Board of Finance Budget Workshop 01/31/2026

001This [music] is NHTV2 North Haven Government Television, a service of North Haven Community Television. The following program is brought to you through the support of the town of North Haven. >> Should just run the standard intro. >> Good morning, [snorts] everybody. We are here for the budget workshop for IT and board event. >> We are going to start with IT. >> Uh good morning. Uh I'm Alex Lenos, the IT manager for the town. Uh joined by Antonio Skano, my systems administrator. Uh we're just going to be going over uh our budget for 2026 27. Uh we continue to maintain and secure the systems that support every town operation. Um this coming year's budget focuses on improving reliability, strengthening cyber security, and modernizing the town's network infrastructure. Uh quickly under personnel um our full timeline changes

002for contractual obligations. Uh, I'm also requesting funding of $19,760 for a part-time position. [clears throat] The IT department currently operates with two full-time staff responsible for all departments across town. And when I say town, I really want to stress that we don't just support town offices. We support the police department, fire department, senior center, this library, um field operations, and even the volunteer firehouses. Um the specialized technology and police cruisers, for example, um we [clears throat] install uh kiosks at the senior center. Uh even down to the public Wi-Fi provided in town buildings. So on average, we handle around 150 support requests each week. That's not including larger projects or modernization efforts that are underway in multiple departments and that number of software um web services and hosted systems continues to grow. Um you know

003I wanted to just quickly give the um board of finance an idea. Uh earlier in these workshops, Rich spoke to the costs associated with uh a new employee and those are benefits. But on top of those benefits, we have security uh costs associated with onboarding a new employee and those are anywhere from, you know, on the low side $2,000, on the high side, $7,000. Uh, and that includes not just their Microsoft 365 subscription, but we're talking about security services that have to be layered on top of that, including archiving software for their email, which handles FOI requests. So, these things are adding up and in turn driving um are recurring subscriptions higher, especially since Diane can attest to this. everything has gone to a subscription model in our space. So now we're adding a seat,

004a license, so on and so forth. Uh so I don't want to get into the weeds with specifics, but suffice suffice it to say, um you know, we've done a lot of uh cyber security work for the town that could have cost us upwards of 30,000 had we needed to engage outside forensics. Um you know, we've had a lot of near misses and I We work hard to make sure that this town is not in in the front page of the newspaper. Um, so, you know, in regards to all these things, what that's why we're asking for some part-time help just to alleviate some of that dayto-day that we're we're dealing with. >> How many positions is that? >> Just one >> one position. Yeah. Um so as far as our maintenance contract line that

005stays kind of flat uh for this budget um we've increase the hardware software line to uh give us some room there because we have had some overages in that line. Everything else is pretty much flat across the board. Um, and the only change, actually there's no change because it's in our 5-year plan, is our capital improvement, uh, which is a $100,000 investment, uh, to expand the town's network switching infrastructure. Um, specifically in certain buildings, including this one, uh, we need to, um, [clears throat] upgrade the the, uh, infrastructure in the switch room to help give uh, a better network performance throughout the the library and includes security and visibility into network activity. And that's kind of what we're looking at uh standardizing across the board in the town. So uh in summary before I take

006some questions um this budget balances everyday operational needs with strategic improvements. The part-time position addresses increasing support demands and the network modernization project stren strengthens the town's core technology infrastructure. Uh together these steps position the town to operate more securely and efficiently in the years ahead. >> Anybody have any questions? >> I I have a question. >> Sure. >> So with all the hacks and everything um what's the what would you say like say in six month or a year how many could you gauge how many times somebody has tried to >> It's it's daily. >> It's probably daily. >> It's daily. Um, we're we're in the middle of a project to migrate the libraryies email infrastructure because they had been previously using Lion and it had some some security vulnerabilities recently. So, we're we're

007working on moving them into our 365 um environment. Just by adding one person's email address, we got attacked almost instantaneously with a password request. >> Somebody's watching. >> Yeah. And as soon as that account was added, we're getting these automated attacks that are going out every day um just spraying email addresses against different services to see if they get a hit. >> Alex, just one question. Under um hardware, software, and labor. >> Yep. >> Um your estimated expenditures for um 1269. >> Yes. >> And um the increase is to 137. >> Yes. um just explain that. >> Sure. I mean a lot of that is being driven by um the increases in hardware costs. Uh specifically what we're seeing is I don't know if you've been in the market for a computer lately, but if

008you're not, you may not see it. Uh but what's going on is with the the AI uh boom that we're having right now is driving memory prices through the roof and anything any new computer purchase your in we've we've gone up a couple hundred dollars just a standard computer. Um so we've had to make some adjustments there and and think creatively when we're purchasing hardware. um this just accounts for that that overage and as well as some of the software products that we purchase under there have also likewise gone up in cost. >> Okay. Thank you. >> And do you force people like to do updates >> or do they get do the like where I am I get a notification? >> Yeah. Sometimes I get you you have to pick your time and then

009you have to >> That's nice of them to give you. [clears throat] We let we let everybody delay it a little bit and then it'll just do it at close of of business day. It'll just decide to to do the updates. >> Well, sometimes Yeah. Sometimes I'm working and I'm like there's an update and I can't stop it. But other times they add they will pick your time which I usually pick when I'm not working. [clears throat] >> Okay. We try we try and make it convenient and and around business hours, but we also have um some of the computers at the police department that are on a different time schedule, so we we can we can hit those late at night. >> Okay. >> Alex, I I just have uh one question about your

010budget and then one question about the the capital. >> Um [clears throat] the line that's increasing by 8% says hardware, software, labor. >> In our reports, it says consultant software. the same thing. >> It is the same line. I I in the past >> it has been named three or four different things. It's gotten confusing over the years. >> I think it was consultant software and now it's it's morphed into hardware software labor and and that >> that labor does kind of cover outside consultants if we're working with them on a project or um even cyber security consulting. We'll use that line for um for hours or purchasing block hours. >> So the the increase includes the potential for using outside consulting. Yes, >> it does. Okay. >> And uh is that something that tends

011to be front-end loaded or it's spent throughout the year? >> Almost all of our budget is frontend loaded at this point. Um, it's actually a savings for the town. If we purchase our uh Microsoft 365 uh licenses at the start of our fiscal year, it it saves anywhere from $3 to $5,000 rather than going monthtomonth with them. Um, we sometimes do, again, if an if an employee comes on in in the middle of the year and we have to onboard them, we do have to add those licenses on, but then we can get that prorrated [snorts] and and um and and on our renewal, we pay that larger sum all at once, but that that actually is a savings overall, >> right? Because in our report, again, we only have uh the most recent one.

012Um you've spent aboutund let's say 6,000, but but you have a pretty sizable incumbrance. So, uh so is that just kind of a safety valve or you >> incumbrances would be a purchase order that's outstanding? You know, for certain that it's something that will be spent for sure. >> It will be it will be spent. >> Gotcha. Okay. That's that's very helpful. And then in terms of >> I wish there was I wish there was breathing room. There is [laughter] >> again I I I never know with something that includes a consultant whether you know you're just kind of reserving that just in case or or it's actually a purchase order. And then in terms of the capital request we have for three years um 65,000 85,000 and now you're requesting 100,000. Is that all

013for the same switches? >> No different project throughout town. Um, you know, we invested a little bit in our server infrastructure in the previous year and our backup systems. >> Um, we've actually been able to, uh, recoup some of those things via grant. Um, so, uh, you know, >> any other questions from the members? >> No. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. [clears throat] Good morning, North Aen board of finance members. Uh, today we we will be presenting the board of education budget for the 2627 school year. Joining me to present this morning is chairperson Ron Baffick, vice chair Randy Peterson, board secretary Michelle Glo, board member Amanda Gabriel, chief operating officer Christian Strickland, and finance manager Howard War. Provided through this budget are resources to provide

014instruction to 3,70 students, give or take. Mental health, nutrition, and medical care to allow students to access instruction. Specialized services required for all students to achieve their potential. Diverse opportunities for students to engage in activities outside of their curricular pursuits. And safe and reliable transportation to and from school. The following couple of slides will highlight the district's return on the town of North Haven's investment. For reference, the average DURD per pupil expenditure is $22,782. North Haven's PPE is currently $20,381, which ranks us 20th of 24 districts within our DUR. Please note, North Haven has dropped from 15th to 20th over the past two years. As I say each year, North Haven spends less than most, but our return is is exceptional. This year, Greenacres Elementary School was recognized as a blue ribbon school. This recognition

015is similar to winning an Oscar or Super Bowl in the world of education. However, I believe it's more exceptional than these awards because Green Acres needed to demonstrate excellence for many years, probably a better part of a decade to be award this awarded this status. >> So, just to give a little bit of a background about this award, this used to be a national award, but in August of 2025, it was discontinued at the national recognition. However, Connecticut decided to continue. Um and uh Green Green Acres was one of four schools in the state of Connecticut that was recognized as the blue ribbon school. Um so as Patrick just stated, this is something that is built upon over years. It's not a oneandone thing. It's something that is the culmination of dedicated educators, instructional coaches,

016uh, para educators, the staff throughout the school, parents, students, administrators for years on end and all of their contributions. So, I would like to just reiterate that when you choose to fund this budget, what you'll be doing is protecting a proven educational system that will continue to support our schools and thrive that will thrive among Connecticut. The district continues to excel in state standardized assessments. We are ranked in the top five of 24 dur districts in math, English, and science. So, schools of distinction um schools of distinction uh you have to meet certain criteria in order to be recognized for a school of distinction as a school of distinction. So, Greenacres Elementary was recognized as a high growth school in ELA for all students. Montiz was recognized for high growth for all students in math.

