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Town of Lyme
Budget Committee
January 4th, 2007
7:00PM
Fire Station Training Room
Approved: January 10th, 2007
Present at this meeting: Selectmen: Judith Shelnutt Brotman. Budget Committee Members: Chairman Barney Brannen, Mike Smith, Josh Kilham, Elizabeth Glenshaw, Jeff Lehmann, Wayne Tullar, Freda Swan & Dave Caffry. School Board Representative: Kathy McGowan. School Board Chairman: Peter Glenshaw. Principal: Jeff Valence. Superintendent: Gordon Schnare. Community Members: Barbara Roby & Earl Strout. Staff: Bookkeeper/Scribe Dina Cutting.
The meeting was called to order at 7:00pm by Chair Brannen.
1) Mr. Lehmann moved to approve the minutes of the December 20th, 2006 meeting. Seconded by Mrs. Swan. Corrections were offered. Voted 8 in favor, 1 abstention (Mrs. Swan was not present for this meeting).
Review of School Budget:
2) Mrs. McGowan presented a handout to be followed along with a power point presentation. The presentation reviewed the overall budget requests for the school year 2007-2008. Over half of the budget is non-discretionary. High school tuition costs were reviewed. Hanover High School tuition is increasing 8% and Thetford is 6.75%. The number of students going to high school has decreased but the number of students choosing Hanover has increased. The average class size for Lyme School was reviewed and discussed. Thetford Academy is in the middle of a capital campaign. They are looking at a long road ahead to raise the funds for this project. Thetford’s plan is to not rely on increased tuition costs to fund these projects.
The Special Education costs are up. We have 2 children in an out-of-district placement and the school believes there will be 1 more next year. The cost for these out-of-district placements is about $144,000.00-$150,000.00. Followed was a lengthy discussion concerning the importance of early intervention, the rising cost of Special Education at the high school level, how the various schools charge for Special Education, and the legal rights of the sending school. Do they have the right to turn our students away? Yes. Another side of school choice is that area schools do not have to take our students.
Teachers’ salary increase is 4.27% five teachers have moved to a new track due to additional schooling. Lyme had a low percentage of teachers with a master’s degree compared to similar schools. In the past, Lyme had a higher number of teachers with longevity. Followed was a discussion concerning class size, how the administration determines splitting classes and how many classes are split this year. The Budget Committee asked to see a staff study. Mrs. McGowan will get this chart to the Budget Committee.
A discussion concerning the offering of French instead of other languages ensued. It was noted that the school is taking its lead from Hanover. Followed was a discussion of how Hanover responds to the needs of students from Lyme. The Administration feels Hanover tries to be responsive, but we can not demand what they do for our children.
Special Education aides were discussed. The aides’ duties are diverse; they perform all kinds of function within the classes. They do not only work with 1 Special Education student. Followed was a discussion concerning early detection for Special Education students. In the long run, it is well worth the cost to help these students early in their education.
The subject of school choice came up. The various schools will be coming in to Lyme to give presentations. Mr. Valence would like to start meeting with families individually to discuss the school choice subject. Each child and their parents need to be able to look at the choices and be able to determine the best fit for that individual child.
3) Mrs. McGowan reviewed the increases with in this budget request.
· Retirement: $30,000.00
· Health Insurance: $46,000.00. Some teachers have switched from a Point of Service plan to an HMO. This has saved the teachers money and the plan is just as good. Some teachers, who previously had insurance elsewhere, elected to take the School’s insurance.
· The building maintenance line has been reduced by $10,000.00. Mr. Schnare stated the physical building is in really good shape.
· The bus costs are down. The Administration reduced the number of buses from 3 to 2. Now that Lyme has reliable drivers the buses are filling back up.
· Library: Level funded in this budget request. This discussion will take place at next week’s meeting.
· The really good news is the food services have done very well. This has gone from a $20,000.00 deficit to an $8,000.00 deficit. It is still a loss but much better than last year. Mr. Valence has been working hard on this project and it has paid off.
4) Review of expenses increased:
Discretionary increases: $88,946.00
Nondiscretionary increases:
High school tuition $118,747.00
Resident High school tuition (out of district placements) $136,700.00
Health Insurance $46,244.00
New Hampshire Retirement $30,000.00
Special Education Reserve Fund $25,000.00
Significant Savings in 06/07 budget: ($22,855.00)
(Elimination of one bus)
07/08 requested expenses: $4,455,399.00
06/07 expenses budgeted: $4,032,263.00
Total 07/08 budget increase- $423,136.00
The State adequacy grant was discussed. It was noted that if Lyme loses this money, it would really affect this budget. Lyme is able to benefit from this grant because of the Current Use program. This program makes property values lower, plus the town has a lot of children, so Lyme is eligible for these funds.
