Hartford Business Journal

10 Hartford Business Journal • April 4, 2016 www.HartfordBusiness.com Ideas for savings plentiful By John Stearns jstearns@HartfordBusiness.com I t's time for Connecticut's Municipal Opportunities & Regional Efficiencies Com- mission to reach higher for municipal savings, a Connecti- cut town leader told colleagues at Hartford Business Journal's third annual Municipal Collabo- ration Summit. The MORE Commission has done well getting people to share ideas since it was re-established in 2013 and laying the founda- tion for future efficiencies, but ideas so far are generally con- sidered low-hanging fruit, said John Elsesser, Coventry town manager and president of the Connecticut Council of Small Towns. "I think it's time to build a ladder or some other means of climbing higher to get to the ripe fruit that we know is at the top of the tree that's lit by the sun," Elsesser said. "I don't think anyone really believes that the status quo is a viable option anymore," he said, offering some ideas where sav- ings might be obtained. They include: • Regionalizing assess- ments — He noted each town has its own assessor's office, many of which buy software from the same company. That software could be purchased once for a region and in-house staff could shift from area to area for assessments rather than hiring outside contractors Continued They include sharing a dog pound by buying services from Vernon; sharing IT services with its board of edu- cation and entering contracts with South Windsor and Tolland for other IT services; buying software for land records with four towns; and being among five towns and boards of education that created a health insurance pool that has kept premiums steady for two years. "We're not telling the story well," Elsesser said. "A lot of towns are doing a lot of things. There's more to do. …" Wray cited regionalization examples that include dive teams for water rescues, bomb squads, disaster planning and services, and cooperative purchasing agreements among many towns to save money. Those are "invisible success stories" people don't hear about, he said. But inefficiencies in towns also are invis- ible, Wray added. "I think we need to make the costs of going alone … more visible," he said. Technology offers opportunities for costs savings, particularly for back-office expenses, he added. Mary Glassman, manager of the office for regional efficiencies at the Capitol Region Education Council, urged town representatives to examine whether their town is buying insurance separately from their local board of education. "If you are, you're wasting money," she said. CREC, for example, is looking to host a collaborative medical stop-loss insurance program that it predicts will save 16 communities $2 million in the first year alone, "so we have tremendous opportunity given the state's economic cri- sis to think differently, act differently and use our resources to buy what we really want to buy," Glassman said. n Municipal As accounting professionals, it's no surprise that we take a lot of pride in reconciling the smallest details for our clients. But it's just as important to see the big picture. We take the time to get to know our clients and understand each business, its goals, its opportunities and its threats. We think this makes us a little different. Our clients tell us it makes us better. Federman, Lally & Remis – Not Your Typical Bean Counters. See the forest. See the trees. 231 Farmington Avenue, Farmington, CT 06032 | 860-678-7100 | www.flrcpa.com John Elsesser, Coventry town manager, president of COST. Lyle Wray, executive director of the Capitol Region Council of Governments, discussed ways towns and cities are saving money. P H O T O | J . F I E R E C K P H O T O G R A P H Y P H O T O | J . F I E R E C K P H O T O G R A P H Y

• Cover