001tonight. >> Sure, that's fine. >> Thank you. And Sher and Cindy, I didn't forget about you, but I'm going to get to you about taking minutes on the meetings. >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> Of course. Okay. Um Okay. So, the first item on the agenda is um we need to nominate uh for committee chair. Do I hear a nomination for chair of the committee? I'd like to nominate Louisa as committee chair, please. >> Thank you, Kate. Do I hear a second? >> Second. >> A second by Sherry. Um, do uh all those in favor? >> I >> Thank you. Okay, on to uh Thank you everybody for that. Um, I'm going to pass the baton over to I I don't know who wants to take first, Mike or Cara uh to take us through
002the next item on the agenda. >> Yeah, I think um Angela has the financials which is the uh second part. >> Uh so Ken, if you would just pull them up, Angela, you can walk us through and I'll I'll jump in as needed. Sure. >> Okay, perfect. Thank you. I believe it's a financial report. Ken? >> Yep. >> Yes. Yes. Okay. So, we're presenting both November and December financials. The general fund expenses in um November were 51.2 million year-to- date expenses. Our monthly was 9.9. We had 97.6 million encumbered and our ending balance still available was 23.1 million. So during um the month of October, we did a a lot of reassigning of staff members also in November uh from the alliance grant. Um the same thing with um there were other grants that we
003had to reassign the title grants um ARPA grant IDA um in uh November for the benefits uh we adjusted uh the benefits that were adjusted up until um October actuals >> professional services jump in there for one second right ahead >> um just for those of us that are are might not be familiar with the way our um benefits work um that second line it says employee benefits social security, um, which is kind of a misnomer. It actually consists of social security, uh, dental, health, long-term disability, unemployment insurance, and workers comp. So, it's there's a lot in there. It's not just, uh, social security. In fact, most of our staff does not pay into Social Security. Um, teachers are part uh they pay into TRB. Uh, they I believe the teachers retirement board. Um so
004they're exempt from social security but uh those that are uh not certified do pay into social security and the variance there uh well the actuals what happens in the payroll process is in the beginning of the year we put a um for lack of a better term a placeholder in for each person and every time we run payroll it charges the health and dental line that placeholder um which is usually fairly accurate but it's it's not true to our actuals and the reason is that debury public schools is self-funded for its insurance. So how that happens is we utilize uh Sigma and Sigma will go in on a weekly basis and a debit our bank account for actual expenses that incurred. So when our our folks go to the doctor um and those claims are
005adjudicated, they sum them up at the end of the week and they pull that. There's a second part that Sigma charges us through our accounts payable process and that's for uh our stop-loss and uh I like to say it's for we're paying Sigma for the pleasure of being Sigma for adjudicating our claims. So they're they're admin fees. So what we have to do on a daily uh on a monthly basis is go in and remove those placeholders via journal entry and then through a separate journal entry we go in and we book the actuals that they actually pulled out of the bank. Um and from month to month there is um there can be a variance between what the placeholder is and what the actuals are. And one of the reasons you see that uh
00613.5 million, which seems like it's a very high number, and you'll see that adjusted later on, is the system that we use, Tyler, has the ability to put in incumbrances for what they think the benefits are going to be. But because we're our uh fiscal year um falls from July 1st to June 30th, it only encumbers through December 31st. Um and that is because on January 1st, we get new tax tables. So when we input the new tax tables, the rest of the year will then encumber. So, um you'll see that that number go from 13.5 much lower um once we've encumbered the um the remaining benefits. Uh sorry to to cut you off, Angela. >> That's okay. Um for our professional services, we outsource our professional services. These would include uh the nurses network
007stepping stone Kelly services um and those are offset by the parah and sped unfilled positions. Other professional services include uh transportation. We've entered into the system um our monthly um encumbrance for STA, but we will get um other invoices in per DM and those change uh during the month. Uh they could be for monitoring layovers um transportation for reach endeavor aces um sped transportation. So as those invoices come in then they're encumbered and we pay them. >> Um can you can you just I'm sorry just really quick. Can you just explain what encumbered would mean? And I I just want to tell the new people if you have any questions as a lot of this terminology comes out. Um just, you know, put your hand up and ask the questions. If you don't feel comfortable
008asking the questions, jot your questions down, send them to me, and I'll send them to Mike and Angela, and they'll they'll get the answers to you. So, don't feel overwhelmed with a lot of this information because it's a lot for uh new people, and uh but you'll get it eventually, so don't worry. But um just you know feel free if you have a question on on what a word means um just put the hand up and we'll we'll get that explained to you. So if you could just define what an en incumbrance is just so they would know what that means. Thank you. >> Uh so an incumbrance is um in uh in our terms is when we know that a an expense is going to happen. um we put in a someone someone in
009the uh team will put in a requisition. That requisition then goes into an approval queue and once it's approved it becomes a purchase order and once there's a purchase order the incumbrance um earmarks money for us. So, it's not money that's actually left the system yet, but we know that there is a um a a pending uh liability that we're going to to pay. >> Y we also have transportation for McKini Vento. Um those that requisition was put in. um our Lucas driver, we've encumbered um transportation in November for that. We corrected the uh public liability insurance. Uh it's a PO for the board of ed lap payment. we had to decrease it because we were given the wrong information when the time the purchase order originally was entered into the system. Um purchase services,
010we've requested uh miscoding of rental invoices um back to the rental account. Uh supplies, gasoline, the PO was reduced to be in line with the district charges. other supplies. Uh we also had to um pay in the general fund for the CA new cafeteria at DH West for purchases. Um they could not be paid out of the school lunch because DH West is a new building. So the general fund had to pay for them and that was a non-budgeted item. >> That was for uh small wares. Is that correct, Angela? Yes, it is. and pans, >> pots and pans, uh trays, things like that. Okay. Do you want to look at it line by line or should we go into December? >> The the line the line by line just um for clarification. So these
011are all of the um expenses for salaries. If you look at that long string of confusing numbers under where it says general ledger number, you'll notice the the third uh number in uh the first one starts with 51 0004. Um 51 is uh the first two numbers of the code for anything salary and then each one of those codes has a description um under where it says description. Obviously, those descriptions are free text. And you'll see that there are, I think, two places where we use a similar or the same description for a different number. Um, so we're going to we're going to work on uh changing those so that they're separate and distinct. Um, but this this list is quite long for salaries because there's a um a general ledger number for each of
012the types of positions. So, okay. >> Um, if you just scroll down, you'll see they continue on >> quite a bit. and then we sum them um at the bottom. Uh so you'll see that 7.5 million um that that's this the sum of the monthto-day actuals for salaries and then similar then the next section this is employee benefits social security you'll see those other um benefits that I mentioned before it's not just social security there's health insurance life and long-term disability dental workers comp and unemployment those you'll start with 52 instead of 51. So all of our benefits start with 52. Uh and then again we we sum them each one of those lines. Um 53 is our professional services. So down on the next page. Uh 54 is our um propert uh property services.
