executive session. 

When the board returned, they voted to remove Board of Education (BOE) signatories from all town accounts, and then moved into a wide-ranging discussion of the self-insurance fund. The non-lapsing account and other school-related issues. (Now would be a good time to remind yourself of what happened at last week’s BOE meeting when the board voted to open two new accounts.) During one of the BOF’s June meetings, it voted to transfer $700,000 from the school’s self-insurance funds to the General Fund, thereby starting to pay the town’s general fund the roughly $1.2 million the town claims it has invested in that fund. They also voted to start taking $50,000 a month from the account until the debt is paid in full. 

Given that those funds are meant to pay the healthcare claims of school employees and the account has been underfunded in recent years (leading to the pickle they are now in), it was, perhaps, predictable that the schools would look for a way to move the money out of the town’s reach. They tried to open a new account, with $500,000 of the money left in its insurance budget for the ‘24-’25 fiscal year, but that seems to have failed in practice. Stafford’s Financial Director, Yana Abramovich, said that the town has sought legal opinion and that the schools do not have the authority to open a self-insurance account. She stated that the BOE is not an entity that can open a risk-bearing account because it lacks the means to fund it outside of its budget appropriation. 

Now, though, the pendulum is swinging back the other way, and the BOF is making the also predictable moves to stop the schools from moving the money out of reach. For instance, they voted to move forward with drafting a new policy that would require the BOE to get permission before opening any new accounts. Failure to comply could result in legal action and/or an audit. The BOF, however, wondered how this could impact the Student Activity Fund, which is student money and has traditionally been maintained by the BOE. It’s also not entirely clear to me why a new policy would apply to pre-existing accounts. Abramovich also raised concerns that Bill Hoff, the financial consultant working with the schools, is the treasurer of this account. She says a member of the BOE should be acting as an independent treasurer. 

Enter into all of this the new Superintendent of Schools, Scott Sugarman. He started in his new position as of July 1, and although he was not present at Monday’s meeting, his presence loomed large. BOF Chair Steve Geryk said that Sugarman was “open to solutions” and has agreed to put $200,000 into the old self-insurance account to ensure claims can be paid. He has also asked the board to consider pausing the $50,000 monthly payment until he can figure out another solution that includes repaying the board. The board was generally amenable to this, though it could not take an official vote because it was a “special meeting.”

Part of Sugarman’s solution, according to Geryk, might entail Stafford Public Schools joining the ECHIP-CT program. According to the program’s website, “The Eastern Connecticut Health Insurance Program (ECHIP-CT) is Connecticut’s first employee health insurance collaborative. The collaborative enables its members to more effectively control rising employee health insurance premiums by maximizing resources.“  

Additionally, Geryk said Sugarman plans to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the food services department. If the schools were to contract with an outside vendor, the contracted costs would be more predictable. That department has run a large deficit this year, which was another source of conversation at the BOF meeting. 

Abramovich drew attention to a transfer the BOE made to help with the deficit. At the last BOE meeting in June, the board voted to absorb the cost of the benefits for the food services employees, which would normally be reimbursed. They also allocated an additional $50,000 to ensure the food services program has sufficient funds to start next year. Altogether, this totaled $250,000. Abramovich, however, reminded the BOF that food services were not a line item in the original budget and that state law prohibits the BOE from using its appropriated funds for any new line items. The BOE, however, has accounted for this transfer under the “Dues and Fees” budget line item. 

Source: BOE Meeting Minutes, June 23, 2025

The BOF went on to discuss miscellaneous items related to the schools, including returning funds for voided checks from the BOE's AP and Payroll Accounts from previous fiscal years. The BOE was requesting that the funds from these checks be appropriated to address the food services deficit. 

Next week, there will be another BOE meeting, and the new superintendent will make his first official appearance. Stay tuned to find out how these issues continue to unfold under new leadership.