001I have one, two, three, four, five. So, I would like to start the meeting. Um, it is 6:02 and it's February 21st and 1st and it's my honor um to uh open up um the special board meeting um all remote uh board meeting um for purposes of conversations around our budget. Um, it's good to see Lori and Ken here as well. Um, and a few other people. So, um, thank you very much. Um, and so I've just called to order. Um, and Susan, I'm wondering if you and your staff would like to, um, sort of orient, uh, the board um to the process of how you got to where you were, um, that gave us, um, the new numbers that you were working on. So, um I would say that it's been really the collaboration
002with our central office and our administrative team and the schools um that kind of got this ball rolling to see what were the actual true costs to um just moving of the board uh budget forward to the next year. Looking at all the inflationary costs, looking at a new bus contract that at at the beginning was worth a million dollars um in the first year. Um and then you know really not looking for any new additions but just really moving the budget forward in these inflationary times. And um I would say it was the careful um crosswalk with the board going through item by item, page by page um you know looking at our budget um very carefully asking lots of questions. um this whole team kind of took our budget books together and I
003know that Ken and Phil um kind of looked at it, cross-referenced it. I brought in my notes. Um Lori and Ken really taking a close look on the staffing and the retirement section um was a critical piece of this. um Sam's work in facilities and Clint's work um looking at technology as suggested by um you know Jay could we use some DoD supplemental funds to take over that. So a lot of these ideas came from the board as we went through this and then we actually were able to glean some insight which really brought us to a budget that was under 3%. and um just over $2 million which you know that's a lot of money and we know that um and we we've really considered what does that mean to the taxpayer although we
004really don't get a full answer. I did talk to town manager Bert but really he has to come in with his side of the budget which ours is about half of the total and to really understand that there is a lot more work to be done with mill rates and looking at the grand list and all of that. So, but just being cognizant of the portion that the town's people have to pay even though we do receive um grants that help support this budget. Um you know, at least um you know, I would say close to 40% of the budget is through the revenue sources. Um, we even looked at the revenue sources and what they brought in after the budget seasons and we saw about $10 million um that had come to the town
005directly um in the name of education over the past since 2018 I believe. So, we really did our homework and I think it's because the board has done their homework and asked a lot of serious questions that have caused us to kind of go back to the drawing board and to be able to do this. So, I would start with let's start with the adjusted budget because you've also um indicated some other ways to take a look at things like health savings and OPED that we want to unfold. You got a lot of charts and graphs and I want to make sure everybody understands and has time to ask some questions around them. Um, but I think what would be good is if um Ken, you could put up and share with the group the
006superintendent's adjusted budget. and Ken, if you don't mind talking through the first section is really the first section that we outlined um in the beginning. >> Sure. So, >> so if you could talk to them about from starting with bus contracts and doing some negotiating. I still haven't signed a contract, but we've certainly negotiated and felt like we've gotten a more reasonable um beginning roll out of this. >> Yeah, I agree. Um so, up on the screen, I hope you can all can see this. This is the uh superintendent's adjusted budget. Um the first line, the the yellow line there at 83 uh million98200, this was what we started with. This is what is in the budget books that we have uh that that we went through. Uh and that represented a 4.98% increase. Um
007and so as Susan mentioned, we went through line by line uh taking into account all of the uh all the thoughts that we were u uh given as well as uh the very first line on line three. Uh we did work with uh the uh the lowest bidder on the on the bus contract and uh we were able to um work out a uh an agreement with them to uh kind of uh shift some of those costs to later years. So, uh, it saved, uh, uh, a little bit over $300,000, uh, in 2024, uh, to be to be to be, uh, pushed into, uh, future years of the contract. Uh, they also are covering the cost of the transportation, uh, software that was a cost of 5,700 to our budget that we're able to take
008out. Uh the next line down, line five, uh when we calculated the diesel fu diesel fuel and and heating oil costs uh when we put this uh together back in late November, that the costs were were quite a bit different than what they are now. And so we're able to lock in at a much lower rate. Um uh and so that's what's represented uh by that uh uh reduction of 182,000. Uh there were some additional retirements from that same um you know back in November we had five additional retirements that we are um uh working into uh this budget that have um that have given their notice for retirement. Uh we do uh need additional school secretary at at Grant Middle Schools there is actually uh going the other way 38,000. We uh uh reduced