013So that's um you know our rent, our repairs, uh building repairs. Um, continuing down the 55 series is other purchase services. Um, and in there the main drivers and if you scroll down just a little bit so I could get the the whole picture, you'll see that that enc uh encompasses transportation which has quite a few lines. Um, and the other big driver in here is tuition. Um, and tuition, it's for uh uh tuition sped private is for the individuals uh that are in our district that are placed in a um outplaced in a private organization. And then there's a smaller one for public down below. You'll see tuition vol that is um uh vocational agriculture. Um and we don't have uh we don't have too much there. Um and then any of our students
014that are attending mag uh magnet schools, there is a tuition magnet school. Um and then OOD magnet school is the out of out of district magnet school. And then the uh if you keep going down um any of the supplies are 56. Uh the big drivers to look for in uh 56 are really going to be our utilities. It's our fuel for our building, natural gas, electricity, propane, um gasoline, as Angela said before, although gasoline for our vehicles is rather small. Um continue to scroll down, you'll see our 57, which is uh equipment and enrollment impact. Um that the big driver there is uh building improvements. I'm sorry, Mike Celik to call that out, but that is um the account that we use for uh through Rich Jalbert, who's our director of facilities. So, anytime
015the um there's improvements or general equipment that needs to be, excuse me, purchased uh it gets purchased through there. And >> Mike, I could just add that's a that that tends to be loaded towards the end of the year as we approach summer with a lot of work requiring schools to be empty. So there's usually a little bit more money in there um towards the end of the year than >> Right. Right. Thank you, Mike. Um dues and fees are our 58 series. Um the big driver there um and we'll see it as we um talk about the budget is adult education. Um so the adult education just briefly um is run by uh Dr. Rick Rayusi. Um it's a rather large program and there is a a contribution that the district is required to
016make um in order to um subsidize the the state money and the money from other districts that that come in. So for this year we had budgeted and paid 379,688. Again that's uh totaled up there. And then at the very last line, you'll see a grand total where we grand total everything. And those numbers will tie back to that first page. Uh no need to go to that, but um so you'll see a 9.9 million for for this month. Um the 172 million is our annual aotment from the city. And then our uh expenditures, incumbrances, and the um the variance, the $23 million variance. Um, I I'll I'll pause there in case anyone has any questions. >> Any questions from committee members so far? >> Sorry if it's dry or boring material. >> Um, and
017then if you scroll down um to the next page. Um, so this again is our uh general fund. Um, this was something that was added uh when I started. This originally wasn't presented. Um, but Mr. Janelli asked that we kind of have a running total by month in its separate columns against the budget so we could see how we're doing monthtomonth to see if any um numbers really pop out. And then again, if you keep scrolling, you'll see them summed at the bottom. Um, and it's it's up to the um the board and the committee if they'd like to continue this or expand it or change um any of these uh any of these reports. So you see salaries um by month, employee benefits, and if you keep scrolling down, you'll see the purchase services,
018purchase property services, uh supply, uh other purchase services, supplies, dues and fees, and our enrollment impact dues and fees. And then the the total for the for each month. You can just continue to scroll down. So this report again was um not originally presented when I started. Um thank you Angela for working with Mr. Janelli to get this. But we wanted a a better way to report on the grants. Um we have many different grants. Some are um state grants, some are federal grants. Um some grants are single year, some grants are multi-year. Um not all grants are uh 71 to 630. Um so there's there's different um lengths and uh different uh expiration dates. So, we did our best to take all the information out of Tyler and put it into a um I'll
019call it a more digestible uh manner, but this is what we arrived at and that this is currently how we're reporting it. And the reports that we produce uh we produce the same reports uh every month um unless you request a change then we can change them around. Otherwise, this is our standard reporting package for the month. this has come a long way. So, I just want to congratulate the team on, you know, displaying the dashboard of the grants is is huge. Um, and I think it's a positive step in really having a transparent budget. Um, transparency around the grants as we do with the general fund. Uh, and it just it helps to make uh kind of the the the layout of how we braid funds a little bit more clear. So, thank you
020for that >> again. And thank you, Angela. I think you um borrowed this from another district you worked at. I think this is really helpful. >> And then >> do we have Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. I was just going to say, does any non-committee members have any questions on this? I know we have some non-committee members on here. Okay, >> Kate, I think Kate has her hand up. >> Okay. Oh, Kate, I didn't see you. Sorry. Go ahead. >> Thanks. Um, just a quick question. Um, as a followup from our last finance committee meeting, Mike, um, one of the things that Mr. Janelli brought forward was, um, making sure that any line transfer items that have to take place um, be um, hopefully could be taken care of before we hit January so that
021we we'd have like a, you know, sort of a clearer picture. So, I just wanted to bring that up and see where you guys are with that. >> Mike, can I can I speak to that a little bit? >> Sure. >> Because and and thank you for bringing that up, Kate. So, kind of just before, you know, the board changed over, that's kind of where we left off that conversation about correcting, you know, balances that run. And there's really two schools of thought, Kate, on it. And one is, you know, we correct as we go, right? or um which which would be challenging to do because what happens is you start to erase your road map of what your actual expenses are in those areas that you use to project and make a clearer prediction
022for your budget for the f for the next years. Um you know the most important line number is that last bottom number for overall projection. And as Mike always reminds me, you know, the budget is where you think you're going to be. Where you land is another picture. And you use that data to build your next year's budget. And so, um, you know, Louisa and Mike had a little conversation about, you know, there's just there's just two different ways, two different a preference of doing that. And so, you know, if we want, for example, um, I'll I'll use the the special education pair of professionals as as a good example because Kelly, we had money budgeted under salaries and benefits. um for special ed paras that we know are still struggling to hire. Kelly is
023using agency staffing to meet the our IEP needs. So that line's going to be is going to be higher and be a negative for now. Um but it's drawing from the overall total at the bottom. at the end of the year, we'll have a better sense of how many how much we're spending with agencies uh that we can use more predictively. If we start to mitigate those those numbers now and start moving things around to kind of play catchup, um you kind of lose your you lose your you lose your footprint, if you will, for the year. And so, um you know, as long as the the board and and the group is comfortable, um we'd like to kind of see where that runs out. We know there's going to be more money in benefits
024and salaries like like we know that again this is our pattern. It's one of the things we're we're working on on how to how to mitigate the effects of that um between knowing we have open positions that we need to fill and then our the realities of being able to fill those. So we're continuing to work on those. You know, obviously with the number of benefits and salaries towards the end of the year, we're not going to let that money. We have we have projects and sites and facilities, things that Mike uh Celig just spoke about and sites and facilities that need to get done um that we'll put towards that, but we'll have a roadmap of how the money's spent um and we'll use that to track and make better pro projections. Um, so
