Budget Committee
Nottingham Town Offices Conference Room #1
Thursday November 17, 2011 - 7:00pm
Approved
|
Members |
Additional Role |
Term Ends |
X |
Chet Batchelder (elected) |
Vice Chair School Survey Rep Alternate |
2012 |
X |
Donna Danis (elected) |
Chair |
2012 |
X |
Michael Koester (elected) |
Member at Large School Building Advisory Committee |
2014 |
E |
Gail Mills |
Member at Large School Survey Rep
|
|
X |
Barbara Scannell (elected) |
School Building Advisory Committee Alternate |
2013 |
X |
Doug Simmons (elected) |
CIP Committee Rep. Alternate |
2012 |
X |
Bunny Walder |
Appointed Member |
2012 |
X |
Rick Morrissey |
Appointed Member |
2012 |
X |
Peter Perron |
Appointed Member CIP Committee Reb |
2012 |
|
Other Board Membership |
Board Representing |
|
X |
Hal Rafter |
Selectman Representative |
|
X |
Susan Levenson |
School Board Representative |
|
Call to order and introductions
Donna Danis called meeting to order
Chet motioned to accept minutes from Nov. 10th, 2011, Barb seconded
Chet motioned to accept the minutes as amended Gail seconded - minutes approved -10 yes and 1 abstain vote.
Presentation:~ School First Draft Budget
Presentation by M. Carvalho, D. Fernald, & Frank.
Frank noted that there is a 2.7% increase in SAU cost. Nottingham’s share of this will be about the same (2.7%) or 4,000.00. Much of this will be related to a 2% salary increase for personnel. Another expense is also a digital filing system for the SAU. The SAU is also seeking to upgrade its website. Other information was discussed from handout titled - SAU 44 - Business Administrator. Major change is that catastrophic aid was reduced 67.42% from last years revenue. Also noted was an expected 1.6% increase in health insurance and a 7.2% decrease in dental insurance. High School tuition from Coe-Brown has a balance of $787 for fiscal year 2010-2011 and $148,088 for 2011-2012. Policy associated with parent payment for Coe-Brown tuition was discussed and was noted as school board policy JEAA.
Donna asked about SAU operating budget as related to communication increase and who the SAU was trying to communicate better with. Frank replied communication is with parents and community. He also noted that the SAU was constantly putting out proposals for bid and this generates an immense amount of phone calls into the SAU. The website would allow these to be placed and on the website and updated so phone calls into SAU will hopefully decrease.
Donna asked if there were any funding possibilities to assist with decrease in catastrophic aide from state. Frank reported no that it does fall back to school with some assistance from state medicaid, but that this was minimal.
Bunny inquired if most school employees were using the Matthew Thornton plan. Frank reported that in Nottingham District that it was evenly distributed between the two insurance options. She also asked if any of the 7.9% increase in Blue Choice was being passed along to employees. Frank noted that through collective bargaining the rate to employees would not change.
Principal Carvalho - Proposed School Budget Review
Technology: Technology plan - purchase 28 new computers - approximately $19,000.00
Grounds and Facility Improvements: Arsenic water treatment filtration medium will probably need to be replaced, replacement of water cooler, gym floor and replacement of door knobs and locks
Architectural/Engineering Construction Manager Services for New School Building
Replacement of Furniture - this primarily refers to new covering system for gym floor the current system is not working and considered unsafe. Donna asked what the specific system was and Michele did not have exact system but Michele stated she will get specific information for next meeting. Frank also noted that in another school an older individual was injured on the gym floor covering and secondary to the fall the person did pass away, so the SAU is seeking to have the unsafe floor covering (parachute coverings) removed from all schools.
Rick was also concerned with the new floor covering being placed outside in the new shed in the extreme cold. Michele stated that she will check on this and if it were an issue then the covering would be placed in locker rooms indoors.
Peter asked if the furniture for the new school building was included in the report from Michele. Michele and Frank reported that no it was not, it will be in the soft cost of the warrant article not the current school budget.
Personnel changes are being discussed secondary to student needs. It is anticipated that the population of students with special needs will increase next year. A special education coordinator full time position is being considered and an increase in the speech therapist time is also being considered.
Peter asked if elimination of the current special education secretary position was being considered to off-set the cost of either the special education coordinator or speech therapist. Michele noted that no this had not been considered but that it possibly should be.
Chet asked Michele if the budget changes reported took into consideration any of the surplus from 2010-2011 of $63,000. Michele reported that several technology items were not in the current budget because they were purchased with surplus money. She also noted that the gym floor is an ongoing cost. Susan noted that some items bought at the end of the year with the surplus was secondary to the uncertainty of retirement funds from the state so line items were frozen for the year, then released at the end of the year. Chet also requested that Michele bring a current technology plan for BC review.
Barbara noted that the current space in the school might not accommodate the addition of two new teachers even if the new school building passed. Michele noted that the SLP would not be an addition just an increase to full time. The Special Education Coordinator would share a space with someone in an existing office. Barbara also asked if these new employee’s fringe benefits were considered in the dollar amounts presented. Frank responded that it was difficult to guess as to what health insurance plan a person would pick. Michele noted that the positions are still under discussions with the school board.
