001Today is Friday, September 12th, 2025. This is a uh special meeting of the board of education's finance committee. It's the first meeting of the fiscal year 26 and the uh first item on the agenda is the review of the July August 2025 financial report. Rich. >> Uh, so this is the first rate financial report of fiscal year 26. Uh, we are forecasting a positive balance of 490,512. Um, to go over the changes, um, create that surplus. Uh, there was a request for a2 FTE French teacher at the middle school. So that is a deficit of 23,548. Um, as you'll recall, we added 108th elementary section and so that is a deficit of 88,631. Uh the new schedule for power professionals has yielded savings of 112,216. The new salary schedule for secretaries has yielded savings of
0029,653. Uh the new salary schedule for custodians has yielded uh savings this year of 15,787. And then the new salary schedule for the maintenance staff this year has yielded savings of 43,589. We do currently have two HVAC positions that are vacant. So we are uh temporarily contracting out HVAC repairs. So you'll see a deficit of 85,534 there. Um as you recall towards the end of last year the board approved a change in the calendar for some early release days and we had uh discussed a deficit in the food service subsidy of 14,400. Uh salary savings right now are a deficit of 77,600 but similar to last year this tends to acrew as the year uh progresses and so we'll track that as it goes forward but we'd expect that to shrink. Uh software um is
003a deficit of 6,000 for board docs. We did discuss this at the last meeting. Um, depending on the version we go to, that could change to $10,200. Uh, dues and memberships has a savings of $5,030. One is for membership not being used and another for membership that came in slightly below budget. Uh, turnover has exceeded expectations by 189,529. uh contract support is a favorable 44,989 and that's due to um favorable settlements with custodians uh the maintenance union and then some unused um unaffiliated support services salaries. Uh we do have a deficit in special education consult services as we do have five kids who have returned to district and you'll see a corresponding savings and tuition uh non-public for 377,790. Um, on June 30th, the state of Connecticut approved their budget. And in that budget, as
004you recall, initially it was supposed to be no additional funds at fiscal year 26 and then $40 million of additional funds in fiscal 27. The final budget that was approved by the state did add 40 million in fiscal 26 and fiscal 27. Uh, so we are forecasting a reimbursement rate of 70%. Obviously, that uh remains in flux depending on how submissions um occur for throughout the state. And the first submission again is due December 1st. Um electric we are forecasting a deficit of 44,000. If you recall during the budget season um we decided to um take the same approach that the town was using and that the public benefit charge would be reduced um that did not occur. Um originally it was anticipated to be reduced in April and that has not occurred. Uh Kerma
005policies both workers comp and liability insurance um came in better than expected for a surplus of 18,200. Um the health insurance is a savings of 115,000. As you recall, we had uh deductible savings for the negotiated contract with the custodians and maintenance. And we have some census changes as well. Uh payroll taxes are a positive 13,000 and that is due to the new salary schedule savings for the secretaries, par professionals, the custodians and the maintenance. And ELP tuition is a positive 48,875. We do have 49 paying students to start the year against a budget of 45. Um if we do go with the 10,200 for uh board docs, uh that surplus will go down to 486. Um so the general education RC's are a positive 128,000 while the special education RC's are positive 361,000. Um
006just as I mentioned earlier at Middle Sex, we have that 2 French teacher. Henley is at 108th elementary section. You can see some of the salary savings for the prof uh par profofessionals and the secretary um affect Henley. It affects Royal uh and the custodian affects Tokenique. Uh the maintenance department again uh that's surplus with the new maintenance salary schedule for the HBAC positions as well as the deficit associated with contracting out repairs. Um we do have projected deficit for board docks in RC-15 technology. We do have some small salary savings from a delayed start in the network manager. Um in RC16 the membership partners for educational leadership is not being utilized and that's 5,000 of 5,030. Um in RC18 we did include um the grid currently and so we had two administrators turn over
007for a slight increase of 3900. We had 33 teachers for 619,283. Uh we did have one more teacher who's uh let us know that they're leaving and so that'll be 34 for the next um meeting. And then we did complete the four at the five transition at Middle Sex for savings 208. So that is what leads to the surplus of $189,000. Um and then in RC24 we have almost $100,000 in savings on the new par profofessional um schedule. And then again we have a the deficit for the students who have returned to district contracted services with a surplus and tuition for those same five students who has returned to district. In RC25 you'll see the property insurance, student access insurance and workers comp make up those current policies that I talked about. and then electric
008with the deficit for the public's benefit charge. And then the breakdown in terms of savings for health insurance, the 3,00 6,000 deductible change for the custodians maintenance makes up about half of that savings within the health insurance fund. And then again, ELP tuition uh with 49 students against 45 students budgeted. >> Any questions? Go ahead, J. Um so the maintenance the so I understand we have savings because we don't have um the two vacant HVAC positions. Are we interviewing to fill those or >> uh there is a shortage of skilled labor with that in the state of Connecticut and so we have interviewed a few people uh we made offers to two people and they both ended up backing out. Um and so right now if anybody knows of any HVAC people we'd love to