009the custodial supplies by 50,000 to be funded by Resser as we've done in the prior year. Uh and uh under uh for out of district special education uh we we we do see that there is a um a reduction in the amount of state placements and so we are recommending reducing that by uh 192,000. uh we are going through an RFP uh bidding uh uh process for our healthcare uh and uh they have come back uh uh Anthem had come back with a reduction of of uh of about $100,000 uh in that cost uh and so that's being reflected there on line 10. Uh we did get some of the reports from the town, the town pension report and the workers comp reports uh and the town pension was an increase but the workers comp
010was a decrease. Uh and so those are represented there. We also got from the town the the cost of the SRO's. So that was actually we actually had to add 3,220. Um we did take a reduction in the teacher health immunizations uh that was proposed by the board. Um and then a reduction in uh some PD um that can be funded either by DoD supplemental or perhaps the next uh DODIA if we do get it. And so that's what brought us down to this line 18 of uh number of 82,267 which is a 3.93 that we talked about I think the last time we got together. Uh line 20 this is the health uh health reserve reduction that we had proposed the last time we got together. Um it was actually in two pieces. We
011put that together. Um you know taking this reduction would bring it down to the same level that we have for this year. Uh so it would match FY23. Uh that's what that represents. Um so uh putting that in uh reduces the uh overall uh budget to a 3.64% uh increase. Uh then lines 25 and 26. um 25. Um we um uh through some uh different uh uh scheduling we feel like we can uh reduce uh the number of uh teachers. Um but um line 26 we're also cognizant that there's some uh positions on the RPSer that we're going to have to um uh uh do something with uh after those funds go away next year. So the uh the uh the suggestion here is to uh reduce those four teachers but then four of the
012other teachers that are being currently being um funded through the arbesser to be uh to come onto the operating budget for this year. >> And I just have to thank Mr. Whiteloff because he really brought that to attention. We've really been discussing what the cliff is going to look like and how we're going to sustain um you know the positions especially. I mean, there's some tutors and and other um folks in the budget that we might have to reduce the number that we've had during COVID, but with these positions, we really um saw that this was a a good place to take advantage of not hanging on the cliff and this will really absolutely benefit us going forward. So, I thank Mr. Whiteloff for bringing that to the attention. It's something that's been discussed by
013lots of board members. um you know what do we do in the future? So we're you're we're watching that very carefully. >> Um so those two items together actually have uh zero impact on the budget. Um as you can see um that stays at 3.64 because it's basically uh uh savings but then putting it back in. >> Uh then lines 30 through 33. This was uh suggested at the last um last meeting that we had uh where we took a look at the health reserve um and health healthcare reserve. Uh, and so we're proposing a a reduction of $400,000 and then also allocating some um some of the um increases in some of the tech costs, software uh some instructional equipment and network costs um and u having those be funded through the DoD supplemental
014um instead of uh instead of through the operating budget. Uh so that brings us down to the 81 million510 uh which is the 2.97% increase. Uh and then the just one little star at the bottom. Um the there was a new law that was um uh uh signed in uh where there's an increase to our special education excess cost grant. And so it's it's um we're estimating an additional $99,840,000. it doesn't affect the budget numbers, but it will affect the the amount of funding that we're getting from um from from the state. >> So, keeping really close track of those revenue sources that come to the town to the town manager um that are for the benefit of education. And so that will really help us to have more insight on then what is the
015responsibility of the taxpayer in the operating budget. So, Ken, if you could just bring that down so I could see if there anyone has questions that certainly. >> Thank you. >> Any questions from the board? I think we're going to come back to that to to this probably um as we kind of take a look at our um >> yeah we have some backup information that we can do a deeper dive but certainly if anybody has questions now to be contemplating >> um is it the will of the board to kind of go through the additional information? >> Yes, sure. Let's do it. I I do have a question at your convenience. >> Go ahead, Matthew. >> Um I do have one concern. I I really want to thank Jay. He he first of all
016it's an area of his expertise in which one I am a very weak sister on finance and he made a persuasive argument that I have a mind I have a heart and I have a belly and my mind understands and my heart understands but my belly is still a little uneasy on $626,000 out of the health reserves particularly when we know we have a shortfall in the OPED, the other benefits for our retirees. We know we have a shortfall on that. So, I'm wondering I I don't have not advocating a position. I'm wondering how my colleagues would feel about the idea of making that second additional health reserve reduction only 200,000 but using the 200,000 that we would take out of this budget to put that into our oped reserves and build up because we're
017going to need to do that. >> So I would like to suggest that um we let Ken and Lori talk a little bit to do the deeper dive. They've done a really remarkable job looking at health care and what is our bottom line, what should we not go under. And also we've been really since um since we really learned about OPED, we've really been using end of the year funds if there are any to really pay back OPED. And while you did get information that the OPED the town side of OPED is a little stronger, the education budget is stronger with the health savings plan. So we do um you know it almost balances each other because we do this kind of in tandem with one another. We do it together. So I I would
