001Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Ammerville Union Bree School District um special session board education meeting today's November 12th and the time is 6:30. I'm calling the meeting to order at 6:31 p.m. Um please note where emergency exits are located within this room um for this session of the meeting. And at the meeting tonight is myself, board president Lisa Johnson, my first vice president, Juan Leon, second vice president, Chris Nering, trustees Carol Seahhawk, Leslie Cretz, and Megan Metsman. Also in attendance is our superintendent, Dr. Gina Talbbert, our um our director of human resources, Dr. Landal, our interim assistant superintendent of finance and operation, Mr. Snder and legal counsel John Sheing is here as well. It's anticipated that Mary Stevens will be joining us for this meeting as well. >> So at time is
0026:32 p.m. At this point in time, can I have a motion to enter into session for advice from council and particular person's employment history? >> So move second. >> Um Leslie Cretz was first off second. All those in favor I motion carry 6. We'll see you at 7:30 for the open session for the budget session meeting. >> 7:35. In the event of an emergency, please note the exits that are clearly marked and please silence your cell phone and join the board in the pledge of allegiance. Dr. T. I'm going to turn the meeting over to you. >> Thank you. And good evening, President Johnson, members of the board of education, colleagues, and members of the community. Tonight we will hear a presentation from our interim assistant superintendent for finance and operations, Mr. Richard Snyder, regarding
003the district's 2024 2025 surplus analysis. This presentation provides a comprehensive look at the factors that contributed to our current financial position and offers insight into what those results mean as we plan for the future. As many of you may recall, just two years ago, Amityville faced significant fiscal challenges, including a multi-million dollar deficit, tight budgets, leadership turnover in the business office, and cash flow difficulties. Since then, through careful oversight, conservative budgeting, and strategic decisionmaking, the district's fiscal health has improved to its strongest point in nearly 15 years. While this year's surplus reflects progress, it's essential to understand, as Mr. Snider will explain that many of the contributing factors were temporary and cannot be relied upon moving forward. The focus of this evening's presentation is to ensure that we remain disciplined, transparent, and forwardthinking in our
004financial planning. We continue to move toward greater stability, but we must also prepare for potential future challenges, including changes in state aid and rising operational cost. With that, I'd like to thank our business office team, our cabinet for their contributions, and Mr. Snyder for their ongoing efforts to strengthen our financial operations. Mr. Snyder, the floor is yours. >> Good evening. Is this okay for volume? >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, we're going to talk about a very interesting topic and that is >> You may have to lift up the mic a little bit. >> I'll hold it. >> Yeah. We're going to talk about the 202425 budget and how it ended. And it ended financially very well for the district, but understand this November of 25. We're looking back with 2020 hindsight and even some of
005the judgments we would make about some of the financial data don't tell a full picture. There's 700 lines of expenditure budget and maybe three dozen lines of revenue budget. We're looking at big picture items, things that really move the needle. We're not looking at all of them and we're interpreting. I think I'm about to paint a pretty clear picture about how a significant surplus occurred, but I will tell you one of the most important things is is that surplus continuing in 2526? Did it roll over? And can we count on any of these surpluses to roll over into the 2627 budget? Those are bigger questions to me anyway. But I think in order to understand the budget data from 24, we have to remember where the district was between January of 2024 and April of
0062024 when we were developing the 2425 budget. That's important because the mindset of the board, the administration, and the adi and the information you had access to dictated a lot of the good things that happened in this budget. So, with that, I'm doing some interviews and talking to some people. It's April of 24. We're getting ready to adopt the 2425 budget and put it before the voters. And the big piece of information you have in front of you, what is front and center with the news is the 2223 audit report, which shows a monumental deficit of $8.2 million. The district's finances are in dire trouble. The 2324 projection, which was done by a financial consultant hired by the state who was sitting here, shows that that budget at that point in time was also very
007tight. and worry was the common denominator. SED, to add insult to injury, had notified school districts that they were going to be delayed in handing out state aid. So, the district was going to have an even deeper cash flow problem at that time. And make no mistake about it, in the business office, we were struggling to pay bills because at that point in time, you had about $8 million in your bank account. And when your budget's 120 million, that's not a lot to play with. It sounds a lot saying it to you, but when you have hundreds of thousands of bills to vendors and multi-million dollar bills to pay, the way the cash flow works is it presented significant problems in the office. One of the things I found interesting is that the district was
008denied financing for a revenue generating energy performance contract because there were some concerns about the district's finances. Between that an SED consultant who was here monitoring the finances, there was a lot of worry and you had major collective bargaining agreements that were not settled and the impact of them financially was weighing large on the administration. The 2425 budget had to be developed to achieve a surplus. We've spoken about this in the budget advisory committee meetings that I stand here and tell you the budget we're developing is designed to break even or it's designed to achieve a deficit or we're designing it to achieve a surplus. It's no different than teachers in the classroom having a plan and then teaching the lesson and of course it never goes the way you want and then we analyze
009why our plan was wrong. And that's how we become better planners. I'm not sure that happens here, but the 2627 budget we will develop will have a target of achieving a surplus. That is going to be my recommendation to you. But make no mistake about it, the 2425 budget had to achieve a surplus. The consequences of not having a surplus given the SED financial consultant here were pretty dire. you were looking at takeover and that's bad for the zip code. It's bad for Amityville. It's bad for everybody and thankfully the 2425 budget performed magnificently and you avoided it and we're going to talk about that. But the way I believe and I certainly wasn't a business official that this surplus was achieved was through what we call conservative budgeting techniques. Conservative budget techniques means this.