017And Ridge Road was recognized for high growth for all students in ELA, as well as high growth for high needs students in ELA. And when I say high needs, that encompasses students with disabilities, students that are English language learners, and students [clears throat] that are eligible for free or reduced price meals. And basically what happens is there's this 12 list of 12 indicators. Not all are applicable to the elementary level. You can see there are nine that apply to elementary schools, but um you get points for each of those indicators. and the top 10% of schools that get those points are um are acknowledged as a school of distinction. I think it's really important that we recognize that there are over 1,500 public schools in the state of Connecticut. Only 141 schools in the state

018of Connecticut were recognized as a school of distinction and four of them are from North Haven. So we are doing the right thing. [cough] [clears throat] It's working for our students. It's working for our community and what we're doing is working for our future. So we need to support public [clears throat] education in this budget. >> Now we will we will be moving on to the board of education's budget for the 26 27 school year. This slide demonstrates the four areas that drive the board's budget increase for the 2627 school year. These four areas total just about 7 million additional dollars to the budget with medical and dental insurance carrying the bulk of the increase at just over $4.5 million. This is followed by contractual salary increases totaling $1.7 million and five new special education

019position salaries totaling $350,000. To expand on the new special education positions, the district is in need of three special education teachers for three of our specialized programs. An additional speech and language pathologist and occupational therapist are al also included. These positions are necessary for various reasons to remain compliant with the students individualized education plans or IEPs. to ensure that necessary staff is in place in order to keep students safe and meet the goals and objectives of their IEPs and to ensure that case loads for our special education and support staff members are manageable so that they can meet the needs of our students and remain compliant with their IEPs. Additionally, two of these positions present a cost savings to the district which will be further explained on the next two slides. The district currently invests

020$5.6 million in eight different special education programs. Without these programs, the district would be spending approximately $21 million to educate students within these outofd district programs. This is an annual savings of $15.5 million. With [clears throat] this being said, these programs continue to grow and our students require additional and necessary services to meet their potential. This is why the board and district continues to support these exemplary programs. To be more specific, we currently contract to an outside provider to supplement the district's mandated speech and language services. For a full-time SLP [clears throat] speech language path pathologist, a contracted provider cost the district $150,000 per year, $157,000 per year. Hiring our own would cost approximately half that amount. >> I'll turn the next couple slides over to Christian. >> Good morning everyone. As highlighted previously, the

021largest driver of this year's budget is the increase to our medical and dental insurance line. This increase of $4.5 million is required to meet the actuarial projected claims and begin to rebuild the board of education's at this point almost completely depleted medical and dental reserve account. In this next slide, we provided this visual representation of the increasing costs of claims over the last four years as well as the significant depletion of our medical and dental reserve account. You will note that in the 2024 2025 school year that this was the year that a reduction following the first referendum prior to that year, a reduction to the board of education budget of 950,000 was made. This coupled with significantly higher than projected claims resulted in approximately $2.2 million of the reserve being utilized that particular year.

022And that's your second column you'll note. So you'll see the gap the 9.7 and that gap and as you can see that depletion of the reserve. Additionally in the current year the reserves are again being heavily relied on with a current projection of just under $9,000 being left in our medical and dental reserve account by year's end. Again this is a projection in this year's budget. There's also an increase of $277,400 for our workman's compensation. This is driven by an increase in claims which has also impacted our self-funded reserves. Rebuilding this fund has been a direct recommendation from the town and the board of finance. Our annual expenses related to this account over the last three years are $419,925 in annual claims. We would like to point out that this budget in regards to the

023excess cost grant, we've currently estimated it does net this out of our tuition costs of just over a little bit uh $1 million. As we've spoken about previously, this is an estimate. The state has started to come back and and further funding this, but is always a volatile determination that we have to be prepared for. Taking all of this into account, the board of education approved a 7,630,414 increase, which equates to 11.14%. The next two slides will demonstrate a breakdown of this increase and you will see the far majority majority of it resides in medical and dental insurance and contractual salary increases. In both of these slides, which are also included in the budget book that was provided to the board of finance, is a waterfall of the costs that show exactly how the 11.14%

024is distributed across our major drivers. Both this slide which actually shows the dollar amount and the following slide which shows the percentage amount. And as again once you once again you can see the large the single largest impacting factor is the increase in necessary medical and dental insurance as projected by Brown and Brown. If you were to actually remove this hypothetically as well as contractually obligated salaries the total increase is 1.47% if you were to remove those two drivers or roughly $774,523. Finally, we turn to our capital projects. It is important to note that the following items are not funded within the board of education's operating budget, but our critical infrastructure needs. The time I'll hold by going not going through one by one, but I will state that our high priority capital needs total

025in just over $1 million. This includes major maintenance like the high school HVAC chiller replacement at $43,000 or the gym replacement floor estimated at $650,000 as well as essential security modifications and technology infrastructure across all schools. These investments are vital to keeping our building safe and functional for our students. >> Concludes our presentation this morning. Thank you for your time. [clears throat] >> Um there was a well I got to make a statement here first. Um, this is a really budget challenging year for many reasons, but one of the reasons is we as a board of finance has not seen financials from the board of ed in a very long time. So, we're kind of flying in the dark as to what's going on and how your actuals are. So, I'm just wondering why we

026haven't received our monthly um financials. And my other question is, is your board board seeing the financials? Because we're kind of in the dark right now as to what your position is. >> So, um, the last financial reports you would have received would have been from our December board of education meeting. That's the last formal meeting that we've held. The board of education, we've not had a formal meeting in January to finance. >> No, we would have gotten that at our January meeting and we didn't get that. So we haven't received anything since the end of November. >> Correct. That is correct. >> So why is that? Because honestly it to look at this and to I have no frame of reference and I'm going to speak for myself. Other members can check check in.

027I don't know where you are right now. I don't know what your struggles are right now for an actual basis. So, it's hard for me to reconcile what you need, but I don't know what's happening and what you are doing currently. So, I would ask that we get those reports [clears throat] monthly. We always got them at our board of finance meetings and ahead of time. If we had questions, we could reach out, but we're kind of in the dark and >> we understand that, but as a practice, we share our financial reports with the board of education prior to sharing them with the board of finance. We have not done that because the board has held workshops for the past month. >> Okay. But this is going month this is going pre months ago

028too. It's not just recent. It's been months. We haven't really seen them. So my ask is that this board hasn't seen the actuals and they can all attest to we always talk about it on our meetings. We [clears throat] haven't seen reports. So we need to get those monthly in time for our board of finance meeting so we could look at them and if we have questions we need to go back to you guys but we're not seeing them. So that's that's that's my statement. It's hard for me to know what your struggles are now are now. What what's overfunding because of XYZ? I have no visibility. We have no visibility to see that. [clears throat] >> So, all I would ask is that you could get those reports >> to finance so we could

029get them for our meetings. >> I think we did get some from for November. >> Yeah. But yeah, it's been kind of inconsistent. And I just want to make sure it's consistent. [clears throat] >> Right. >> Okay. Other members want to >> Yeah. My challenge has been comparing what was budgeted for 2025 to 2026 with the numbers that you presented in your package. one in particular. Um I I thought the budgeted number for um salaries was 40,641. Um here I'm looking at 4842. I don't know what, you know, granted it's only a couple hundred,000 dollar difference, but that's what I'm trying to compare apples to apples. >> Are you just just clarifying question, sir? Are you looking at both salaries and non-salaring payroll as a combination? >> Just salaries. >> Okay. So we would also