025I don't know if Louisa you wanted to weigh in on that a little bit or Mike, but um, it was just it's really philosophically how we think we want to roll given that we know some of those lines are going to look different this year. >> Yeah. For me, I I just like the numbers to be clean because I want to have a real picture at the end where those numbers are. I think if we start moving now that we we don't get a sense of really where we are. I don't to me I don't have an objection. If one is up, you know, we're going over in one area, we're lower in another, then that's the reality of the numbers and those are numbers that we need to take into consideration moving forward. So
026that's why I just said leave everything the way it is until we get to a point where, okay, now we're at the end now. Now we know for a fact this is where the numbers are. Now we can kind of move and do what we need to do. So I just I I suggested letting it ride so we keep the numbers real until the end. >> Okay. So basically, we just want to be looking at that total line to get a sense of sort of where we are overall with our budget, >> right? >> Yeah. The the individual lines are definitely beneficial for us to look at. >> Um and I always keep in mind that when we um when we roll up to to the city to do our audits, we we roll up
027really into one line. Um and it's really that that grand total down at the bottom that makes a difference. And and Kate, if I could just add one more thing, like we like I said, we know we're going to be if any, you know, if there's money that is um not being utilized through benefits, we have technology purchases and facilities and supplies on deck. Um and then, you know, we'll be sure to, you know, keep track good track of that so that that's also clear and transparent as well. So, um it's, you know, having the money in the right lines is helpful, but in this case, um as we work to kind of correct some of the variances over time, and it's going to take us a couple budget cycles to get there. Um, you
028know, we we figured that's probably the best and most transparent way to do it is to let the lines run and then take stock of what of of how we need to improve in those areas. >> If I could just piggy back one more thing on that. So um the before the break the um one of the suggestions was if we do indeed keep uh you know I kind of think of archery if we keep the target where it is and just have the variances um do we want to provide a uh some sort of variance explanation at the very least? >> Yes. >> Um and if we do what is our threshold for materiality? Do we want to explain based upon a large dollar value or a percentage of a budget? Um or both?
029Um I think that might be um a happy medium, but we would just need to pick whatever materiality that we'd want to create the variance analysis on. >> May I ask uh one follow-up question? >> Yeah, of course. Go ahead. Um, so as of uh the end of October, our unencumbered balance was about um 19% of our total budget. Um, and now it's about uh just about 14%. So that's like a 5% um appreciation over the the two months that we're reporting out here. Um, and I just want to sort of get a sense of what your um, expectation is to get through the end of this year because our fiscal year will end uh, June 30th. So, um, as it stands right now, are we, you know, what is the the comfort level and
030the expectation for that unencumbered balance? Do you expect that that will take us through the end of the year? That's really what I want to know. >> Yes, absolutely. Um there there are and we'll see in in the budget presentation uh some of the reasons for uh that variance. Um I I'll just footnote in the back of your mind ARPA as um as one of the items. Um when when I look at uh the the current data other than salaries and benefits um we are relatively um close to being on budget. Um it's really those two numbers and then as we um as we progress through the year there are things right now that are not encumbered that will be encumbered that will bring that down and there are also items that will um not
031really be encumbered right so for example graduation we don't really know what it is um so that remains encumbered again it's not a not a big amount um but there are things such as that as as an example Um, and so as we uh as we progress through the year and and add those incumbrances in um and also adjust POS, right? So, if someone puts a PO in and they think that they're going to spend $300,000 on a certain item and they get a phenomenal deal and they wind up only uh using 150 that they close that PO and um so that we're able to reallocate those uh scarce resources into um a different area. And that's kind of what Carara was alluding to with Mike is we have a list of projects should there
032be um extra funds that that we can divert to take care of some of those needs. >> Thank you very much. >> Ken, if you could just scroll down if there are no more questions. I think Angela has um December um in line here. Um okay so uh the general fund expenditures for the month of December were 13.9 uh million and compared to last year in it was 15.6 six for the same time time period. December we had two full pay periods. Um our year-to- date um expenditures for December 65.2 million with an additional 83.2 million encumbered. The annual budget uh operating budget is 172 million which leaves the fund balance of 23.5 which equates to 13.7% of the budget. And as the year progresses uh we anticipate additional items will become encumbered as we
033go along for one-time things or items that are still coming in. uh orders as we move along. Um there's also an additional expenses that the district incurs that we do not have encumbered at this time and that will also lower our fund balance. And like I said before in uh November and December, we were continuing to reassign staff members from the general fund to Alliance, the title grants, IDA, um and ARPA. And the same thing with the grants. We would occasionally move stuff uh people from the grants into the general fund as well. In January uh for benefits, we adjusted Um and we are up to date reflecting all actual charges. Um again we are outsourcing professional services that um such as the stepping stone nurses network. Um and these are offset by the pared
034unfilled positions. Um and we've been working very diligently to get any remaining um incumbrances for the year in the system so we have um we can show a better balance of where we might end up uh at the end of the year. And we still continue to reclass um items. uh the secretaries would contact me and tell me, "Oh, I put it in the wrong place. Can you move it?" So, we're doing that every month when there's >> that's part of the standard closing process >> for any organization that we go in and we'll make um expense reclasses from time to time. Again, for for materiality sake, uh we don't really entertain, you know, the the $30 here and there for supplies, but for for big items, um we'll make we'll make those reclasses for
035them. Mike, um if I may, uh Louisa could you just explain um the second half of the year in terms of the uh the new tables and how that affects how that will affect that >> I I briefly touched on it before, but um essentially the the Social Security um we get rates through the end of the calendar year, which is through 1231. So when we get them, we put them into the system and our system will automatically encumber um the benefits up through 1231, but it it doesn't encumber um benefits for 11 through uh 6:30 because uh the tax tables have to have to be entered and once they enter them um they're re encumbered. Um there in prior years I think there was a manual placeholder for encumbrances put in so you didn't
036see that large swing. Um the danger there is when you when you put that in and we've seen this happen in prior audits uh you have to remember to um adjust it each month and then um when the tax tables are entered to remove that incumbrance to reflect actuals. So, um, we took a little bit of a different approach and we're only putting in, um, encumbrances for things that we we know we're going to to spend. >> That makes sense. >> That will bring that that unencumbered balance down quite a bit. You'll see you won't see that until the end of January when those financials are done. So, you'll see that number drop down quite a bit. >> Thank you, Mike. >> Um, questions. Any questions for committee members at this point? Uh, non-committee members
037questions? >> Yes. Okay. >> Uh, Luis, in the interest of time, because I know we still want to get to our um our budget talk. Um did we want to go through these lines individually like the last one or >> if there are any >> everybody has I mean everybody has this am I correct? >> Everybody in the committee has this. So um yeah and I want to get to the budget um items. So, if any committee members have any questions on this post meeting, just email them. Uh, you know, review the documents and email them to me and we can go um we can get Mike to answer or Angela to answer those questions for us. >> Can we print them if we wanted to look at them like >> Sure. >> Yeah. >>