010You set your revenue budget here believing that your actual revenues will come in here higher. But on the expenditure side, the opposite is true. I set my expenditure budgets here believing that my actual expenditures will come in here. And now between both sides of the budget, I have higher assurances of a surplus. There is clear evidence that the administration did that in 2425. You've seen this slide before. I've now filled in 2425 data. You see you had a $10.59 million surplus which is outstanding financial performance. Your fiscal position went from 7% which is as poor as you could possibly imagine to 15.7%. Which gives you some breathing room. We're not struggling with cash flow any anymore in the business office because we have 18.9 million in fund balance and reserves to back us up with
011our cash flow. But you can see looking at the history of your fiscal position that the fiscal trouble has been happening for well beyond a decade. Going from 17.9% in 1011 and then dropping to 9% in 1617. Well, that's a major red flag. Now, I wasn't here. I don't know if the board was here, but the evidence and what needed to happen in response to that, I can't say. But then going up to 12% in one year and then dropping down to 10%. It's all because the surpluses and deficits keep switching. They're going on and off and on and off. And that is something we have to get a better handle on. Even recently, to go from an $8.2 million deficit to a $10.6 $6 million surplus. We have to figure out why. Otherwise, we
012will continue for years to come with this type of volatility. So, we're at 15.7%. It's a decent fiscal position. It's still the lowest 25th percentile on Long Island, but we're not scrging at 7% for cash flow. The mindset going forward is we have a $10.6 6 million surplus. Did any of it roll into 2526? Are we looking good? And will any of it roll into 2627? We will continue conservative budgeting techniques. And I'm going to show you some examples of what that looks like. And keep in mind, another state aid crisis is coming. It is very cyclical. We've seen state aid crisis before in my career. We have to be ready as if another state aid crisis is coming. And in 2425, they told us they were having trouble paying state aid. That's a signal.
013The more fund balance and reserves you have, the more you can weather a state aid crisis and not go into deep draconian cuts into your program. So my position for you is that we need more fund balancing reserves. don't think the state aid crisis is coming in 26 27 because it's an election year and I've learned the politics of Albany. I wouldn't take the bet after that that you're not looking at some sort of a drop in state aid and where are they going to pull state aid from? It's not going to be those Northshore districts. It's going to be the districts that get a lot of it. That's just the way it works. It's not fair. But we have to in our financial planning be prepared for a state aid cut coming somewhere down
014the road. Of that $10.6 million surplus, 3.8 of it came from the revenue side of the budget. We have a oneshot state aid grant of $2 million that will continue this year. That's good news. So that'll carry over into 2526. Interest revenue came in dramatically over budget, which is what you want on the revenue side. 580,000. Pilot payments, which are like tax breaks for certain residential housing units and corporations, came in over budget, but that's temporary. Pilot payments, increases in them, reduce the tax levy. That's the way the tax cap formula works. And you'll see next month when we do tax levy projections that that increase in pilot payments is a tax break for the community. It will lower the levy. Tuition revenue appears to be more of a oneshot. Also, there were some older
015billings that came in. There were some rate adjustments and there are some transient types of students, foster and homeless that drove that over budget condition. You can't count on it. The refund is from Boseies. Boseies also had a very good year. So we came in over budget on that one. So right there you probably have 40% of your surplus coming from the revenue side. These are screenshots from your revenue status report. You can see the second one down. That's interest revenue. The budget is 400,000. Your revenue earned was 981,000. That's not good budgeting on the conservative budgeting on the revenue side. I'm sorry, let me say that again. Interest revenue for four years prior averaged $274,000. With a $400,000 budget, that's not good. 2425 we did very well because we came in 581,000 over budget.
