001Good evening. Welcome. We're going to get started with our budget session. [clears throat] >> Thank you. Good evening. Tonight we have Assistant Superintendent Heather Clayton. We'll be presenting on the building budgets and then I'll follow with our central administration budget and then Mr. Vesby is here uh to wrap up our budget workshop with um the support services and undistributed funds budgets. So, welcome Heather Clayton. [snorts] Good evening everyone. It's my pleasure to um share with you our building budgets. The heart of our work lies in our buildings. And when you look at this slide, um all of these things make up our building budgets. staffing is about 94% of that including our SRP staff are certificated non-certificated our administrators um any school support positions we have any of our work with Boseies um our library
002and technology services people services any co-curricular activities and um I will show you where athletic where athletics sits in relation to our budget our building budget as well. So, when you look at our building budget history, you will see that um this year we're looking at a 1.07 increase, and that's due contractual with salaries um and benefits. Here's the breakdown by level. And what we did for you this year was we took athletics out of the equation so that you could see relative to um our building budgets for our high, middle, and elementary students and then athletics as its own separate amount. One thing you'll notice is elementary um you'll see did not have a reduction. They weren't going down. you'll see that actually it looks like um an increase. They did not have the
003staffing retirements this year that some of the other areas did. So when you look at that um that speaks to why that farthest right bar, the maroon bar is higher for elementary. When we get into our per pupil costs, however, elementary is lower. Our middle and high school students have their co-curricular activities factored in. This per pupil slide does not take into account athletics in any way. This just shows us the cost per per pupil by level comparatively year-over-year. Just another way of representing it, you'll see that the 94% is our staffing with the remaining 6% being made up of athletics, um, our Boseies, technical education, our instructional materials, and any discretionary spending that our buildings do. So, this is what makes up that 94% staffing. Our certificated staff are administrators, teachers, our mental health
004staff, counselors, psychologists, social workers, and our school nurse teachers. Our non-certificated staff, which is also integral to our success, our paraprofessionals, um, our RNs, some of our supervisory paras, security personnel, cleaners, custodians, lunch aids, and clerical staff. When we say teachers, we are inclusive of our learning specialists, our interventionists, our special area teachers, instructional challenge and our librarians as well. Um for a look at our career and technical education at Boseies, just a little bit of statistics for you. We have 50 students this year taking a part in um CTE and we have 12 of the 20th fastest growing occupations covered. Our students are in 16 of the 19 programs offered by EMCC with the most popular being auto services and then close after that we have emergency services or new vision and medical careers.
005That was actually number one, automotive number two. Um and emergency services were also very high. Welding also came in very high um for that programming. Moving on our building instructional materials budget. So our per pupil allocation state aided amount. This is what it shakes out to be um total for our buildings. So when you consider our textbook a library books um hardware and software and any other stateated funds that we share with private and parochial this is where we end 136270 which is um bit little bit of a reduction from last year. The discretionary budget is the one place where principles actually have some say over what their funds are used for in their buildings. So, their discretionary money um goes to things like supplies, equipment, any professional learning, memberships, mileage, contractual services, chaperones, rentals,
006copier rentals, toner, and paper. So, with the money that they have left over, they have to cover these discretionary um they have some discretion over it, but they have these expenses that they cover within their buildings. Just a quick reminder where our money does come from. Um, for our building supports, we have our property tax levy, our Bosey's aid, which is 677 to the dollar, our New York State instructional materials aid, and any grant money we may have. So, just for a very quick um update for you, here was our adopted building budgets and then our 2627 proposed. You see the greatest difference with high school. We had some significant retirements that changed the staffing um landscape for high school. We did not have as many at elementary. So you see that variability there with
007the contractual um salaries and benefits and just overall increases that we see year-over-year with staffing. So just to summarize for our buildings challenges that we still have are um staffing shortages for our teachers, paras subs, and clerical staff. It es and flows. It just depends on the day. Sometimes we're well staffed and other times we find ourselves having to get really creative about coverage um in our buildings. Student needs are continuing to be complex and our buildings are still experience an increase of students exhibiting social emotional behavior and mental health needs which can tax your building resources. Also the increasing costs for instructional resources and professional development. So while the curriculum office covers a lot of those expenses, there are pieces of that that our buildings cover and they have felt the um they have
008felt the the impact of that as well. Some celebrations though from a budgetary standpoint when we think about our buildings, we've had very strong teacher engagement and professional learning. Um we've had a full-scale implementation of a new math program this year. We have an increased use of instructional technology tools to support teaching and learning. So in some cases, technology has been able to support us with personalized learning, individualizing experiences for kids, creating some efficiencies operationally um and continued work around the building relationships in a welcoming and affirming environment. Our buildings are very do an excellent job with that and they're always pushing the boundaries and getting more and more creative a ways of ways to connect with our students. Looking ahead, a big um thing for us is supporting our new staff. We're going to
009have a lot of new staff next year. We had a lot of new staff this year. And with that comes um the need for resources be it human curriculum um professional development. So just that need for that mentorship and support for our new staff to be successful and so that we can retain them in the long run. Meeting the needs of students who demonstrate that wide range of academic, social, emotional, behavioral skills. using the reliable data to identify skilled areas for our targeted needs for students. Um, we're going to be integrating the habits of mind with our academic instruction. The nice thing about that, it is costfree. So, we're very excited about that and just ensuring that equitable access to rigorous learning opportunities for all of our students. So with that, any questions? >> It
010doesn't look like it. Thank you very much, Heather. >> Okay. Thank you. I just want to also say thank you to the budget office and Terry for [clears throat] sitting with me and puzzling through this. He's been a lot of support. So just wanted to say thank you. Okay, good evening again. I have the pleasure of presenting the central administration budget. Um, and so that is really made up of the board of education, the district clerk, superintendent's office, and our human resources and communications offices. Um this just gives you um a little idea visually of how much um of the budget our uh area in central administration takes up. It's about 1 and a4% of our total operating expenses in the district. Um so our per pupil is about $289 which is the fifth lowest