018recommend that we look at that with Lori. I mean, we might be going out of order, but certainly if um you want to take a look at the health savings and OPED so we can have a heartier discussion on that, I think that would probably be a good way to do it. >> However you want to handle the discussion is fine with me. >> Sure. >> Go ahead. >> Go for it. >> So, we can start with uh with healthcare or with OPED. Um let's see. And and um I think we we sent through some um some additional uh slides. Um we'll start with uh one thing that was requested at the last meeting and that was um um health care um history of health care. Let's see if I can make this bigger. Here
019we go. Um so this is the the history of the health health insurance claims. Uh we went back to uh to 2015. Um um you can see that uh the the cost and what was budgeted and a variance. Um what we also put into this was the number of large claims. Um it's one of the things that we really have to be cognizant of um um as as these large claims and we we we um define large claims as those are that are over $200,000. Uh one of the reasons that we track these so closely is that's our stop-loss limit. So that's the insurance policy that we have uh that helps that covers um claims that exceed the $200,000 number. Um so the uh the health insurance reserve will pay for the first $200,000 and
020then after that the the stop-loss uh policy would cover. Um and so one of the reasons that we put that in here is we did want to point out that um in um FY21 we did have upwards uh we had eight large claims that year. Um and um you'll notice off to the side under comments we did indicate that 20 and 21 were COVID impacted years. Uh and what that did was um uh and those were both large claimed years. We had four in 2020. um uh that um uh those uh the fact that that we had less uh regular claims coming through because uh because there was uh postponed um procedures and and and doctor's visits, it kind of afforded us the ability to be able to uh to pay for these large claims.
021Um but if that was a regular year um uh like like this year, that might have been a different uh result where we would have um um uh eaten into our reserve. Um, uh, Lori, did you have anything additional that you wanted to I know we talked about this numerous times. >> Yeah. No, you got it, Ken. The only the only other item is, you know, you there's certainly um overall we've run fairly well to the projection. However, I would point out and you were probably going to say this, Ken, FY22, this this past year, we were at 90 99.8% of our our healthcare claim projection. So we were very tight and few more claims certainly would we would have had to tap into the reserve as well. So when you look at FY21 and
022FY22 were very close to that point in both years. >> Um so that's >> and I think that's why that health reserve is pretty critical. You don't want to just go down to a corridor if you have a bad year like that. We don't want to have to go back to the town to say we need more money. >> so I'm going to take that down. Um, and then I was going to share the next slide which was um um the suggested healthc care reserve above corridor. And so what we've done here um in the past we've kind of looked at the reserve above corridor as being you know a number of months of um of of claims but we kind of took a little bit of a different look at it this time and
023kind of tried to identify uh those costs that can hit us in any particular year that we want to be prepared for. Uh and so that's what this uh this calculation does. Uh on top we have what we've talked about before is what's called a lasered stop loss claim. And that's where the stop-loss insurance company has identifies specific claims that that they will they'll only cover after it exceeds instead of 200,000 600,000. And so that's that's a that's a real um um exposure for us at this time. >> So that difference is the 400,000, >> right? Yeah. Difference between the 600 and the 200. Correct. Uh the other thing is uh is those large claims. Um as you saw in the previous slide, our typical number of claims is somewhere around four. Um and we
024have the potential uh and we put eight. I mean the potential is unfortunately higher than that, but as far as our history um we we've gone as high as eight. And so the potential excess claims uh is uh is four over what we typically um would expect to see. And uh if we we have to cover the first $200,000 of those claims. So that's that's a four time 2000. That's where that $800,000 number right uh right here comes from. And then uh we do have other lines of coverage and inflationary costs within this uh within the reserve. And so we put another $100,000 um uh amount in here. So, so the the amount that we're suggesting for the reserve about corridor uh uh be maintained at is uh $1.3 million >> and the corridor is
025used for really catastrophic from what my understanding is incidences. >> Right. >> So this these are things if we look at the history these are things that could really happen. Um, and so that bottom line of 1,300,000 is pretty good number that we want to keep as a the yellow zone for health. >> And then that's how we got to that $400,000 number that you saw on the on the the adjusted superintendent budget, you know, by taking that additional 400,000. That's that's where we predict the uh that reserve will land at. Oh, we don't want to take any more. >> Yeah. Can I add one? >> I don't want to go under that. >> Yeah. Can I add one other comment, Ken? >> Certainly. >> Um, so I just wanted to share just so that