016But the text beneath it, interest rates have dropped and interest rate has averaged only 274,000 the past four years. So the question before us is will we be more conservative with our interest revenue budget going forward. We spoke about pilots. Those pilot payments are going to lower the tax levy. The surplus we gain there, we're giving back next year. To me, that's a zero sum game. Tuition revenue is really a one-time thing because we collected some older stale revenue. There was a rate adjustment also and homeless and foster tuitions come and go. You can't expect those students. They just they're not always here. So, I would not count on that type of revenue happening again. And again, look at the history of that code. The budget's been 350,000. The average over the past four years
017was 236,000. That's evidence that the revenue budget is not exactly aligned correctly. Boseies had a great year in 2024-25 for some of the same reasons we did. Benefits honestly for Boseies. The budget was at 200,000. We got extra refund from Boseies because they're required by law to share their surpluses with the component districts. We received 564,000. You can't count on Boseies having financial performance like that any more than we can count on having it ourselves. On the expenditure side, $6.8 million is what I've identified in surplus conditions. It comes from transportation, contractual special ed, tuition, data processing is computers, general ed salaries, monitor and assistance salaries, and the one that to me is the most interesting is benefits. And we'll spend some time talking about that. I will tell you that some of this has
018rolled over, some of it I believe is not, but we cannot count on the size of that surplus going forward. So, we're going to have to be more conservative going forward. This is your transportation budget. Back in April of 24, there were clearly conversations with the administration about saving money in transportation. That's why they lowered the transportation budget 251,000. A gutsy move in my opinion because I've rarely see transportation expenses drop. what your director of transportation is really quite [snorts] savvy at route consolidation and more importantly sharing our private parochial and special ed routes with other districts and getting credits back on our bills. That's what drove that 884,000 savings there which is unheard of. But the bad news is we have a 30% increase in our transportation costs going forward. And how that impacts
019that 884,000 rolling forward is something we're going to have to look at. I don't think you can count on it, but we're going to have to do some more analysis with transportation to see how that looks. This slide is your actual transportation expense history, so you get a real idea. I mean, I always look at budget and then I always look at actual. You can see you have a 5-year history of increases which you would expect 2425 those expenditures dropped and that is really some feat. You know people should really congratulate themselves who were involved in that savings because it's pretty rare to save that type of money. This is your specialed contractual. And similar to transportation, in April, there were conversations about saving money in this code, which is also gutsy because these codes
020typically don't go down. But we were aware of certain students who were moving to the point that we were comfortable lowering the code 132,000. Not a heck of a lot on a $2.7 million budget. But to me, I thought it was interesting that there was some foresight that money would be saved here because of student movement. What then happened after budget adoption was some negotiations with the vendor who was pretty expensive and some other students also moved out of the code and you wind up saving $837,000. The administration 2526 lowered the budget again by 33,000. sort of like a token gesture in my opinion given the transient nature of the students in these codes I don't think you can count on that savings but I do believe that the savings mostly exists today in 2526
021special education boseies is fascinating here the district saved 1,289,000 in codes that are very very dangerous Financially speaking, in 24 of April, there was a lot of talk about Bosey's tuition because it was a major driver of the deficit in 2223. So there had to be a lot of nervous energy about this. They raised the budget 994,14%. Pretty normal. the primary cause of the savings that happened after the budget was adopted in April because remember all the special ed evaluations typically happen in May and June. So you don't find out about these things until after the budget is locked in is that eight students moved out of the district and two students were placed back in district saving the district an incredible amount of money. All of that occurred after the budget was adopted. So
022that's a big swing. You're increasing the budget nearly a million dollars but then saving 1.2 going the other way. This had a big impact right now. I think that those savings still exist but there's always a lot of movement in Bosei special. I don't know how much we're going to be able to count on this and the administration lowered these codes 494,000 this year. So some of that savings has been taken away. This is the history of those same codes. Look at what happens in 2122 and 2223. Just talking about mindset and the worry. The district went from 6.4 million up to a incredible 7.6. That big deficit in 2223. Part of it is accountable here. There's nothing you can do about it. The kids are here. But there are is a transient nature to
