001All right, call to order. Let's start with the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Roll call. Here. Okay. Thank you. Well, for those of you who don't know me, most of you do. Um, I'm Sal Bordner and I'm the chairman of the board of finance. Um, welcome to everyone in attendance, and I guess you can watch it through YouTube, right? I guess. Okay. Well, the board of finance was given a proposed budget that would increase the property tax rate by 8.6%. After our thorough review and working with town management, the board of finance made revenue and expenditure budget adjustments which reduced that tax rate increase from 8.6%
002to 1.9%. The board of finance members voted unanimously to move forward with this adjusted budget. One item that uh reduced our budget quite a bit was that after years of going through a state audit, the town finally received 2.6 6 million that was remaining on the Brillin High School renovation project. This allowed us to reduce the capital budget that we had in the budget by that $2.6 million and apply it to um capital equipment items, priority one and and two equipment and projects, capital equipment and projects. We also did reduce the proposed capital budget by another 1.6 million for lower priority items. So, we reduced the general government capital budget a total of $4.2 million. Excluding capital, uh wage increases were the largest increase to both the general government and board of education budgets. The
003board of finance approved 4% budget increases over last year's budget in both groups. The board of education requested a 6.45% 45% operational budget increase plus 215K for a new statemandated reading program. The total percentage is 6.86 that um Julia will probably show to start off with. Uh the board of finance uni unanimously approved a 4% increase plus the 215k for the reading program. Now that 215k is going to be located in the town budget because it is a one-time expense. The 4% is the highest increase in recent history. Part of the increase considers that the town did receive an additional $1.2 million in in education cost sharing grant. Historical performance, budget performance supports that the 4% increase should be sufficient. In the last seven completed years, the board of education has asked for an average
0044.7% increase, receiving an average 2.7%. And in every year, there were surplus funds available to either reallocate to other areas or carry forward. And throughout those years, the board of education was able to add more staff and introduce new programs. So, they did a great job with with what was provided. Berlin's per pupil expenditure remains the highest and compares to sim to six similar nearby towns. Those towns include Glastonbury, Newington, Farmington, Weathersfield, Rocky Hill, and Cromwell. The town also expects million and a half in additional tax revenue from real growth in the grand list. As we continue to bring in more businesses, complete some of our major building projects, and tax abatements drop off, grand list tax revenues will continue to grow. I want to thank all the town and board of education officials and
005managers for their hard work in preparing the budget. Finally, I want to thank the board of finance members for cooperatively working together to produce a solid budget. I believe we put forward a fiscally responsible budget that will continue to provide the high quality high quality of services that our citizens expect. With that, I'll turn it over to our new town manager, Rank Curley, for the town budget presentation. Thank you. Thank you, Chairman Bornero. And um for those of you who don't know me, my name is Ryan Curley. I'm the new town manager as of the beginning of this year. So I'm going on almost three months now. So I just want to say it's been an absolute honor uh becoming part of the Berlin team here. We really have a great a great town. I'm
006I'm thrilled to be a part of it. Uh it's been it's been wonderful. you know, first I started working with Mayor Mark, Representative V, and and our and our town council. And then coming into the to the budget process, I wasn't sure of uh I I come from a town without a board of finance. So, this was this was a new experience for me, but I really have to say we we really have tremendous professionals on the on the board of finance and I want to uh you know give my thanks to Chairman Boro and and echo his gratitude to to this board for for all their hard work as well. It was a lot of nights as they comb through this budget line line by line. And next, I want to thank all of
007the department heads and all of the employees with the town of Berlin. Many of uh the town staff are here with us in the audience today and I just want to thank one them for their attendance and their passion and their caring. But as a new town manager in the town of Berlin, they've made my life easier because overall the town has been running very very well and and so you all should be very proud of the government that you have here in the town of Berlin. And so as town manager, it's my job uh one to present a budget to the board of finance uh that we feel is responsible and that will keep the town moving forward. And I I believe that's what we've done here today. And as chairman Boraro said, uh
008the board of finance made some refinements to that and I think that's a good thing. uh that that reimbursement that we received from the state of Connecticut on the Berlin High School renovation allows for more capital uh investment in the town of Berlin. And so that's something that capital is always one of those items that we prioritize every year, but it's also a balancing act and we know that we need to keep the taxes in check and make sure that we keep Berlin as affordable as possible, too. So, uh it's always a balancing act. This year was no different, but having that $2.6 million reimbursement did give us the tools necessary to get that capital improvement outside of the normal budget process. So, I'm going to go through these slides with you. I'll try to
