001Good evening everyone. This is the finance committee meeting for the month of April. We have our food services director Miss Cindy Sue and Charlotte. Yes, Charlotte. Okay, I'm sorry. I'm still learning some of the names. Mrs. De Pain, Dr. Pat, Miss Allen, Mr. Zeigler, and Dr. Lehman. All right, so we're going to start with Cindy from food services. She's going to go over our food service management company and some updates to the contract I believe. That's what we're discussing the next uh uh Okay. Good evening everyone. It's with great pride that I would like to share with you all that the food service department is performing very well this year financially. We are on target to meet and perhaps exceed our guaranteed return. Um I'm going to go into financial plan for next school year
002for 2026-2027. Oh, handouts first accomplishments and duly accomplishments. That's how we attained the great financial results. >> Okay. And then I included the price lunch the lunch price comparison other school districts in the surrounding area for you to review. Okay, so um Plan for 2026-2027. There is a management fee that Metz Culinary Management charges the district. All food service management companies do. The current rate that it is based on the CPI index and the current rate is 3%. Metz will only increase to us though by 2.5% for the upcoming school year. Um Also meal rates. I'd like to discuss that meals will need to be increased very very slightly to make a guaranteed return for the district. That would be a just 5 cents compared to this current school year. While other districts utilize tiered
003pricing, we continue to offer premium meals as our standard daily offering without additional fees. There's labor and food costs. There's a 5% increase to labor per the union contract and additionally food costs continue to rise nationwide including projected 20% increase in beef prices for the upcoming school year. Upcoming year. Um we can discuss the meal price comparisons but prior to doing that I just wanted to mention that this year too we took advantage of local sourcing and funding. We received $22,000 to start the school year. It needed to be spent. It was money's from the prior prior year that New Jersey Department of Agriculture had. And we applied for it. We had 22,000 to spend. We did through October. Then we applied for round two which in the spring we received another 5900. So that
004was 27 that's a total of $27,900 in DOD fresh local food for the cafeterias. That funding supports the connection between New Jersey schools and New Jersey farmers. Unfortunately though this funding will not be provided for the 2026-2027 school year. So we we couldn't put that in in the plan. We also acquired in through Municipid $7,202 in sales from dormant kitchen equipment in district three pieces. And now we currently have three more pieces that are listed for sale through April 10th through April 24th. It also allows us to have more valuable retail space in some of the kitchens and storage areas. Um we continue to our commitment to the stability using biodegradable trays, bowls, and cutlery dispensers we've installed in the high school and middle school to eliminate excessive waste. Um I did want to review
005some key areas for New Jersey school meal price increases why that why we need to raise it a nickel at the end of the sum. Soaring operational costs we reviewed the expiration of federal funding such as the local food for school. Quality nutrition standards increasing the price allows districts to invest in healthier, fresher, and locally sourced food rather than sacrificing quality to meet budget constraints. Um and maintaining financial stability with the rising costs with the rising costs school nutrition programs are at risk of operating at a deficit which can strain which can strain overall school budgets and we cannot um we cannot um go into a deficit. We need it to be self-sustaining. Um so I provided the price comparison of the Middlesex County area districts around around us with their current pricing and our
006current pricing. I did want to add school meal programs are designed to be sustainable and independent of district education of the district's education budget covering food, labor, and equipment costs through federal, state, and paid meal revenue. Um it's we have to continue to be non-profit. The program must operate as non-profit meaning all revenues must be used to support the food service and not other school expenses. Um I did want to share that we we should be working towards that price of the free meal reimbursement. So there's a a form that the state requires the budget to be uh to be filled out completed in. And in there they include the the reimbursement rate currently is $4.76. And our price is um you know, we need to be working towards that price. That is the price