023these types of services and to where these students are are living that given what you knew in April of 24, you had to increase the budget. And there's just a little bit of buck here. How much we can fully count on savings in 2526 versus 2425, I don't know. It's still early, but we're watching this code. We have detailed files on these students and where they are and what they're doing. And I think these codes are in good shape today, but it's still early. Lowhanging fruit when you're in a budget crisis is computers. The district was rolling out major computer initiatives called infinite campus, e school, and time piece. These things were put on hold to save $275,000. The administration lowered the code in 2526 to75,000. I think these savings are gone because we're going
024to have to invest more money in these programs to fully roll them out. There are some efficiency measures in these applications that we have to take advantage of. So I think 400,000 450,000 is a normal target. I don't think we'll see savings here again. This code is also interesting. General ed teaching salaries in April of 24. You have two years of teacher contracts that have been unsettled. You then have five retirees. We know we did a lot of excessing. We had one retiree come in after the budget. We were also very concerned because of the accessing about classes breaking. And by that I mean if we com combined one class and access the teacher that it wouldn't be successful and we'd have to hire the teacher back again typically in August. So we held on
025to money in these codes and I believe Dr. could tell that some of that actually happened, but not to the extent of the money that was saved. There was also additional savings upwards over $200,000 from dockings and unpaid leaves of absence because, you know, the teachers weren't here and we had to pay subs. The 2526 budget was adjusted to account for a lot of this by a half million dollars. Remember, this is two years of data. So right now I believe these codes are better aligned and there isn't much of any surplus in this code at all. It's still very early. It's only November, but the action that was taken a year ago to adjust these codes sort of took care of this issue. What's interesting and again here at the actual expenditures for those
026same codes is 2122 to 223. You have an astronomical increase in these codes. Why that happened probably had something to do with COVID and the grants running out, but there needed to be a course correction. And I believe that's what happened in 2425. There was a course correction to realign these salaries back down to a more reasonable level. To a lesser extent, the same thing happens with monitors, teaching assistance, and aids. smaller in number, but 417,000 was large enough to get my attention in terms of this presentation. Saving money with monitors, teacher assistance, and aids doesn't happen very often. The budget code was also corrected, so you can't count on any surplus in these codes going forward. You can see it has a very strong history of increases with the exception of 2425 benefits is
027incredible. Here from 2324 to 2425 the budget was increased 1.2 million or 5.9%. It's a pretty modest increase for health benefits but it's reasonable. 93,000 alone is health insurance or 8.7%. So most of the increase in all of these codes is in the health insurance line which is a second from the bottom. These codes appear to be appropriately budgeted in April of 24. But in April of 24, the administration has to guess what health insurance rates are going to be in 25. Happens every year. We have to guess in April, this April of 206, what 27 health premiums are going to be. This is the data the administration had in April of 24. 3 years of double-digit increases in health insurance premiums, which in the world of education is normal. Unfortunately, health insurance typically increases
028by double digits. But what happens is NICHIP, which is really the state, comes in and says individual premiums are only going up 2.3%. And to the incredible amazement of every business official on Long Island, the family of premiums were zero. This is what drove a tremendous amount of surplus for the budget. Every district experienced it. OC's experienced it, which explains that refund. This this was incredibly important to the district. Health benefits going down is unheard of. Now in 2425 it went down because there was excessing. There were some other factors. But make no mistake about it, a 0% increase in family premium and only 2.3 has a major impact on the surplus that happened. Just as a recap, 3.8 million of the surplus came from revenue. You have the detail. I've accounted for 6.8 of
029surplus on the expenditure side. So roughly 10.6 has been laid out for you. 10.5 was a surplus. There are dozens of other codes that had surpluses that you can point out. There are also other codes that had deficits that would take you the other way. We looked at the big moving items to say what were the major things that we have to keep track of in order to say how are we doing in 2526 because that's the most important question. How much of this can we rely on today? The budget calendar was sent home to you, I believe, last week. In January, probably the third or fourth week, we're going to do a projection of 2526 and where we think the school year is going to end. I think that's probably something different for Amniville,