026the board kind of has an understanding that the million3 is what we're saying is kind of the threshold we suggest we don't go below. Um, if all of those things were to occur in one plan year, um, it would certainly uh bring our reserve to zero. So just so that everybody's clear, those things could all occur in one plan year or they could not, right? So that's the risk, but these are more likely to items more likely to occur um in the course of a plan year versus like Susan said, catastrophic things we have not accounted for in this reserve, that would fall back to the corridor. If we had some serious catastrophic claim, for example, a a very extremely high dollar prescription claim, which can run anywhere from a half a million to a
027million to $2 million, there's some very rare diseases that um have some uh prescription drugs now that they treat gene therapy drugs, which are extremely expensive. So, if we were to be faced with something like that with the plan, we would suggest we use the corridor for that type of emergency situation. I don't think we need the um the reserve for that. The we're we're targeting the reserve more for the things that could um kind of naturally happen in the course of a plan year that we would want to be uh accounting for from a risk perspective. >> Um I can I can also pull up the the OPED sheet that we put together. There isn't a lot. >> Before you do that, can I see Jay's hand raised? I'm just trying to >> who's
028raising their hand. >> Uh, thank you. And, um, I I appreciate the the time and effort that Lori and Ken have uh, put into analyzing this. My my concern is that even during the co years as we saw um you know we we did not dig into the reserve and certainly there is a a worst case scenario but with the exception of the lasered claims we do have um reinsurance backing up um the other claims that aren't lasered. Um, and so my point is I just want to be able to to go to the town council and the RTM and assure them that all available funds are being uh utilized to to lessen the the local taxpayer impact of the budget. Um, and I I I just I really appreciate this thoughtful analysis, you know,
029of what that that minimum should be. But again to to to board members that that are concerned, you know, there still is a 25% quarter and and Ken, could you remind me what that represents in terms of a dollar figure? >> Um, yes. So our our uh annual claims are 12 to$13 million. Um, so that would be three three.2 million. >> Yeah. So, I just I just want to assure anyone that's thinking about it that we would have to go through the entire reserve um and the corridor before we would be unable to to pay claims. And again, this is why we have reinsurance in place um for the large claims. Um and even with the laser, there's a there's a limit. Am I correct? >> You're correct. >> Yeah. So um and these uh
030the rates that uh are determined by uh Anthem um you know they use the reason that we pay them the fees we do is to to properly project uh you know what what the rates uh for the um the policyh holders as well as what what the board needs to put in every year. and I just don't want there to be more in there that needs to be um you know that would work against the local taxpayer. Now, when it comes to OPED, this is a longstanding issue that affects just about every municipality and board of ed statewide. Um and this is not something where we can wave a magic wand and and fix it in this year. Um but I do look forward to hearing from the actuaries about, you know, where we stand.
031Unfortunately, that always that report always seems to come out after we've approved our budget. And so, we're we're always a it's always a lagging uh report, but I'd be curious to see what what Ken has at the moment. So, I I can share what we we we we kind of took what we did uh what we had for the last report uh for OPE. Um if I can find it here. it. Here it is. Uh so the the last report that we got from the uh from the town for OPED was uh for dated um not dated but it was for the period ending um or beginning July 1st of 2021. Uh we got that one around this time last year. Uh and as you can see uh that's that first box here. Uh the
032the acred liability for the town is around 45 million and for the board of ed is about 13 million. Uh the assets that have been reserved for the town uh are 26 uh million or or 57.2% of of that uh of that acred liability. Uh whereas the board has just under a million dollars, 999,000 or 7.7% of uh of of the uh the potential liability currently reserved for. Uh so uh you can see that uh there's there's quite a disparity between what the town has put aside for OPED and what the board has. Um and um this shows that for this is for this year the uh actuarily determined contribution was a little over was a million uh 1 million 166 for the for the board of ed and so that's what we're putting in
033this year but um the costs uh for this plan are are some are in that area. So what happens is the our value of assets doesn't rise that much because uh we're putting in and uh the plan is taking out about the same amount. Um so um we we have not yet gotten or we've gotten a version of uh the 22 valuation but uh we have more questions than answers at this point. So we're uh we haven't uh we just got that today. So >> so the ADC is the additional monies that are being allocated towards this fund. >> Right. Right. So that's the contribution that we make. >> Right. And I I had said to Ken, if we had the chart that looks at the town um liability and value of assets on the