009be as as quick as possible here, but I do think it's important to highlight how your tax dollars are spent in the town of Berlin. And uh we take that very seriously. We take spending very seriously in this town. And I know that all of the managers and department heads do a very good job with their budget and and we're only proposing uh requests that we feel will move this town forward in the right direction. So, uh before we begin, just in case anyone wants to follow along with the slides, the links are here, but it may be easier if you just Google uh Berlin CT board of finance. It'll be or finance department. It's really at the top of the Google search and you can find the slide. It's right at the top of
010the page, but uh if not, we'll just follow along. So, I'm going to talk about the overall budget that that is what exactly is included. That's the general government side, your liabilities, your long-term liabilities, debt service, uh and the board of education. We're going to talk about revenue on the revenue side. Where where does the revenue that make up the town, uh where does that come from? We're going to talk about that. We're going to talk about the general government expenditures and then I'm going to turn it over to chairwoman of the board of education Julia Dennis and she's going to talk about the board of education budget as well. And and I also want to thank the board of education because this is a team effort and I know that the board of education
011has spent uh many long nights as well combing over their budget uh as well. So uh I just want to thank them. So so uh with that we'll start off with the overall budget. And so that I I think it's important to just talk a little bit about strategy going into a budget cycle. So Berlin is isn't unique to other towns in the state and the country. I mean, we we really want to prioritize public safety. That's something that I've I've heard the town council champion as well as the board of finance. Education is is uh critical as as chairman Boraro said, you know, funding that. We understand that oftentimes the state will continually uh pull back funding at times and put more and more on the the local government to make up in taxes.
012But it is important that we fund education, infrastructure. Infrastructure is another component that uh we're constantly evaluating and and uh especially in New England, things don't necessarily last forever. We have a lot of old uh water pipes I know we've replaced in town and and we'll we'll continue to work on that. And then culture and recreation. So uh I'm new. Uh I will say coming in the one thing I heard from everyone coming to Berlin was uh Berlin loves its sports and so uh I'm looking forward to attending some some games as uh you know uh spring season uh continues. But we've made a lot of progress in that area. I know the council and the board of finance, we've talked a lot about improving uh the lights at Sage Park. That's going to be
013in the capital plan. Uh parking lot improvements at Sage Park as well as Willard Elementary School. And so, uh, it it's constantly, um, it's constantly an effort to, um, basically this line is what I like, uh, most about this, uh, slide is that we continue to provide services that residents expect, we grow the local economy, and closely manage the town's liabilities. And I think that the town has done a very good job at that, and my job as town manager is to continue uh, leading that as well. So with that, uh, I just want to touch on some of the fiscal year 2026 priorities. You'll see under infrastructure, we continue to fund the school HVAC improvements. I know that uh Willard has essentially uh been completed almost uh ready to go online and Hubard and
014Griswald should be going out to bid uh sometime this spring. And so that's important because we have that state grant for for some of that funding for a good uh portion of that funding. And so we want to make sure that continues. Uh I mentioned infrastructure. Uh we have the the roofs at town hall and our community center. Both need to be replaced. That's funded and we're making sure that those projects continue. We have to take care of the things that we have in town. Uh the lighting upgrades I mentioned at Sage Park, that's going to be part of that non-budgeted appropriation that I'll get to. And then Timberland Sand Traps, that's coming too. I see our our director uh Saul is here as well. I believe Timberland's opening tomorrow morning. Is that right? All
015right. So, uh I think there's an event at 10 a.m. tomorrow at Timberland. So, we're going to keep uh moving, you know, the the golf course forward as well. Uh I mentioned public safety and this budget calls for additional police staffing. So there would be in this proposed budget that the board of finance has uh combed over there's a an additional sworn officer that would bring the number of officers in Bertland up to 47 as well as a part-time employee that would be doing administrative work for freedom of information requests and frequests continue to bog down the police department. they come in, there's all the body cam footage to to comb through. And the thought is if we can get an a part-time administrative uh assistant doing that, we can get more officers off the
016desk duty and on the road. So, uh so that continues to be a good thing forward. Uh the flock camera system is a uh that's a new police camera system that the town council has uh voted for. That's part of that non-budgeted appropriation which will uh increase safety we believe in town as well as this budget funds part of a fire vehicle with the other half scheduled to be funded next year as well. So, uh, there's a lot of a lot of public safety is addressed in this budget, but at the same time, as Chairman Bordaro said, we we try to do a good job at balancing and making sure that uh there's incremental increases to the mill rate and not substantial increases. Economic development is a big reason why. Uh, and that is we