007that we get for every free meal. Districts get for the free meal but the paid meal is um it should be working towards that price. Um district and some some interesting facts I wanted to share about our district is that we're at only 14 to 15 we're at 14-15% free reduced district wide students eligible for free reduced meals. Means everybody else pays. Um But of those free reduced students 80% of them 80% of the free reduced students 80 plus percent um participate and they do get their meals in school. And I think that that's that's a that's really great statistic that they're that they're eating in school. And through over 50% of our paid students are eating in school and that's also that's that's really great too. And that says something about the delicious menus,
008the variety, um how well they how the efficiency of getting through the cafeteria line. And over the years we've invested in updating the POS to to get the students through quicker. Because if the students come in and the line is long you lose the students. They don't want to they don't want to. I can remember being in school I didn't want to wait on a long line either. They'd rather bring lunch from home. We get them through lightning speed and we're able to do that with processing the program to update our POS. The ID cards they just swipe you go right through with their meal. No one knows anyone's free or reduced or paid because you're very fast. So it runs very efficiently. Um We have great teams. And I welcome anyone to come for
009lunch. It's it's a beautiful program. Great participation. And maybe we could look at the comparison of the other districts. >> Yes. I was going to suggest just for the public's knowledge maybe you can explain a little bit what our premium foods are compared to like a standard lunch. >> Sure. >> Yeah. Sure. >> that would be >> Um and we don't and we do not in Monroe with Metz Culinary Management we haven't charged for the premium. >> Uh-huh. Yet we provide the premium and we don't charge extra for it as many other districts around do. So what the premium meals are are the what would be called it's all white meat chicken. They call it full muscle chicken. Doesn't sound very appetizing but it's all it's all white meat chicken. So instead of having that
010chopped up formed chicken nuggets maybe something in the past you might have remembered I would have remembered on my cafeteria tray in school. It's it's a higher end product. It's through Tyson. It's their regular label product. >> Mhm. Um also the cold cuts that we use are natural turkey breast not the water packed um turkey turkey breast. And some it's it's it's very it's a higher quality product but yet we're not reflecting a higher price to the students for it. >> Mhm. I also saw recently there was sushi available which is a very nice option. That takes us to promotions. We try to we Metz has a whole schedule of promotions. They have this thing called Streeties and every month there's a a really fun promotion for the students. But we did have sushi um
011this school year. We use the natural turkey breast for the turkey dinner and cranberry we have upcoming promotion next month for um uh Asian Pacific Asian American Pacific Islander Island Heritage Month we're going to be doing fortune cookie kitchen and have different Chinese food selections for the students. We thought they would they like noodle bowls. We recently for wellness week we had so many things for the students to sample. We served noodle noodles with either vegetarian or with chicken and one of the students and I guess it was Apple Apple Garden said Is is that ramen? Yeah, he thought it was a ramen. And I I'm here he is just a fourth grader speaking to me. So they're they know good food. Yes, they know quality too. So they're it's it's great that we can
012provide these products to the students and it's So I hope I answered your question. >> You did. And then I think it also would be good to go over the comparison of the average. I kind of did a quick calculation here and it seems that we're the lowest. We are the lowest in the area. And let's see. So elementary school is 56 cents below the average price. >> If I have yes. Middle school 62 cents and then high school 66 cents below the average. And that's with the premium foods. >> Even with the premium foods. So with the 5 cents meal increase that would give the district a return a guaranteed return of 17,900. Okay. >> With a 10 cents increase it would be 40,622. And then it it could be more and more as