009see a resume. Yeah. children. >> Yeah. >> Do you go >> um my other question is so when we talk about the um the the surplus in just special special education that's R um C24 and is that also and then >> 26 >> and 26. Okay. Thank you. Um my observation more than question is so if I go and look at the new contract savings and the associated deductible savings with the new contract which is about 50% of the health insurance changes. We're looking at close to $240,000 in savings. So maybe talk about because I I think this doesn't get and I made this comment I think the other night but um this really doesn't get realized by the public or maybe even our financial partners in town how much work we've done on some
010of these contracts and changes. So maybe just expose how much this will acrue over the years also. >> Um so we started with the custodians and maintenance. We negotiated a new salary schedule for employees hired after a certain date. We followed that up with the paris and secretaries as well. Um if we look back at when it was instituted um and look at the dollars saved for those years, we've saved well over a million dollars across those four bargaining units. Um and when we created the salary schedule, we looked at what our peers were paying um for similar positions um in lower Fairfield County to kind of benchmark because we obviously didn't want to create a salary schedule that leave would leave us with uh unfilled positions. Um as you mentioned, this year alone, it's
011about a quarter of a million dollars in savings. Uh but it's been over a million dollars since we've instituted these schedules >> and they're rolling forward >> over the contracts will be another million. I mean >> I mean it could easily be another million. I mean the big savings while the dollar amount necessarily for a power professional isn't as big as you might see with like the maintenance or custodians you have more volume in terms of the number of employees. Um and then even with the the deductible change um you know we've started with the custodians and maintenance and then that obviously can acrew forward and those would be permanent savings as you move forward throughout the years. I mean, and again, the deductible savings this year alone are you're talking close to $50,000 if
012not a little more just with this one. >> Two unions, maintenance custodians. The maintenance, however, it's uh 13 people in the union. We have two vacancies, so 11 um but less than half of that union actually takes health insurance. And so that's a small amount. Um you can imagine if you extrapolate that over um a larger union, you can acrew more savings. Um, and then if you could just go to the salary savings. I know it's early in the year, but it's a somewhat new uh line item. And just if you could explain how that's going to work as the year progresses. >> Um, so the board started budgeting salary savings last fiscal year. And so salary savings are the savings that you acrew from not having a filled position. So unlike turnover where you're
013saving from having somebody at a lower salary, this is just you're essentially not paying anybody because the position hasn't filled. And so we had a delayed start with the network manager. um we had a delayed start in the director of elementary education and so that right there is kind of what you're seeing right okay right right now eventually you're going to we're going to apply acred salary savings for the HVAC positions that we mentioned that aren't filled um we're kind of holding that in a rears a little bit until we figure out how the shake out between actually contracting out the maintenance and the salary savings it typically starts to acrue over the course of the year so for example if you have a custodian that leaves um let's say today you might not necessarily
014have that position filled today maybe it'll be two weeks from now and so acrewing that one paycheck of salary savings. So if we look last year, um we met that salary savings target, but it took until probably the second half of the year for it to kind of like collapse. And so probably January, February, you'll see a superintendent adjustment that nets those two accounts together. >> Perfect. >> Go ahead. >> Just curious the utility public. So, uh, when the state put that into place, uh, they thought they were going to sunset it in April. Um, that did not happen. And so, every electric bill that we get, just like a homeowner gets, you're seeing that public benefit charge. Um, and so the decision made both by the board of ed and the town uh, during
015the budget season was to assume that that was going to be reduced. Um, and it just hasn't materialized. And so, essentially, we're putting back in that money that we got. >> Any update on that or not really? >> I don't think it's going to go away this year. Great. Okay. Any other questions? All right. Let's talk about transfers. >> Uh so we do have seven transfers uh to start the year. Um which is not unusual for the first start of the year. Um the first is for $81,874 HVAC repair. As we mentioned, we have two vacant HVAC positions and so uh we're covering that through contracted services temporarily. Um we are taking the uh balance from salary savings as well as um some savings and insurance for those positions. The second transfer is for board