017the town of Berlin is has been great to see the grandless growth that we've had. I'll touch on it in a little bit, but I believe it's a 1 78% increase in the grand list from the last year. And so, uh, I want to thank, uh, our economic development team as well as, uh, planning and zoning, our building department and all the hands that that, uh, go into that as well. So, we've we've been very very lucky with the economic development, but, uh, we want to keep that going. So, I'll go to the next slide here. We're going to talk about so the budget that's presented this this year before you is a $ 106.9 million budget which as uh chairman Boraro mentioned is a 0.58 uh mill increase over fiscal year 2025. And so
018I think it's just important to to touch on out of that $ 107 million budget, what what does that make up? Well, just over a third of that is the general government. And so that's your town hall departments, your public works, your parks and recreation department, your public safety, fire department, uh, and all of that. And then you have uh the board of education which makes up a combined 56% of the of the total budget for the town as well as long-term liabilities which I want to give my hats off to the board of finance and the town council working with our finance director Kevin Delaney. And we've been they've been doing a really great job prior to my arrival working with the former town manager to get those long-term liabilities down. And so uh
019so I know that's been a priority and and having it at 10% is a it's a good it's a good number to be at and we continue to make progress on that. So I'm going to go to the next slide and just to mention right now the proposal is a 4% increase to expenditures on both the general government side and the board of education side. So, I think to put things a little bit in perspective, this slide here, it's it's helpful to show where we've been over the last several years in regards to the budget. You'll notice that aside from uh fiscal years 2021 and 2022 which which uh those if you don't recall were the COVID years and we were able to hold a flat mill rate dur during that time because of I
020think the fiscal uncertainty but overall you typically see a a you know a 38 mil increase a point4 mil increase 65 and 0.58 and this is kind of what you want to see in a town. you want this uh incremental increase to the mill rate because what this tells you is if you look for this year right now the proposal before us is a 30.79 uh mill rate and that's still in in uh comparison to some of our neighbors and throughout the state it's a very very respectable mill rate and we've been able to achieve a great deal of of um projects and and growth and and um uh accomplishments in town while keeping the mill rate relatively incrementally increasing. And that's kind of what business that's what's attractive for businesses. That's one thing businesses
021look for when they want to come to towns like Berlin. They want to see that sustainable uh incremental growth. You don't want to see a bunch of uh flat years and then all of a sudden get hit one year. And and I I want to just say Berlin's been very good at at the way that they've budgeted. And so, uh, as Chairman Borero said, right now, that 0.58 mil increase, that amounts to a 1.92 increase, uh, to your, uh, fiscal year 2025 mill rate. And to put that in perspective, the average home in the town of Berlin is assessed at $340,000. And so with the proposal that's currently before the board of finance, you uh the average homeowner or family in town would see a $140 increase in their taxes this year from the last
022fiscal year. So uh just to put things in perspective, it is a a modest increase over the last fiscal year while at the same time accomplishing a great deal. And so I think it's important to touch on the grand list. This is all of the uh taxable value of property in the town of Berlin. And as I mentioned before, uh we did have some some headwinds against us this year. And that was due to the way that motor vehicle uh taxes are are um uh evaluated from the state of Connecticut. we switched from an NADA uh valuation to a MSRP with a with a modified uh depreciation schedule. And so that put uh towns like Berlin a little bit behind the eightball and and uh thankfully uh we did have a a decrease in the
023grand list on motor vehicle by 8.3%. However, we more than made up for this in real estate with a modest point4% increase and personal property with a 20.5% increase. And so, uh, that is, uh, majority, uh, courtesy of our largest taxpayer, Eversource, uh, who who heavily invested in the town of Berlin. And so, we're beneficiaries of that because, uh, that increase in the grand list amounted to an additional $1.5 million of tax revenue. And so that's why economic development is so important and we want to promote that in the town of Berlin is because by growing by growing that pie we're able to uh take some of the burden off of our residential property owners in town and still accomplish a great deal. And let's see um I think I touched on everything on this
024slide. So to move on just to talk about the drivers of the revenue. Where does the town get its revenue? You probably won't be surprised to hear that 87% of the revenue in town that's generated comes from local taxation. So from the property tax, motor vehicle tax, and and um and so we do a good job with our collections in town. So I I want to thank our collector of revenue. We have a 99.3% uh collection rate in the town of Berlin. And so we were fortunate. I did mention that over time the state has um has has taken some of the funding away from towns such as Berlin, but this year we we did receive an extra $1.1 million in education cost sharing uh which was in Governor Lamont's budget. So that was a
