Guilford Ends Fiscal Year With $1.8 Million Surplus

GUILFORD, CT — The town of Guilford ended the 2018-19 fiscal year with a $1.8 million budget surplus, according to town officials.

Finance Director Maryjane Malavasi explained to members of the Board of Selectmen at a meeting earlier this month that these are final unaudited numbers for June 30. There are still some adjustments that could be made.

She added that the board only has the warrants for July, but will have a complete report next month. They are ending the year with a $1.8 million surplus at this time. The surplus is primarily in the areas of interest income, tax collections and additional money in the fire department.

Board of Selectmen member Louis Federici asked why there was such a large jump in interest income. Malavasi said there are two reasons for this. One reason is they had more money to invest, whereas before a large portion was tied up due to the high school project. They use reserves to pay for the project and then reimburse those reserves once they bond for it.

Secondly, the interest rates have increased over the past year. She added that they did increase the estimate in the 2020 budget. There was discussion about possible revisions to the way estimated revenues are reported.

First Selectman Matt Hoey said to keep the fund balance at 10% they need to contribute approximately $300,000. This would give them the ability to use some of the remaining surplus for one-time expenses such as supplementing capital, etc.

Malavasi explained that the next revaluation is going to cost over $400,000 and they haven’t set any money aside for that. This will be a true costs that they know about, which might be a good use for some of those funds.