Board of Finance Meets Amid Questions about Newest Appointment
- Avery Martin
- 7 days ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 6 days ago
Despite initial suggestions that the Board of Finance Democrats would walk out of Wednesday night’s meeting, the agenda went ahead as planned with member Katie Wade the sole member of her party in attendance.
The other two Democrats on the Board, Stephen Salerno and Kevin Beaudoin, were not in attendance due to personal matters.
Democrats had considered boycotting the meeting after raising concerns over the appointment of Robert Britton to fill a vacancy on the Board.
“Town Council, in consultation with the Town Attorney [Louis Martocchio III], made an appointment, and they appointed Mr. Rob Britton to fill the vacancy left by Edward Pocock,” said Chairman John Leary, a Republican, at the opening of the meeting. “There are some challenges currently in play on whether it was the Town Council's appointment to make.”
At its July 13 meeting, the Town Council voted unanimously to appoint Britton, a former member of the Planning and Zoning committee, to the Board of Finance to fill the position left open by the death of Edward Pocock Jr.
Democrats now allege Britton’s appointment was done improperly, and are reportedly seeking legal counsel to overturn it.
The town charter, as posted on the town's website, does not clarify who is responsible for filling sudden vacancies on the Board of Finance, but does appear to state that the Town Council does not have that responsibility.
Section 208 of the charter, which discusses vacancies in elective offices, reads, in its entirely:
“Vacancies in elective offices, except in the Board of Education, the Planning and Zoning Commission and the Board of Finance, from whatever cause arising, shall be filled by the Council for a period until the next town election. Vacancies in the Planning and Zoning Commission shall be filled by the Planning and Zoning Commission for the period until the next town election. In filling any vacancy, the Council, Board of Education or the Planning and Zoning Commission shall select a person of the same political party as that of the former incumbent, unless said incumbent was not an enrolled member of a political party, in which case his successor shall not be an enrolled member of a political party. A member elected at a town election to fill a vacancy shall serve for the remaining unexpired portion of the term of the former incumbent.”
The Democrats’ contention is disputed by town Republicans, who say that the Town Attorney and the Town Clerk regard Britton’s appointment as proper and also point to the Council’s unanimous vote as an indication of Democratic approval.
Council Chair Paul Chaplinsky has said on social media that the issue will be discussed at the next meeting of the Council on Monday, August 10.
$833k in State Aid Appropriated to Board of Education
The Board voted 4-0 to forward an incoming $833,994 check from the state to the Board of Education’s budget.
At the last meeting of Town Council, there was some disagreement among officials on the question whether the funds had been properly accounted for. In response to questions raised by Councilor Chris Palmieri, Town Manager Alex Ricciardone suggested the Board of Finance might need to draw that amount from the town’s surplus funds, while Council Chair Paul Chaplinsky argued that there was no shortfall, no error on Town Council’s part and no action the Council needed to take.
A lengthy discussion by the Board of Finance on Wednesday revolved in part around the wording used to characterize the handling of the sum – was it an “error,” or an “oddity?”
“I don't believe it was on the record or transparent for everyone that the error was there,” said Wade, preferring the former term. “We all had access to the information, but the error was spotted by our finance director.”
Leary called the confusion an “oddity” and said it will serve as a learning opportunity for the future.
“The mill rate setting meeting should have two pieces to it: review the bridge of the budget given to town council and the one received back or changed, and then set the mill rate. That piece didn't happen,” said Leary. (A ‘bridge’ analysis is ‘a financial technique used to explain the change between two financial values by breaking the difference into its underlying drivers.”)
“I'll take responsibility for that. But I do believe that if we were to go back and wave a magic wand and raise the mill rate by 0.12, we would then be taxing the people for an additional $833,000. So we would have the state's $833, and the people's $833. That's why I don't consider [what we did] an error.”
Audit Reveals $2.5 Million Surplus Funds
The Board also received a presentation and report on the audit of the town’s finances for 2025, conducted by the accounting firm CliftonLarsonAllen LLP.
The audit, summarized by CPA Leslie Zoll, revealed that Southington’s budgetary revenues came in $2.4 million lower than expected while expenditures were $4.9 million lower than expected, leaving a $2.5 million surplus that will go into the town’s rainy day fund.
The audit report can be read below:
