Bristol Board Of Finance Is Exploring Ways To Get Ahead

By Dean Wright, The Bristol Press

July 5, 2022

As gas prices and supply chain issues continue to be a point of concern for many residents across the country, the Bristol Board of Finance is exploring ways to get ahead of growing costs to the municipality.

“Hope for the best and plan for the worst, which is what I think we need to do,” said Bristol Board of Finance Chair John Smith.

Smith told fellow board members that City Purchasing Agent Roger Rousseau relayed a message to him saying that based upon the economic forecast of the city’s purchasing department and what’s been budgeted compared to what cost is now, the city was around $600,000 in deficit for diesel fuel costs.

“I think we need to be aggressive in how we handle these things,” continued Smith.

As part of conversations with the mayor and the comptroller’s office, the chair said the city was considering putting the board’s purchasing committee in a more aggressive position to monitor costs, supply chain issues and a variety of other issues that might become problematic for the city from a financial perspective based upon covid, global affairs or other extenuating circumstances.

“We need to be prepared to deal with it proactively as opposed to reactively,” said the chair.

Smith highlighted in an example for the potential of the city’s purchasing officials to meet with department heads to discuss efficiency or arising cost concerns. With Bristol Board of Education supply chain issues, the chair felt it may be wise to also include a representative from the group in conversations.

Should there be an issue of some kind that could affect the purchasing power of Bristol, the purchasing committee, with some potential changes, could be poised to handle the issue, said Smith. He noted the committee still needed another member however, and should someone from the public with financial acumen think they are capable of filling such a role, they should contact City Hall.

Board member Marie O’Brien agreed with Smith saying that taking stock of efficiency in the utilization of costly resources was the first step. She asked if there were any statewide or municipal partnerships in purchasing based on volume for things such as fuel that the city may take advantage of.

Smith said in the past he had been part of initiatives that left the state to purchase resources straight from the “wellhead” and paid a transportation fee to have it brought to Bristol which saved money. The challenge was having an individual available at all times to monitor a needed resource. He said he was not aware that city departments were able to dedicate a person to such activities but there were other options to be explored. He noted the city already made use of partnerships such as the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities.

Board member Mark Whitford encouraged city officials to keep an eye on retiree healthcare issues as well.

Board member Glenn Heiser likened the action described by Smith to risk management.

“You’re looking at the factors that could both negatively and positively impact both the revenue side as well as the expense side of operating the city budget,” he said.

Heiser said it was important to gauge the probability of a potential event and its estimated impact on the city budget.