030>> the non-sary payroll number I had was 1,117 opposed to 901 [clears throat] unless I don't have a good unless I don't have a good budget numbers. >> Uh you're likely looking at revised versus original. >> Um I thought I was looking at the approved. So what happens is there's always an approved budget. The second gets approved and then historically what's been provided to both the board of ed and board of finance is a revised budget because budget transfers occur which are approved by the board of education month. >> Okay. >> And so what happens is we provided a revised budget year. >> Okay. >> So it's revised budget. So in total it's still the approved budget. The line items have changed. Okay. [clears throat] >> Do we receive Rich? Do we receive that? >>

031Do we ever get those numbers? >> So, the monthly financials, I'm sorry, the financial budget. >> Okay. I I think I think what Bob is looking at if I'm looking at the same thing right now the numbers you use for comparison between the two years you've adjusted to whatever shifts you may have made during the process so it doesn't give them something that's compare >> apples to apples they're looking at apples and oranges >> so they [clears throat] need to kind of >> historically been provided >> um >> no but we have in the past years we have original budget compared to a regional uh proposed budget. >> Yeah, >> that's what has been actually >> proposed. Yes. >> So, yeah, if if there's a way of >> even it looks like one of the

032things that was maybe it looks like they're contingency 179, maybe you spread it out someplace else. >> So, if you can that way it gives them the comparison they can make for looking at [clears throat] apples and apples. I think that's what Bob's getting at >> if it's an easy fix. report. >> Okay. All right. >> Yep. >> Oh, yeah. I see what you're saying now, too. If if if they're looking at percentage changes, they're having a problem correlating it because the numbers aren't the same >> or the bucket's not the same. >> That's previous, right? They need a baseline to start. >> If it's just a matter of generating another report, if you can send it, we'll send it to members on Monday. >> Okay. I have another question. Um, this is just for

033information. Christian, you've been here for quite a while. Um, Howard was here before and now there's two of you. So, I'm just trying to understand, you always had one person. what's the need for two and like what do what you guys really do? >> So, we've never just had one person. When Howard was here originally, uh I was the director of finance, transportation, operations, food services and oversaw a lot of facilities as well. Um when Howard left, we reorganized central office to have a chief operating officer that had a educational lens. Um on that side, we always had a finance person assisting Howard. Um similar to the Rich and Ingred model, similar to many districts around the chief operating officer handles operations. Howard's position is finance manager is strictly finance. >> And you're basically operations.

034There's finance and then there's other issues that you're dealing with. Is that what you're saying? So that's why there's two. Okay. So that was not clear to me in the past. So I appreciate that. >> Of course. >> And Howard's position is finance director >> manager. He does not evaluate anyone. >> Okay. Because when I looked him up, he was director of finance and operations and human resources, human services here in 2020 to 23. and then he went to Oxford and then he came back here in July of this year. Um, and what I have seen is that his title is finance director. >> He's finance manager. >> And how is he being paid currently? Out of what bucket? Because it's not in the budget. >> It's not a clerical. It's it's currently under the

035clerical line. clerical pain. Do we want to get into I don't know if anybody has any questions, but there was an email talking about Brown and Brown. Um, do you want to ask a question? >> Uh, yes. Um, [clears throat] thanks everyone for just showing up today. look like a coffee. Um the uh we sent some chairman Dhini is not here today and uh and he sent over a lot of the same questions that we all have and I want to thank you very much for responding in some way to those questions. That was uh was it was helpful. It was a good start. Um but be before we get into the medical could I just ask the overall >> question here of uh that I don't think was answered I don't know if you

036answered it in in any of the emails is that you had four different scen scenarios in terms of budgets um with different levels of of increase and uh of the four you you you chose the 11 the 11.4 for um yeah uh okay 5.99 6.71 9.77 and 11.14 so why' you select the 11.14 and what is the difference between that and say the uh one of the um uh one of the the the other midpoints, say the the 6.71. Um, was there a 6.71 that you thought somehow in in some situation you could u tolerate? >> Yeah. >> Um, the purpose of the board of education is to oversee the public school system and determine what are necessary to run it effectively. We were presented with options framing um you know the mid 5% 11%

037range. We spent several nights discussing these options. Part of the 5% range included us not honoring contractual obligations to our teachers which was an absolute non-starter for the board of education. Um, some of the other options included not requesting the additional positions that you see in the budget were a need for our so when all comes down to what we considered all of the options and decided that the purpose of the board of education is to request what is needed to run a school district. And in our estimation, the 11.14% is needed to run the school district. Uh okay. So um the again just just going to the I mean you considered the four scenarios so I don't know why you considered things that were unrealistic or whatever but um So this I mean we

038this is not our first our first rodeo. We've done this this [clears throat] dance for several years, Mr. Halahan. And I'd also just like to bring up really quickly one other thing that did definitely color the decision was an analysis that my son performed. My seventh grader performed a 10-year inflationary analysis and looked at real dollar spending. So inflationary analysis based on the consumer um price index tells us how much buying power we have as a board of education. If you look over the past 10 years, the North Haven Board of Education has 1.4% fewer real dollars than we did 10 years ago. We have $972,000 less according to the consumer price index. The town side of the budget has seen a 13.59% increase in real dollars. I'm certainly not saying that the town side

039of the budget is not required >> over 10 years in real dollars. I am certainly not saying that the town side of the budget is not well managed. But what I am saying is that the board of education has been doing more with less for several years and we are not overspending inflationary. We are under our real dollars that we were at 10 years ago. >> Okay, we address All right, we may have more follow-up questions on the other. >> We may have >> I can't see Amanda. >> I mean can chime in [laughter] as well, but I mean dollar for dollar, year for year, the board of ed spends more dollars than the town does. >> You agreed to that? >> So not wait, we get 49.7% of the total budget. >> No, two

040different ways, right? you can look at like >> well let me let me hit you with let me hit you with this one of the big driving factors which is over 10 million on the town sign budget is debt service >> board of ed is twothird of our debt so if you back out I can give you numbers >> I I actually have debt service from all the districts in our here too we are >> I'm no I'm just talking about debt service compared to the town >> um those two lines are basically pretty consistent and there is a significant higher dollar amount um board of ed cost to the town compared to town. >> Okay. So I'm losing where you were going then >> dollar for dollar the board of ed spends more than

041the town side does. >> That's that's that. So dollar for dollar. True, right? >> Okay. >> But expecting a 5050 equation is out of line with what is standard within our district reference group. Most districts spend about 58 to 65% of their total dollars on the board of education. We are in the bottom four of our district. [snorts] >> We'll let you share with you some numbers get our hands [clears throat] on them. the dollar is much it's it's not a 50/50 split when you when you >> it's not supposed to be >> no yeah we probably are closer to 6040 split when you when you adjust debt >> I will gladly perform that I think >> I have it I can give it to you when this meeting's over >> but it's not I

042I don't think >> in consumer price index you talk about buying goods board of bid 90% is the standard for inflationary calculation. >> They're not buying product labor just like everybody else >> but they majority of their cost is labor >> and consumer price index impacts labor cost like that's the main driver for the two of us are the same cost. I'll share some numbers after the meeting. I don't want to take up >> okay >> I'll share something with you and I think you might get a different perspective. My biggest question to you guys is how are we supposed to sell this to the town of North Haven? >> Is that why you gave us the 11% increase to start with because you know it's never going to pass at a referendum. >> We

043gave the board approved the 11.14% because that's what's needed to run the district. >> I understand that >> when earlier in the presentation Mr. strictly stated that we're without salaries and without insurance, we're asking for a 1.4% increase. That's extremely minimal. We're we've shaved off everything we could in order to run this keep this district operating. Um, and Mr. Hollering, back to your question regarding the scenarios, our responsibility to the board of education is to provide them context. walking in with 11.14% without context is not fair to the board of education and it's not fair to the board of finances as well. So to show the different options of what could possibly be cut whether it's a a salary freeze or you know reducing our our staff that's important to show the board of educ