016docs. Uh we have it here at 6,000. If the board chooses to go to 10,200 for that larger package, >> is it 102 or 104? >> I thought it was 102. >> See if I can pull it. >> Okay. Um we would take the whole amount from workers comp. So this whole line item transfer would be the same. It's just a matter of what version that you're involved. Um public benefit charge uh for electric uh we are recommending taking uh funding from the savings and property insurance, student accident insurance and the favorable settlements for uh contract support. Um the first grade section at Henley with was the 108 section we're recommending taking savings from turnover. The world language point to French teacher at the middle school. We are recommending taking the savings from turnover. uh
017the food service subsidy for the early release PD days. We're recommending taking savings from turnover and then the contracted services within special education. Um really really just asking to move that money that was earmarked from uh out of district tuition into contracted services for those students questions. So if uh we go back to the board docs or whatever we call the software now um well let's just have a discussion on that because we did have a board discussion. I mean, I think it's worth its weight and gold in terms of productivity that it's going to bring you guys in the in the central office building. So, um, how do you expect to make changes from the or you're in the midst of doing the due diligence? I know, but when what's the process in going
018from 6,000 to the 102 or 104? >> So, I would think if the board is more supportive of the 102, we'll amend this to be uh 102 as opposed to 6,000. So, when you vote at the next board meeting, it'll reflect the 102. So Joe, what's the plan in terms of board? >> Uh Katie and and Eric and Cass have arranged for Katie and Dave to have a demo. >> Okay. >> Um so they'll go through and then we can ask them to report in, you know, by email or what have you beforehand so the board is prepared, but they'll report informally at the board meeting. Perfect. >> In terms of what they recommend. Yes, Robin. >> Um are they also going to demo the if we did do the 102 that would be the
019policy piece? I think it'll >> they're going to do the full the full >> all of that. >> Yes. And we did find out your question about archived older materials. We just provide them with a zip file and of all those materials and they'll upload them for us. >> So those would all be searchable as well. >> Wow. >> That's great. >> And that's within that package. >> Y. All right. So, uh, okay, that's that one. And then >> I think it's 54, >> which is the original. >> So, it is 10,000, >> $200. Um, >> okay. And then the um consultant services and tuition, is that ultimately going to be a wash as you go through the year? Do we >> slight? It's a slight savings. Um, you'll see the um the difference between
020the tuition was about 370 and you're looking at 330 for contracted services. So it is slight. >> Uh any other questions? All right. So I would recommend that we um you know put forth these transfers to the board for approval >> as >> uh well with the with the asterisk next to the 10 the software if they go larger but yeah we'll we'll decide that later. All right. Good. See no push back. Um would you mind just going through the grants? Um, sorry I forgot to ask you. And then just also the food service very quickly. >> Uh, so the IDA grant actually got a slight increase. Our award is a million29,000. Um, it's about a $50,000 increase um from the prior year. Um, this again funds mostly staff, paraprofessionals, um, some special education teachers
021and psychologists. Um, title two, our allocation is 47,321. um that's largely used to support professional development. If you recall in the summer um that grant was frozen um and it was rescended by the federal government and so uh we were not sure if we were going to get that in uh late August that was released and so uh we are getting that title 2 grant for 47,000 and then title three is just over 8,000 and that supports English language learners. Uh we do have the balance of the ARP mental health grant which funds the wellness coordinator and so that is funding about a third of that position. Um the community fund did fund a portion of teen talk at the middle school and so the board's funding a half a portion of it and then
022uh the community fund is funding the other portion and then if we look at the food service fund it is running at a deficit of 201,487. Um that is a product of the fact that we only get three serving days in August and have a lot of upfront cost in the beginning of the year. Um typically what happens is we run a deficit for about the first six or seven months of the year and then it becomes cash flow positive and then again as we did last year um it'll start to subsidize the board's budget. Um, and so you'll see that food service subsidy account um, within the financial report start to actually see that revenue post and it offsets the cost of lunch monitors and it offsets the cost of the budget. Um, if
023we look last year it was about $280,000 that the cafeteria fund um, was profitable and that subsidized the board's budget. >> Okay. Can so just back to the grants on the federal side were not missing any monies year. The only thing that not year-over-year, the only thing we obviously still don't have is title one, which we lost last year and we continued to not have, >> but that was based on census data and income levels of the town, not any anything pulled uh relative. Okay. >> Well, that's good news. I thought we were going to see it. >> Uh we thought we were losing title, too. Uh but that has been released. Perfect. >> Um just how often is that uh census taken? >> I think it's every 10 years. I'd have to double check.
024Well, that's the actual sentence, but isn't this sens census of um you know, kids who are below like I thought it was not like the census, but like a census of the population, >> income levels within the population. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah. Um I'll have to double check on that. Um we can get back. >> Thank you. >> All right. So, that's the only followup. Any other questions? All right. Uh public comment. No one's in the audience online. Can I get a motion to adjurnn?