038Okay. >> Yep. especially for the new uh committee members. Go through it, see if you have any questions, anything you don't understand in it and that you want more explanation on and Mike and Angela will be um will be there to help us with any explanations that we need. >> And these are in the um these are in the meeting invite. So if you just scroll to the bottom of the meeting invite, you'll see the document. You can print them from there. >> Okay. Yep. Thank you. >> Okay. Thanks, Mike. >> Yeah. Uh, okay. On to the budget discussion. >> Okay, let's pull that up. All right. Can everyone see this? Yes. >> Yes. >> Okay. So, um full disclaimer, uh we we're not presenting a hard fix number tonight. tonight is discuss further discuss
039some of the um some of the drivers and just sort of where we are um as a you know as a as a finance team and and where we're getting ready to present um for you very shortly with with full details. So um just as a kind of a walkthrough and I think it's especially important because we have new folks on board um to an understanding of our you know who we are how we make up um you know our student body and how many sites we have. So we have two early childhood centers, 13 elementary schools, three middle schools, we now have two high school campuses, two very big high school campuses, uh and two alternative programs. So we have um you know quite a few build operate out of across the entire city
040as well as the staff that is needed to run those those programs. Um, Danberry is one of the highest uh highest percentages of second language learners in the state of Connecticut. Uh, we consistently at the top of the list in terms of not just the number of students, but by percentage. Um, we usually compete with Bridgeport and maybe one or two other places, but we've been holding the top spot for a few years now. uh with our density of second language learners, we continue to be a very popular city uh for uh for multilingual learners um and their families to come to. Um we have 53% economically disadvantaged students. Um we think we actually have more than that. Um this is the number that gets reported. So more than half of our students are considered
041economically disadvantaged which means that our students um and their families um are coming from low so socioeconomic background. So there's some challenges associated with that. Um and so Danbury is um certainly on the list. We're also a community provision. So all of our students receive free and reduced lunch um in their for school for our school lunch program. Um we're we're hovering around the 15% mark for students with disabilities. Uh in the last couple years we stayed pretty steady at 14. We've ticked up to 15. Um the difference though 15% um this year could look different than 15% last year and could look different than 15% in the year coming um because students have different needs. Those needs change. Um sometimes they become more intensified. Sometimes we um things are less intensified. So it really
042all depends on the makeup consistency of the disabilities and the students that that we have here. Um our overall enrollment is 11,457. uh that is down for the first time in quite a while and I'll show you the overall enrollment trends that we have. I did share with with these in another format uh for for new board members and at the beginning of the school year as well um when we had our October 1 uh collection our snapshot um every year we are required to report to the state around October 1st or the October 1st collection um it's a point in time that the state uses to determine our grants and our funding for the next year and how many students uh they're accounting for us here in Danbury. things like ECS, uh title funds,
043um any kind of funds that come down the line are usually based on enrollment and formula funding that consist of um the number and percentages of overall students, the number of percentage of second language learners, free and reduced lunch and special needs. Um together those buckets are called high needs. And so, um, our October 1 snapshot and collection period is is critical for us because it it helps to determine what our allocations are grant-wise for the next year. And I'll talk about why that's going to play a little bit of a role this year uh in our budget. So, as you can see, we peaked um 2324 here. Um, and then we have trended down a little bit. Not too much of a noticeable difference. Um, normal fluctuation. And then we saw our first dip
044um for this school year. And if things hold uh with enrollment, we're looking at sort of a flatline across. Um normally at this time of the year, we start to see more families registering end of January into February. Um so we're not quite through those pivotal months yet for us, but um if things hold the way they are now, uh we'll probably be hovering around this number for next year. uh why that's important um especially is because uh the numbers of students associated with that dip are are really tied to many of our second language learners. Um so we're seeing less students uh right now in the in the district. So we see a drop from 2024 2025 um down to 4,1 uh21. Um and if that again if that pattern holds um you know
045we will have lowered and stabilized a bit uh which could affect uh many of our grants uh and that will become important as we try to predict what our funding streams are and how we braid our funds uh for next year and the years ahead. Um again stabilization around special ed although the consistency the types of services needed the intensity of those services can look different. So even though the numbers the same um there can be uh needs there can be out of district placements for some of those students that drive up our budget um as well as transportation services or additional student services that are needed and that is going to be uh one of the drivers for next year as well. So where are some of our contractual increases coming from? So, this
046was a huge year of bargaining and and nailing down contracts um that had been sort of rolled over and kicked over from COVID. Um many of the groups over the last couple of years have agreed to kind of continue on with with their contracts. Um we have reached we reached a point where we had to renegotiate um just about all of our contracts in a very tight time frame and some of those are still rolling in. Um so, right now we've settled the custodians around three and a half%. Um the teachers are around 4.6 and that includes sort of the step increases that are in there. Um the administrators at 3.5 from previous. Um I secretaries and IT are still TBD although I I heard they uh voted tonight and ratified. So the board will
047get that contract next with those numbers. Um nurses are also in progress coming down the line. Safety advocates are around 4% although they increased from 2087 to 25 this year. That was a 19% increase to get them up to a place where we can actually try to attract and or retain the staff that we have. We huge turnover here. Um after next year heading into 26 27 that represents a 4% increase moving forward. And our pair of educators, we just got the demand to bargain most recently even though we all feel like we just negotiated that contract. Um but if you remember that was an opener to uh help with the immediate critical need to fill those positions. Um but now the regular contract cycle is upon us and so we will be bargaining again
048for the 26 27th school year. So there's a lot of variables uh that are still out there for us in terms of where these contracts land um and um how we move those those numbers forward. So, um, but these numbers are have been trickling in over the last couple of months. Um, we've got we'll have another one to add into the mix probably hopefully after the next board meeting. Um, and then we'll have a clear understanding of the nurses uh very shortly. Um, this will take a little bit more more time to to um to work through. So, uh so what are our budget drivers? So having said all of that, obviously the contractual increases uh and the importance of those in our ability to attract and retain staff is critical. Um and we think
049we put a really good faith effort to do our very best um within reason um and our you know ability for all to pay but also um at the end of the day not taking care of some of those contracts and those groups actually cost us money um down the road later on. Retraining is very expensive. It's a hidden cost that um that is often unseen. We have uh leadership teams that spend like unending hours of uh interviewing and going through resumes and uh you know having multiple interviews only to onboard. Um then there staff that deals with onboarding and then we bring technology in and everybody gets set up in the system and then we lose folks uh a short time later. And so all of that money and time and training and leadership