011in Monroe County. So you'll see there's been some restructuring. So although this is showing a little decline from last year, you'll see there was that tick up in 2425. So through some of the transition planning that has happened um so if you look at 2425 that was where we had a deputy superintendent, we had a retired principal who were also here on board who were helping with the transition of our new elementary principles and our new assistant superintendent for instruction. And that's why you saw the dip the following year when those were never were not on any longer. And then the same from last year to this year, we had Superintendent Piro on board as a deputy for a little while and then that will obviously come off for next year. So you'll see that
012that's had a little bit of a decline. And of course in these areas, we're looking at the goals of the board and the goals of the district and we'll break that out a little bit and um meeting our New York State and federal mandates. So you can see kind of the buckets here um in the central administration um when it comes down to the superintendent's office, the board of ed um our personnel services or human resources and our public information or communications offices. And then for next year, we're not anticipating any increase in staffing. So we are staff neutral. And um as we kind of break it down in each of the different buckets, um you'll see where any of the changes in budget exist. So, um just a slight increase in the board of
013education line. Um this includes any work around Monroe County School Boards Associations, not just memberships, but anything related to events or activities or resources. Um includes our board clerk salary and a lot of work that's happened um over the last couple years to make sure that we have efficient and effective voting software and machines and that we're continuously updating those. Um so that's been really important. And then we also have um some work around um our goals together. So any of the professional learning that the board is doing um with the superintendent's office um comes out of this area as well. Um Sean actually presented quite a bit of this in his budget. Um but those the same things that he mentioned that his staff in his department is neutral. So we have the two
014administrators Shawn and Orlando and then we have the 3.0 I know FTE with their administrative support. Um I think just something to highlight there is is the incredible amount of work that's happened um to digitize both um with software when it comes to onboarding um but also within the the personnel files. So um we also saw when um Sean presented the increase in leaves of absence in FMLA leaves. Um so a lot of the work that happens in that office has been increased over time um with the staff remaining neutral. And then our public information office. Um so this is an area where um we've had some decreases over time. We still are staying neutral at two and a quarter FTE. So we have Nancy, we have Lori Everheart. Um and we have Caroline McFersonson
015who works a portion of her FTE to support the office. Um, this is really where where we like to spend our money and to be able to see it because one of our greatest priorities is having transparent communication. Um, one of the things that we saw in the exit polls was about 90% of the people who voted for our very successful capital project referendum vote last week said that they received their information about the capital project from either the newsletters, the mailings, Facebook, or the website. And those are all things that are meticulously kept up and um and and are accurate um due to NY's hard work in in her office and with her team. So um we're we're very grateful for that work and I think it shows in what our community is telling
016us around how they're getting information about the school district operations. Um the superintendent's office again you'll see because we we talked about some of that transition planning there is some decrease um and some decrease in salary as well. Uh some of the other things that would come out of this are things like the strategic planning coaster that we're involved in right now. So if there's any special projects that are related to our district goals, they could come out of um this area as well. Things like our leadership retreat in the summer. Um those types of professional learning for ourselves and for the district administration are here. So just a reminder of a few of the items that we were focusing on this year. Um, thanks to the board and the incredible amount of transition support,
017it's really been kind of a soft landing. Um, and in addition to having that support with Superintendent Piro here, um, also, uh, allowing for coaching for me, um, and for me to be involved in the new superintendence institute, that's all learning that I think has really been helpful in just being able to, um, shift thinking and just be able to preserve some time uh, to really make sure that we're transitioning effectively. And then a lot of time this year has been spent on one-on-one meetings with our community members, with every district administrator, um working with the board of education, um but really reaching out in the community and sitting down with folks to understand uh what are things that they find sacred in the district, what are things that they feel like need to be
018addressed, and then what are um things that longer term we should keep in mind. And so after having all of those meetings, some themes have emerged and I think that's what really helped us to um say let's get more information and and led to some of the strategic planning work that that we've been discussing. And then for next year, so the work continues with strategic planning. The hope would be to have a strategic plan ready to roll out sometime in the fall. Um and along with that, you've you've heard quite a bit about the multi-tered system of support framework. And as a part of that, that social emotional learning piece of MTSS is using habits of mind. Um, so we have quite a few things that are running parallel but in the same direction. Um,
019so really making sure that we're doing that work well and that we're supporting staff through that and that we have the resources in place. Um, and a lot of what we're going to be looking at is our management of staff. So, um, you'll hear Mr. Vespie talking about and and we've all spoken about the budget gap that we have and that we anticipate to have moving forward and just through responsible planning and trying to do some long range looks at how are we planning for our administrative staffing, our teacher staffing, our support staff in order to meet the increased needs of our students while being more efficient with our staffing. So, those are conversations we really need to have early and often and be looking toward the future to make sure we're not putting band-aids
020in place, but making the right decisions to support staff in the buildings and students in the buildings long term. So, this is just another look at the entire central administration and board of ed budget. So, you'll see the majority majority of it is made up in human resources and the superintendent's office. Um, and this just kind of gives you that um, holistic view of our spending. So, that's all I have. Any questions? >> Very happy to pass it over to Mr. Busby. >> Thank you, Shaina. Well, thank [clears throat] you so much for passing it uh off and I'm so happy to be here. Um it was tough to watch budget workshop two from the sidelines, but uh everybody did an outstanding job and uh you know, I think we're in really good shape. I