025a big win for the town going into this fiscal year. So we were grateful for that to get some additional revenue from that. Uh I do want to note $1.7 million roughly uh of revenue comes from interest for the town and then we have about $358,000 in in nonecs non-education cost sharing grant funds which is revenue and then we uh have utilized about $600,000 of unassigned fund balance with this budget. So just to give you an understanding of where um the the revenue comes from. So, I want to just take a moment to talk about what the board of finance did. As Chairman Borero mentioned, they they um so I'm coming in. This is my first budget with the town of Berlin and and I was a little afraid because my initial uh budget, I
026think, had a 13.5% increase in expenditures. And um you know, I think the board of finance did a pretty good job looking at that and utilizing that that reimbursement from the state, that 2.6 6 million and and wisely decided to allocate uh that to capital and the town council agreed. And so you'll see uh you'll see I I'll get to it in a minute, but over $2 million is is uh in capital with a non-budget appropriation this year with even more with some with some bonding that's in the budget as well. So what did the board of finance do? Uh they did make a reduction to the uh board of education. I'll let the um board of education I'll let Julia speak to that, but it is a uh that was a $ 1.5 million
027decrease to bring them to a 4% increase to the board of education from fiscal year 2025 and also a 4% as I mentioned to the general government side as well. but then also doesn't include that $215,000 for the statemandated reading program that the board of finance it was important to them to include that and that's on the general government side as well. So I believe if you include both of those it's really it's it would be a 4.4% increase to the board of education. Uh they also removed uh one of the proposed sworn police officers. So, the the Berlin PD is uh attempting to get to uh 50 officers. That's their their target based on the research that they've done and the needs of their department. And this budget, as I mentioned, getting to 47,
028that additional officer gets them further to their goal and allows uh allows public safety to remain the priority that it is. They also the board of finance reduced overtime for police slightly and the thought behind that was with the more officers and that additional part-time administrative role uh overtime might not be needed as much this fiscal year. And they also removed some uh there was initially $450,000 in the public building commission budget and this was uh I believe brought to $175,000 and this is to design this is to do architecture and engineering work for the numerous projects that we have upcoming in the town of Berlin. So you can still do a lot of work with $175,000. So, I think um it's important to to discuss that. And then I mentioned the capital. So, $4.2
029million of capital was removed from my proposed budget, the town manager proposed budget. But then, uh I'll get to that in in the next slide. Um and I think I covered everything on this. Oh, I do want to talk about revenue. We did make one change and that was an increase to the building inspector fees. I see our our uh building official is here with us today and and as I mentioned because of the economic uh growth in the town that office as well as uh many departments at town hall have been very busy and permit revenue continues to rise in the town of Berlin. So we also continue to look for ways to increase revenue outside of raising municipal taxes. with the next slide. This is important because as I mentioned capital funding capital
030is a need not just for Berlin but every every town has a need to fund capital. This year was no different. Administrators met as early as October to start combing through the list. They initially had a list of $12 million worth of capital needs and and these are all real needs that the town of Berlin has upcoming. And out of that, they um the department heads combed and and whittleled that down to a $4.2 million proposal. And then out of that $4.2 million, the board of finance asked us uh to go back and prioritize. We ranked each one of those capital items from one to three. I worked with the staff and and and Kevin Delaney to make sure that we prioritize the capital. And this list that and I hope everyone can see this
031because this is a lot of capital. I know in the past we've had success at the end of the fiscal year doing nonbudgeted appropriations as well and we've been able to fund capital that way and we've gotten a lot done doing that. But this is going to allow us to get to work immediately. So there's a a town meeting on April 8th and so uh if all goes well there will be uh $2 million worth of capital items that that are approved. So, I just again want to thank the board of finance, Mayor Mark, and the town council for uh for prioritizing the town's capital needs um because I think that's really important. We have vans for the uh for the school system. I know that's a continual need. Uh emergency communication upgrades at the
032school system. The Willard uh plumbing. I I did tour all the schools. I I saw the plumbing. There is a it's a big need over there. The boilers. I just want to go through because it's important. Ballast blocks uh at the schools. I think this is for the solar panels. Am I right? Uh Ashley, Doug, well Doug, right? Thumbs up. Yep. Uh we have a senior center bus, which is badly needed. A loader for the highway, a dump truck for grounds, uh center field, a walkway. This has been a a safety issue that we're able to fix. a fire command vehicle as I mentioned repairs to engine 10 for our fire department, a leaf collector uh at Timberland, a van for our facilities department, a scissor lift and sage park lighting phase one and a