034health savings side and looked at the board, you'd almost see the opposite thing happen. So where we're supporting a large piece of the health savings, um the town is not doing the same, but they've got more of theirs invested in OPED is what I understand. I'll take this down. >> I'm going to ask a maybe just a really silly question, but what are we putting if we if we pass the budget that Susan is suggesting that we that we pass? What is the um what is the amount of OPED that we're putting in for this coming year? So without having the the new report um we are just assuming it's the same as last year about $1.1 million >> unless we have those extra funds at the end of the year which we've been trying
035to scoop up and add to it. >> Right, >> Matthew? >> So I have a question. I guess it's for both Ken and Jay. If we were in lie of reducing the proposed superintendence budget from a $400,000 a second additional health reserve to 200,000 which would raise our uh proposed budget to 81710 and put that 200,000 in the OPEB. That would be an impact on our budget at 81710 of about one quarter of 1% of the total budget. In your opinion, might this be a wise way to go? I certainly have no way to judge that. >> Um, well, as you can tell from from what we just looked at, we are under, you know, quite underreserved in compared to the town. Uh, we're at 7.7% of uh of of the acred liability. So, I
036I always think it's a good idea to reserve something. Um I I I I don't know. Um I'm not too sure I have an answer for uh what what what the right answer is. Um um all I know is what what what we have to um what we are putting in is what's the actuarily determined contribution, which is which is the amount that needs to be in there at least to to keep the fund going uh without losing ground. Mhm. >> And remember at the 4.9% increase of the the total budget that meant um the responsibility for the taxpayer was something like 8.4%. Now that we've reduced it to the 2.92, it's now under four or just around 4%. with the current information that we have. Once again, John hasn't they the town council or
037the RTM have not necessarily approved their budget, but we have a big we have a good guess. >> Well, on the education side, I'm saying I can't I can't handle, you know, their side is another additional piece. So, we're only half of the total budget. them. >> Jay, >> the only thing I would say is um so the state as I understand it um it has over 33 billion in unfunded uh liability for for OPED. Um it is not as though uh Graten or the Graten Board of Ed is in some unique position in not being 100% funded on the um on OPE and there are a lot of different opinions about that. Um we are clearly making the necessary uh payments to make sure that the retirees are paid. Mhm. >> Um these actuarial
038projections change every year. We have not seen the the new one. Uh, I would simply submit that putting 200,000 uh toward a um uh a um fund uh which is as far in the hole as it is um is is not a good use of the taxpayers's money. Um the fund is not in any uh jeopardy of not making its payments, but obviously the state and all of its municipalities are going to have to make a decision at some point about this unfunded um liability. Um, and if it was if if it were just us and it and we could make a significant dent by making a this contribution toward it, um, you I certainly would be all for it. But, um, you know, I'm just I'm just not convinced that that's a a good
039use of the allocation of funds. >> Thank you, Jay. >> For what it's worth, I actually support Jay. I think if it was a large if we could afford to do a large money and still keep what what we're um asking the taxpayers to fund, I would suggest that. Um but >> Andrea, >> I was going to say the same thing that I I would support you in this. So, um, one of the things that I don't know if you need backup information, but that suggestion of looking at our DoD supplement funds and really earmarking that technology, which is historic, historic even before I was here, Rita remembers, you know, that that's really been something that it's been earmarked for and I think it's really been used so wisely um, in our technology expansion. Um,
040so if there's any need to look at that, I think that the the chart actually shows us if our numbers don't come in someday of having that close to 20% military um dependent students, then that could affect us with the impact aid that comes to the town and with this supplemental fund that comes to to us. So I think it's worth taking a look at. I mean, it's the worst case scenario. We don't want to have to think about it. Our staff is working overtime to make sure every student is accounted for. Uh we have sent out message and message that it's so important for our parents to fill out those impact aid forms. And the closer we get to 100% filled out, the closer we'll actualize the the true number of students that are
041military impacted. So >> So this is uh this is the DoD supplemental. Um the yellow represents this year. Um and this shows that at the end of this year we int this uh fund will be around a million dollars. >> Um next uh next year uh FY24 uh the ones in green these are added in. This is what we adjusted on the on the budget um on the uh superintendent's adjusted budget. And so that's the impact that it will have uh here. And so this would indicate that at the end of FY24, we'd be somewhere in the $775,000 range for that for this fund. And and and if we did not get um if we weren't receiving these funds, we would have approximately approximately two years worth of of of the Chromebook initiative um uh
042you know to to be able to fund that um uh going forward. and another year of the staff lease of technology. >> Correct. Y >> not that we want a worst case scenario. I never do. You know, my glasses always half full. But just the reality is that you know it is difficult to collect this data. We're working overtime collecting it and um you know we just don't know that we're going to get the numbers with the the good fortune of having Colombia class subs being built here and stationed here. There there are high hopes and that they'll really make sure that there's housing available with Balffor Batty for our military folks to start with so that they are stationed here in Grten. I'll >> stop sharing there. >> Any questions about that? The supplemental