021especially like um the review of the work of the future. So as we look through these other two portions of the budget, we have to keep in mind the bigger picture as it pertains to um keeping the support services budget in check and then the undistributed budget. We'll talk more about the benefits, the debt service, and you know, some of the things that uh have increased uh this year. Um but I think we've done a nice job of keeping those in check. Um so just in terms of I I love the support services budget 60 PowerPoint slides that there's no way I can cover in 40 minutes. So um the information is there. I'll pick and choose as we go along and then obviously the focus uh on this discussion will be the electric vehicles
022and buses. So I'll allow plenty of time for us to have that conversation. So if you you kind of see me moving through some of the slides uh quickly it's just it's goodformational uh uh things you know for example um you know this is what uh you know in general the assistant superintendent oversees you know the whole back half of the operation of a school district right but the food service budget isn't part of the the you know the general fund budget that we vote on right so we we just do a quick reminder on that and I actually do have an update for you tonight in uh in the regular session but We're about 20 million or 11.6% of the budget and 18% of the staffing. So really, I think we've done a good
023job of keeping our staffing stable with the exception of adding uh the assistant director position in transportation. Our staffing has been neutral and and thank goodness we did add that position um just you know due to some um turnover. Um it's a good thing that we have that in place. So we've done a good job. I think overall when you look at the lowest spending per student in the county um and you know from an both a per student perspective uh and as a percentage of budget you know those are impressive facts. I do worry sometimes though do we need to spend more. So, it's a it's really it's a catch 22 when you look at the overall budget, but again, we're keeping the support services budget in check so that we can prioritize the
024instructional aspects and some of the strategic planning and where the district needs to go. So, you'll see some of that information. For example, overall, you can see in the last three years, um you know, what makes up the support services budget is relatively flat. Um when you look at a trend by object again we've kept that in check. We have made reductions um that I'll outline but we're we're relatively flat. Uh staffing I talked about 219 to 220 is that one position uh that the board approved. And again, just a quick note on that. We now have redundancy in food service, transportation, uh, and we've had redundancy in, uh, the custodial maintenance operation. Very, very important, especially in this environment to, you know, to have that, uh, that backup plan, if you will, in each
025of those departments. And we've done it while keeping the budget in check again. So, it's it's good. So, Terry and Rachel do a tremendous job. This is really all about them in finance and auditing and uh you know 15,000 paychecks for 2,000 employees you know about you know four to four and a half million per payroll. It's a big operation uh when you consider the the overall activities that we have. We've done very well in auditing. Um, we do very well in claims auditing and we've got someone who does an outstanding job that works directly for you that doesn't hesitate to point out areas that we could do a better job in and we make those course corrections. Um, finance and auditing in general, I've said this before, but we're one of the most regulated
026agencies in the state, right? In terms of the audits, we have external audits, internal audits, state controller audits. Uh everything that we get in from a revenue standpoint has to be recorded and sent to the state by September 1st. Um we're a ve we've got um we used to have transparency reporting now we just have the federal transparency reporting separate audit for our federal grants. So we're very highly regulated and we do a great job uh in terms of managing the funds and we've done a tremendous job I think uh of managing um additions to our fund balance and reserves right and balancing that the check and balance with creating budgets and and um you know the issue that I'll get into later. So overall 61,000 in finance and auditing mostly the staffing uh just
027general rollover of salaries and benefits. Um, we just got an update from Moody's reaffirmed. I know NY's working on providing that update, but Moody's reaffirmed our our very high bond rating and that was no problem. And again, we have that that lowers our debt service and our financing costs when we get that good bond rating. So, those are all efforts uh, you know, that our staff continues to uh, uh, because they're stellar that we continue to have no issues with uh, with some of these things. Um our bu we've cat nine buildings, 10 buildings. Yes, every roof is leaking after this ridiculous winter that we've had. So um you know Jeff and his crew are doing a great job under the circumstances. Um and it's not just a Pittsford problem. We have this this is
028a huge problem for you know large scale buildings. Um, you know, you hear a lot of issues because again of the the record snow and cold and with the rapid uh freeze and thaw, but if you look at that 11 buildings, 23 structures, uh, we maintain a lot of land and we do it very efficiently. Uh, staff in 92, we do struggle in that. Sean's team, uh, Sean and Orlando are doing a great job of being proactive in terms of staffing, but we continue to struggle uh, at any time. We've got five or six positions that you're trying to fill and uh some of them are critical ones in our buildings, head custodian type positions that you know we've seen a little bit more of a challenge recently than before. Um but you're looking at
0292400 work orders. Um you know, and that's an area that we could always improve uh in in terms of closing work orders and providing that service. and some of the staffing challenges really um prevent us from being you know more efficient than we are. Uh but we're doing the best that we can and uh I don't think it's a financial issue but I did mention you know in in my meeting that I I am concerned about how many years can we just keep a flatline with you know our custodial maintenance operation and what's the impact on our facility. So it is something that I think we're going to have to keep uh keep an eye on. We started a minor maintenance um you know through capital transfer project. It uh was quite a bit more
030than we anticipated. Next year we're going to work on doors and I'll put that together in the April presentation. But uh we are going to start doing little $100,000 projects that then generate 70,000 in aid. So I think that will help. Uh the biggest uh budget reduction we have is in energy savings. You know we're converting all of our lights where possible to LED lights. Some of them have dimmer. Some of them do not have dimmers. So, we're working through that. Um, so far there's there's a big difference when you put LED lighting on to, you know, degraded fluorescent lighting. So, we're working through some of that, but the idea is to save money and provide the SED required lighting that we have in our classrooms. So, we did reduce the budget by 300,000. And