044it's important to show all of you that we have no other options to go with here. So that's why the board approved the 11.14% in order to maintain what we have. This is not a want budget. This is solely a need budget. >> You had mentioned what other towns, even towns in our DUR do. And in most other towns, you have a superintendent budget and then you have a slightly reduced board of education budget. And what I noticed in going through every single line in this budget is that there's 100% uh equality between the superintendent's request and the board of education. >> I'm very proud of Board of Education. They're supporting our district like that. >> So there was there were no discussions among the board of ed in which there were any anyone that

045said >> discussions with the board of education >> in which they disagreed with you >> on some things? Sure. >> Okay. We they uh the board asked us after the first meeting to go back and sit with every department and every school principal to see what could be done. Um and we sat for hours with each of them combined and maybe a quarter of a percent we were able to shave off maybe. >> Mhm. >> Um and that's that's leaving instructional supplies as is in every building. That's not realistic. The cost of goods are rising. We can outnot run a school district solely on instructional supplies that we paid for last year. The same cost. It's it's we're automatically getting less. So, yeah, we we went in depth with the board of education. So, sorry

046if that was not clear. ask a question. >> Um, so Patrick or let me say to the audience here that you know Patrick, myself, Christian, Ron Bath, Rich Monaco, we we have a lot of meetings and a lot of discussions. It's really a collaborative relationship. But recently I spoke [clears throat] with Patrick and Ron and uh Rich and Christian. The union leadership has come to me requesting a meeting and union leadership has asked to see me regarding moving to the state insurance plan and um I would never have a meeting like that without getting it cleared through the administration, the superintendent and the board of education. So I'm um scheduled to call Christa Kaplan. Okay. Who's we have a great relationship with you and Anthony and Chris, but until you tell me that we should

047meet, I I haven't made that commitment. But the question is, what is the interpretation from the union leadership that is suggesting that there's significant cost savings in moving to a state plan versus our plan? And just before you answer the question, >> if that ever happened, we would have an increase on the town side because the whole coalition of insurance that we have through ACES is based on aggregate purchasing power reducing administrative costs because of the volume of of groups that we have at it. So, but the first question is what is the interpretation that would suggest that board of ed should go to a state plan? So we've actually been in active dialogue looking at the proposal in conversations with Mr. Monica for what actual cost savings it was it was proposed to us

048as well Mr. freedom. We've been analyzing this. We haven't had an active dialogue with union leadership yet in terms of our interpretation. We've actually reached out to our actuaries as well. It's a multitude of things that need to be considered. You, for example, um you can develop a proposal on your active membership. Um but when you switch to a state plan, you have to really start to consider how many individuals in um our various bargaining units might then choose to switch when that occurs, which could actually offset any actualized savings. You also have to consider um I'm sure as you know, retirees and how that plays out into the into the equation. So, we're still assessing that. Um, and so not having had that dialogue previously with having received that leadership, we are looking into

049that. Um, as as you know, that was brought forward by union leadership at that time, but it would certainly have to be brought forward to the board of education first before any determination could, you know, I'm always open to having those these discussions, but I really, this is why I brought this up [snorts] because we need the I need to be uh asked by the union, the board of ed to do such, but having been involved with insurance for many, many years. The other thing that happens is and uh North Haven was a good example on the town side before I took office. Uh there was a switch in the insurance moving from Anthem to Connecticut and it was it was a disaster because in that in that situation back in 200 let's say it

050was seven the whole plan design for the union changes and that would that's my concern and hesitation by even agreeing to the meeting. This is why I was asking for this group and in particular you know again we have a great relationship here to be uh authorized to do that so to speak. So any change in the in moving to the state plan could adversely affect the design the benefits the networks the doctors before any change like that could ever be made. But the the issue is the reason I'm bringing it up. When we look at the numbers, we see the tremendous increase based on claims history that we have and those are accurate numbers as supplied by Brown and Brown. I think this coming year is 12 12.3 million. So, and the other thing

051is important for the public watching is that we cannot um consistently u ignore the actuarial analysis in terms of what the claims history are or claims history is. So, that's number one. Number two, I want to bring up special ed if if I could. Okay, so um when we look at the 70% reimbursement and then I want to get into something else regarding energy costs because Patrick and I had this discussion. Um when we look at um special ed, I've been invited to go to Hartford on Friday uh February 5th and uh with the Democratic leadership by the way in a bipartisan fashion, Democratic leadership at the state level. So, I've been invited uh as one of seven other mayors across the state to address a lot of issues and one of the issues will

052be special ed. So, when we look at the numbers here, I think there's an 18,000 difference between what we should be getting and what we're not getting. Let's say I think it's 18,000. So, if we were able to move the needle from 70% to 85%. What would that mean in terms of incremental dollars back to the board of ed? Or maybe we we don't need to uh answer this now. Maybe if you can before before Friday give me what it would be at 75% 80% 85% to see what the incremental uh revenue would be on the reimbursement for special ed versus the 70% that we ser that we've already have. That would be helpful. And lastly, just so everyone knows that when we look at these uh we can put that slide back up on

053energy but the five-year capital command. So had a conversation with Patrick the other day. Um and what I'd like to do and I think we can do it. I have a lot of contacts as you know. One of which is uh regarding performance contracts that can satisfy some of these energy efficient requests in the capital by financing it over a 17-year period. taking it out of the capital budget and financing it between the difference between what the new energy cost would be if we were to implement all these things versus what the current energy cost is. So the the beauty of this is we're one of the few municipalities that's ever done this and I spoke to a statewide mayor's meeting and half threearters of my colleagues didn't even know this exist. So if we

054can identify the real needs here, we might I'm going to set up a meeting with Patrick Christian. Ron, you're welcome to come in. Rich Monaco, we might be able to finance a lot of this and taking it out of the capital requests moving forward. >> Mike, didn't we do this years ago? >> We did seven. We did about 13 years ago with Johnson Control. This is this is a u >> a revitalization of that. I've got these other contacts that are willing to help us with this. What I'd love to do, and I don't know, it may be a stretch, the $650,000 on the replacement for gym floor. Can there be any energy efficiency savings through a new gym floor? Because that's a big number right there. Maybe think about that for me, too. Okay.

055>> I do think it's important to recognize though that with that support, which would be wonderful, these numbers are not a part of the budget that you're looking at. >> No, I know that. So even by doing all of those um additional fundings that you're talking about, which again would be >> great um it doesn't help that bottom line that we're presenting today. It helps overall and over time for sure, >> but it does not affect that 11%. >> No, I understand that. What I'm trying to do is plan for the future. >> Yeah. No, I appreciate that. I just want to make sure that everybody understands that >> our big thing right now is the health insurance. you know that that's that's the the 12.3 million. So that's why I asked the question about

056the state plan and what is the actual what is the actual uh number that would be associated with the state plan that the union leadership thinks it may be versus what we're faced with here at 12.3 million. >> Thank you for the for the special education system prices are extremely high. We want to do what's best for the kids. So, do we want to go and talk about the Brown and Brown situation? The email can [clears throat] start. >> Yep. >> Yeah. >> Mr. Holland, take it away. >> Um, yeah, it's it is unfortunate the the hole that we find ourselves in here with the uh with the insurance program. Um, you know, we always want it to be funded adequately so that we don't fall behind. And that's the whole purpose of reserves too

057is also to to cover us in certain situations. Um, but this this problem started uh I think a little ways back and um I I've been raising a red flag about it for for quite a little while here uh within the latest audit that we received um from our friends there at U Clifton Lawson and Allen um in the last fiscal year, the last full fiscal year uh 20 It's 2425. It states uh in their report that uh for the education, dental, and medical fund expenses exceeded revenues by 2,819,088. Is is do you believe that's an accurate figure? Keep going. >> Yep. Right there. Uh yeah, for 2425, Mr. >> 2425. >> Yep. If you look at that, that's actually what I pointed that out um in the presentation. You'll notice the gap there that

058you see. It's the second column. Um we can tilt that. So you are you are correct. Um we had to rely on reserves for approximately $2.2 million that year. That was a combination of two factors. Um going back from a historical context point, you recall from that year, um the feeding into that year, we had to go to a second referendum. So the board of education had to was requested to make a $950,000 reduction. Um while determinations in reduction to a budget are always the final determination of the board, there was heavy recommendation that we should look at at the time, if you look at the prior year, the reserves were healthfully funded at 3.2 million. So that the general idea that was communicated to the board is we could take a cut in what