043I have questions um but not about that. So, whenever you're moving on. >> I I think we're we're moving on. So, go for it, Rita. >> Well, um I'm sorry I missed the meeting last week and I'm not sure whether or not you discussed this. Um but I had asked for a list of additional cost savings to bring the budget even further reduced. Um, I I haven't seen anything in writing from the superintendent about that. I don't know if I missed it. >> I would say this was our very best effort that the the other things were really things that needed to continue to happen. There was no >> no chance of a 1% this year. >> That's not that's not what I was talking about. If the board decides that the budget should be,
044let's say, 2%. we would get a list of things starting I mean they used to go even with sports and I mean it went on and on and on that the board could deliberate over in terms of you know do we need as many administrators in our middle school and high school how much would that savings be I also wanted to um know a little bit about where I couldn't find in the budget exactly like where snow plowing would be and since we didn't use that so much this year. Well, what would it was going to be carried over to next year or is there a you know h how do we you know many of the towns now are saying you know they plowed the streets once and maybe we'll do it maybe one
045or two more times but we're kind of getting to the end of winter so I'm just not sure what was projected for next year. I couldn't quite find it in in the budget. I was looking but I haven't been able to exactly pinpoint it. >> Um, so I have an answer on the snowplow amount. >> Yes. >> So uh under >> under uh under function uh 2510 operations and maintenance. I'm on page 5-93. >> It's uh it's line number 422 snow removal. >> Um okay. >> And of course we we don't know right. Uh, so we did we budgeted the same amount that we budgeted for this year, which was $50,000. We haven't used $50,000 this year. Unfortunately, we can't carry that over. Um, but um um it it would be it would be our
046hope that we would not spend any more than that next year, but it would really be dependent upon, >> right? But we could use part of that for let's say some additional supplies this year or something else that we were going to purchase for next year that could be purchased by the end of June this year. >> Right. Yes. Correct. >> If we don't use that in our budget, we could reduce something else by purchasing it in June. Right. >> Correct. >> So Sam just gave me the word, Rita, that he's going to be out with the mixed conditions we're expecting overnight. So, I know we haven't had the tremendous snowfall, but there's been a lot of sanding going on and slippery, really slippery sidewalks. So, I know that they've been really trying to keep
047ahead of that. So, >> Sure. Yeah. I'm not saying cut it or anything. I've just said I know that there might be an excess that we could possibly use for something else if there is this year. Um, and you know, I wasn't sure we talked about cave dues, what the if you had a discussion about that. What are possible reductions that we could have? We didn't I had asked about the central office um increases for next year. Did you talk about that last time? I mean to me this budget is still a little high for in my for me. So, um I see some cuts here and there, but not nothing that is really significant. So, that that's how I feel about it. I and if if the board members who were present um can
048kind of help me with my wording, but I think what we looked at, Rita, is that the that we were com that the the members of the board that were present were comfortable with what had the budget. We needed to bring it down um because we wanted to be have it um to be good stewards um and and for the burden of the taxpayer. And that was the whole conversation around the healthc care corridor and and asking Ken um and and Susan and the staff to kind of come back and and tell us what is the what is the lane that we um need to go to. I do know what you're in reference to in terms of we had you know a 1% 2% 3%. I think that this is just a different variation
049and this is the variation that we stayed with this year. >> Okay. Well, I can't support I can't support this, but that's just me. I know other people will feel differently. >> Okay. No, I absolutely you have every right for your opinion and I appreciate your opinion and I hear what you are saying. So, thank you. I don't want you at all to feel like you are being cornered into something. >> I I don't feel that way. >> I just asked for something that I wasn't provided. So, >> okay, Jay. Um, the other thing I was going to mention is I do know that there are uh districts I guess who who come out with the doomsday scenarios. You know, if we don't get our budget, you know, we're going to cut all the sports,
050we're going to cut music, everything like that. And, you know, those tend to be sort of made up and they don't really mean it. Um, I I was I was glad to see that that that Susan um was able to find efficiencies with the four FTEEs. Um, you know, that's the real savings. Um, you know, at the risk of of um repeating what Susan says all the time, what the the major part of the budget is the the staff and the benefits. And so through the efficiency study that they did to come up with those four and then I think the beauty of it is that then we took four FTEEs out of ESER because that's a cliff that we're going to be facing and while we are actively pursuing, you know, I know that