033server replacement for the police department as well as funding a local grant match. And funding the local grant match is important because one of the things that the town of Berlin does very well is it it really goes after every grant possible. And the goal with that is to get as much state and federal funding as we can to really maximize our dollars and and minimize the impact to you, the taxpayers. Included in this budget is an additional $ three.5 million in general obligation bonds. As I mentioned before, that includes HVAC upgrades at the elementary schools, a new fire vehicle, the library community center roof replacement project, and then the that renovation of the Timberland, uh, sand traps that I mentioned as well. So, uh, all in all, this budget and the non-budget appropriation calls
034for over 5.6 million in capital, which is, uh, you know, a real blessing to the town of Berlin. So, moving on, I'm just going to quickly highlight the general government. So, what consists of the $16.9 million in fiscal 2026 uh of of that $2 million on the general government side is is increased this year. The budget is an increase of $2 million. And so, what what makes up that $2 million? It's important to note that uh operations. So, I mentioned that $215,000 for the statemandated reading program. That's part of that $98,000 on the um general government side in operations. There's also increases to utilities, refuge disposal, as well as professional fees that continue continue to rise annually. In addition to operations, we have staffing. Uh we do have that new police officer which is included
035in in staffing as well as the part-time police department administrative role as well as contractual up updates that happen uh wage increases that that happen every year. So a lot of the the 2 point uh the $2 million increase these are these are obligations that we have to meet uh regardless. And so uh and so uh we look for ways to to decrease funding elsewhere. We do have debt uh service that is increasing by $440,000 this year with additional bonding. But as I mentioned, overall debt in the town continues to go down. And that's again, hats off to the uh board of finance and the town council for really prioritizing that over over the more recent years. And I think that those are the highlights. I think capital, as I mentioned, I I hit capital's
036down slightly. uh and but there is a police vehicle that's funded in this budget and our pension obligations are down slightly this fiscal year um due to the uh ADC being closed. So next I'm just going to talk on briefly real quick on the Berlin water control. So the next slide I'll just show you what the anticipated what the budgets are for fiscal 26. You'll see on the water side that you see a decrease from fiscal year 2025. This is due to infrastructure work being completed recently. There was a Berlin turnpike water replacement project uh that was completed and so completed under budget as well. So you're going to see that decrease and then on the sewer uh fund side you see an increase and this is due to an increase in rates from matabasset
037as well as uh in there's an increase for additional audit and inventory response work in this fiscal year uh 26. So uh with that I just want to note there's no staffing changes in the water and and sewer budgets. Uh I talked about the cost increase with Matabasset and then there's additional costs for engineering work for the Meridan connection as well. And so we continue to work to fund a uh Meridan waterline connection and we're going to be working to replace the lament not replace but we have to repair the tank at Lamentation Mountain. So that's uh that's quite a project. It's an ordeal. I could I could talk for a long time on on that alone, but we'll be getting that done as well. Uh, and with that, I think I'll just well, I
038just want to talk on next steps. So, after the meeting this evening, the board of finance is going to meet and they will likely vote to recommend to the board of education uh recommend to the town council the board of education and general government budgets. And so, that's going to be immediately following this public hearing. And the town council is scheduled to meet on April 1st on uh that's Tuesday of next week at 7 o'clock and that's going to be uh at town hall in the town council chambers and then the budget referendum is scheduled for April 29th and um I'm really hoping for a uh a oneanddone referendum but I don't want to jinx myself. Uh so I uh uh we'll see we'll see what happens, right? Uh so with that, I want to
039uh welcome our our board of education chair Julia Dennis here to talk about the board of education and uh we'll take questions after. Right, Kevin? Okay, thank you all. Thank you for that. Um good evening everyone. My name is Julia Dennis. I'm the chair of the board of education and I am going to be talking to you about the board adopted budget. So I want to thank the members of the board of education, superintendent, district administration. Um this is a long budget season. and everyone worked really hard to come to this budget based on the needs of the district and the expectations that uh families of Berlin expect when they send their kids to Berlin public schools and they move to this town. Um, so I'm going to start out talking about the superintendent goals
040for 2025 2026 and this is fully supported by the members of the board of education to provide a quality education. Prepare students for multiple options and opportunities. Maintain favorable class sizes and course offerings. Consistent support of student staff and classroom technology. Commitment to a safe learning environment. And all these are achieved through the budget. So Berlin's mission and core values and again fully supported by the members of the board of education and we collectively come together and this is driving our work as we set the budget and as we determine the needs in the district. We empower our students to be enthusiastic, curious learners and kind, compassionate leaders in our community and the world. And our core values are purpose, passion, and pride. With purpose, we understand our goals and why our efforts matter. Passion,