059we were asking for our medical and dental and absorb that cut based upon projections for that year. Unfortunately the projections were did not come to par. Um we saw a substantial increase in medical and dental claims that year coupled with the fact that that $950,000 was effectively coming out of the reserve as well. So the difference you see there and why the reserves were so significantly depleted was a combination of those two factors. >> Right. But you still completed that year with a surplus. Correct. >> $267,000. >> Can you repeat that again? >> 2425 ended with a board of ed surplus >> unutilized funds. Yes. >> Unutilized funds. I would >> That's separate from the reserves. I totally understand. I totally understand. >> Yes, that is correct. you you could have chosen to to deplete

060that line item and use less of the reserve funds if you wanted. Is that is that correct? when you ended up that fiscal year with something in the bank account, something on that line item, $260,000 or whatever, you you because of the expenses associated with that line, you actually could have expended that entire line rather than using reserves to satisfy whatever bills, whatever costs remained in 2425. So as the year 24-25 progressed, we actually did um freeze the budget as we were very transparent on due to a multitude of factors predominantly um a high level of unexpected special education costs, the uh public benefit fees that we all were hit with in electricity. And so as we projected out the year, we did withhold that final payment in an effort not to come to the

061town for a separate appropriation at that time. that excess unutilized funds currently does sit in our non-lapsing fund. It will be up to the board of education to make a final determination where that goes, but there's um considerable dialogue right now going on that that would in fact go right back towards the medical and dental reserve. >> Yeah. >> Which was the recommendation of this board of finance >> some some time ago. Correct. >> Yeah. >> Uh well, no, we recommended it go to workman's comp. >> Oh, that's right. I'm I'm terribly sorry. You're you're you're correct. We had recommended women's cop and and then the board actually recommended splitting it. >> The board of education. >> Yeah. It's uh your your reserve amounts up there for for 23 24 that that's at the end

062of the year uh 3.2 million down to 986,000. So that to me that seems to indicate really a a a change of of about 2.3 million as opposed to the 2.9 that are is listed in the CLT audit. But nevertheless, I I was saying during that time that I my numbers were coming in saying that it was it was a $2 million uh loss or or um expense in in in excess of revenues for the dental medical and that's um certainly quite quite a miss there on that. So the the problem that I that that got compounded is that I don't know what what information or what uh advice you were getting from Brown and Brown, but in the budget that followed in the in the current year's budget, you asked for a 0% increase

063in that line item. Zero. Even though it was three, you know, almost $3 million in the red for that for the 2425 year. Is were you was the advice you're getting either correct or were you you ignoring it or what? How did this happen now? And because of that, how how how much in the red how do you expect the that that line item to be at the end of this year? So, um, in addressing that question, and I may have some of the board of education compound, uh, jump into my answer here, but going back one year, um, as superintendent Sturk spoke to earlier when he presented his budget, um, to the board of education last year, at this time, um, the actuarial amount was included in that particular presentation. The board of education

064made some incredibly difficult decisions last year in terms of trying to reduce the total ask in order to get a budget approved quite frankly. And so at that time uh the board of education and this was shared during our presentation last year made a determination at that time that they would continue to rely on the reserves to address the difference in funding that would come about this year. This year we are doing our best in looking at any actualized savings. We have frozen the budget again this year in an effort to make sure that we play all of our claims in the current fiscal year, but as mentioned, that will likely deplete our reserves down to just under $9,000. >> Yeah, that would be remarkable if you could do that. Um, again, you know, I

065I I don't know if it was a just a bad claim year that you you had in 2425 or whether that's a trend that's going to continue in the in in the current year. >> It was very bad. Yeah. 2425 was not it the projections versus what actually occurred were quite off. >> Yeah. Um, on average, how much do employees contribute to health insurance? Is there a certain percentage? >> 22 to 25. Yeah, >> for board of >> ed between 22 and 25%. I shouldn't drop it off. That's okay. >> of of the total cost. >> Yeah. Um and that gets taken out of of of each uh paycheck that they receive, right? So, so is that why there's no I you've you've given us charts before um uh or or numbers before that show

066no employee contributions during the summer. So they correct they so there's there's no if they get paid for 10 months or or whatever there's there's no money coming in in July and August is that >> benefit benefits are taken out of 20 of their pays. So if a an employee elects to utilize uh payments over 26 um those those payments particular summer pays as you alluded to uh deductions are not taken out of them for those benefits. >> Yeah. So your um your operating account acts as your reserve fund. That is the the amount of reserves that you declare is whatever is unspent in your operating account for insurance. in that line item in in whatever insurance fund you you run. >> So in the operating account, so each year we place in um what

067whatever the the proposed amount is and we send a check over to the town monthly because that reserve account sits on the town books. So we're feeding that reserve account and then all of the claims come out of it. >> Yeah. Okay. So you Okay. So the reserve account is your operating account. This is what you spend money on claims for. You don't have a a separate reserve account where sometimes you'll move money into into and out of an operating account. So you don't run two accounts, run a single account. >> Yeah. All right. That's >> it's two bank accounts. >> We have to cut a check out of our operating account, send it to the town that deposits it into on their books. The bank account for the reserve account. It's two separate bank

068accounts. Has nothing to do with our operating account. Operating account has an expense, right? So there's two sides of this this this equation. There's the reserve account that sits on the town's books and then there's the operating account over here with our expenses. We put in a line item in that expense. We cut the check off of that line item. Check is made out to the treasur town of North Haven. It is then deposited into their book into their bank account on their books. Has nothing to do with our operating account other than what we funded the line we funded from. >> Same works for workers compensation. I may have some questions about that in the future, but in one of the the uh the reports that you give us, um it's a it seems

069to be a single number of what the whatever the balance is in unpaid ex uh expenses versus revenue. So, um but again, I'll >> the one I had problems with 692 693 which are funded by town. >> Yeah, it was >> just just for historical purposes. I started that report back in 2021 simply because the data I was being given from the town was inaccurate and I had to reconcile the account every month to make sure that uh all right um I just a note on the on some of the the charts that you sent us um in [clears throat] in response to Mr. Dohaney's questions here. Uh you you you sent us this this uh budget or budget >> projection or something. >> Yeah. Just just to clarify, I think the uh for the

070the one that says budget fiscal year 2627, I think the top section was not fully labeled that the top section had to do with the current fiscal year 2526. >> You were accurate. We we clarified that in our responses yesterday and sent the backup document that >> Yeah. Um okay. And the same thing of course went with the page that for the previous year or the current fiscal year 2526 at the top section had to do with 2425. It's the same It's the same chart, >> the same uh information, >> but for a different correct. >> Okay. Um and by the way, the the workman's comp page that you workman's comp numbers that you gave us, for some reason, it's labeled at the top medical and dental. And then and it's labeled a second time

071in another line, medical and dental. So we were talking so that's that's literally the spreadsheet I just talked to you that I developed in the top. So it's just the work the workers count. >> All right. >> Okay. All right. You know you know where the delete key is. You're going to make those changes. >> We do. Thank you. >> Um >> yeah. So for the the for the one that says uh 2627 um the the numbers uh at the at the bottom now that has to do the the whole lower section is just is it act is it is it actual expenses because it says projected through 103125. Is this whole lower section just what what historically has occurred in the last 12 months? >> No. So bottom section is is the projection for7

072claims through 1031 and 2025. That's how that's how the actuators go about it. They take a period of time and they project those out year. That's why the 1031 is on there. You see other other versions of this. You see different dates. That's the date the claims are utilized by the actuary to then project what they're talking about. So that bottom section is all of what is being projected for the full year starting July 1st, 2026 going to June 30th, 2027. Okay. Commission from Brown and Brown. >> Yeah. Um now you you have a a a finance uh committee that you report to, right? You're Yeah. And we we have been asking for some um some more specific figures on on what the monthly changes are to uh your your reserve account or your operating

073account or whatever it is. uh based on uh you know contributions based on um uh claims paid and everything else. So we we're trying we're trying really to get it because when a when a when an accountant continuously runs millions of dollars or or a high percentage in the red and and we get the the monthly reports and we're supposed to look at them and we we we actually we comment on them. What does your finance committee say when when when this when this medical and dental is is running in in in in uh in such a negative fashion? >> I'm chair of our finance committee. I watch all the board of finance meetings and I address your questions in the public board of ed meeting uh sessions. You are welcome to come to board

074of ed meetings anytime. All of our finance subcommittee meetings are also public. Mr. pound. I also know you happen to have my phone number which anyone is welcome to reach out to me on. As far as running in the red from a reserves perspective, it makes us all uncomfortable. My dear friend Joe Saldi, who couldn't be here today, has been banging the drum on increasing our reserves for years. But we were in a position where it was either um lean heavily on reserves to do what we thought was the best thing possible or potentially face more strict cuts. So we do this calculus every month. We look at this every month to January when we have workshops. You are more than welcome to come to board of education meetings and ask these questions to us.