050is is um goes down the the tubes when we have high turnover. And we've been struggling with high turnover uh for the last couple of years. So no secret there. It has also fed into some of our some of our surplus issues um and our ability to fill those jobs in a timely manner but still needing to budget for those. So contractual increases is a major driver. Uh the next bigger driver is around DHS West. So, um, we're bringing in another 600 or so students. Um, with that comes the teachers that need to some of them that need to move over, but then also to round out for each academy. Um, the academy model is set up in a way that requires um, sort of dedicated staff to the academy. It's part of the the
051beauty of having personalized learning environments um and staff that are are we're staffing thosemies and the students in thosemies are about 80% pure versus 20% mixed. Um and so to do that you need dedicated staff um right down to counselors, deans and so on. Um so we're working through the staffing model there right now as we speak. Um it's not just the regular teaching staff and the counseling staff uh and the and the leadership staff that's needed to go with that, but there's operational staff um that will also come into play. Secretaries, custodians, safety advocates. Uh when you increase the volume in a school on a campus and a site, you have to balance those out. And in some some cases, you need to add uh add some staffing to that. Um, what's tricky about
052that right now is still has to do with our with our our openings and our vacancies. Um, you know, if Dan needs 17 or 18 new staff members, you know, we're still looking at the vacancies uh between both campuses and and trying to mitigate uh the number of vacancies against the new asks and really trying to get smart about how we hedge those needs moving forward. we have to fill positions, but if historically we're unable to fill certain positions, then we have to realistically say, how do we do this in a way that doesn't create a surplus the next year? Um, but still honor the fact that these are teachers that are needed to fill these to fill these roles. So, um, we've been working really hard at reviewing the budget over and over again,
053our historical vacancies that we've had across the district and our actual ability to fill. Um, and some of these are, and this is not just for DHS West, this goes for for all positions. Um, a lot of times we use the word persistent vacancies. Um, it doesn't necessarily mean that the same position stays open for three years. It could be that, uh, let's just say it's a science position, for example. Um, this position here is open this year, we fill it, and another science teacher leaves. So on the books it appears that it's a science opening that's been open for three years but really there are different positions uh different people filling those positions but they have turned over. So um you'll hear us as you know when we when we get down into the
054budget workshop you know what we're you know we need to do two things. One hedge against those openings if historically we have them and then two what is the action plan to increase how we're recruiting and how we're retaining our staff. Um, some of that has a lot to do with some of our contractual um, improvements that we think that we've made. Then we continue to look at that on a regular basis. And the other is how do we incentivize and also get out there and recruit a little bit in different ways to try to fill some some of these positions. And we've been getting creative and partnering in the state with some different organizations to do that, which we're happy to talk about when we do the workshop. Um, and you could just somebody
055I my camera now is off on I can't really see the whole board. So, if somebody has a question, um, Luis, if please feel free to interrupt and I'd be happy to answer those questions, um, because I can't can't exactly see everybody's hand if they're raising hands. >> Okay. Um, something that we also have to consider in our ask this year is title two absorption. So, we have about uh 400,000 plus dollars in title two. Uh, that money is for teacher training. We use that for um requests that come in. We use that when we play in professional development for staff and or we're working with companies. um to provide professional development for any any a number of our programs that we have. Um and so that money we know what we've heard is that
056that's going away. That's part of the new um administration consolidation around the department of ed. Um what we don't know is if title one will be affected. There's still some question marks that remain about that. But outside of that, um, say, let's just say that, uh, there are no, uh, federal broadstroke changes to tit to the title one grant. What we do know is that our October 1st collection has gone down, right? So that snapshot that we do on October 1st that shows that we're down to 11,400 means that when they go to calculate our formula for the title grants, title one, title two, which will no longer be there, title three, title four, and maybe a myriad of other small grants that are less concerning. Um those are formula driven. So you get ECS
057money and you get supplemental money based on second language learner, how many multi- language learners are servicing, how many special education, how many free and reduced lunch, so your high needs population. And so with a drop in those numbers, particularly with the numbers where we know those those uh numbers are declining, uh we could see a reduction uh in in in our what we receive next year, and we won't know what that is until the fall. So to hedge some of that, we have to put in about $400 or $500,000 into the ask for next year just to make into the budget just to make sure that we're able to absorb uh that bump and then we're not caught off guard uh with that. Okay. Uh transportation. So last year kind of in the 11th
058hour we were able to uh we had a huge ask around transportation and were able to kind of whittle that down to a pretty manageable number given the circumstances by combining the runs between DH West and Denver and Denver uh Westside Academy and DHS West. So we're able to double up on some buses further reducing and bringing efficiency across the system. a little bit bumpy at first, some, you know, questions uh with parents, natural questions. Um but things have been going well and I think it was a good move and and that has saved us some money. Um that said, we're bringing over a whole another class back over to DHS West, which means that the buses now uh you know need to be expanded and so we're predicting anywhere between four and nine buses,
059five to nine buses. That will be dependent upon where students are coming from across the city. um and as they get slotted into the academy. So that's a little bit of a um that's a little bit of a a variable there. Um but we're you know prepared in our ask to to to have the at least the mid to high end of that. Hopefully we don't need all of it. Uh we'll know more once the next class that gets uh admitted into thesemies is is known. >> Eric, can I just jump in there for a sec? >> Yes, absolutely. So, in addition to the number of of buses that we're going to add, >> um we negotiated uh um >> la uh was it last year a new bus contract. And part of that contract
060is not only the number of buses, but the perdm rate that we uh we pay for the type one, type two buses and the vans as well. So there's in addition to the to the number of buses, the rate that they charge us per DM is also increasing. So that will that will impact that number as well. >> Yeah, thank you Mike for bringing that up. Transportation is there's you know rising costs with transportation. Um it's also you know something there this you know parking lot item um that the teachers have raised as as a barrier for going out on field trips and things like that. So, we did we have set some money aside in alliance uh to help offset the cost so that we can get more kids out on field trips. Um
061that's not outside of this budget driver, but I thought I would add that in there because we're trying to help out with that. Um supplies. So, there's a you know a driver on just general supplies across the district. Some of that is just the cost of supplies going up and some of that is um you know the needs across the system as new curriculum um comes online. Um the other thing that we have to really take into consideration is that we part of our budget this year is made up of uh one-time ARPA funds. If you remember uh we had to we moved in library media specialists some of our coaching staff depart Danbury High School staff that was needed. So Mike I think it's about four and a half million between salaries and benefits.