031then Terry and I got a lovely notice uh from our energy uh cooperative. We saved about 85,000 by having being part of this energy cooperative. And some of that's going to get gobbled up because of how cold it was in January and February. So, they're record increases. I'm sure all of you have seen your your personal utility bills and and they're higher. So, that's going to impact us too. U now with uh the conflict that we're involved in, fuel prices in general are going to be impacted. So, we do have some variables. So just when I trim the 300,000 to keep this budget in check, things are going the other direction. So we've got to keep a close eye on that. Uh admin technology support. Matt did a great job last week. Um we know
032we manage uh our technology purchases through Boseies, which then drives aid in the following year. So when you see the the budget and technology and the increases, remember that those increases are also driving Bosey's aid in the following year. So um you know, so that's not necessarily a bad thing. But what struck me uh when I was reviewing the budgets in general is this increase of 325, right? We know that it's going to drive aid, but I also know that we have money in our instructional technology reserve. So, I did make a recommendation and you can see it highlighted here to go from 500,000 to 8.25 to cover that difference. We have to build capacity in this current budget that we're developing because of some of these variables, right? And I'm about to talk about
033some health insurance increases that I have some concerns about. So, between the energy and the health insurance and some of these unknown fuel prices, um, we've got to build some capacity. So when we do that, you can see safely for one year. I've recommended increase of 325,000. We have the money in the fund. Um we've got a we've got a window to replace it right now. So I did recommend that change on a one-year change. So that is different, but that will cover that increase. So, the first thing that gets voted on uh or the first resolution that I'll share tonight, it's not actually the first thing that gets voted on in the booth. Um is to increase that to 850,000. So, not only for the replacement of laptops, but the reserve also allows us
034to buy instructional technology equipment. Questions there? I can pause there. Any questions? I think it's prudent under the circumstances to build some capacity in our budget. Okay. Transportation. Uh again, we had a huge transportation study, a root route efficiency study. I don't think I was very popular in September and October, right, based on some of those changes that were made in transportation. Uh but in general, I think parents understood it and and even the parents who had some concerns could understand the reason why we had to look at being more efficient, right, to match our drivers. If you look at how many bus cancellations we've had this year in comparison to prior years, mission accomplished. And again, sometimes not at the, you know, the, you know, with positive feedback from from, you know, bus routes
035that were impacted, but we continue to have to be efficient because we still have a record increase in contract transportation that we have to deal with. Right? When I first got here, that was two 300,000 at the most for specialized runs. And, you know, we're over 850,000 now. Qualifies for transportation aid. It's a shift. And but we're still having a, you know, a tough time. uh recruiting drivers to to to do our runs. So, that's something that we have to uh keep a really close eye on. Again, the transportation budget is flat because we're not anticipating the additional drivers. And even if this budget goes the other way and we get those drivers, which is what we want, we're okay because it just means a shift from the contract transportation budget to the salary and
036benefits aspect of the budget, right? So, we'll be fine. Um, but that would be a good problem to have, especially when the state's giving us 65 uh cents back on the dollar and transportation aid. So, we're okay here, but you can see that we're relatively flat here as well. And then, just to clarify, 800,000 to 950. So, just in four short years, we've gone up over $600,000 in contract transportation. And it's great. And we're still, if you look, the lowest cost in in the county comparison. I don't I'd rather us not be there. I'd rather us, you know, have excess drivers to be able to do more in terms of our services. Um, but we're managing it right now and, uh, you know, I think we're doing a pretty good job under the circumstances. Um,
037our bus mechanics do an amazing job. You can see that in service at 99.6. We're above the New York State average. We're one of the best in the state. So, our bus mechanics do an outstanding job. Um and I mentioned we did an efficiency study to do two things. One is we looked at roots where we could consolidate roots, change roots to be more efficient. And uh I actually have a feedback session scheduled uh in the near future on that. The other thing that we looked at and it's still a work in progress is proactive. We looked at what if we tweaked some of our schedules in buildings, what would that look like? Right? So that's something that we're looking at. That's something that would require a lot of discussion and interaction, but that was
038something late last year in the budget discussion process that we talked about and I hope to have something by the end of this year that can be considered as future budgets become more challenging. So, now we're on to the bus replacement plan. I mean, the whole goal with the bus replacement plan is to make sure that, you know, roughly a 100 bus fleet that we're doing, you know, 10 buses, so a new bus at least, you know, every 8 to nine years. It usually ends up between, you know, 9 to 10 years by the time we actually uh surplus them. But it's a big operation uh in terms of our buses. And the reason why we do that is for safety, you know. So, this is just a reminder of our policy. uh we've got
039that non-allowable pupil decimal um down considerably um since this presentation was first put together. So, we're really happy about that. We're about 31.6 square miles uh in the district and we do a lot. And what I would say overall, just keep in mind that the elementary late bus runs are really something unique. You know, you don't see a lot of school districts that have that. And that's a that's a great service and enhancement that we have. Um, so just keep that in mind. And then of course our late buses as well. All the places that we take kids. It's always interesting uh to look at these 920,000 total miles. And then again, it's a 9-year. We, you know, optimally we'd like to be in that 8 to nine year range, but by the time we
040actually get rid of the buses, it's longer. And what's our number one enemy? It's corrosion, right? So you've heard me talk about this. Most of this has to be, you know, most of these buses have to be replaced um because of corrosion and they go down south, the engines live easily for another 10 years and the corrosion stops. So, our buses are just fine. They just can't pass DOT inspections because of rust here. So, here's the schedule of buses to be replaced in 06 or 26 and 27. And then here's our diesel replacement plan. So, we throttled down a little bit uh to nine buses this year. Uh in the past, we've replaced um you know, up to 12 buses to stay on that replacement plan, but we've said nine this year can serve a
041little bit on the reserve fund. Remember, our bus replacement plan does not cause any increase in the budget or the tax cap. There's no impact because we have a reserve fund that we replenish with the state aid that we get from the buses each year. So this is a really good system and plan that we have in place. So recommended uh proposition is nine diesel buses to be replaced. Uh you know the 66 passengers are about 185,000 per bus and then we're going to talk about what that looks like in comparison to the new requirement was which is the fleet uh electrification plan. So this is something that we started talking about uh let's say about 18 months ago was a project through NAERTA was funded through uh grant money. So we did an RFP.
