NOTTINGHAM BUDGET COMMITTEE MINUTES
June 5, 2008
PUBLIC SESSION
APPROVED BY THE COMMITTEE July 24, 2008
PRESENT: ABSENT:
Mr. John Decker, Chair Mr. Michael Koester (Excused)
Mr. Kyle Barry Mr. Peter Bock BOS Representative
Mr. Scott Curry, incoming Vice Chair
Ms. Charlene Andersen
Mr. Archie Fernald
Ms. Gail Powell
Ms. Gail Mills
Mr. Chet Batchelder
Ms. Amy Plante, School Board Representative
OTHERS PRESENT:
None
COMMITTEE BUSINESS:
The Chair called the meeting to order at 7:06 pm.
The Budget Committee members did not introduce themselves for the benefit of the television audience as the BOS representative was not present and access to the television switch was inaccessible.
Ms. Andersen made a motion to Table the minutes of the February 7, Budget Committee meeting and Mr. Curry seconded the motion. The motion passed 7-0 with 2 abstentions.
Mr. Curry made a motion to accept the minutes of the April 24, Budget Committee meeting and Ms. Powell seconded the motion. Discussion resulted in correcting the footer and clarification regarding Google docs. Mr. Curry modified his motion to accept the minutes of the April 24, Budget Committee meeting as amended. Ms. Powell seconded that revised motion. The motion passed 9-0 with no abstentions.
PROPOSED TIMELINE AND EXPECTATIONS DISCUSSION:
The committee agreed to a six bucket approach for receiving major information releases from the town and school districts. This is based on how the school district presented to the budget committee last year.
The first package for the school district would contain any major Warrant Items (based on CIP), revenue estimates and an initial draft of the default budget. This initial draft of the default budget will be based on the recent closing of the year with the understanding that many items are still subject to change. This would be expected for the September 11 budget committee meeting
Similarly, the first package for the town would consist of major Warrant Items (based on CIP) and revenue estimates as there is no default budget for the town. This would be expected for the October 9 budget committee meeting.
The second package for each of the districts would be the considered First Draft and will contain reasonable estimates for the budget as well as the budget narrative. This would be expected for the October 9 budget committee meeting for the school district and the November 13 budget committee meeting for the town.
Final drafts for presentation at the respective budget committee public hearings should include highly confident budgets, complete narratives, revenue estimates and tax impacts. This would be expected for the December 18 budget committee meeting for the school district and the January 15 budget committee meeting for the town. Changes after this time will need to wait until the School Deliberative session for the school district and Town Meeting for the town.
Additionally, other meetings will be scheduled in between these meetings to meet with Department heads and to conduct other business.
SCHOOL BUDGET DISCUSSION FOLLOW UP:
Ms. Plante followed up on with answers to the questions that were presented at April 24 meeting. The following summary represents these questions and answers:
Revenue Review
§ Revenues received Qt. III were updated early April thus the April posting date
§ Catastrophic Aid is distributed January and May
§ Adequate Education Grant was entered on the wrong line (entered as Catastrophic Aid). Nottingham received $1,015,413 for the ’07-08 school year. Payments are distributed 4 times/year: 20% in September and November, 30% in January and April
§ Revenue from both catastrophic aid and adequate education grant came in slightly lower than estimated by the state.
Qt. III Financial Statement
§ Anticipated deficit spending for special education is not due to the increase in preschool enrollment, rather the need for add’l paraprofessionals as well as benefit changes at Nottingham School at the start of the current school year
§ Anticipated surplus in high school tuition line is two-fold –
1. difference between actual tuition amount and not to exceed number provided fall ’06 for Dover High School
2. difference between projected enrollment for ’07-08 and actual enrollment at DHS-
anticipated 167 students to attend DHS, began the year with 150 students, current enrollment at DHS is 130 – 15 have moved out of district, 5 have dropped out and are attending the SAU #44 At Risk Program to earn high school credits
Misc. Information
§ As a cost saving measure the audit of the Nottingham School District is bundled with the two other SAU #44 districts as well as the SAU. By law, the audit must be completed by March of the following year
§ GMR for health insurance is determined in November
§ Retirement rates are available mid-fall
§ Not to exceed high school tuition estimates from both CBNA and DHS are available Oct/Nov.
§ Open enrollment for insurance is July
GOOGLE DOC DISCUSSION:
Mr. Curry further discussed the use of Google docs as a collaborative workspace for the budget committee. He reported that he spoke with a representative at the state who thought the idea was very innovative but also suggested we adopt a policy on the use of this to state our intentions. Mr. Curry indicated he would draft this policy for us to discuss at our next meeting. The committee was tasked with playing with this site to become familiar with it and testing for feasibility.
ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION:
No round table discussions, however, Mr. Decker indicated there was a parcel of mail from the recreation department regarding Nottingham Day.
Ms. Plante made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:55pm. Mr. Batchelder seconded the motion. The Budget Committee voted unanimously in favor of that motion. The motion passed 9-0.
Respectfully submitted,
John Decker
Budget Committee Chair
Upcoming Meetings:
June 23, 2008 – Meet w/Selectmen about schedule expectations
July 16, 2008 – Meet w/School Board about schedule expectations (Proposed)
July 24, 2008 – Quarterly review, School Assessment, Google docs
| 