041we inspire passion for learning and foster meaningful, caring relationships. And pride, we act in a way that cultivates pride in ourselves, our school, and our community. And I, you know, as I go through this presentation, I just wanted to start with the mission and the core values because it's really the driver behind our budget and our decisions. So, this right here is the pie chart of our 6.86% uh board adopted budget. And this right here just shows the breakdown um in pie chart form. Now, I'll show you the stacked bar graph um because I feel like this is what we often discuss. So, I want to start out with thanking the board of finance um for working through budget season with us this season. Um I know it is a long season for everyone and
042everyone puts a lot of work in and at your last meeting of 4% has been discussed and recommended. Um but then with all the also the science of reading the statemandated reading curriculum that 215,000 being funded through the town side really gives us the 4.41% increase. Um so it is not you know the 6.86% and we do have the 1.5 million decrease. Um the 4.41 41 will give us enough to work with to really continue fulfilling our mission and core values for Berlin public schools. The board of education, we are going to be talking about what the board has adopted. We are not going to be talking about any proposed cuts. The board is not meeting until the end of April. Um so it's going to have to go through the committee after the town
043council votes. So the finance and operations committee and then we will it will be on our agenda for our meeting I believe April 27th or the last week of April. So after April vacation um so today is not going to be going through a list of potential cuts or where we might cut. It's just presenting what our board has adopted um supported by the mission and the core values of Berlin Public Schools. Um, so as we get into this, I just want to talk a little bit about um, what this stacked bar graph represents. So you can see 4.37% is our staffing and contractual obligations. The red, our contracted services and utilities is 0.56% and as it was just discussed with the town, contracted services continually go up. Um and it's a it's a cost
044that just keeps increasing and it's reflected here. Our transportation and tuition that's magnet schools um supplies, equipment and all other expenditures is 1.19 and then this the top the orange is the 41. The state mandated reading program the 215,000 will be paid out by the town. So it's good that we're all working together to address that one-time cost. Um, so I will continue on. So these are our major budget drivers. So the state mandated re reading program like we just talked about, I addressed that. That's the 41%. Technology and equipment. It's important to mention that we don't have a technology replacement cycle. So where we are, you know, in 2025, technology is is a necessity in schools to make sure that our students are independent learners that can enter the workforce in society, well adjusted
045and ready to go into multiple careers and engage in different opportunities. Therefore, technology is critical. Um, so we don't have a technology replacement cycle in this budget. or in any of our budgets. So we fund technology like updated Chromebooks or teacher computers or other things technology related that need to be replaced at the that's all funded through end ofear funds. So with that surplus throughout the year we carefully you know save where we can save to make sure that any surplus we're funding technology. Um, and I think this is very impressive of Brian, Ashley, and you know, the central office staff that they're able to do this and fund technology in this way. Um, because this can be a big driver in a budget. Um, the staffing accounts is our largest driver. Our people and
046programs are the biggest part of the budget. And then that's why, you know, if you go back to this, the red is the biggest part. That's people and programs. Really, families, students, teachers, everyone in the educational community relies on the people and programs within Berlin Public Schools. And then the last piece is materials and repair and maintenance costs. This is the smallest driver. Um, we're going to have to deal with this as, you know, a board of education and determine what from there is going to have to get eliminated. But I'm not going to speak on behalf of the board until we have that opportunity to meet and really go through it. Um I want to talk a little bit about special education and the percentage of special education budget. those who have been, you
047know, attending these meetings uh over a number of years or have attended them throughout this budget season. You've seen this slide, but I just think it's important that you see about a quarter of our, you know, of our overall budget, our general education budget goes to special education. That's that is mandated. We don't have any wiggle room on that. um the number of outplacements we have. So when a special education student needs to be outplaced in an an alternative setting, Burland public schools is required and mandated to pay for that. Um that could have a significant impact on our budget and you know our mayor and the chair of the board of finance has said you know if you come you know come into a situation where this is going to throw off your budget