042We went out and got a contractor. They looked at our fleet. They did an amazing analysis. It's a huge document. You know certainly um uh can be made available. The district planning team has looked at it. I've done presentations on it. Scott Kovville did presentations in my absence on it. Um, but a lot of work has gone into this plan and there's a lot of discussion about, well, are we really going to have to do this? And what I'll tell you from all the time I've spent in Albany and through advocacy efforts, um, you know, Sarah as well, we're hearing from our legislators and we're even seeing articles and even a little, you know, blurb in the news about how the governor may roll back some of the requirements and what those costs are. But
043we have nothing in legislation. The law is the law. So, you know, I just want to put that out there to begin with. We're already a year behind in the fleet electrification plan. Um, we really should have voted last year for two buses and we don't even know if the community is going to approve this, right? So, that's a that's a hurdle. Um, so we're behind for the two buses. So, the proposal that I'm going to walk through is two buses, but certainly I just want to be upfront to say with plenty of time for conversation, we do not have to do this this year. This is not a requirement, right? It's a recommended plan. So, let's just jump right into it. So, the mandate is by 2027, we have to purchase only electric buses.
044So, that's next year. I've applied for a waiver. It's a two-year waiver. We I don't know if it's approved yet. I'll find out sometime maybe in July. Um but I applied for the waiver explain the challenges based on the study. So we'll see what happens. But in essence that would still allow us to purchase gas and diesel buses for the another two years. So that part is in legislation. But the original law was buses purchased after 27 next year um have to be EV bus um and then the entire bus fleet has to be EV by 2035. So we did a feasibility study. As I said, NAERTA paid for it. So no impact there. Criteria for feasibility uh was looked at. 92% of our bus runs will work with an electric bus. 3% will face
045challenges. 5% just not going to work and no solutions about you know roughly that 8% no solutions in mind. Hopefully the technology improves by 2035 and we'll have figured it out. Otherwise, probably got to add more buses and more bus drivers to cut some of those routes that won't make it in half or whatever, right? And there's a charging issue there. So, we know exactly what they are. I mean, this report goes through every run, every scenario, the type of bus, the battery life, all of it's there in detail. So, we've got the information. Um, the charging infrastructure is really interesting. So, charging stations are expensive, but right now there's an incentive 55,000 per charger, right? That if you get a bus approved, then you get the money for the charging station. And there's an
046incentive for the bus purchase, too, that I'll cover. The biggest aspect of charging, if any of you have EV buses or EV cars, it's you got to figure out when to charge them and what time peak rate. Do you have a fast charger, a slow charger? So, are you gonna pull over to a, you know, a gas station that has it or are you going to go plug it in and walk the mall, right? Depends on the charger and how long it takes to to fill it up. So, we have the same thing based on software. If you charge it overnight, it's a lower rate compared to during the day. The software manages all this. So, this is just as much of a technology investment as it is an infrastructure investment. So remember it's not
047just about electric buses, it's about the charging station and then the software that runs the charging station. So whole different concept. Um so the recommendation was a phase deployment and we changed it for you know from 25 to 26 to 29. So the idea is to get six buses now to figure this out. We can have up to six buses based on our current electrical structure. Um, luckily uh when I met with um RG& I had a great call with uh with a great team of people. One of them was actually a Pittsburgh resident and they were blown away at how prepared we are for this and the report like absolutely uh blown away at how uh far ahead of the game we are in terms of this information. There is no electrical grid problem
048here. we can bring the power to the current bus garage area without any issue. So they walk through that. The problem they have is they don't have a phased approach. They don't have a business model that allows us to bring all of the power, right? It's over 3.1 megawatts um at once. If they bring it all at once, it's about a half a million dollars. Then the capacity is there and we pay for it. We don't need it all right now, right? We need it before 2035. Well, each time we re-engage them to come do this and upgrade the equipment, there's more cost. So, there's not a model out there right now that uh that allows us to have what they refer to as a holding capacity for the power. So, clearly our state leaders
049when they talked about this initiative haven't had those conversations with the power companies to get details like this ironed out. And the difference would be, you know, somewhere up to 250 to a half a million dollars every time you, you know, get someone to come out and upgrade the infrastructure. So, right now, regardless, we can do six buses, don't have to do anything with the uh the grid. We can we can just simply use our existing power and hook up some power uh charging stations and we're good to go. So there's little risk in terms of starting this process, right? Even if it isn't mandated. Um and then phase two would be the big expansion. So we talked about the utility collaboration, great meeting, great Pittsburgh resident who was part of that and invested. So
050we've we've got some good partners out there. Here's the financial overview, and I'm going to try to present this as neutrally as I can, right? So 53.4 4 million in EV buses compared to 17.8 million in diesel buses on the replacement plan. There's about 2.2 million in incentives. We don't know if those are going to continue or what's going to happen. And then, you know, there's your net estimated cost. And again, vehicle vouchers up to 220,000 per bus comes off at the manufacturers. So, we don't have to apply for anything. And then if the bus is approved, up to 55,000 per charger. They need one charger per two buses. And that's all I'm just going to give the numbers. I don't, you know, the numbers are what they are, right? From that standpoint. Um about
051another 2.9 million uh infrastructure and then the switch gear could be 500,000, could be 2 million. It depends on what's going to happen in the future. You've got design work that has to go. And then the big piece is the electric budget, right? So we know what our fuel budget is that would go away and then we'd have to look at our electric budget and it is not from what I understand dollar for dollar but I don't have any analysis and I don't want to speculate. I think the bigger problem that we have and this may be regardless of whether we go EV buses or not is we need a new bus garage. the parking lot that currently exists, there's definitely not enough square footage to add all the charging stations and use that same
052facility. It's got to be reconfigured. It's already kind of a challenge as it is, right? Um and it needs um an upgrade. So, in order to upgrade that, you're going to be looking at a vote probably in the 2029 2030 to be ready for the mandate by 2035, as you know, with the lead time of everything. And I'm saying conservatively with discussions with our architects, 30 to 40 million in a facility. So that layers on top of it. Now, would you need to upgrade the facility if we just stayed with gas and diesel buses? Yeah, I think you'd have to do a renovation, but I don't think like we're doing the fuel the both fuel tanks after the summer will be brand new, right? So, I don't and we had to do that regardless of
053the timing because we had to get the tank from, you know, underground to above ground. So, you know, you've got to look at that uh that impact and then you're definitely going to move into that soccer field. There's no way about it. I'm going to put it out there now. You're going to have to take some green space. There's just not enough room over there to do this with uh with the Chargers. So, 65 million in the report, 7.9 million in aid, and then who knows if the incentives are going to continue, and that doesn't include another 40. So, when people ask me, how much is it really going to cost to do EV buses? I'm like probably over 100 million fairly like you know in and in inflation factors in the next 5 years.