030but we will put up on the screen how we think we're doing in 2526. Having a surplus, a projected surplus says a lot about what we have to do in 2627 for the budget. Believing we're break even or in a deficit situation paints an entirely different story. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right. So, I know I have a couple questions and then Chris, you want to go first or does it make a difference? >> Sure. I'll go first. Um, yes, I'll go back to slide number four. >> Do you want me to go back, sir? >> Yeah. >> Which one is it? >> Um, that's fiscal position 15-year history. Would it make more sense if we just each had a question on the slide that we just >> Yeah. Slide? Yeah, that was my
031thing. >> Okay. So maybe we'll just go back to the beginning and then >> does anyone have any questions on the slides prior to this? >> All right. Any questions on the mindset to for 2425 budget process? Any question on that slide? >> All right. So we're going to go to the fiscal position 10 year history. So if anyone has any questions for that slide then go ahead Chris. >> Okay. Um, so I'm asking this question based on the up and down of the surplus and deficit. Is there any reason a district would plan to operate at a deficit? >> Yes. >> Okay. What >> there are districts on Long Island that I believe I disclosed in a previous presentation that have 40 50% of their budget in fund balance and reserves. One of them
032had a very public um whiplashing in News Day from the controllers's office accusing them of hoarding taxpayer money. Those are districts that should design a budget to achieve a deficit because they have to give it back. >> That's one way to give it back. Lowering your levy is another way to give it back. But to me, if you're over, I'll give you a ballpark 35% fiscal position, you're probably in a position where you either have to start designing budgets to achieve a deficit or take some other measures to lower that because the controllers's office will not look at you favorably having a fiscal position that high. >> Okay. But then in the years that you're showing here, that's not what happened here. That's not like a purposeful >> no >> deficit. Okay. We're in the
033opposite where you know the we need to get stronger fixed fiscally. We need more fund balance and reserves. >> All right. Uh my next question for this slide I think I understand how it lines up but could you just explain how the fiscal position correlates with the other columns and how do we use that to measure our financial health? >> The the math. >> Yeah. like the physical position like I'm seeing >> the like the first first row it's 17% 17.9 but then we're operating at a deficit and then >> the math of it and we went through this in a previous position and I sort of follow the controllers's method not to a T but if we look at 2425 the 10,592 adds to the 8 million 382 before it to give you 18,974.
034That 18,974 is divided by the next year's budget which is 120,775 to arrive at 15.7%. So the budget year is shifted one column. I do that just to be consistent, >> okay, >> with what I learned at a controllers conference. >> All right, >> there are other ways to do it. You can go right across and just do the math simply. It's not going to change very much the interpretation of the data, but I am taking the next year's budget number as the divisor. >> Okay. Thank you. >> That's all I have for that one. >> Any other questions on this particular slide? >> I think I don't have a question. I'm just going to ask you to clarify for the community the 2425 uh 10 million in surplus. You mentioned that there would have
035been a takeover if we would have been in a deficit. Could you explain for the sake of the community exactly if this would have been a negative number again what would have happened? >> It's opinion. I acknowledge I'm giving you opinion, but you had a fiscal consultant here that was put in here by the state and funded by the state back when your fiscal position went to 7.3%. that big deficit I believe in 22 23 was probably the the issue that brought them here and having only 7% is very dangerous. We saw it in the business office. So you know I said that the 2425 budget had to be successful. It had to generate a surplus because with Mr. with the fiscal consultant here I'll keep the names out of it. He was concerned about
0362324 and look what happened. Very small $195,000. That's small. To have a deficit and to lower that fiscal position some more in my opinion would have invited state receiverhip. >> Which means that the state comes in, they get an office and you know the authority they have over business affairs and over board agendas. You know you you just don't want to go there. It's not good for the zip code. It's not good and I think we've avoided it, but the state can do what the state wants to do, but it would have been very dangerous to have a deficit in 2425. >> Leslie, did you have a question on this? >> Couple just um first one, did we >> just speak a little bit more? >> Have we received the $2 million from the state
037yet? >> No. >> Okay. >> This year. >> So, >> no, not yet. But this $10 million surplus counts is counting the$2 million. >> That $10.5 million counted the $2 million from 2425. >> Right. Okay. >> We have not received the 25262 million yet. >> All right. Understandable. I have to say I mean it was a very good presentation. Um and looking at the history of the deficits and low fiscal position in the past 15 years in the fiscal you know percentages it really is an eyeopener. um the 15.7% that we're at now, would you call that healthy? >> It's in the lowest 25th percentile. Again, if you look back at the presentation, I forget if it was the last board meeting or the beating meeting before that, I put up all 120 Long Island