048and you're not you're going to be out of money please come talk to us. So that may happen at some point because as we talked about with contracted services, utilities and everything else, the costs are just going up. Um, and one outplacement can cost anywhere from 65,000 to 200,000 plus transportation. So that can have a significant impact and the board of education really does not have much say in saying no, we're not going to send your student there. Um, we have approximately 20 out outplacements. We have three potentially pending as we speak and five maybe considered, you know, in the near future. However, I think it's really important to talk about when we look at that stacked bar graph, we look at the red part and we talk about, you know, the people and programs
049that, you know, make up the Berlin public schools and education community. Um, our major budget drivers. We do a number of things in Berlin public schools to bring this cost down, to bring the special education cost down. And I think it's something that Berlin has done an excellent job. Linda Holian and her staff have done a very good job at making sure that we have programs in Berlin to bring kids back. We have effective school solutions, ESS, so it might come at a high price, but it allows us to keep kids in districts and not out place. We have the transition academy so we can keep kids here in Berlin. um and not send them out to other transitionmies. Um you know, and then also we have our paras and our staff and a number
050of other programs. We have the you know, I'm not going to get into all the programs, but we do a lot of different things to really keep this cost low and I think that's really a special thing that Burlin does do. Um so you know as I continue on our state funding has decreased um you know over the years if you look and I know that with this current legislative session there's different talk about what's going to come out of it. Um you know I was at the capital last week and I think the week before during public hearings about the funding and it's just interesting to see how it's all going to get funded. um especially with potential federal funding that we may see a you know a reduction in and how that will
051then be funded. Um so we've had a decrease in state funding and federal funding. The open choice program is a program that we've always used to support our budget and you know I believe all open choice districts have seen a decline in enrollment. This has really allowed us to get extra money to put staff on. Um, this grant has allowed the board of education to do a number of different things uh to support our budget to keep costs low, but we've seen a decline in choice students. It's not specific to Berlin or anything Berlin Public Schools does. It was really after the pandemic. Um I think transportation issues with all of the choice students and it just you know choice students were starting to stay in um district in their own district at their neighborhood
052schools 10-year budget funding history. So this right here shows you what our budget funding history is. Uh the 25 26 is a little bit higher because when we initially proposed this and I'm just going off of the board adopted slides this shows a seven 7 point 7 7.4% but then we were with some changes to the science of reading the state mandated reading program as well as now you know it coming out in the town covering it that brings us down to you know around 6.4 for um but then you can see that with the 4.41 41. If you know the board of finance and town council vote, it will bring us higher, which will be very much appreciated and will allow us to really we're going to have to make cuts, but it's going
053to allow us to continue to fulfill the promise to all the Berlin parents, students, staff, and overall education community. Um, the neighboring districts adopted budget comparison. I know this was already briefly touched on uh when Mr. Borero is up here, but you this is just a snapshot of some neighboring towns and you can see where Berlin falls. There's a number of ways to look at this data. You can look at it by Dur by surrounding towns. Um you know data is data but I think it's just important to show where Berlin falls in comparison to these towns mentioned. Uh we are at the bottom at 3.21 21 um in our you know so and then this is our fiscal year 25 budget percent increase for DUID D uh we are at the 3.21 21 and
054you can see the Dur. So those are all towns with similar demographic and socioeconomic composition. Um the state has kind of moved away from DURs but they still haven't really. So um it's a good comparison to look at when we see where we are coming in at. And then the next one is our net current expenditure per pupil. So you can see where Durk D and the state comparison fall with Berlin. Berlin's net current expenditure is 21,719. The states is 22,836. So we do fall below the state net current expenditure. And this is our historical net current expenditure per pupil. So, you know, you could just see where this number is with Berlin, the state average, the wealth rank, and the NC rank. And this is our five-year FTE comparison. Um, and you can just
055see here for the 2025 2026, there's only going to be one anticipated change. And on our last slide, we have 2023 2024 recognitions. Um, I think it's important to note a few things. So these recognitions are important to highlight because the staff that we have, we have an excellent staff who's truly dedicated. We have the funding to support our schools. Berlin is a place where people want to send their kids to school, where people want to come and work. We're able to recruit high quality educators and paris and custodial staff, secretarial staff, so on and so forth. Um, this is a school district that, you know, I know I am truly proud of to be a part of and I know Brian and his staff are proud of and the board of education is and
