Board of Finance Approves Improvement Grant for Public Housing

The Suffield Board of Finance dealt with a light agenda Monday evening in advance of Wednesday's annual town budget meeting. The board approved a grant application to renovate senior housing and moved uncollected funds to the town's suspense list.

The board approved the request by Patrick McMahon of the economic development commission to proceed with a grant application for a Small Cities State Community Block Grant (CDBG). The application requests funding to upgrade two units of the Suffield Housing Authority to full handicapped accessibility under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The cost is estimated at approximately $50,000 per unit with an additional $5,000 for relocation costs of residents transplanted during the construction process. Plans call for a construction period of roughly three to four months. The grant application deadline is June 3.

Jill Schechtman, tax collector, reported on uncollected taxes and recommended that $35,000 worth of delinquent taxes be moved to the suspense list. The majority of the delinquent taxes were on automobiles.

Schechtman noted the difficulty in collecting taxes on vehicles not renewing registrations or being registered out of state. With the approval of this year's addition, the suspense list has a total outstanding balance of $251,000.

McMahon also informed the board of the coming application for the Small Town Economic Assistance Program (STEAP) grant with a deadline of June 23. He will return for approval of that application at a later meeting.

Director of Finance Deborah Cerrato reported that the building department will be short roughly $20,000 on anticipated fees for permits. Conversely, the tax collection rate has been a higher than budgeted 99.2 percent. The higher collection rate, along with interest and fee,s has yielded $120,000 in revenue over the budgeted amount.

Cerrato informed the Board that she anticipated probate costs to be higher than expected by roughly $3,000.

“that's terrific we're saving all that money with the consolidation of the probate court,” quipped Board of Finance Chairman Justin Donnelly.

The State of Connecticut recently merged the Suffield probate court into the Tobacco Valley Probate Court along with the former individual courts in Bloomfield, Windsor Locks and East Granby.

First Selectman Tom Frenaye reported that Suffield was awarded approximately $20,000 in grants for various projects. The grants include money for a gazebo structure at Sullivan Field, funds to purchase a used vehicle for the mini-bus coordinator for use on shorter trips in lieu of using a van and additional money for upgrading the website for the Suffield Fire Department. The grant money came from the Zak Fund of the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.