062>> Salaries is 4.2 uh and benefits is around 700,000 I believe. >> All right. So that also needs to be accounted for in this budget with without the benefit of having those ARPA funds. Okay. So it's kind of a one-time cliff. Um and then there's the alliance plateau. So the alliance plateau is we have um let's see probably rely on Angela to tell me how much I'm going to say 39 but I want I >> 39. >> Thank you. Okay. 39 million there. And that is up 9 million from last year. So we had a big increase in ECS uh which helped to offset the general fund. So we're able to move a lot of staff into alliance uh very messy um but they're there now and but now alliance is plateauing. So there's we're
063not going to over the last couple of years we had the the benefit of offsetting our needs with alliance. Every year it went up several million several million several million. And so the ask to the city is offset mitigated by the fact that that number has been going up. Last year was the biggest jump that we've ever had with 9 million. The state though is saying okay you're done. We've accelerated ECS. Careful what you wish for. We've accelerated and now here it is. It's flatlined. There is not a cost of living in uh increase in there. there's no consideration for the fact that we have currently $24 million in there and all of our contracts will go up next year. So, we have to be able to absorb the contractual increases with those with those
064staff with tons of core staff in there and we have to be able to um still deliver on strategies uh that we're saying we're using, you know, alliances are restricted funds. So, they have to be for innovation, they have to be for uh increasing student achievement. So um you know we'll start to run into the credit card is full scenario and we can't charge any more to alliance i.e. the contractual increase is an interest that goes up over time. So, so as we head into next year, there is no alliance uh increase to rely on unless we carve some room out in alliance uh and change some strategies up and uh either cease doing some things and uh you know moving some some funds that we wouldn't otherwise have into into alliance. So definitely there's
065some tricky things in there. Um agency fees and costs. So you'll see uh so when we talk about special services uh special education for example a lot of the uh where maybe Kelly Trueess would have had her her uh special ed pair of professionals you'll now see some of that more proactively reserved in agency fees. You'll see that line go up but you can see that we're already spending it in this year's current budget. So that's a natural shift. So you see the number go up but it's actually tied to the realities of what of what's happening now. Um and then student services and adult education. Student services by that I mean uh special education services. It could be PTO speech. It could be um some of the transportation that goes along with with u
066moving students to where they need to be. Um and then adult education as Mike uh mentioned earlier um our cost share Danbury has been sort of I don't want to use the word underfunding the cost share of the program but proportionately we have an obligation to um to to increase what we're doing based on the number of people in our in the program um by town. So we have a you know Danbury is the largest of the shares of the surrounding towns that participate but our numbers weren't exactly matching uh what what it is that we're doing. So um we had to increase that it was a couple hundred thousand Mike correct in there. >> Yeah. Uh historically I believe we've been um increasing minimally about 1.2 to 1.5% but um you know when we
067met with um Dr. Hei he mentioned um for example just in a comparison to Waterberry who I think is another comparable size adult education program they're funded at about three to four times um what we're funding. So we're trying to to close that gap. >> Yeah. And he's been phenomenal with growing the program um and and doing a lot with a little um but I think he's run out of options and we need to you know put our our piece in. And I think >> Kate Oh, Kate, you have a question? >> Yeah, sorry. I don't I don't certainly want to uh anybody off. I just wanted to ask if um you know the neighboring towns that that uh might also enroll uh people in our adult education program, do they make a financial contribution?
068Yes. As well? >> Yes. Yes. And the the Rick's um you know, the ask is because our contribution was disproportionate to to our our participation, >> our enrollment. Sure. Okay. Thank you. >> Y and he's growing the program. I mean, it is he's done, you know, we'll have him back getting into the board with the board, but um you know, the the services that you know what what happens in adult education directly and indirectly affects our children, right? And so how well the we're able to take care of the families and the parents and sometimes the single moms that are trying to get going um has a huge effect on on on what they can do for their families. uh and security um and also to second language learner families uh learning to navigate using
069their language to navigate the complexities of the school system and getting a little capital with being able to support their child at school. So they do a lot with that as well. So they're >> I think I think Cara I think Rick said he was up um over the year 750 learners. So just over a thousand, >> right? >> Quite large. >> Yeah. and he built it back up from the ground since co. So, um, so these are the sort of the big things that are that will be presented in the workshop. Um, sort of the bigger ticket items. We'll get down to kind of nitty-gritty when we get down to um, and you know, DHS West is the main staffing driver. There are some scant positions across the district that are needed. Um, but
070the big number, the big FTE numbers is coming from the last phase in of the of the high school campus. Um, I'll go to the next slide for a sec. Hello. And and talk a little bit about this. So, you know, we're we're spending a lot of time talking about some of our historical issues that we've had here with especially in the last couple of years, the audits turning up surpluses. um you know and and looking at current numbers that we have now and you know getting a sense of where we landed last year and you know in some cases we've had you know head scratchers. It's hard for me to get out in front of uh the city of Danberry and have a big ask while we're turning over turning up surpluses. And it's
071something that we're taking very seriously on how to mitigate that through a deeper analysis of the vacancies that we've had and the realities of our ability to fill them. And you know, it it's it's it's it is that's one of our biggest challenges right now. So, how are we taking how are we using conservative estimates for the benefits? So, if we know we can't fill so many positions historically, even though those positions may change, how do we hedge that against our projection for benefits? And, you know, it's scary because we haven't done it we haven't operated this way before. So, we're we're we're really doing due diligence on on kind of breaking those those down um and really putting something together that we think will be um responsible and maybe a little bit slower moving
072over time that we can get our hands on while we continue to work on this our ability to with the vacancies. You know, we've been working hard on the contracts on the retain the recruit and retain that takes time. So I think I think the paraprofessional par educator contract is a good example of we thought people are going to come flying in when we raised it a couple of dollars and it has helped with us not um losing par profofessional pair educators but we certainly weren't u bringing them and onboarding them on at the numbers that we had hoped. So we still had we still have big vacancies again this year. So, um, it really caused us to, you know, pause and time out and and we're doing a second pass on all of that.