056we've worked really hard at making sure that, you know, we have favorable class sizes that we have excellent options and offerings for all different types of learners. So, we're not sending students out to magnet schools or, you know, other types of uh choice schools that they can go to because that costs Berlin public schools money. So, if we start reducing our options and offerings to our learners, they can go to magnet schools, technical schools, agricultural schools, and Berlin has to pay that amount. Um, you know, one thing we did keep, so typically in our budget, we hold a h 100,000 for tuition for the tuition and transportation for the magnet schools or the school choice that Berlin children can attend. Um, we did not include that in this budget this year. Um, favorable class sizes
057is critical. It's of critical importance to the learner, to the teacher, to the overall dynamic of the school, for all all stakeholders in the education setting. We typically keep a kindergarten teacher placeholder in our budget because that can change and and we did not keep that in in this budget, so it's not reflected. So, we come with this budget without any extra anything extra. we come forward with exactly what we need to drive our district forward. Um, you know, and I think it's just important to highlight all the great things that our district is doing and all the great things that our staff is doing for the kids and all the opportunities for the students. Um, so we will take questions and thank you so much. Thank you, Julia. Thank you, Ryan. All right, so
058we're gonna take any questions. Um, come up to the mic and state your name and address, and if there's any questions, feel free to ask question. Donov 85 steeple view drive. I'm on parks and rec commission. Um I'm just wondering what is there a list of other capital items that aren't budgeted for that you have for people. And specifically I'm thinking about the splash pad that we're hoping to do at some point in the town over in East Berlin. I know it's a large amount of money, but is there a thought process of how we might be able to do it at some point? Not in this budget. I it's not there, but are we looking at surpluses right now for the for this year that maybe we can get some money for that or
059is this going to be a 2026 budget item? Well, I mean Kevin, you could answer, but um what we did look at is that there may be some design work that has to be done, you know, in this current fiscal year that we may find money for, but we we think it's going to take a little longer than just the upcoming fiscal year to get in place, you know, in terms of I don't know if we have a we don't have a do we have a quote yet or I don't Huh? You want to you want to speak to it? Sure. Um I that's a good question because and I'll just say uh Mayor Mark is here. I know that the East Berlin uh pool and and modifying that into a splash pad. That is
060that has been a priority for the town council uh is something that I think uh the the town is committed to doing. The question is how do you pay for it? We have some estimates. We have some some numbers uh that that um have been presented to the council and we're going to look at how to how to fund that but it's not in this fiscal year budget but I I do believe that that will be coming and and the question is you know will we be bonding we'll be into your as you mentioned will we be looking for a non-budget appropriation there you know we'll be working with our finance director uh Mr. Delane Kevin who's got all the money. We'll we'll figure out how to get it done. But but I do know
061uh just give us a little time to figure that out. Okay. Thank you. Anyone else? I'm a little short. Uh, good evening, Emlangelo 86 DHway. I'm just curious as to what it would take to fully fund the board of education, especially given this year where there are um state funds coming back and not all of them are going back to the education. I appreciate where the board of finance is today at the 4% because it is a lot more than what has been given in the past, but it's still not fully funding the board of education. Thank you. Well, I mean we look at as as a balance, you know, in total and we have to look at, you know, um balancing board of education with all the other expenses and we felt that uh
062as a board of finance, the 4% that we provided uh plus the 215K for the reading program was reasonable and as I mentioned um in my introduction remarks, uh historically um the board of education has done a good job with what we provided including having you know remaining surplus left over sure they use it for technology or whatever but if you look at historical experience uh 4% is the highest that they have received in the most you know in in many recent years so uh we feel comfortable with that and and um unfortunately we don't know what adjustments the board of education is going to make but um clearly from a board of finance standpoint we feel comfortable with Anyone else? Okay. I mean, oh, 115 skater road. What are your projected surpluses uh for
063fiscal year 24 for general government and uh board of education? Well, we don't we don't project any surpluses for board of education. Um I think the u the latest um status report um has us um with a potential 1 800 to$1.2 million of potential surplus from the general government side. But the see these are the things that we normally you know we're talking about the splash pad for example. These are some of the things that we have to look at. We also you know limited the capital priority one and two capital items. So there may be other items that may come to fruition that we have to worry about. So this is an initial list. So uh we normally use that that surplus money to accommodate primarily the capital. So anyone else okay I want
064to thank everyone for attending. Um, when I saw the parking lot when I first came, I said, "Well, we're going to have a lot of questions." But nobody's here. So, but, uh, make a motion to adjurnn. Second. Those in favor? I. So, move. So, thank you everyone.