038school districts >> and 15% would have put you in the bottom 30. So, it's in the lowest 25th percentile. >> Okay. I wouldn't say it's healthy >> if we >> but I wouldn't say it's critical condition either. >> We don't want to go we don't want to go lower again. We want to keep on climbing a little bit. >> No, that's not my opinion, ma'am. No, I don't want I don't want that. [laughter] >> So, the surplus that we do have, what I know uh one of the recommendations was to keep it in the fund balance or put in the fund balance. >> Just speak more to the mic. >> Oh, into the fund balance. So, how would that affect our what would we have to do to keep that much money in our fund
039balance? >> Cuz isn't it 4%? Am I saying it right? >> Your generally your your fund balance account is supposed to be 4% of your budget, >> right? >> And right now it's more than 4%. >> Right? >> So, if I'm understanding the question, what do we do with that? >> What do we have to do to keep it higher than 4%? because I know this >> you can't >> you have to bring it down to 4% and the board >> you know and I think this came up in audit committee >> right >> that to fund your reserves with that excess would be a resolution okay >> and we have to sort of talk about what the board wants to do but to correct >> the fund balance and bring it down to 4%
040would be a resolution to transfer that excess amount to other reserves I gave you a report I believe a week or two ago about your fund balance and reserves so there's some ideas there but it is a board decision. >> Thank you. So on this same slide just a quick question um first this was a surplus and 2425 but what we do need to find out is right now what do we actually have because there could be expenses that have come in. So, if I'm understanding correctly, let's say for example, I'll just take transportation. I'm not saying that's the the section, but let's just say that um we had a surplus there, but maybe transportation for this year. >> Um but maybe transportation is going to be coming in for this year and we're going
041to be paying out expenses. So, >> how could we really move any money in any over to any reserves without really knowing what our expenditures are? That's that's my question. Do we have to wait it until a certain point in time before we move anything around? That's the question. >> The excess money in the fund balance account is already there. So, I think it it should be move to correct that. It's going to come up in the corrective action plan that we're going to have to do something about that. Okay. >> But your comment about this year and what happens if we get into trouble, >> whether the money is in fund balance or reserves, there are still ways to legally use the money. We could use the ERS reserve if you recall that from
042your your transmitter. >> We could use the TRS reserve or the workers comp. It doesn't have to be in fund balance. But the point about how do we know how we're doing in 2526? Wouldn't that guide some of our decisions is the answer is yes. I you know I wish I could tell you how we're going to end. I'm going to try in January, but you know that's, you know, projection stuff and we'll do that in January, but I think we have to correct the the finding at this point. >> Wana Megan, do you have any questions on >> just just on this slide? >> So, so my my question is this. Um well to to comment on what to comment on what uh President Johnson said, I I tried to do a little bit
043of research today on real property tax law section 1318. And just just so you know, I I mean I wish our attorney was here today, but the commissioner of education in the past has already made the opinion that that it's not permitted to designate or earmark unexpended funds for projected liabilities. Okay, >> so my my question is is this. How much would it take to fully fund our reserves to the legal limit of 4%. Where where are we at right now? your re your fund balance is the one that's 4%. Some of the reserves have legal limits on them. Some of them do not. And it's the recommendation that the board develop >> okay >> or accept procedure to fund those reserves. I think like with the ERS, my recommendation was to go to >>
044six times. So there's some flexibility for the reserves. The law you're citing there, I'm not quite sure that's related to the 4%, but we certainly would need John to weigh in on that. >> Okay. E either way, we can't we can't exceed 4% of that year's voterapproved budget. Correct. >> To to exceed it as a compliance violation that your external auditor said you have to correct, >> right? We can't do it. >> And the recommendation was to fund reserves with the excess. >> Okay. I'm not sure if that was the recommendation, >> but it was. >> Okay. Well, as the board of education, we have a real decision to make. And I'll tell you why. Because the best that we have ever done as far as as far as a surplus is 2019 2020 in
045which we were able to save 5%. 5%. We did 9% now. It's almost unheard of. It's a lot. I I'll grant you that. It's a large surplus and it couldn't have come at a better time given where we were. >> So here my my opinion is to come off of a deficit to come off of another operating deficit and then to turn around with a monumental groundbreaking 9% surplus. It just seems a little strange to me. So my my opinion would be this and I would love to I would love to hear the opinion my can >> fellow board members >> one um um first vice president Leon just just one quick question as is this a question relevant to the slide or just you're just making a statement in general just making a statement.