054So what's an EV bus? So what so so a potential possibility if if we decide to do this again I want to be clear it's it's a decision that we can make. We can pull this. We don't have to go forward with this but the the consideration was to put on the ballot two EV buses. They cost 941,000. um that it's aided over eight years, not five, because of the state. There's no way the state could could keep up with the finances. And that's assuming 65% in state aid, which our transportation aid ratio has been dropping because our wealth has been increasing. So, it's a net cost of 40. And I do the same analysis, so I'm being fair. I do the same analysis for gas and diesel buses. But let's dig into the facts
055a little bit. One electric bus costs $470,000 compared to $185,000. That's a $285,000 difference. The reason why you don't see it right now is because with these two buses, we get roughly 441,000 in rebates from the current uh rebate program. So, when you boil it all down, the difference between the EV bus and the diesel bus is about $64,000. So, I just put this slide together just to be transparent. No judgment, just here are the numbers because I think if this if we decide to put this out to the voters, they need to know what they're voting on and what the difference is. They also need to know the path going forward and what the impact is long term. And I think again, there's been some criticism where business officials are providing this information. We're
056just providing the information. You know, the criticism is that we're skewing this and somehow dissuading people from voting. But the truth is many communities are voting no on this and one of the primary reasons is because of the cost and the technology and the timeline. That's not because we're trying to skew anything. It's because that it's their right to do so. So I just want to be clear and transparent. Here are the numbers with no um with no judgments whatsoever. Eventually the world is going to move in a hybrid EV. The world's going to move in that direction. So, I'm not ashamed to put up a vote for two buses to go down that path with one charging station, right, to try it out and see and get our folks experience with it. But we
057also don't have to do it. So, I just want to be clear. And then other cost-saving factors of the department. Um, again, that DOT record with our with our uh you know, with our mechanics, they're just amazing. And they're they're they're doing this and they're driving, too. Many of them are driving buses, too, to help out. So, and then of course everything we do is a is a collaborative bid. Um, so here's one resolution, right? 1.6. Um, I'm sorry. Uh, yeah, 1.6 if you combine the two for diesel buses. No impact. So, this is not I got to say this, too. No impact on the tax levy either way, whether we do one or two. Just we're going to use a lot more money if we do if both are approved, right? We're going to
058we're going to go um not 941 but the 941 less the incentives which I highlight on the you know I can't do it in the resolution. I can't put the incentive in the resolution. I got to put the real cost in the resolution. But with our expert communication department, we will put the rebate amounts so that people can see that you know this transparent slide right here, right? With what the net cost is, questions, comments, discussion. I'll pause right here. We've got We're fine. I can do the next budget in about seven minutes, so we're good. I have two quick questions. They'll be quick. >> Um, where are the current rebates coming from? So, you've got the 220,000. Where's that rebate coming from? >> I, you know, as far as the federal, it's state or
059federal. >> Yeah, it's state and federal. >> It's both. >> Yeah. It's Yeah, it's money that was set aside um for this in the state budget. >> So, we have no idea how long that could be there for. So, our experts that did the um the study only ran it out for two years. So, it's not it's not extended past that because they have we we don't know, >> right? >> There's no guarantees. >> Two years from now or from last year? >> From last year. >> Okay. [laughter] >> Yeah. If you see the report, you'll see that it ends. And I have no idea. That's why even the incentives for the charging stations cut out after a you know a you know a certain uh number of those. So I'd have to go back
060and consult the report but yeah it's all it's all laid out there but that's a good question that we should communicate like where is this where's the source coming from >> and I guess my other question is is nothing really but that's a big one. So thank you. That's a huge Yeah, huge >> and that's why I've decided to be transparent with the actual cost of the bus and not mask it with the rebate because we don't know how long the rebates are going to be >> and I think I would get in more trouble with not being transparent and trying to skew it the other way than talking about the real cost of the bus. >> So I think it's the way to present. >> So that's sort of the financial risk of waiting
061till next year is that the rebates might end with this year. Is that correct? could. >> Okay. >> But >> any reason to think they might? >> I I don't think, you know, no. No. Okay. >> And I don't I don't know that there's a lot of buses that are getting approved and I think it's a pot of money as opposed to I don't know if it's bound by time, but I definitely can get more information on that before, >> you know, before we make a f any final decision. >> Are there any other like financial risks you can think of of putting this off another year? >> Not financial risks. Um, again, my idea is just start with two and a charging station just so we can drive it and see how the charging
062life works. We can see how it operates in cold weather. I've heard reports that, you know, drivers have to turn the heat off when it's, you know, 10° because you can't you're worried about not making it back, you know. So, all these articles that I've read and things that I've seen, I think it'd be nice to have it to assess the risk with low risk if it's approved. But again, our voters would have to approve it. So I think go slow, test it out, see how they work. I think any legislation change that's going to happen, it's not going to say, "Oh, we're never doing this." I just think it's going to push the timeline back. >> So I think eventually this is going to happen. So it's to me it's it's an acceptable risk
063to try it out, right? Based on the cost and the incentives that are here as opposed to we don't know what it's going to be in the future. So, I don't see I don't see a downside uh from a financial standpoint. >> Okay. Thank you. Is there anything that you're hearing with the waiverss? I know we're at the beginning stages of that process there, but is there anything that would indicate that putting it out to the community would change the outcome of that waiver >> on the waiver? If the community votes it down, then it counts as a point to get the waiver to qualify. >> And you don't expect to hear >> that's the truth, right? So it's the first question. Have you done a vote and did your community vote no? And if