075We will get you answered. Absolutely. >> Yeah. Um, we do like data and some of the data is is more explanatory than others, but uh we've been told by Mr. Monaco that that this that this board can receive at least as much as what the finance committee gets >> uh on a monthly basis on the board of ed. So my my question to you is what what information are is provided to to you and your committee then >> on on a monthly basis >> whenever when I ask for committee information Howard, Christian, Patrick are happy to oblige. I I never feel like >> I mean within the the regular you get regular monthly spreadsheets >> that you also my understanding is that you also receive them. get regular reports, but I also will email the

076um the team fairly regularly with additional questions so that they can come prepared to answer in public session. Um and I I find that I get answers when I ask for them. You're you're welcome to send me questions as well if you'd like and I'm happy. >> No, but is then all you receive is this is this is uh the the 692 report. >> We get that regularly. Yes. >> Do you get more than this? Yes. >> Okay. Well, just as an example, why don't you just send us what you've received in the last meeting >> and then and we can look it over. >> Well, that's true, but like whatever happens in the finance subcommittee is >> I don't think anybody's trying to hide anything. If you have a specific question, I'm happy to

077get you a specific answer above and beyond formatting issues. If you have issues with formatting, I'm more than happy to help you interpret this. >> Yeah. >> All right. Just just so you just so you know, I do not like the 692 report. It's an awful report. >> Let's let's >> Okay. There there's there's blank lines and there's there's entry numbers that don't correspond sometimes to uh the the monthly budgets that we >> I'm struggling with, but if you are, we are happy to make adjustments that you can >> I think we need to we need to sidebar. We need to talk with you about the report and we don't need to keep going. >> All right. How about if I how about if I if I can just interject here because uh I want

078to try to bring this back to a uh a collaborative discussion between the two boards and the people that are here because what I'm about to tell you is what we're all faced with together in this meeting and even those watching on TV. So right now with all the requests on both town and board that side including the insurance numbers, we're at a 3.5 mil tax increase. Now I'm going to tell you something that I don't think anyone knows and that's this. Rich and I just talked about this late yesterday. So the grand list numbers came in and uh it's not a bad grand list increase probably going to it's probably going to be reported to the state about 2.7%. This is after which is almost remarkable. This is after the offsets. So just so

079everyone knows the way this works is that in a coming off a 39.5% reval this past year which created that tax increase because of that for every city and town that went through reval uh there's appeals both from residents and from businesses. So, the net for us after the appeals is about 2.7%. And that yields approximately $3.3 million in incremental revenue for the town, which in a in a normal year without these types of uh non-discretionary increases, it's really a remarkable year. But when we look at 14 million and then we subtract 3.3 million approximately, we're still at a 2.8% >> 2.8 mill rate >> 2.8 mil rate >> increase. >> Now also uh and I'm not sure if it came from this room and this is this is just a question there. There's uh

080there there could be a request coming in to me to split the budget on the town side and the and the board side. We've never done that. I'm not even sure if we can. I'm not even sure if the charter allows it, but I understand this it's bubbling up somewhere. So So the question is even after the incremental grandless growth, can we collectively, this isn't board of ed versus board of finance, can we collectively sell a 2 mil a 2.8 8 mil rate increase. It's a rhetorical question right now, but I'll give you my opinion. After the last couple years, I don't think we could sell it. So, what do we do? Even if the town stripped $3 million worth of capital out, we're still over a 2 mil increase. And by stripping the 2

081million or $3 million roughly worth of capital, then those are sanitation trucks. You know, there there's fire trucks that we have to pay for. How do we get around a 2.8 mil increase? I'm not asking for an answer. It's something we have to consider here. I don't think I don't think we can get it done. I'm talking collectively here. So, we talk about qu you know, this is why I'm trying to bring it back as a as a whole here, okay? rather than go back and forth on this because we're all here in this room faced with this issue that I just presented and I'm not sure what the answer is how we can do it. We all have to think about it collectively. Okay. That's where we're at. >> Any other comments from the

082members? Yeah, I I have some uh sort of specific questions because again, as was mentioned before, what each of us was faced with doing was looking at the 2027 request, comparing that not just to the current 2026 budget, but also with the actuals from 2425, and then also comparing where we are to date for that given line item in the current fiscal year which is 2526. So we're at a little bit of a disadvantage because we're almost in February and the numbers that we have are through the end of November. But um I I would like to ask just the very first line item which is uh salary contingency. So last year we were told this was in the budget um uh at $275,000 and I noticed that it actually went to zero or was

083revised uh the budget was re revised for that line item back to zero um I think in November. Uh and now you're requesting an additional $176,000 for salary contingency. I just wondered if you could provide some context for this. >> Sure. this year's salary contingency line request actually increases. Um we're actually about to enter into negotiations with our custodial contract. So um their their wages pending the the bargaining will increase. So we have an increase in there as well as um anticipated minimum wage increase which will come one year from now for all of our part-time employees. This is also where the just over $12,000 for the coaching stipens um is also housed. about that. And again, this this line item was just created last year for the first time. So, where did you pay

084for all of these things that you just mentioned previously? >> Can you repeat the question? I'm sorry. >> So, this line item salary contingency didn't exist before the current fiscal year's budget. So I I think I remember that this was created in order to accommodate the registered behavioral technicians that were being retrained this year. Uh and that was a big part of it. >> We were also at that time again in contract negotiations. So placing >> we don't know exactly, you know, we're going to come to the bargaining table with anticipated increases. So that's where we place those. Right. last year we were still at that time um nurses contract the RBT growth that we had also placed in there um I can go back and look because I don't have that book in front

085of me but there are some other smaller pieces in there as well but it is primarily designed to house the uh minimum wage increase that will trip January 1 next year as well as the result of contract negotiations which have not be done groups that are scheduled to happen. >> Right. So, I guess my question is prior to this year's budget, what how did you account for those things that you've just described? Because on the town side of the budget, we just make a forecast for increases in salary. uh if we're renegotiating contracts, we have a personnel and policy department or line item that accounts for um uh back pay for contractual increases. So I guess I'm still trying to understand exactly what was done prior to the creation of this line item. >> I'll

086give it a shot. Um >> sure. >> So salary contingency was just an effort to be more accurate in our budgeting prior to that. we wouldn't necessarily account for that the increases like we do now. Occasionally we we'd pull from we'd hire teachers or employees at a lower rate from teachers that have retired and see some savings there and that would go and it wouldn't be as accurate. Now we have this cont this contingency which we can um put in our our uh negotiations or stipens or whatever to be more to be more direct and accurate for us in our planning and for you to see where those increases might be. We weren't as accurate as prior prior years, >> right? Because because all all we see we don't see where it goes. We just

087see that that is zero. So we don't see that it's gone from this line item to >> Yeah. spread and different yeah >> where it goes sort of to the point that I was saying before that we don't really get a sense for that. Um and then um speaking of the registered behavioral technicians um I guess this is line item 112 S's in SAM um it looks like there's about a 410% increase from the current fiscal year to the 27 budget. Um just wondered if you could provide some context because again if you add that the current year's budget is $75,000 and you even if you add the entire amount of the salary contingency it still doesn't get up to the what you're asking for. >> It is a but it is a um this

088coming year is a where we did is we actually shifted the 10 RBTs that were in the salary contingency last year. That is now where that that those individuals get paid out of. >> Right. But I'm saying even if you added those two numbers together, the 75,000 from from the current budget plus the entirety of the $275,000, you still wouldn't come up with this 381, >> right? But the the if I'm understanding your question accurately, Nancy, the entire salary contingency from last year didn't it wasn't all RBTs. Is that >> No, I I understand. So So how do we go from 75 to 381? 10 RBTs at $38,000 131 uh 31 annual salary. >> So >> yeah, >> 10 10 time 31 is >> 38131. >> Oh, sorry. 381. Is that what you said? >>

08938131. >> Oh, sorry. Okay. So that's not what we expected for the current fiscal year, right? There must have been some big jump in their salary from the current fiscal year to the next. >> It's it's what we uh negotiated with the union. It's a it's a position within the upsuit bargaining contract. So effectively what we did was we took paras >> that were already there. >> They were already getting paid x amount of dollars and the salary contingency helped cover the difference between those. That's how that's being funded this year. >> Right. And then you backfilled those paras or we no longer have those paras. >> Right. It the best way to describe is an RBT. We we kind of classify them as almost special forces para educators. They're higher trained. They received a

