001Louisa canis Julie okay Eddie John okay I'd like to call this meeting to order yeah between 6 15. We're not gonna try to what was that and juggle over two months okay and and you all still see me I I've switched screens I can see you Mr Russo Kevin good evening sir I didn't see you on the participant list so you must have just popped on I did I did the presence is welcome sir welcome good to see you I'm uh coming in on my computer in a second okay yeah all right Eddie and John there are some interesting numbers this month's document before I start asking I think Ed's going to walk us through it right if that's okay all right so I I will turn the meeting over to him at this point
002good evening everyone I'm gonna share my screen real quick can everyone see that clearly yes um so we we're on track on spending the 141 million dollars that was budgeted for this fiscal year 23. um very few uh exceptions you know the overages at the high school um unexpected uh expenses of 250 000 in the overloads um is what we're projecting for this uh year as the as the overloads continue um three months into the school year we are seeing negative in positive numbers in different line items as you mentioned Al uh the reason for that is um we are in the transition as we mentioned a few months ago of uh transferring line items to line items to balance certain um account lines and that will continue uh we should have that all cleared
003up for the next report um and that's between General funding and Grant funds you know there's um individuals that were being paid in one uh bucket versus another bucket whether that's a general fund or one of the other grants so um we've had we have in the last two weeks this report is as of October 31st but as of the last two weeks we have moved um a great amount of individuals and millions of dollars from one budget to the next budget or one account line to the next line and that will show in the next um report in December or January when we meet again but like I mentioned before the last paragraph we're on track very similar to October 31st of 2021 we uh had spent about 20 percent of our budget we've
004spent 19 of our budget so right now we expended 26.25 million there's encumbers of 93 million and then the balance we're seeing of 21 million dollars it's not really a balance it's unencumber balances that will be projected throughout the year um so health insurance will encumber the rest of the health insurance for the year Dental um you know any transportation any other lines that that will continue to happen it usually happens right after you know we've opened schools we started already now we get into the nitty-gritty of each lion see which lines weren't budgeted uh the right way or come over when we did the budget back in December of 2021 so um the bottom line is you know we have 141 million we plan on spending 141 million um and we monitor those lines
005um so if you go through the detail sheets I'll bring these up a little this is your summary of your general fund and your Grant funds so if you're seeing the salary line is in a negative 1.6 million that's because there's a individuals that will be coming that have come out since you know October 31st of today November 15th out of the general fund into the grant fund and entered in their buckets for example if they're paid out of Esser or priority School we've moved those individuals it is a it is a tedious process and it takes time it can take up to five minutes to 10 minutes per individual making sure we grab their history from say July 1 to today and make sure all that comes over correctly so that's something you'll see
006that will go away the next report um very similar to the other lines as well Eddie Excuse me yes before you um again undesignated the term undesignated cuts to uh the physical year 2023 budget of a million and a half in a red that you're saying that's going to go away those are the cuts that we made um when our budget was cut from the 150 155 well 152 155 million um we had we had 11 million dollars we had it cut and those were we created a line in there so that it would balance out is this is that correct how um explaining it John right um and Elle's right too though that red figure will go up into the salary line it's it's made up of two components uh one was uh something
007that's different names we've called it salary savings we've called it breakage it's uh about 900 000 if I remember right uh a difference between um staff members who were leaving and what we expected the replacement staff to be hired at uh which were lower steps we we have this uh every year just from normal attrition so in June uh we didn't know who those people all would be or um although we know mo we knew most of people were leaving we hadn't done all the hiring yet so we didn't know exactly what lines uh that savings would come on so we parked it down there to make the budget balance and the other um part of that was uh I think it was five elementary sections that our enrollment forecasts at the time said uh
008we did not we probably didn't need to uh fill or have even then we didn't quite know whether they would be first grade or second grade or where they'd fall uh so as the summer progressed of course we found that out but until we when we knew when we put this budget together we didn't know so that's down on that line but now that we know all those things uh those cuts will go back up onto the lines where they uh the savings occurred and uh that would be in the salary the Top Line sorry you're sorry for the long explanation that's not a negative number that 1.499 670. no the uh if you look up there the 79 million one uh 655 number for salaries that will go down by a million 4.99. okay
009thank you thank you for the explanation I see something red is like I didn't understand her but I do thank you okay I have a patience thank you John and then the next uh following documents are uh you know your standard monthly uh report on our general fund and our grant fund um you see the numbers are some are in a negative some are in the positive those are the the transfers that we have begun making and we will continue to make and clean up for the following report um the following month I'll just scroll by real you know slowly if you have any questions just let me know and I'm gonna go into the grants yes and the next report we will see it differently um one will we see at the next report
