Supervisor Installs Best Practices for Budgeting

JUNE 15, 2006, FARMINGVILLE, NY – Brookhaven Town Supervisor Brian X. Foley unveiled an entirely new budgeting procedure which will employ “best practices” to revolutionize town finances at the Town Board work session Thursday at 1:30 p.m. Supervisor Foley said the new budgeting practices will save money, improve accountability and make it crystal clear how taxpayer money is spent.

“What I am outlining here today are best practices for budgeting that will be the model for safeguarding taxpayer dollars in the Town of Brookhaven for the next 20 or 30 years,” said Supervisor Foley. “For all intents and purposes, the basic principles of budgeting have been ignored in Brookhaven Town until now. That has cost Brookhaven untold taxpayer dollars in waste and mismanagement. 

"My 2007 operating budget and the 2007-2009 capital program will revolutionize Brookhaven government by matching expenditures to needs. The new procedures will give departments the tools needed to meet our responsibilities to the public. Simply put, the budget we will create will empower our vision of open, honest, responsive government and help fulfill our collective mission to clean up Town Hall and save taxpayer dollars.”  

“These are absolutely critical changes to a fiscal system that was broken,” said Councilman Steve Fiore-Rosenfeld. “This is one of the most important good government changes the Foley administration will make.”

In the past, budgets were crafted behind closed doors with little or no department involvement, Supervisor Foley said, but departments now will be more involved than ever before. Finance will work with departmental staff to look at expenditure/revenue trends and to more accurately forecast future needs.

The new budget process will start with each department working with the Supervisor’s office to create a mission statement. Payroll forecasts will be determined with the cooperation of the Finance Department. Each department will develop an organizational chart.

All capital project requests will include a project description and justification, total cost, cost breakdown (engineering, construction, equipment, furniture), operating impact, phased costs and a timeline and milestones. The complete financial impact of capital projects will be included for the first time, including staffing, maintenance costs, electricity, furniture, etc.

Supervisor Foley displayed the former capital project form, which listed space for 10 capital projects on a single piece of paper, asking for a one-sentence description and the cost.

“This capital project form has all the fiscal sophistication of a six-year-old’s Christmas list,” said Supervisor Foley.

He then displayed the new capital budget request form—a single sheet of paper for each project including:

--Section 1, Project Basics, including department, project title, project category (new, existing, continuing), brief project description, detailed project description, estimated start date and justification for the project.

--Section 2, Cost Analysis, including separate categories for design/engineering, construction and equipment and furniture. For each category, prior years funding, 2006 adopted/amended capital funding, 2007 request, 2008 request, 2009 request and total project cost must be listed. Also in section 2, operating impact cost by year, anticipated revenue and operating impact description must be listed for previous years, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and total.

--Section 3, Town Code Requirements, lists estimated completion date, status of current project, total amount of bond funding requested, total amount of grant funding requested, and grants description/status for previous years and every year 2006 through 2009, as well as the total.

“With this capital program in place, we will end disasters like the Mastic Pool project,which was a prime example of the failure of the capital program process that had been utilized in the past in Brookhaven Town,” said Supervisor Foley. “The Mastic Pool project began as an $800,000 renovation and ballooned into a $6.3 million boondoggle due to poor planning, no clear administrative responsibility and a lack of fiscal oversight. That kind of mismanagement is over.

Supervisor Foley said the new budgeting procedures will provide the best constituent service at the lowest possible cost, and will provide the kind of fiscal transparency that will restore faith on town government.

"The Culture of Competence is about delivering outstanding service at the lowest possible cost,” said the Supervisor. “As we draw up the 2007 operating budget and the 2007-2009 capital program, we are faced with difficult choices, largely brought about by a two-year $40 million reduction in revenue because of the elimination of property taxes. That revenue shortfall will force us to make tough choices about what is funded next year and in years beyond.

"But this new budgeting process will give us the tools to make smart fiscal choices and will insure that every penny is wisely spent. I promised residents of the Town of Brookhaven a Culture of Competence that would bring fiscal prudence to a town budgeting procedure that was out of control. Today, I deliver on that promise.”

Office of the Supervisor
One Independence Hill • Farmingville • NY 11738 • Phone (631) 451-6955 • Fax (631) 451-6677
www.Brookhaven.org