090higher level of training. So they can do both a pareducator assignment and the RBT. So we don't have to backfill. they've now expanded their skill set and can be um assigned to students where uh the RBT services are identified within their IEP. >> Right. So then the [clears throat] total salary is reduced then by what they were originally paid as parents. Correct. >> Not necessarily. We we may >> then we're double paying. >> No, no, no. We may be hiring additional parent educator. >> That's my question. Right. It's whether you're going to backfill, right? >> But not we don't not it's not always a one to one. Okay. Um let's see what other questions do I have. Um let's see on pages. I know that uh Chairman Donnie asked quite a bit about um uh

091the transportation fees, but of course they're broken out into individual line items. So, uh, I guess on page three of the budget, it's line items. 510, uh, G is in golf and 510H is in hotel. Um, it looks like these are some really substantial jumps in, uh, transportation for VOAG school and transportation for ECA magnet of like 165% and 450%. Is there some big uptick in participation that you're expecting in both VOAG and ECA participation? >> Yeah, budget allocation last year. This is a reallocation for the proper allocation of funds. So if you're going if you're looking at year-over-year y >> right the allocation last year incorrect in total it's correct for the schools but it was allocated incorrectly by line. So you're going to get a false increase this year when you allocated. >>

092That was the 197 that he was talking about in that email. >> No, no, >> no. This is >> so vocag was is budgeted this year at 85 and you're requesting 225 and in 2425 you spent about 78,000 on it. >> Correct. And you can see regular transportation went down by 4%. So again, you you're taking it line by line, but the allocation year-over-year wasn't correct last year. So OAG could have been buried in the regular transportation line where it should have been in it should have been fully in its own line. So when I went through and reallocated properly this year, you're going to get these in incorrect percentage increases and decreases that don't truly reflect what the cost of transportation is. It hasn't gone up for years. There is actually an extra plus

093in MOAB this year that so there is an increased cost there which also complicates the calculation. >> So for that line item the spending at least through November is about $13,000 >> for VOG >> again I don't have through up to date. >> Um and likewise for ECA magnet um in 2425 we only we spent a little bit under $5,000. The current year's budget is 15 and you're asking for a jump up to 85 which is a $450,000 and thus far this year we've spent about 6,800. So there doesn't seem to be a connection between what's happening either in the completed last year to date this year >> November 66,000 then yes for the full year it's going to become 15 if you do you just do that's a probation you said 6,800 through November.

094>> Yep. and you're asking for 85. >> So you can go through the 18 year out for the full year. You're going to have about 15,000 which then oversides what we're budgeting for next year. >> So So yes, it would it would be appropriate for this year's budget at 15. It would not be appropriate for next year's budget where you're asking for 85 >> because additionally there's more in there than there's also again there's something that was in a different line or something else that that was not in there last year that should be in there this year. I can give you some details if that's a question you have on >> that would be great. >> Maybe we can just maybe cut to the end for a second of it. It looks like the

095overall transportation is about 4.4%. Is that what your contract drive is driven at 4.4? If you look at it in totals, >> the total is like a 4.4% increase >> and that's contract driven. >> Correct. >> So what he's saying is his allocation's all screwed up. So throws allocation. Look at it in totals. It's a four points change increase and that includes contract driven increase plus one additional bus. >> Correct. >> And we also bill for inind service on the finance department. duckest. I thought it was funny. >> Which that is supported by our town budget >> which is supported by the town side by townside budget. [snorts] >> Okay. Um let's see under I guess on one of the last pages last two pages uh under tuition uh I'm assuming that this is out

096of district tuition payments. >> Yes ma'am. >> Okay. So, uh, again, um, in, uh, 2025, uh, we budgeted at 1.8 and we're actually in excess of that at 2.1. But in the current fiscal year budget, we're at 2.9. We've shaved that a bit down to 2.7. And year to date, at least through November, is at about a million. So is the expectation that it will be two of those or three of those two two times the spending through November or three times? >> So you're you're saying we spent a million dollars through >> Yeah. >> Right. Yeah. I think right now I think it's going to be a it's going to probably be right on target based on the projection we have but it's a volatile item tuition is a very volatile item it's one

097of the most volatile items in this so it's we project as best we can >> and are the tuition payments made >> you know monthly quarterly monthly >> you see every Yeah. And again, I never know whether that's function of billing or >> how we pay it. >> And then it looks like you've added a new line item uh 739 C which is called leases and this is different from rentals. Correct. rentals for 40 for 4,4400 440 no 440 44D 4 43 zero rentals so that's different from leases so could you give some context for what leases >> sure so um in our relatively small fleet uh Mr. Phil Diana has made us aware that we have a 1999 Chevy Silverado which is used for plowing etc. Um the floorboards have rotted out and it's

098pretty much on its last legs. Um >> Mike Mur might swap you a vehicle for that. [laughter] >> So >> does it has it has a stop sign welded in for the floor. So that's where you stop your feet. >> Um >> another kind service. Thank you. Yeah. So fridges are willing to offer an ink kind vehicle. >> So we're so we're leasing a plow. Is that what that is? >> We're not leasing anything yet. It's a proposal to try and proposal proposal to replace that vehicle for our grounds and custodial crew. Get rid of that vehicle quite frankly. >> Right. >> Because the board of ed pays for >> we would have to of course the board of ed and then come to you on a on a lease. Yeah, we plow >> we

099plow all all of your own uh parking lots. Got it. >> Okay. >> Um and then um one last question in terms of the line items. Um uh the second to last line item 8100 uh organizational dues. Um again, this has been bumped up from 127 to 134,000. Um, in 2425 we spent about 80,000 on this and year to date we've spent about 55 on this. Is that something that is front end loaded? Is this going to be the organizational dues for the year? Is this something that is spread out o over the course of the fiscal year? >> Spread out over the course of the fiscal year. >> Okay. Because usually organizational dues I I think of as being something you paid at the very beginning. >> So So your expectation is there'll be

100more. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> I have a couple questions. >> Sure. [clears throat] >> Um there's two new assistant coaches for fencing and track. Are those new programs now or >> just additional support for those? It's just so there are other So how many coaches in total? Is it just the two or is it more than that? >> Were those those respective programs? >> Yeah. Because I Yeah, it just said two new assistants. So I my question is did fencing and track always have programs and now we have people managing those programs or I'm just trying to understand. >> So yes, we we have had uh the indoor track program, the fencing program do currently exist, have previously existed. These would be assisting coaches to help out with that. >> Oh, so there's regular

101coaches and and existing. That's what I'm just trying to figure out. This says assistants. >> Yeah, there's a head coach in place for each of those. >> So, there's one for Okay. All right. And then I noticed software and that's for all your programs. Like we were just talking to the IT guy earlier. I just I'm assuming that's just an increase of what you already have because of licenses. Correct. >> That's correct. >> All right. Anybody else have anything else? >> No. >> Yeah. I One of the points that you made um in your budgetary considerations was the whole idea about instructional supply lines that were reduced this year by 17.2%. But uh again in 2425 you only spent about 63% of what was allocated. So is the expectation that there's going to be an

102increased need for instructional supplies. >> So uh what you're actually referencing the 63% Nancy. >> Remember we froze our operational budget as of January 1 last year. So that effectively there are very few accounts that are discretionary at that point. So at that point teachers really started really of January 1 starting to say if you can do without it you have to start doing without it now. And so why those lines were not fully expended last year is a direct result of that budget freeze. >> And then was it unfrozen at once you got to the last two months of the year because we don't really have any of those uh financial records >> for it was never on frozen. >> Okay. >> A question. Um what >> what are our uh what are your

103projected uh legal fees for the suit against New Haven? >> We do not have that available right now. We're in the beginning stages of working. So we can do any that right now. >> So if you could negotiate a settlement that would cut down costs. >> Yeah, if I can jump in on this. So uh the mayor called me and we're trying to we already talked to Patrick in the board of on this. So there's a willingness on our part to meet with their board of ed and uh so I'm trying to orchestrate that with the mayor of New Haven who's not on board with me on that. U I think he's talking to their board of ed and um it's unfortunate because our board of ed has done everything they can on this sending