010on the next um meeting board meeting on on our next part on our committee the next finance committee meeting we uh we present this first to the finance committee meeting and then um The Following meeting board meeting it it's approved so it'll be the following uh finance committee okay Finance correct but the boy will this number on red right and then yeah yeah so they won't don't they won't pretty much understand I get it thank you yeah you're welcome yes this rep just to go back to your question too this report is you know what everyone sees on the board it's a public uh document so and here are our grant reports oh I'm sorry that was here's the grant uh report of all of our grants as you can see um and those are
011as I mentioned earlier um removing individuals from the general fund or any other buckets into the grants where they need to be so that's uh that's a task that um in the finance department in the central office were you know identifying those individuals in those uh items that need to be moved and that really concludes my report for this month are there any other questions just to recap uh on page one we are roughly 19 of our budget is spent and we are on track to have a successful year without a major deficit I'd like to add something I don't know if everyone can hear me okay yes Mr Walsh thank you Kevin okay I mean my connection is not the best I guess over here so I I just wanted to add uh for
012the finance committee um I know there have been requests to um kind of get an update on where we are with our uh for lack of a better term spin down on our American relief grants um and I would like to be able to review that at Monday's board meeting um if you would like I'd also be happy to to Mr Russo um Miss kanetta if the two of you would like to kind of talk through prior to the board meeting just so we can kind of walk you through I have that a bit we're envisioning we'll have some clean data available by Friday but I think it's important given like this is really our last meeting where we have some action before the year ends just so the board has a good idea of
013kind of where we are the kind of state of those monies and kind of revenue streams coming in um I I feel like we're in a little better place than we had originally um uh planned just because we have not um kind of had to do everything as the plane was calling for so the social distancing guidelines have been relaxed the need for PPE has been relaxed it's been well documented that we came out of a close to three million dollar strategy at Brookfield between Staffing and releasing of the building that we came out of and so these are just a number of commitments that we've made we don't have to continue because the guidelines have been relaxed and we you can kind of invest that money in different advice for the board going into
014budget season so I just wanted to make the committee aware we don't have it we don't have it ready for tonight otherwise I would have made sure it was queued up for tonight uh but we do want to make sure we review this with the board on Monday um and we just feel like there's a sense of urgency because we know things are going to be moving fast in January yeah um thank you Mr Walston um I I do want to take a look at that in advance of the meeting if it's possible we do have the cape convention this weekend um out of pocket Friday I will as well I'll be going up there Friday as well okay good so um I can do that for Monday morning whatever is convenient for me I
015will also be at the cape convention maybe we could spend a few minutes together Kevin oh there you go there you go and I know what I'm on it's off track here but registration is at like 8 30 9 o'clock so that's like over a two two hour ride in the morning um what time do we actually need to be there you sound like me when I went to DC Mr Russo um is right registration was at 7 30 is and what time the first session start uh sometimes they we have a long registration is so I can I can take a look and I can ask characters and update to the board members well I'm probably going to go down Thursday night and grab them somewhere oh there you go uh that's yeah just
016getting up at five o'clock and out of the house by six and I don't want to be late I'm like first convention and uh so yeah all right thank you Luis is an early riser maybe she can give you a ride up on Friday morning oh dear I may not be good all right it'll be good to see everyone up there all right yeah I hope we can get have a few minutes together okay breaks at the convention I'm sorry um Eddie John anything else can I can I ask a couple questions Mr Russo absolutely man um well first first I just want to make a comment I really I really like this notes column on the side that kind of gives us a sense of you know some information you know that we may
017not uh understand immediately looking at the spreadsheet so that's that's very helpful um and I really appreciate it and I see that a fair number that is you're marked with um uh eser money so um I guess my question is moving down to the grants area um I see that we're running a negative balance on some of these based on our encumbrances is that because the grant money hasn't been received in-house and we're anticipating that money coming in at some point or is there another reason okay yes some I'm sorry yep so some of them is that and some of them just have to be moved around as you mentioned some of the incomers might be encumbered too much that shouldn't be encumbered that much so that's why we're going line by line Grant by
018Grant identifying that to clean it up so yes to answer your question okay thank you I just want to make sure I figured that was going on but just wanted to be sure you're welcome that's it for me thank you okay that that's it for my report unless there's any other questions no it does seem it was clear assistant and you answered up preempted all my questions with your answers sir uh do we have any other day more money more money more money um I'm wondering if I can ask a question that's not to do with this specific financial report but I'm just kind of wondering where we are and I know we will get an update on this soon but where we are as far as the budget process and um getting information from
019administrators and other staff that may be providing input for that budget maybe maybe I could answer that one um so our our budget calendar uh has the instructions uh well I call them the instructions uh going out either Friday or Monday I'm not sure which um so I actually have them on my desk here uh one of the things I just finished uh doing today was looking at the Malone and McBroom enrollment forecast uh for next year because we recall um we're using the term as a base allocation where we look at the number of pupils that are expected in a school and then budget them at a so much per pupil so I now have all that I needed a couple pieces from Cara wanzer uh today and then um I've had some discussions