073Um, same thing with vacancies at the high school and vacancies across the district for operational staff. Really looking at that. Um, so we'll be doing more gradual onboarding. So, you know, Leica, last year, you know, no secret, I believe I asked for 45 uh kindergarten pairs. It's not that we don't need them. We really do. but our ability to get those pair of professionals are hampered by the ability to kind of raise rates at a res at a responsible rate with enough time. So, um what we're going to be doing is making sure that we are stable before we try to optimize. So, you'll see me you'll hear me talk about stabilization before optimization. We know what we want the district to look like in a couple of years. We know the kind of staffing
074we need to bring relief to the teachers, to bring relief um across the system, but we have to stabilize. We've had huge swings in our budget um from EC uh ECS $9 million ARPA onetime funds coming off of um other um ESSER funds um and and you know the fact that we just brought on an entire huge campus. So our swings have been very large and volatile for the last couple of years making budgeting and forecasting challenging in an environment when um we're not able to fill a lot of those vacancies. And so, um, I think some of that has plagued our ability to, um, you know, to to to accurately project, um, and, you know, once you start the year and you don't fill those vacancies, getting them after, you know, October is almost
075impossible. So, um, getting smarter about that is important. Um, there's been a lot of improvement in the controls uh, in the finance department, how we're looking at purchase ordering, how we're meeting with budget owners to stay on top of budgets. Um, same thing with with the grants. We're heading into a year where we need to stabilize the budget. We'll be coming off of large swings um that really wreak havoc behind the scenes in terms of where people are funding sources and how they're getting paid and then having to move those staff. Um the back end of our books uh for a few years there coming out of CO uh was was quite um quite jumbled and so cleaning that up has been uh a tremendous amount of work by the finance team. um in the
076in the midst of multiple audits at warp speed. So, it's been a whirlwind of of work. Um the other thing too is that you know this year you know there's no secret Roberto and I are going to stay in close communication on this um in terms of you know making sure that we're we've got all of our expertise on the table. Um so so you know the transparency around um communication with city hall is is high right now which you know brings is good comfort but there's also expertise there that Mike and I have been tapping into. Um some of their finance staff has been helping with the audits and so we've had some great conversations around how to approach the budget and sort of the realities within our budget. So, um, we're working very
077closely with the city, um, and, you know, we're trying to be as honest and as open and transparent with you about the improvements that we're trying to make and making sure that we build back the trust, uh, with the city and the taxpayers so that we're not asking for asks and and turning up uh, large surpluses uh, in the same year. So, um, when we we get together for the workshop, we'll go into what those what those areas are, the asks that currently exist, and some of the vacancies that we've had to analyze to make decisions on whether or not we're going to put them to the side this year or roll them forward and and uh step up the recruitment efforts to fill those. >> Any questions? Um, thank you Cara for that. That
078was great. Um, and Mike too and Angela, all three, thank you so much for all the information. Kate, start with you. So, uh, forgive me because this is kind of a clumsy I'm not even sure if this is a question more if it's a comment, but, um, in terms of sort of like the trajectory for education positions overall, um, and what that's going to do to districts all over the country, but, um, specifically for us here in Danbury, and thinking about like what our budgeting looks like, >> are we what are we looking at like this process sort of in under a multi-year, you know, microscope, understanding that in particular with like contracts and things like that that those numbers are going to have to increase based on the even the availability of people to
079fill these positions. >> Correct. Correct. So, thank you for saying that, Kate. That's a great question. you know, we can we can, you know, if I'll use special education and the pair of professional pair of educators as an example um because Kelly Tutus and I had this conversation and you know and it was like what do you need and she's like listen she says you could give me you could give me 30 more special education educators like tomorrow we could fix some of the issues that longstanding she says I don't know that I can I can fill them I can't find them and so you know you could ask we can ask for what we need and I we could I could telegraph it to the and I've done that um in you know previously
080and you've you've all seen me I've gone out on a limb to do that um but the ability to fill those and then budget based on that only to have a surplus and it it's irresponsible. So, we have to take it a little bit slower uh and we have to try to do this incrementally over time and um because you know what we've been doing has been has been you know we we've turned up some some big some some surplus. Um that said I do think it's going to be a lot easier once these swings of of available monies and available grants levels out. Um, I certainly don't want to go back to the days when, you know, we had, uh, zero increases, uh, you know, we got we got a million dollars over the
081last year and we just kept it was carnivorous. Um, you know, we would go back with our with our fraction of a percent increase that didn't cover our contracts. Um, and we would, you know, cut something else quietly underneath underneath the hood of the car, right? And so eventually your car doesn't run well because you've eliminated all the parts necessary to run it. Um, and so, you know, we don't want to go back there. Um, it's going to require continued relationship building, uh, with the city, with the state, um, continued advocacy to make sure that we're, you know, we're tapping all available resources. The state also has to do their part on this. Um, there's only so much the taxpayers can bear, but at the same time, we don't have good school systems. Your, you
082know, your uh, your your real estate rates will start to slip. Your people won't start coming to Danbury. So, it's a delicate balance. I think everybody wants to see to have phenomenal school systems. Um, it's high on my priority list. Danbury will be the best urban district in the state. I'm talking Northeast New England. You name it. I know the board wants that as well. Our mayor wants that as well. Everybody wants that bragging right that we have the best. We want to revitalize what downtown looks like. We want to bring more uh business into the city. All of those things support the tax base. So, so we have to hit this from multiple sides. And it's it's a partnership um that and and an investment in advocacy to kind of do this well over
083time uh and to make sure that we're we're building um but if we rush to build something on a house of cards, you know, that's what we're going to get. So, we're just trying to do this as um thoughtfully as possible. Even though I think um our my team and I know the board, we we we want to go as quickly as we can, but we we just have to do it in a way that um helps to stabilize the district and and you know do things at a pace where we can um do it well so that we can re reach a state of optimization. But um you know rushing there with the wish list and not to have the and then not to have the not to have the means to fill them