Hal asked if special education populations were increasing across the state. Frank reported that it was not only the 80 students at Nottingham School, but also those students receiving out of district services that required special education employees to attend meetings and coordinate services with SAU that created the need for more special education hours.
Michele noted that trends for special education were as follows:
2007-2008 - 72, by end of year 67
2008-2009 63, by end of year 65
2009-2010 62 by end of year 72
2010-2011 74 by end of year 84
Peter asked what the current caseload for a special education teacher was and Michele noted it was 16. If we are asking to add personnel to offset workload of current employees then their caseload should be meeting the average caseload of the state. Michele did caution that job responsibilities for special education personnel could vary from school to school and should be considered.
Principal Proposed School Budget for 2012-2013
Regular Education
Most reductions in this area were associated with the Director of Technology line items being moved to another location in the budget, so no changes to budget.
Barbara and Chet did question the significant increase in retirement at 31.41% (Line item 01-1100-5232-000). Michele and Frank noted that they would research this and report the exact increase which Frank estimated to be closer to 11.5%.
There was a reporting error in Contracted Services (Line item 01-1100-5442-000), needed to change $197.021.00 to $19,721.00 which is a decrease not increase in this line item. Reported increase of 882.21% is an error.
Chet asked about the Dover High School Tuition (Line item 01-1100-5561-000) being so difficult to calculate. Frank noted that much of this was that not as many students are going to Coe-Brown as estimated, and that Dover did not increase the appreciated cost as anticipated. Much of the numbers are based on projections of students, using trends but these are risky. The school does have Coe-Brown rates for next year but not Dover.
There was an increase in general supplies by 25.90% and Michele noted that this was from just overall increase in cost of materials.
Michele noted that science supplies will go up from budget presented and school board was aware of this change. (Line item 01-1100-5610-029).
Donna asked if the salary for the proposed special education coordinator was in the proposed school budget, Michele reported no it was not. The increase in SLP hours is in the proposed school budget.
Co-Curricular Salaries
Michael asked about the FICA increase for the summer institute salary, it was a substantial increase. Michele noted that it was and that this number would be explored, she suspected that salaries were not pulled from the budget and therefore the FICA was high.(line item 01-1410-5220-028).
Improvement of Instruction
Chet noted that Staff Development Workshops was increased from $15, 750.00 to $16, 250.00. Michele noted that this was secondary to the technology directors contract requiring educational benefits. (line item 01-2210-5323-000)
Computer Assisted Instruction
Peter asked what e-rate was related to Internet access, Michele stated that she would ask the technology director about this cost. (line item 01-2225-5643-031).
School Board Services
Questions were raised by Chet concerning the increased cost of legal services going from $6,821.25 to $17,000. Frank noted that a small amount went towards collective bargaining but most of this cost was is associated with legal matters of the school itself. Dawn did note that this amount could go down based on use for the final budget. (line item 01-2310-5331-000).
Transportation
Donna did inquire about sports related transportation cost - at some events students take bus to event but then parents bring students home so busses are empty going back to Nottingham Elementary. Frank did report that some negotiations with Dail could be attempted for 1/2 trips, and if not now when the contract is up. (Line item 01-2700-5519-028).
Donna asked if the bus services for Coe-Brown would remain the same. Dawn reported that the school board was working with Dail to make the bus routes more efficient assuring all kids had service. This is still under discussion. Frank noted that the SAU has requested for rider numbers and that it is at the discretion of the School Board to change bus services.(Line item 01-2700-5519-041).
Grand Total
Michele noted an overall estimated 2.7% increase in total school budget or $273,143.34
Final Questions on School Budget
Michael asked Frank about the errors reported in the school budget and that when they were removed the actual increase would be less than 2.7% and would be closer to a 1% increase. Frank did agree with this but did note that the School Board was discussing other items that could be added to the budget and could increase the percent increase of the overall budget.
School board will return December 15, 2011 to report budget changes to BC.
Committee/Department Report
School: Sue
No new information
School Building Committee: Michael/Barb
There was another community meeting to discuss the addition to the school. Michael reported that there were 6 to 7 people and that nothing new was discussed. Phil did indicate that the cost of the new building could be presented by December 12th-14th, 2011. Barb did note that she has researched a questioned posed by Peter about the cost of the engineering fee being included in a warrant article. She stated that it was originally in a warrant article but that it was pulled from the warrant.
BOS: Hal
Selectman have not met since last week, but Hal is trying to put together a spreadsheet summary of the town budget to provide to the BC for next town budget presentation.
CIP: Peter /Doug
Peter reported that the last CIP meeting was primarily to format the spreadsheets and that the numbers were in place and report should be forthcoming. They also need some time at BC meeting to present CIP report. There was questions around the town buying land, the easement on the land is currently held by the federal government. This cost would influence the CIP numbers if decisions were made by BOS to move forward on land acquisition.
Other Business
Next meeting December 1st, town directors will present proposed budgets. Peter will present CIP data at this meeting if time allows.
Donna noted that the discussion around meeting schedules of BC in relation to bond hearing for school building will be addressed in Dec. 1 mtg. She feels that the BC is not obligated to hold a meeting immediately following the school board bond hearing.
Action Item-
Frank Markewitz agreed to provide a break out of the Special Education Line item # 125569061.
Round table / Adjourn
Donna asked for a motion to adjourn meeting. Hal made motion. Bunny seconded.
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