064they did, then they want to give you the waiver, right? So it it counts as a point towards the points that are required to get the waiver granted. >> And timing wise, looking at obviously we have a May vote, maybe July that you hear back on the waiver, if the waiver is denied and we still have to meet the mandate for January 2027, would we potentially have to revote this fall? you we'd have to revote um you know after that if we don't get approved for the waiver then we couldn't buy gas or diesel buses. We we've built in and I'm going to go out on a limb and say this but we've built in at least 18 months of buses that are in good shape that aren't the greatest shape but good shape right
065that we could squeak by until we have another plan. And remember, you don't Some districts have voted on EV buses outside of the budget cycle, Deb. I hate to say that in front of you, but they have. They've done it with just separate votes, right, to see what happens, you know, so you could do it, you could pair it with a capital project vote or, you know, something else that you're voting on that has happened. >> But ultimately, we would have to revote at some point if we were denied the waiver. >> There's nothing in legislation we've asked at Nauseium. There's nothing in legislation that tells us what to do if our community votes no, right? There's no response >> other than we think it's going to be delayed, so why are why are you
066fixated on the question? And it's like because it hasn't been delayed yet and we need to know, >> right? >> You know, and there's a lot of school districts that have had no votes and they don't know what to do. But they're also able to put on the waiver that the community voted no. So, most likely the waiver is going to be approved for those districts because they already know the community voted no. And some communities have voted no more than once. >> Yep. Great questions. >> Thank you. >> Um, for our budget vote, we [clears throat] can have a proposition that's for the electric uh, vehicles and then a separate propos for our diesel vehicles. >> I've been working with the attorney since I came back January 5th full. >> Yeah. >> I think
067the first email I sent. >> Yeah. >> And their recommendation was do two separate resolutions just in case >> because I thought about doing an if then structure and we said nope, just two separate. So that's why, you know, our ballot's going to look full. >> Yeah. >> So, >> another question. >> I'm already worried about that with debt. >> The aid. So, first off, the rebate is separate from the aid. >> Yeah. The rebate comes from the manufacturer. You're not even going to get invoiced for that full amount of the EV bus. It comes right off the top. So, if you see the quote, >> the money comes right off the top. >> And then the aid is paid out over an 8-year period. 8 year period instead of five, >> which is tied
068to the expected lifespan of the bus. >> The so-called expected lifespan, but we don't really know because no one's had an EV bus for 8 years. >> Also, we have these corrosion issues with our existing buses, which mean they have a shorter lifespan. So, what is the average lifespan for our bus today before we sell them at auction? >> I mean, we can most districts can get 10 years out of a bus, right? Depending on the type of winter that you have and the corrosion. >> Okay. So our goal is to get that at nine years because we don't want to take it all the way to the end, >> right? >> You know, and we've also been doing very well at auction. >> Yeah. >> Relatively good shape. We do a good job maintaining
069our buses for from a safety standpoint, >> but we would likely get the full eight years out of the bus. >> We would. >> Yeah. >> And you'd Yeah. And you'd have to because you're going to get the aid >> otherwise you can't Yeah. Right. >> Yeah. Yeah. you'd you'd have to you'd be forced on an eight-year. I mean, ideally, you'd have a you could get nine years out of it and, you know, get a little payback, right, in terms of it to reduce your how many you need on >> right when you sell it again. Yeah, cuz right I mean having to pay this cost effectively every >> and Terry's reminded we got to be careful about how much how well we do with selling because any dollar that we earn by selling buses
070they reduce your aid because they look at it like you made a profit. So they reduce the amount of aid that you get. So Terry and I had a nice spirited conversation about well be careful because the more money we make you know the impact is is the other way. So >> great questions. >> Thank you. We are we good? Go to undistributed. >> Okay, I think we're good. [snorts] >> So really that you the undistributed budget, you know, I like to say this is a great slide, right? This is uh debt service transfers, legal fees, insurance fees, and employee benefits, right? It's kind of the, you know, the guts of the budget. um you know everything um you know on the undistributed budget is a required budget component. I liked you know when Heather
071mentions how much of the bud building budget you actually have control over it's you know this little teeny bit we have zero control over this like these are things that we have to budget for and pay. Um so the big story this year is obviously in the debt service. Um we knew that with the uh 20 23 capital project that the main um bond payment was going to hit this year. So, we knew this. We timed it with the tax cap. We did a good job managing this. We just got a capital project improved timing with additional debt that's going to fall off. So, we're very efficient at doing that. So, the biggest increase is in debt service and that's completely offset by expected building aid. So, our budget-to-budget increase this year is going to
072be closer to 5%. It's going to be 4.9% roughly. Okay? And I'll I'll finalize everything before the April meeting. Normally, our budgets, you know, roll over at about 3.8% if you look historically. We're about a percent higher because of the debt service, but we also are going to have an infusion of building aid to offset that. So, we've got the debt service, we've got the timing of the building aid at the same time. So no real impact in terms of the budget. Um minor uh changes uh here with insurance judgments and fees. The big story is employee benefits. Two years in a row, right? We had the big increase of 16% on the back half of last year that we had to adjust for and now the concern is on the back half of next