051Susan and her staff are actively pursuing grants all the time. you know, we we're still going to reach the the possibility between that and alliance and everything else um where it's just not going to be sustainable. And so I was glad to see us moving in in that direction. And I think that's a really positive uh point in terms of whether we do one or two% um on certain raises uh or you know, Dr. Ger, you was always famous for saying, "We're not going to balance this budget on paper and pencils." You know, there's just so much we can cut. And this really tracks the the increase in the cost of the the personnel and the benefits, this percentage increase. But we were also blindsided by this increase in the the transportation costs. um which
052you know I know you know we we bandandy about the inflation uh but I mean that really hit uh hard in my opinion and and these are the drivers of the of the budget after um I don't want to get into the details but after the four o'clock meeting we had today with uh AGSA and GA um I'm a little concerned about this being the year uh to to cut administrators given we're continually learning about this these unfunded mandates coming from the state and not only an unfunded mandate but a system that in my opinion is a little questionable um >> a failed system >> and a failed system >> yeah so I'm not going to get into all those details but I I think that given that and also some of the other issues
053we're hearing about, you know, in the operations of the schools. I I I really can't support um cutting any other additional staff. And I again, I don't think we're going to do it based on supplies. Um the other thing we always have to be worried about is that, you know, it just takes one or two specialed placements and this budget, it, you know, blows up. um we're always walking that uh that tight rope. So, uh I support what has been done here. Um and personally, I don't see some huge account that we can um take money out of um that will somehow, you know, bring it much lower. You know, we could whittle away. We could say, well, cut all the, you know, the site budgets by some arbitrary figure. Um, but I just, um,
054I just personally can't support that. And I do believe >> those were reduced already because those they came in at 1%, not two. So, they really did take a serious look when they prepared those budgets, too. >> Right. And we know that the inflationary pressures on those >> accounts, you know, are are higher. So, at the end, we're probably getting less for for more. Um, but again, that's sort of beyond our control. Um, I I just I think that that Susan and her staff have done an excellent job in scouring this and uh um so I'm prepared to to support this. >> Thank you. I just don't want to see is any staff cuts that would impact our students in the classroom. So that's always my concern. That's why having four administrators in a middle
055school and a high school, that to me is the only place that I see. I don't want to reduce teaching staff. I want our class sizes to be small. Um so that I'm just looking for efficiencies and that's I know it's staffing is so much of our budget. So that's the only thing I could think of to help reduce this to bring this down a little bit. >> But uh again, I'm I'm sorry, Kim, but uh what I heard today was our administrative burdens are increasing due to the state >> and that >> um I I didn't find that I didn't hear that at all. I heard that with what that was from the special education teachers, the burden. >> It's it's on them. the counselors aren't picking up. There aren't, you know, and it's
056it's all in the special teachers. I didn't hear the administrators saying, "Oh, well, we'll help you out." It was all the teachers doing it. >> Yeah. I I don't know what they're doing at the the building level. Uh, but I just don't think that, you know, with with there are a number of of things going on in in the buildings that I'm not sure that that cutting that that staff at this point, um, it just it doesn't make sense to me, but that's just me personally and I certainly appreciate your point of view. Um, uh, and you know, it's just I I'm not seeing I'm not seeing it. Are there other comments from the board? Andrea, >> and you're muted. >> Thank you. I I would just support what Jay was saying and of course
057what Susan said and having been in the administration. I know that as as the student population grows, the amount of attention that the children require grows exponentially. So I would be in in support retaining all of the administrations that administrators that we have um because of uh the safety and the student uh and the well-being of the students as well as their educational richness. I would also add that we've heard a lot about not only the um need to accelerate learning and to provide differentiated instruction but also the mental health piece and administrator not only is caring for the school and the management of the building but they are the instructional leaders and they're there also to support the teachers because you heard our GA and AGSA talk about them that you know it's been
058really difficult these past three years and as much is we're coming back to community. We're not all the way there. People are still getting sick. Bases are still needing to be covered. Peter mentioned again the need for subs in Paris. So that those are the people who are overseeing making sure that that is all taken care of and they have to evaluate and take care of their staff, support their staff. So um I think it's really an essential ingredient especially now more than ever before. So, if the RTM or the town council tells us that our budget's going to be 2%, they don't agree with what you know what we've done or what's what what is going to be submitted, what will we do? We meet back again and we talk about more additional cuts.
