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Minutes 05/05/2009 Public Hearing
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MINUTES PUBLIC HEARING BOARD OF FINANCE MAY 5, 2009
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A PUBLIC HEARING was held on Tuesday, May 5, 2009 in the Main Room of the Sullivan Senior Center by the Board of Finance on the proposed budget for the Torrington Public Schools, for the fiscal period July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010.
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Those in attendance included Mayor Ryan J. Bingham, Comptroller Alice Proulx, Board of Finance Members Daniel Farley, Laurene Pesce, Mark Bushka, Thomas Scoville, Wendy Traub, and James Zeller, Board of Education Members Michael Broverman, and Frank Rubino, Board of Education Chairman Paul Cavagnero, Acting Superintendent of Schools Dr. Barbara Campbell, Business Manager Nancy Haynes, and Assistant to the Mayor Stephen Nocera. Board of Education Member Andrew Nargi arrived at 5:55 p.m.
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Mayor Bingham called the Public Hearing to order at 7:10 p.m.
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Dr. Campbell said the Board of Education budget is built on its goals every year. The budget is an investment in the children of Torrington. External items which drive the budget are utility expenses and the uncertainty of state, local and federal funding. Internal drivers are contractual obligations such as salaries, benefits, unfunded mandates like 'No Child Left Behind' and the changing demographics of our community. This budget was considered a "Move Forward" budget with no new programs, no cuts and fixed costs at new rates. The Operating Budget request is $63,734,357, the Capital Budget is $457,700, and the total is $64,192,057 representing a 2.49% increase over last year. The Board of Education's contractual
obligations are 2.02% of the budget increase; their mandatory obligations are 1.55%, their program improvements are .38% and their capital improvements are .56% of the budget increase. The budget includes increased instructional time and the Upward Bound and APL transition to THS at no cost. It also includes continued improvements to the TAG and extended day programs and level funding of sports and music programs. New programming in this budget includes the Superintendent Search, Out of District Placement Review, and a Local Share of K-2 Language Arts Adoption. This budget does not include regular education summer school, AYP extended year, 5.9 certified positions, and 11.86 non-certified positions. The Federal Stimulus Funding that the City stands to receive includes a $3.4 million stabilization fund by level funding ECS grant, $422,691 from Title 1 for educating disadvantaged students, and $1,121,439 from IDEA 611 for educating disabled students; disabled pre-school
students will receive $38,300 from IDEA 619.
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Joe Ammirato, 79 Brass Mill Dam Road, said he is concerned about the out-of-district expenses; the current costs are about $100,000 over budget. He said we have one of the highest percentages of all the school districts in the state, almost 13% of the total budget. Mr. Ammirato said other districts are between 3 and 4%, and he encouraged the Board to consider his recommended assessment organization which would perform an initial assessment at no cost, then give the Board a detailed cost proposal. He thanked the Mayor and Board of Finance members for all their work on the city budget; their diligence with every line item in every department's budget is greatly appreciated by taxpayer Ammirato. If the Board of Education lowered the
out-of-district cost by 2%, there would be a savings of over $1.2 million, he said, more than enough to have a zero increase in the current budget and save all the proposed cuts from teachers, parents, capital, and student programs. He urged the City's leadership to do whatever they can to convince the Board of Education to get their out-of-district costs under control as soon as possible.
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Hearing no further questions or comments, Mayor Bingham closed the Public Hearing at 7:24 p.m.
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ADJOURNMENT On a motion by Mr. Farley, seconded by Mr. Cavagnero, the board voted unanimously to adjourn at 7:24 p.m.
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ATTEST: CAROL ANDERSON, CCTC ASST. CITY CLERK |
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