Submitted by Fred Camillo, First Selectman, Town of Greenwich
The old saying that everyone is entitled to his or her opinion, but not his or her own facts has never been more evident than in recent weeks. A misleading op-ed as well as numerous emails coming from a group using the name Voices For Democracy compels me to clarify their disingenuous representation of our Town’s financial position and budget process.
In Sean Goldrick’s latest opinion letter, he is making the same distorted and unfounded statements he made on a regular basis during his tenure on the Board of Estimate and Taxation (BET). Now, through an op-ed to the Greenwich Free Press, he is conflating two sets of financial information into one with the intent to distort facts for political reasons. Goldrick, as he did on the BET, continues to assert the Town has too much cash and is unwilling to properly fund school construction projects.
In his letter, Goldrick states “Greenwich town government is awash with cash, and it is time to put some of that cash to use for our school capital projects” and “I believe that Greenwich should allocate up to $40 million from our $92.2 million in cash reserves”. Here he is referring to the Town’s General Fund Balance.
In addition to the unrestricted funds included in the General Fund balance, the Town also includes the Capital Non-Recurring Fund and the Risk Fund. Goldrick laments that the Capital Non-Recurring Fund is sitting on $12.5 million of cash and the fund is not necessary. However, this fund is a State of Connecticut mandated fund that is used to pay for emergency capital projects funding. Examples would be interim appropriations to repair Town infrastructure during Superstorm Sandy and the various flooding instances in schools over recent years. The Risk Fund, which contains $3.9 million in cash, is used to pay legal settlements, which are only increasing in number. He states that maintaining this fund and the Capital Non-Recurring Fund “creates the misleading illusion that our cash reserves are substantially smaller than they are.”
Here are some additional financial misrepresentations of Mr. Goldrick’s:
• “Substantial funds remain unspent from the $50 million the town received from ARPA and Covid support”. Yes, funds are unspent, but almost every dollar has been allocated. He leaves out the fact that $27.4 million of ARPA monies have been allocated to capital projects. $8 million of that has been allocated to school HVAC projects.
• The biggest misstatement he makes is that the Town has $195.2 million of unrestricted cash available to spend. Let me clarify where most of that cash resides and what it is supposed to be used for:
-$12.5 million is Capital Non-Recurring Fund cash used as mentioned above.
-$16.7 million is cash from ARPA that has been fully allocated mostly for capital projects.
-$16.1 million is cash for the Sewer Maintenance Fund that is being used to pay for sewer operating expenses and sewer capital projects.
-$6.0 million is being held in the Leased Railroad Fund. It is not our money, it belongs to the State of Connecticut.
-$2.3 million belongs to the Griffith Harris Golf Course.
-$53.7 million is Prepaid Taxes. These are taxes paid in June 2022 to pay General Fund operations in FY 2023.
-$17.1 million is for outstanding checks and accrued payroll, fully obligated. Also known as the float.
– $4.3 million are for deposits held for others, like Inland Wetlands Permits.
-$27.6 million is for Use of Fund balance and outstanding encumbrances at June 30, 2022.
– $10.2 million is nonspendable. It is the outstanding debt Nathaniel Witherell owes the General Fund.
All of these funds listed above are restricted and unavailable for other purposes. As someone who spent four years on the BET, his comments about the Credit Rating Presentation in January show either a lack of understanding, or a deliberate misrepresentation of the metrics and data requirements associated with the credit rating process.
• The Town’s Comptroller, not the First Selectman, works with an Independent Financial Advisor, who currently has 66 Connecticut municipalities as clients, to prepare and present the annual presentation to the Credit Rating Agencies. All of the information is found in the Town’s audited financial statements and by the credit rating agencies. To imply, even casually, that there is some financial chicanery involved is an unfortunate and politically motivated suggestion by Mr. Goldrick.
• Based on data published in October 2022 by S&P, the median “available” fund balance for CT issuers rated AAA was 19.0%. the Town’s current ratio is 14.1% below the 15% level the rating agencies would like to see for a AAA rating. Fortunately, the Town scored well enough on other components to receive the AAA rating.
• During Goldrick’s tenure on the BET, he was adamant that these general fund levels were too high and pushed for a 5% or lower upper limit for fund balances. This would clearly not have been fiscally prudent and, along with his proposed budgeting and taxing policies, would have jeopardized our Triple AAA rating.
It has been said that politics is continuous mendacity, hypocrisy and hyperbole, and that the only time the truth appears is when it is useful. I believe that statement is the exception rather than the rule, but, unfortunately, Goldrick’s letter and the various supporting emails, including one with a dated proposed budget that was NOT what I presented in January, have chosen to ignore the facts supporting the truth in an effort to rile residents up with demagoguery and misinformation. Our taxpayers deserve the truth, and that is what we will continue to provide.
Fred Camillo, First Selectman, Town of Greenwich