020uh we're gonna a Cod step two uh where last year we identified a number of cost centers uh that that have worked quite well I think for responsibility accounting and we want to do some more of those this year for example at the CRC uh there was one amount for the CRC and the idea was uh care as its leader could determine whether it goes to Art music or to English and language arts or wherever the need was but the program leaders they have some regular things they do year in and year out so we're going to set up some individual cost centers out of the original one so it'll be a offset money-wise but those program coordinators will have their own budgets we're also going to set up a separate cost center for school
021security they actually don't have their own budget we've been using the sites and Facilities budget for that but the work that's done there is is really very different so they'll have their own so we're just putting some final touches on the framework uh then it'll be going out the door it'll everything will be due back before Christmas I think it's the 20th of December I'm not sure that that's where things are thank you um and uh just a follow-up to that in terms of communication with City Council on the mayor's office I know we've had this kind of ongoing conversation about how to um sort of open up this process to make it um more transparent for those folks and to to sort of expand their their base of knowledge about you know how we
022develop our budget and and what that entails um where are we as far as those Communications well one of one of the uh changes in the calendar um I think it was it it might have been the board chairs idea that um is that the fir first or second Workshop uh city council members I think the ad hoc committee members will be invited uh to participate alongside yourselves in um understanding why the light items are what they are and what we might be able to do with them so that that's uh one big change but we really wouldn't present the spending plan uh to uh City officials until you the board have decided what it's going to be you know the superintendent's budget becomes the board budget and um that's usually the time it's it's
023sent over so you know this there's a deadline in the charter I think it's the first Tuesday in February we plan to submit on time like we did last year and go from there but I guess I'm thinking not so much from this strict budget um season that's coming up but from a standpoint of sort of our overall Financial picture um you know obviously we just got the information about costs for the Career Academy operations um and we've we've looked at you know I think board members are are pretty well aware of the financial cliff we're going to be hitting um at the end of this year I just want to make sure that and I know that this has been brought up with Council this has been mentioned to council that I just want
024to make sure that you know we're doing our due diligence of continuing to put that um keep that communication stream open and just sort of um you know see what we can do as far as brainstorming with the mayor's office or with Council to address some of these gaps yeah uh I I don't have any other specifics right now but I can bring that back to our uh cabinet level or um we can talk about some more I'm sure there are some ideas right I I do John I have specifics on that um because we've started we've had two different meetings um with uh members from the city of Danbury around specifically around on the school budget one the task force for Danbury Career Academy which has you know been delayed during the election season
025and you know certainly we will get back on track with those meetings uh but the the other meeting is kind of an ad hoc meeting um with um a number of stakeholders which include um uh representation from the council and people from the mayor's office we had our initial meeting and I believe I reported out in our meeting in October about this um initial meeting um in October and I felt like initially it was a really good meeting as we kind of talked about the state of the district the kind of Financial State of the district and kind of a Collective Agreement that we would come back um have more people at the table from the council from the community and collectively find different ways to improve or increase revenue streams coming into the Danbury
026public schools whether there was a federal dollars or State dollars and then also be in a position to help the city of Danbury better understand our situation so they can make some informed decisions as those times approach um so we we did kind of have a collective commitment in that meeting in October and the agreement was we would come back together again uh soon after election season and now that that's over I anticipate we will be able to resume and and get back to work thank you Mr Wilson no you're welcome thank you for asking and um our board chair um of course Rachel chileski was in that meeting um Mr ginelli and his role as a community member was in that meeting um and helped to broker the meeting we had a councilman in
027the meeting we had um two people from the mayor's office in that meeting as well and it was a quite frankly it was a great initial it was a great start to helping the city better understand kind of the situation that we're in um and the kind of investment we're going to need over these next couple of years to be able to not only open up Danbury Career Academy but also just be able to sustain on the work that needs to be done across the district as these relief monies continue to expire um in the next year or two so Dave thank you for that excuse me because we haven't talked about that in a while Kate and I'll make sure I revisit that and talk about that on Monday as well appreciate that Mr
028Wilson thank you any other questions any non-committee members is lurking in the background have anything to add speak now or forever hold your peace I want to thank you all this has been a busy committee week and I want to thank you for taking the time Kate thank you for staying at work getting it done you coming in um trying to make a motion to adjourn that would be wonderful that would be wonderful okay Kate makes the motion I will second that motion but I hear you all in favor hi hi thank you all have a good night and we will meet