013we but This was um in an effort to keep costs down this year is the economy is pretty pretty tough. Grocery stores and prices are high, fuel is high. So in a good faith effort to I can still return a guarantee to the district. Um we thought it would be wise to charge a in just that much of an increase >> Just slightly. so that we don't put ourselves in jeopardy of losing money either. Okay. Does anybody have questions? You do? You mentioned that that the money here that we got this year that's coming next year. What's the reason for that? Um the program United States Department of Agriculture stuff is eliminated the program. I mean I don't want to go into the past No, not that. But the past this past year and the
014and the 24-25 you can't even [clears throat] apply for the equipment grant anymore. We used to get nice pieces of equipment which were we are using. I speak Panini press in the cafeteria just like they have in Panera. We got them for nothing because we applied for grants. But these grants are are not however Yeah, please. Um they they local food for school grant there were a lot of advocates in New Jersey that went to DC and they're they're we might but at this point we really know that this is this isn't applied for next year and they say it's being Department of Agriculture just says that they I guess they don't have the funding for it. Okay, thank you. You're welcome. Anyone else? So I just one more thing. Sure. >> So you said
015that the government I suppose wants us to meet the $4.25 >> toward that. So what happens if you don't? Or is there like a timeline that we need to work towards that? Like how does that work? Like I don't Here's what would happen. If we were to lose if we were to lose money we would have to complete something called a price lunch equity tool. It's like a it's a it's a it's required if you're if you ever go into the red instead of returning a guarantee. So we would fill that out and then we would have to do larger increases to show that we are working toward that. That we won't because we're not allowed to lose money for the district. The this this department has to be self-sustaining. It can't come out of
016your education budget or anywhere else. Okay. And this this bit of an increase will help us in case of any equipment repairs that could come up. Things like that. Okay. Any questions? All right. Does Did you cover the municipality sale as well in your Oh, I just raised yeah. >> You did. I thought you mentioned it. Yes. And that goes right into the districts into your fund actually. But you have another one out now. We do. We have another one out right now for a few pieces and even this afternoon because as you get closer to the end of the auction you start to see more bids come in. Yes. So this afternoon I saw some coming in for this Hobart Buffalo chopper that's kind of distinct and even two steam tables. These are hot
017tables that have been around. They've been in storage. One long before my time. Both before my time. And we're still they're starting to bid on them. So Friday when the bid is up see how what the total will be. Okay. Put them out for bids for two weeks and it's a nice way to make retail space too. That's where to just get get that get equipment out. Okay, thank you. Thank you for your presentation. We appreciate it. Thank you. Okay. Okay, um Okay, well thank you. All right, bye now. The next item on the agenda is our monthly review of attorney fees. Any questions or comments on that? No, no one? Okay. And then the uh There's two more items, right? You wanted to add something. Um I'm going to talk about the bill list.
018Oh, okay. And didn't you want to say something else? Did you say Yeah, okay. All right. Um let's do the monthly review of the bill list. Any questions or comments on the bill list? No. No. Everything looks good? Okay. And Laura had one more item. Yeah, so two little things. Um one is I don't know if this was mentioned maybe one of the other committees, but there there's a bill and Dr. Lena and I talked about this that has been introduced A4750 that would appropriate up to 50 million to be distributed to qualifying school districts that have been forced to raise property taxes by more than 9.9% over the last two years. And this this is basically to reflect the extraordinary fiscal pressure that communities are facing as they struggle to maintain essential educational services.