The following were topics to be discussed with the Budget Committee.
5) High School Tuition fund:
The school would like to start putting money into the High School Tuition Fund. Because of a big bubble of students, this fund will have only about $8,000.00 in it by 2011. Normally, money left in the school budget at the end of the school year is put in this fund. Mr. Schnare stated that he did not think there would be any money to go into this fund from the 06-07 budget. In the past, there has been enough to fund this account. In the future, it will not be enough. This fund is to help level out high school tuition costs due to large bubbles of students. The Budget Committee asked the School Board to come to the next meeting with their recommendation for this fund. Followed was a discussion concerning high school tuition costs.
6) Special Education Fund:
The School may have 3 out-of-district placements next year. There is $137,000.00 in this account right now. The school may need to use $57,000.00 out of this fund. The school will get catastrophic aid for some of the costs. The School Board is the agent for this fund. They do not have to get the town’s vote to take money out or put money in to this fund. They put the amount they believe they need in the budget and then they can adjust this amount at town meeting if needed.
7) Plowing costs at the School:
The School Board would like the Selectmen to consider having the town highway crew plow the school parking lot. This is a significant amount within the school budget ($5,000.00). Mrs. Shelnutt Brotman said she would bring this to the Road Agent, Fred Stearns, for discussion. Followed was a brief discussion on what the town has for equipment and the number of employees on the Highway crew. Mr. Tullar did mention that the Library has a different person plowing the driveway because the previous cost was too much. This was put out to bid and they found someone to do it for less. Maybe it is time for the school to put this out to bid again. Mr. Valence mentioned he was going to be discussing this issue with the present contractor to see if they can renegotiate the price.
8) Clarification of the SAU Administration budget was requested. The business assistant has been given a raise. The work load is greater and she needs to increase her hours next year. It was noted that Lyme could not have a part-time superintendent if we did not have such a great business assistant (she really is a business manager). The Administration budget was reviewed also.
Mr. Lehmann noted the rapidly increasing school budgets over the last five years and asked the school board to address that subject in the strategic plan.- We do not want to drive people out of this town with big increases year after year. We need to think outside the envelope. Followed was a discussion concerning high school tuition costs, the expectations of the parents of children within the Lyme School and the requirements for students at local high schools. Mr. Glenshaw commented that the School Board has a fiscal responsibility to keep taxes reasonable for the taxpayers of Lyme. The School Board is in the business of educating the children of Lyme. The School Board is working on the long range strategic plan. These meetings are a good place for people to come and discuss creative ideas on how to work on all of
these issues. Followed was a discussion about past students coming out of high school unprepared for the work force. People in the work force require more these days as do colleges. The Budget Committee suggested the School Board be ready with information for community members to support this budget request. It may be beneficial for the school board to have information available showing % of students who go to a 4-year college. It was noted demographics have changed in Lyme and that will make a difference in this information. Currently, parents have high expectations of school quality; some people move to town specifically because their children can go to Hanover High School.
9) The Budget Committee thanked the School Board for the presentation. Next week, the Budget Committee will be reviewing the following issues:
1) Trust Funds (School Board to come with recommendations)
2) Library costs
3) Combined impact with the 2 budgets
4) Tentatively vote the budget
10) Mrs. Roby requested the 2 boards make a better effort to publicize these meetings.
11) Mr. Tullar requested clarification on the $10,000.00 cut from the building maintenance line. Mr. Schnare noted the School has had significant work done to in the past few years. He would not recommend this if it was going to get the building behind in maintenance.
12) Town Offices: The Budget Committee expressed concern with the late date. It is getting close to having to vote the final budget and they have not received any information on this issue. The Town Offices Committee is meeting next Wednesday morning. Mr. Smith stated he would be very concerned with bringing something to the town if it is not really ready. Followed was a discussion on the concerns of adjourning a town meeting. You can not adjourn it for just one thing. If you adjourn Town meeting, everything that was previously discussed and voted would be open also. The Committee will be bringing some kind of a report to the next Budget Committee meeting.
13) Next Meeting: Wednesday January 10th @ 7:00PM. The first Public Hearing will be Wednesday January 17th @ 7:00PM. Both meetings are held at the Fire Station training room.
At 9:10PM, Mr. Lehmann moved to adjourn. Seconded by Mrs. Shelnutt Brotman. Voted unanimously in favor.
Respectfully submitted,
Dina Cutting
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