084is is a problem and we've experienced that in the last couple of years. It doesn't mean that we're not going to talk about what our needs are. It just means that we're going to be diligent with with how we how we move forward. Um and you'll see that um you know as we as we plan ahead. Um you know our timeline if I could talk a little about the timeline unless anybody else has any questions. >> Anybody else committee non-committee members have questions? >> Okay. No, >> I have a question. >> Okay. >> Yeah, I have a question. >> When is Go ahead, Sherry. >> When is the board I mean the budget workshop? >> Okay, great question. Look at that. >> So, uh so we are expecting I don't know if you everyone's been
085paying attention to the snowstorm that's coming in over the the weekend and Monday. >> Yes, but we are expected to have uh double digit inches. Um so check definitely check your weather forecast because that is coming. Um, we're going to move the Monday proactively because if we don't do this, we're going to lose time uh with rescheduling. We're going to remove the Monday workshop, which was when we originally um scheduled to have this to um to the uh Wednesday, sorry, the uh fe Thursday, February 5th. We'll have highlevel budget summary numbers under information for the board for January 28th just to get that big broad information out there for everybody. Um and but the workshop where we'll talk about right down to the FTEES of what we're looking for um will be on f uh
086February 5th. Okay. So that'll be the rescheduled date. And then from there things move rather quickly. The 9th will be a special finance committee meeting. So after we've had a chance to digest in that workshop and ask a ton of questions and have a good conversation about that, digest a little bit. And then on the 9th we come back for a special finance committee to discuss again. And that's where, you know, folks will weigh in and we'll hopefully get um we'll move move forward out of committee. Um and then doing an adoption on the 10th. Um we need to get our budget to over to the city on the 13th. Um it's really the 15th, but if we don't get it on the 13th, then we're submitting on a Sunday and we don't want to
087do that. Um and then from there kind of it's in the hands of the city at that point. Um and then uh Roberto uh Mayor Aves will do his due diligence uh with our ask amongst um the rest of the city uh and determine his his his budget. Um but that happens much later in the year. So um you know one of the things you know that's always a little concerning is that we do and I know it's an issue for him as well. you know, this he doesn't find out from the state uh what he gets until much later in the year. Our budgets due early on and our asks are due early on. Um and so, you know, things things change. We're current we're still working on contracts for 26 27 with an
088unknown number. So, we have to just be careful about, >> you know, making sure that we're covered with that so that we don't have to go back and ask for for more down the road, which is never a great look. >> Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Of course, >> any questions or um from committee members, non-committee members on the calendar, please let me know right away. Um if you cannot make any of those uh meetings, the workshop and that please. Glattis, go ahead. uh to the superintendent and I know this is an early process and I think that will come before even putting the budget together and it might come out next week and I heard you express some of my concern. What is it in this budget that should be a red flag that we
089should be addressing from last year that won't get thrown into the pot to make the budget look like it's not going to be a favorable budget? Are there any red items that we need to hold and look at from last year? So just if I if I'm understanding the question correctly, you know, the the the unknowns for next year are around the title grants, which I think we have to be conservative in how we approach that. >> Um we have a few more contractual increases that are unknown, but I don't know that they're big that they're big deal breakers. If we were talking about the teachers union, uh with all of those members, those are big numbers, right? because of the number, but I don't I think, you know, we're talking a couple hundred,000 here
090and there for for what's remaining on the table. Um the big question is, you know, making decisions around the open staff that we have. Um honoring the fact that we need to fill these positions, but coming up with a formula and an approach that is demonstrates the reality of hiring that many people that are open uh while still needing new positions. And so um you know the question is you know as we as we come up with that formula we haven't done this before uh in this way you know so what what if we filled all those positions >> right what what if we actually had the best year and we filled all the positions that we need you know what how does that you know what what do what does that do then it
091creates quite a tight line for us but um so that's what we're still continuing to work on right now as we speak um and over the next week those conversations are intensifying in the back end with finance um and you know combination with HR and myself and and the the the folks where those that are the owners of those budgets. >> Okay. Thank you. Could I sort of uh ask another question? >> Of course, Glattus. >> Okay. Um, and I think it's very important because uh I know I was stressed out last year and we we spoke quite often concerning mixing uh the middle school and putting up with the high school when we opened uh Danberry High School West and everybody thought this was going to be happening that was going to be happening.
092And I think to really express how people they take things and they just go off and they get so nervous and they make a big deal out of it. And I think you bought it into fruition that to say let's try had everything in place and it seemed to be working so far. So you know I just wanted to say that I think that was a good idea. >> Thank you. I appreciate that glass. Okay. Did anybody else has any questions? >> No. >> Luis, I just have to say one other thing. >> Go ahead. Yep. >> Okay. Just um you know, one of the other reasons, another reason to go slow, right, is that this alliance is a big part of our budget and this plateaus. So, um, bringing on a ton of staff
093in a climate where our one of our largest funding sources is drying up is something we have to be very careful about so that we don't end up in a situation where we're, you know, we can't we can't maintain those staff. So, just just another placeholder as part of the approach to to our ask. Um, it's just part of our realities that we have. That's it. Sorry, I didn't mean to drop a downer on the towards the end here, but uh you know, this is this is the conversation. This is where we're at and we we and we're trying to be very thoughtful in our approach and transparent. >> I appreciate that. And I know how how hard everybody's been working um on the finance and this has just been occupying everybody's time. So, I
094appreciate Mike, Cara, Angela, everybody's time in this. It's it's been, you know, I'm confident that we're finally going to kind of get to that plat that stable point where we could just have our budgets and know that this is our increase and we know what it is and we're not going to have these it's those pendulum swings that I think everybody wants to try to alleviate. So, um, and we'll get there. It may take a little while, but we'll get there. Um, so thank you. Thank you for that. And to my committee members, if questions come up in the interim, please just forward them to me and we'll get them over to the finance team and we'll get some answers for you. Um, if there is nothing else, um, again, um, let me know if
095there's any conflicts on any of those dates. We want to make sure that we have uh enough people to have our our especially the next finance committee meeting um because we're going to need the quorum to get that uh out of um get the budget out of committee. So, um um okay. If there's nothing else, do I have a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. >> Do I have a second? >> I second it. >> Okay. All in favor? Hi firefight.