The Board of Finance held a special meeting on Wednesday, March 11, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. in the Lecture Hall of the Newtown High School, 12 Berkshire Road, Sandy Hook, CT. Chairman John Kortze called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m.
PRESENT: John Kortze, James Gaston, Michael Portnoy, Joseph Kearney, Harry Waterbury and Martin Gersten.
ALSO PRESENT: Finance Director Bob Tait, Schools Superintendent Dr. Janet Robinson, Accountant Tim Hart, Assistant Superintendent Linda Gejda, Board of Education members Elaine McClure, Lillian Bittman, Kathryn Fetchick, David Nanavaty, Richard Gaines, Kathleen Chrystie, Anna Wiedemann, approximately 90 members of the public and one member of the press.
VOTER PARTICIPATION:
Michelle Hankin 16 Greenleaf Farms Road, Newtown, believes people want to invest in town. Every year the schools have lost programs, class sizes have grown and facilities have gone without work even when the overall economy was excellent. Newtown has always been frugal and spends less per student than other towns. Respect the decisions made by Dr. Robinson and the Board of Education, they are the experts on education. A zero percent increase would be devastating to the quality of education. Look at the consequences of a zero increase. Value doesn’t mean the lowest tax possible, it means offering a package of strong services at a good price. Realtors say that buyers are uncertain of the towns support for schools, funding and quality of education.
Bob Merola, 22 Ashford Lane, Newtown stated that the taxes have increased 25% in the past few years and the value of homes are down. He stated that if his supervisor directed him to come in with a lower budget, he would not come in with a higher budget and then reduce it. He encouraged the board to consider reductions to try to get it closer to frugality and try to go with a zero increase in taxes.
Gail Lynch, 72 Mile Hill Road, Newtown, thanked all the boards in Newtown for the service they do. These are hard times with people losing jobs. She is here to serve the students of Newtown and requested the Board give consideration before falling prey to the device of talk of hard times. People in Newtown are visionaries who know how to make sacrifices for today that will pay off tomorrow. It is her hope that we will not divide, but unify.
Kirsten Stobel, Woodbury, teacher at Middle Gate School, has been a teacher in town for seventeen years. She spoke to a misrepresentation of teachers in town. Teacher’s concessions occurred in 2007 when the current contract was negotiated. At that time furlough days, a giveback, was added to the contract. Teachers created concessions before there was an economic crisis. The union representatives in her building discussed many options with the members and came to the consensus that reopening contracts was not in the best interest of the teachers. Ms. Strobel stated she has knowledge that other unions in town have also elected not to open their contracts. Teachers don’t have the option of overtime to supplement their incomes. It is not an issue of what
is equal but what is equitable. Ms. Strobel stated that the Board of Finance’s implication that if the teachers did not participate in a wage freeze the other unions won’t either and the success or failure of the town budget will hang in the balance smatters in bullying. Teachers contribute to the excellence this town has built its reputation on.
COMMUNICATIONS: Mr. Kortze thanked the tech club for their help in televising the budget deliberations, noting they come in substantially earlier to get everything set up. The Newtown Bee will have the audio and video, with links on the Bee website.
Board of Education:
Insurance: Mary Griffin, President of TR Paul is the broker for the Board of Education benefit plans and spoke to the renewal and claim experience (Att. A). Renewal will go down as claim experience gets better. A municipal alliance program benefits towns working toward cost management in programs. There is a seven point renewal at this point but Ms. Griffin feels confident it can get to five. All areas are looked at to see if additional money can be saved. An HMO was created; in negotiation a very specific plan was created as an alternative at a 2% difference. Ms. Griffin explained that she’s trying to get 5% from Anthem but cannot receive that number today. She may not be able to get a confirmed number until April. Mr. Kortze stated that over
the last four or five years there has been a substantial amount of money transferred out of the line item. Dr. Robinson stated that retirements are often replaced with a single person and that cost less in benefits. Mr. Tait said claims went down through contributions and cobra payments.
Dr. Robinson addressed all questions in a handout, see attachment B. Mr. Portnoy noted that the enrollment projects have been overstated by an average of 77 students per year. Dr. Robinson is concerned with larger classroom size in the earlier grades and pointed out that the classroom sizes are not set up to hold more students than are in the classroom now. Mr. Kortze noted that over the years the Board of Finance has suggested this be managed in the form of attrition. Mr. Gersten is concerned that over budgeting increases taxes unnecessarily and creates a surplus. Dr. Robinson noted that there are not a lot of teachers eligible for early retirement. If the budget fails, staff will be reduced. The school is looking into how to embed gifted education within the day.
Ms. Bittman explained that online classes are a pilot program for AP classes; the content of some courses are not offered in AP classrooms, this is a less expensive way.
ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 9:35 p.m.
Susan Marcinek, Clerk
Attachment A: Anthem handout
Attachment B: Board of Education handouts
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