059Correct? Is that right, Kim? >> Yeah. I mean I mean if they if they cut us by that much um and that has happened and um >> yes >> um yep we would need to come back and um kind of talk talk about that. I would also hope um that I I hope that doesn't happen. I hope that Susan and Ken would kind of indicate to us what that would look like. Um, and the reference that Jay meant in terms of of like putting band in sports and whatever. I think >> Oh, no. I don't I never agree with anything like that. >> No, no, no. I know that. But that's unfortunately there are I've seen it happen, but I wouldn't be one of those who wanted to cut the hockey team and have the
060all the kids in the hockey uniform. That's just that's causing trauma and drama and all that stuff. It's just not >> not in my daily work to do that. >> I absolutely 100% agree. I don't mind chaos, but that would be um that's a drama that we don't need to put anyone through because that's just Jay. >> Not to say that you are a heartache. That's I mean that that sentence kind of >> like blended, but you're not a heartache. >> Well, I'm I'm sure uh I am with some people. Um, however, um, I just want to to say something. This is going to sound very familiar to you, uh, to those of you who've been on the board for a while, and that is I feel very confident going to the town council and
061saying that this is a level service budget. We are not putting any huge new programs into place. this is to provide you know the bare minimum of what we're doing you know currently um in a very you know volatile um sort of economic time um and so you know could we could we make some uh you know theoretical cuts could we cut the maintenance budget say another 25% just just you know to to bring it down. I mean you know if something happens I mean we saw what happened >> with uh you know one of the buildings where you know we're dealing with an an emergency. um we don't want to go back to uh the town council for a supplemental um because of um and and you know not throwing out any worst case
062scenario but these these budgets are very are are very tight. Where are we right now? Ken, if you could just sort of remind us where are we uh in the current year um over or under? >> Yeah. Uh we're projecting about $50,000 um um excess for the end of the year. >> Yeah. 50. >> And that's been pretty steady throughout the year. We've not had a lot of excess even though um we've heard and people have surmised that there must be additional funds even though we've not hired all those positions, but it's been pretty tight. And I've asked the principles to hold off on that last 25% until we see our way clear. >> Okay. Let me just let me just say this one more time. You're projecting that we're going to have a 50,000
063at the end of the year. >> Yes. >> Which as a which as a percentage of our entire budget is >> almost incalculable. It's >> Well, it's below 1%. Um certainly. Um >> Okay. Any other questions, comments before we move? I'm Liz. I just have to say that I want to say thank you to everybody who's worked on this budget and I do believe that this is the best what we the best we can do at this time. I do not want to see our teachers not being supported through a lack of people being able to do observations to be able to be available for them. I do not see and I would never support and I'm going to make this public right now. I will not support any cuts towards administrative staff ever. And
064I will I think we need because teachers and students both need support and I will not you know if there's any way that we can do other things then that's what we would have to do. But I just wanted to be very clear about my position on that. But Susan and Ken and Lori I think you've done a great job and I you know and your staff and I want to say thank you. >> Thank you. It's really all the directors. You see them on on the screen. Everybody has really risen to the occasion. We've all really um looked at everything and you know things in our Besser that have been done just this weekend. We put in a new air conditioning system at Fitch High School in the whole auditorium area in the vintage
065side kind of and that we didn't have to write a CIP for that. So we had nearly a million dollars for looking at our HVAC systems to really fix the things that needed to be fixed and we prioritized them. And so that was, you know, a really incredible job and Sam was out there with them over the weekend making sure it was happening. So it's really teamwork and it's teamwork not only with the the staff but with this board to make this happen. So are you are we ready? Do we have all the information that we need to move forward on a vote? >> Yes. All right. Um, let me just before we make a motion, I am really sorry. Miss Katie is all over my Okay. And um, William, if you could just be
066so we could see your face because I would want to make sure that our count is correct. Miss Joan, you're ready for account once I once the motion gets set and seconded. All right. Um, does someone want to make the motion? >> There's >> I'll move the budget. >> Okay. So, the motion will be then I will then read the motion. which I just then will need a second to approve the um FY24 budget in the amount of 81,510 627. I didn't say that correct but those are the numbers which is a 2.97% increase over the FY23 budget. Can I have a second? >> Second. >> I have Liz. Is there a discussion? question. Does this have to be unanimous? >> No, we just have to have a majority vote. >> Okay. So, all those
067in favor of the motion that's on the floor, please say, please raise your hand so that Joe and I can count. So, one, two, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. All those opposed. One, and I don't think that that counts for all of us. So, we have no obsessions with Bev and Dean not present. >> Great. The motion has passed board. What this means is that it's now our budget and so very soon. Um so Susan and her staff have to get it to the town manager by the 28th um to meet the needs of our to meet the demands of of the charter. Um it then goes to the town council. I believe that the we need to be watching out for the public hearing. Um and um I am hoping that we
068can drum up support from our um the district for people to come uh to the to the town meeting on public hearing to support the needs of our budget. Um and we then go from there to the RTM. So um we still have um we still have a lot of the road to travel. Um, but once again, I just want to say thank you very much to the board um for the very thoughtful um conversations. I always learn so much by hearing where other people are coming from. I thank you very much for that. To Susan, to Ken, to Lori, and to the staff. Um, I also want to say thank you very much for the hard work that you've put in this. We have been together since January 4th, folks, every week without without
069any break. Um so um with that I will entertain a motion for adjournment. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> Um do I have a second? >> Miss Jay. >> Jay was second. All those in favor please say I. >> I. >> Right. Um all those opposed. Motion has carried. Good night everyone. >> Thank you. Good night. >> Good night.