019So we in this instance we would qualify for that percentage over the last two years. Um and it goes on it's basically about the municipalities and school districts that have experienced record property tax hikes. Some seeing communities some communities seeing increases in back-to-back years and others facing spikes as high as 33% in a single year. So over the past several years state school funding formula has forced many districts to raise property taxes just to keep the schools operating. And now the same districts as we know and are living in this in this nightmare that these same districts are being hit with health insurance costs increases of up to 35% and local taxpayers simply cannot absorb another round of these massive hikes. So the bill it recognizes that the burden is placed on school districts and
020property taxes and is no longer sustainable and that the state must step in to provide relief. So um you know and they acknowledge that the cost of employee health benefits is one of [clears throat] the fastest growing expenses in district budgets and emphasize that the relief is aimed not only at the school districts but also at the families who ultimately pay the tax bills. So hopefully this will pass. If it does you know I'm sure it would be after the budget but if you know similar to last year with the that tax incentive program that came at the end of the school year um the districts could apply for it could be you know the same thing. But this is they're appropriating apparently 50 million dollars now that would be for the whole state and
021based on if you qualify it would be prorated um it would be prorated with that book. So I don't know how much you know that would mean for us but I would think it would mean mean get something for the past. Something is good. Would it be prorated like for two years cuz you were talking about one year and they No, I think what they're looking at if a district in over the last two years has increased their tax rate over 9%. So so if those districts districts have done that and then I think they would probably just come up with the amount and and prorate it based on that. Do you know how far it's it is right now? It just it was introduced March um March 18th. So I don't know if there's
022been anything. I don't see anything yet. So you said it's based on the last two school years. Not the current. Not the budget we're this school year's budget and 2024-2025 Let me just give the actual so I can say that. Just so we can see. Right. Um to be eligible Okay, qualifying school district means a district with an adjusted tax levy in the 2026-2027 school year Okay. This year. that has increased by more than 9.9% of the adjusted tax levy implemented for the district in the 24-25 school year. So, they're going to go back to 24-25, compare how much your tax levies increased Beginning with the 24-25 for the 24-25 school year to 26-27. So, it's 3 school years. So, um Yeah. So, that would certainly hopefully that would be of help to us. Um
023and the taxpayers. Okay. Yeah. That's great. >> Yeah. That's great. Um And the only other thing I just wanted to mention about um cuz I think there've been some questions regarding the ESIP program. >> Yes. >> And I know that last night there was a presentation at BG&T committee about that and all the great things that have been going on with this program and where we're at with it and what's to come still. But, regarding the funding, so last year we um approved um the sale of refunding bonds of 12.5 million to purchase all of these things, these energy saving equipment, the lighting, the boilers, and you know, everything else. So, that So, we purchase it now um and the debt um schedule was set up and structured so that it was based on the
024savings that we would realize. So, the energy savings that we realize um was scheduled out so that there there's actual energy savings, solar savings, there's rebates and incentives you get over um maybe for the first 5 years. Um there's operational savings. So, all these savings have been scheduled out um as they will come in over the next 20 years. That's the length of the the refunding bonds. So, over the 20 years um and then the debt was structured to be able to um align with that so that every single school year of the 20 years they look at the savings and then and then the debt has to be less than the savings. So, we always have to have every year um so, that's how this works, this program. Um that's the design so that
025every single year we will have a net cash flow. The savings will be greater than the debt payments that we make. And over 20 years um it's about two I think two million dollars in in ca- in total cumulative cash flow savings. So, um so, that's the savings over the cost of the debt, the principal and interest. So, that's how that works. Um and you see that in our budget, you we have um the line item for the debt two line items, interest and principal, but we also have savings in the other lines um from utilities and operational savings. So, that the savings are greater than the debt. So, this program is designed so there's no cost to the taxpayers and there's no effect on the budget because of the savings um being um in
026excess of the the the debt payments. So, I Does that make sense? Does that >> Yeah. Yeah. That's I just wanted to How about that out there because I know there's sometimes there's confusion with that, but that's how that that program is set up to work and and um And so far we're doing good with that. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's how it was presented to us. >> That's how they first they first presented it. I remember them saying that. Yep. And also if it didn't they make up So, there Yeah. So, we we were able to get a guarantee for the first year. Um they actually um they thought that as part of the program and so, they will come in after the after all this everything's been put into place. Um I think
027it's the year after they will come in and do an audit and make sure that the savings are real that they said it was going to be are actually realized. If it's not, they will give us the difference. >> Right. I remember that statement. Yes. Yeah. So, that's um and you you know, you have that option to pay for that guarantee every year, but hopefully, you know, we can see that it is working and we don't need to do that. I believe it's signed, but Yeah. Okay. Thank you for clarifying that and sharing that with everyone. Thank you very much. Anybody have questions? No. Any other items? No. Okay. So, that concludes our finance meeting for this month. Thank you.