073year uh our we're told that our Etna uh Medicare rates could double. So increased by 100%. And you know, again, I got to try to to say this without politicizing it, but the story was we're going to save out of pocket expenses for the individual. Great. Mission accomplished, right? There were major structural changes done to do that, but then the insurance company rates are impacted. And since we pay 80 to 90% of the insurance company rate increase, we're impacted. So our budget uh increase, you're going to see continued increases in health insurance this year and then unfortunately next year. And we're trying to build capacity in this year's budget to be ready for it for the back half of next year. If we're not successful in doing that um a year from now when the
074budget presentation's taking place, you're going to hear that we had to backfill that void and then account for the increase going forward. Uh we were at a meeting today and and um Terry and I for uh the health cooperative and the good news is and I I I'm ashamed to say that this is the good news, but we're looking at in the other health insurance premium increase of 10% again. Right? All right. So, that's better than 16, but that's not six and four. Like, you know, when I first got to the district, that's what we were looking at. So, we've got to continue to look for ways to save money in health insurance, and that's a big challenge. Um, so 6.2% benefit overall benefit change. There's been a slight increase in TRS and ERS, but
075they just kind of shifted. And luckily, the market's still doing well, so we're not getting hammered in retirement um costs and increases. Remember, we have reserve funds for ERS and TRS though that we can use to offset those increases. So, we do have savings account that can be used to help that. So, 71% of the benefit breakdown is health and dental. Uh we've got the RASP and I just listed the information that impacts the rates and I'd call your attention. Um yeah, this one is interesting. The the claims experience better than expected. Well, what everyone is is figuring out is that in this profession when you're an employee, you actually utilize all of the different aspects of health insurance. That was a big change uh with the uh with the ETNA program. They were amazed
076at how much uh our retirees utilize the benefits that are there. Um but when you look at you know our retirees and the level of benefit and the education that's to me you know to us it's it's it's normal but you know when we did the RFP or you know the rash of the RFP they didn't expect it to be utilized that much and then of course the Medicare advantage you had large you have large increases benefit improvements mandated by law and then reduced federal subsidies um but overall the switch to Etna compared to where we uh is still um much better uh from when we we switched from Excelis Blue Cross Blue Shield to uh to Etna. So our health insurance fund is performing well but this inflation reduction act which is politicized in
077one way but positive but you got to look at how it impacts employers and people are paying the rates right. So, the most significant was uh the out-of- pocket um prescription cost reduction, but that shifted the cost from the individual to the insurance company, and we pay 80 to 90% of the rates for the insurance companies. So, right now, our budget's $3 million increase. If I had a crystal ball or magic wand, I would increase that just to be conservative to $3.7 million. But I don't I'm looking to build budget capacity right now, right, for next year. So Terry and I uh are scouring it to see where we can uh do the best job that we can um to prepare for that huge increase for Etna on the back half of next year's budget.
078Summarize this factors bearing on the district's future. These are facts and we've talked a lot about just educating our school community and our culture. Nobody wants to ever look at a school district budget and reduce staffing. But the truth is we've added 94 FTEEs in the last nine years. So that's an average of 10 per year, right? So you're going to have to look this a big factor bringing on the district's future. when you had the incentive of being fully funded for foundation aid, you could afford to add those positions. If the district continues to receive a 1% increase in foundation aid and the tax cap continues to be about, you know, two and a quarter to 2.75, you will have a structural budget deficit of $3 million every single year you do the budget.
079So that means you're going to have to look at right sizing the staffing. And I think Shaina did an outstanding job to say and you know Heather outlined the services. We know what the priorities are now versus what they were 10 years ago. And so there has to be a a close look at staffing and we've got to rep prioritize where that what staffing is funded. So I think that's going to continue to be a challenge. I've talked about the health insurance but th those are the numbers. There's no way I could not do this presentation. I hate to leave the doom and gloom, but you have to know that those could potentially be the numbers. And this shocked every school district in Monroe County. This is not just a Pittsburgh situation. Some school districts
080have it actually worse uh than we do. You got the electric buses. You got the contract transportation. And then you've got this looming energy situation now too, which is just recently new. So again, I don't want to do doom and gloom. We always figure it out. We always make it work. We always make the magic happen. but you're going to have structural deficits because the state's not keeping up with this foundation aid formula. So, we got to continue to advocate for that. So, we're going to do that. We're going to put together a balanced budget for you. Uh we'll vote on that. Uh we're going to review staffing. We're scouring Boseies. You know, we're not done yet. We're we're still working on strategies. They're the one that we just did tonight with the technology reserve
081helps build some capacity. And uh we're going to come back to you with a recommended balanced budget on the 14th. You know, I've already talked about revenues and what the potential tax cap at 2.69%, the budget to budget should be a little over uh 4.94%. We know we're in the ballpark there. And the biggest factor is the debt service, but it's not an impact because we expect to get the building aid. And uh we'll go out to vote uh on the 19th. and um you know so this will uh we'll get through it. It'll be positive but the uh um certainly it's important to really communicate this information and be transparent through the process. Questions? Doesn't look like we have any questions on the undistributed budget. Thank you, Mike. Much appreciated. >> All right.