104messages uh trying to reach out unanswered calls unanswered emails. So the two mayors are involved and we're trying to reconcile this to see if we can bring uh this board and you with their board. So just bear with me on that one. Okay. >> I just wanted to also say that budgets are always really hard for everybody. So I appreciate the work that you guys have put in what all the members of your board have done. >> And I wanted to congratulate you on the blue ribbon school for Green Acres, but I also wanted to congratulate you on the uh youth governor that we got from that school. That was pretty cool. >> We're proud of her. >> That was really good. >> In's daughter was there. She's in that class. I cast questions. >>

105He's waiting patiently. >> Yeah. Uh just to button up on some overall um items here. The uh in terms of the uh enrollment um the projections are well the medium pro projection shows uh about a 50 student increase per year uh into the future. So that's that's about a 1.5% increase in enrollment per year. Okay. Yeah, because you you gave us three projections, low, medium, and high. That's the medium. Okay. Uh and then now with the numbers of u of personnel you have um you did say that all the numbers will remain the same except the teacher uh with with the proposal here for for includes five new uh uh um employees and the teacher line. So you would go from um according to the information you gave us here from 343.4 whatever point4 is

106uh to 348. Okay. Um but the pair of professionals uh would remain the same at 109 is getting confirmation. >> Yeah. Uh other support 109.5. I guess the coaches are not part of other other support. >> They're stipened positions. >> Yeah. >> All right. And administrators will stay at 17. All right. Um the teacher uh contract uh are we're in year one of of how long of a contract? >> This is year one of a three-year contract. >> One of three. And does that contract include um steps at all? Uh every year. >> That is correct. Steps every year. >> That is correct. >> Just step 14. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> 14. >> Okay. And uh with an underlying general increase or cost of living increase or whatever of of what? Two two and

107a half three. >> Yeah, we can get the exact figure for right. >> Okay. Um uh administrators uh what year are they in of their contract? I think we have to go into negotiations this end of this year. So, they're in the second of three years. >> Okay. All right. And and the bus contract that's we're in year two of How long is that? >> Two of five. >> So, no, that that's the food contract. This is year one of of five on the transportation contract. >> What? >> This is year one of go year one. We just end it with M andJ. >> This is year one. >> Um >> the current year is year one. So the the budget year is year two. >> Year two. >> Okay. All right. Thank Thank you

108for that information. >> I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Freedom. Unless there's if you have a question. >> Yeah. in the past you've provided uh information uh regarding uh actual enrollment uh and I go I know you always have to do it at a certain point in time usually it's October of you know the given year but you you also provide the figures for um prek through 12 in district versus out of district versus the transition program and I wondered if you could provide us with that information over that would be great >> the February 1st numbers will be out. >> All right. Anybody else good? >> All right. Mr. Freda, >> I think the last thing I'd like to say is that when I'm in Hartford on Friday, I try to get

109a uh a sharper handle in terms of what the state's subsidizations will be on all the different areas that we qualify for. You know, we're not in a position like we mentioned in New Haven earlier where you know significant part a part part of their revenue is derived by state income. I think we're at six or 7% which is that means 93% of what we do is is on the tax. So hopefully I'll get more information on what ECS may look like. But here's what we're up against just so everyone knows. And it's the same thing and and I was at a statewide uh meeting on this during the week that we all of us uh at the local level we have to have either council decisions or referendums in May. But many times we

110don't know what the money is going to be. We're just speculating. So, we're trying to get a handle on what the projections will be and determine how those projections match up with what we think the flatline would be from the year before. So hopefully there's some uptick in whether it's ECS pilot program that can be applied towards this budget because just to summarize right now it's $14 million aggregately uh on both sides the town and the board of ed that's a 3.5 mil tax increase. I just announced today that uh we have about 3.3 million in incremental revenue that brings that down to about a 2.8 mil increase. So, one of our goals at the local level um is to try to see how much more we can get out of state funding here that

111helps mitigate whatever the tax increase would be. Let me give you one last point. If we stripped everything out on both sides, I'm not saying we're doing that. We're still we're down to a 33 mill rate increase if we flatlined. And we know we can't do that because of the insurance numbers here. Okay, we get down to a 33 mill rate increase. I think that's the number which we talked about roughly. Okay, >> but that's eliminating everything. >> So this is the balance right here. That's why I said earlier this is more of a collaborative discussion because we're all faced with the same thing. In the end, it's going to go to a referendum in May. That's kind of my summarizing points at the end here. Okay. Thank you. meeting a journal is >> actually

112Diane I one more thing I'm terribly sorry I I I had forgotten that there was there was something that that I wanted to review with you all which uh kind of clicks me and I know a few other people too um the board of education administrators page so I I took a look at the one that is on our town's website uh [clears throat] for the current fiscal year and in my experience the way you end one year is the way you should begin the next year. It's just like a basic accounting principle. So for fiscal year 2526, all of those uh budgeted salaries for the 18 positions should be exactly the ones that are listed for 2526 in the proposed [clears throat and cough] budget book. And I see for six of the administrators

113that those numbers are different. And um unfortunately it it's about a $30,000 difference. But um what I'm also noticing is that it it it makes the basis of comparison different. Right? So if if the the 25 26 number is larger then uh the incremental increase for 26 27 doesn't seem quite as great. So I I'm first of all trying to understand why the numbers aren't the same. But just as let me give you an example. the superintendent for 2526 in the current fiscal year budget your salary is listed as 200,899 but then in the budget book for this year you're listing it as 209949 and then you're proposing for next year 216247. So what looks like it's only a $6,000 increase is actually a $16,000 increase. So, I'm not quite understanding why just for these

114six positions, >> my contract isn't negotiated until May. So, there has to be a number that's put in play when we're sending this budget. >> But your contract was actually set back in July of 20 24, right? It was renegotiated >> for a three three for a three-year term >> annually, right? >> But it's renegotiated annually, >> meaning it was it was set, let's say, in July of 2024. It's it's renegotiated between the superintendent and the board of education annually. So each year, yes, a three-year contract is put into play um with the board of education in concert with the superintendent. Typically there May, sometimes June, that contract is renegotiated each year for another three-year contract. It's a standard operating procedure, not just here in North Haven, but statewide. >> Right. Well, I I've just

115never seen in previous years that where we left off in the the previous year administrator salaries is different from where we start as a basis of comparison in in the next budget book. So this is true for >> Nancy. I think Howard already agreed that he's going to run a report so you see oranges and oranges and not oranges and apples. So that maybe answer your question once you get that page from them. >> Well, this is not a revised budget issue. What Howard was talking about was we appropriate a certain, you know, amount for a budget line item and the board of ed votes to revise that. This this is administrator salaries. When and Ed Swinowski used to tell me when the budget is approved at referendum, it gets frozen. Nothing changes. >> Correct.

116>> In the next cycle, you use that as your frozen basis of comparison. Is that true? >> Correct. So, so this whole list should be exactly the same as the way we left it. Yes. >> Um, and then secondly, I also noticed in 2526, which is the current fiscal year, um, we have three assistant principal positions at the high school. And in the proposed year, you only have two, which is of course your prerogative, but you can't just cut that from this list. you have to include it and include that salary for the current fiscal year. And if you want to list it as zero for the proposed year, that's entirely your prerogative, but you can't just cut it out. And then lastly, I'm I'm still perplexed why Howard is not listed. His position is

117not listed in this list of administrator. All right. Sorry. >> So again, I I looked up his his LinkedIn profile says finance director. So either you change your your LinkedIn profile or he should be listed here. >> I'm not in charge of his >> No, no, no. I I I'm not suggesting that. I'm just surprised. >> You are suggesting it. But he is clerical. >> Why he go from being a finance director to now a finance man? clerical. >> He's clerical. >> He's never been a finance director. >> What do you mean he's never? He previously was the finance director. >> I'm not talking previously. >> Right. And then he >> and he was actually the director of finance, transportation, operations, food service. >> He wasn't solely the finance director. >> Director of finance, operations,

118and human services and then director of finance. >> This is semantics. He's the finance manager. >> Let's remember he left. So when he he was I understand. I understand. And now he's come back. >> He's come back. So >> I personally now clerical and that's where they opt to do that. >> Yeah. >> I think it's interesting you're checking out his LinkedIn for budget meeting. >> That's up to you. >> I was trying to determine what his title is because we never received any. >> We're not in charge of his LinkedIn. >> We received No. >> We're not in charge of his LinkedIn. >> I understand that. I'm going to >> close a meeting. Thank you. We are adjourned at 10:30. >> 10:30. >> Thank you. >> Hi. >> The proceeding program is brought to

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