046Oh, no. I I referenced the slide. So, it's it's about this slide. Yes. >> Okay. >> I referenced 1920. >> Okay. So, go ahead. Go ahead. No. No. >> Megan said she's fine. She's >> I'm speaking to you. I'm just >> So, my recommendation is this and and I would love to know what my fellow board members feel about this. Number one, to fully fund our reserves to the maximum level allowable. Number one. Number two, I believe by law, and I wish our attorney was here, we have to use excess operating funds to offset the burden to the taxpayers, aka the tax levy. Does that sound about right? No, I don't I haven't heard that law ever that excess funds, whether they're in reserve or >> surplus funds surplus funds from an operating year >>
047don't have to go back to the tax levy. They could be transferred to other reserves based on board resolution and certain laws and rules that happen. I think that came up in from a community member there. I don't think there's any such law. I'll defer to John, but I've never and I get it. He's not here, right? But I've never heard that rule, sir. >> Okay. E either way, again, what I would like to see done, and I would love to hear if my other fellow board members agree is number one, to fully fund the reserves. Number two, to use the surplus to offset the tax levy, and then number three, if there are any surplus funds to return back to the taxpayers. Because we have to remember, we requested $17 million in in this
048in that fiscal year. $17 million. We told the taxpayers, "We need $117 million to run the Amityville School District." We ran it on 107. It's equivalent to going to the gas station, giving the giving the uh attendant $20, filling your car up with $10 of gas, and going back to the attendant saying, "I only use $10. Please give me my other 10 back." That's the way I see it. And I'm curious to see if any of my other fellow board members >> so feel the same way. >> So at this point in time, I'm going to wait until we get through the entire presentation to ask my questions and then from that point I can answer your question. Right. Um Megan, do you have anything else on this particular slide? >> Um my thoughts are
049not specific to slides, so if I can just weigh in, I guess I would be interested to do that at this point. Um that's can you weigh in on a couple things that's fine because I do have some questions on some of the other slides. So if you want to just weigh in on a couple points and then we can go forward. >> Okay. And I think that my thought process I hear you one. I completely agree. We have $10 million in excess. So, at this point in time, I'm not I would ask the board of education to reconsider the uh proposed timeline because I think that we need to know next week what is our estimate to complete for this school year. What is our estimate to complete for this school year? Because we
050had a $17 million budget that we jumped up and down. We laid off people. We said we were going to close the building. We needed to increase the budget, but then we closed with the $10 and half million dollars in excess. So, we haven't hired people back. We left the building open. So, but so we haven't made any big changes. So, what is our projection for the end of this school year? And I hear you, Mr. Schneider, you're going through and you're kind of saying like, I think we're not going to have excess here and we might have excess there. and it's a projection, but I think at this point like we need to know in order to enter into budgeting and planning what how are we going to end this year. Um, so in
051order for us to think holistically about how much money do we want to put into reserves and do we want to reduce the tax burden or do we want to hire back staff or do we want to, you know, offer extra help or whatever else is that we our students really need right now because our community approved a budget and we didn't spend it all and the community approved the budget for the students of the district. So, I'm thinking like I don't want to wait until January to know what your projected end of year is because we sort of played this game last year and we were told over and over and over again that we were going to end the year with $2 million in excess and we ended the year $10.5 million in
052excess. How do we not know how we're going to end the school year? I get it. I I I manage budgets. That's what I do at work. So I understand that there's some variability in what your projection is going to be, but I think that holistically we know how many staff we have on on salary and we you know x y and z. Um and that we can project that so that the board of education can look at things holistically and make a plan going forward to re-evaluate our priorities. Where do we need to spend money? At this time last year, I thought that and I was hoping that today we would start to hear what do the um buildings need, where are their deficits, like you know, do we have classes with 31 plus
053students or more? Do we want to look at correcting that now midstream because that would be a direct positive benefit to the teachers and the students uh in that situation. So uh you know we started in July we started talking about when do we want to have these presentations and we wanted in October to start talking about budget uh November to start talking about budgets the next year's budget and this is really just showing us how did we end last year still so we're still not talking about what we think next year's budget should be. Um and that's kind of like you know I'm absorbing the information. And I'm hearing what you're saying about I don't know how this is going to end, but I think that as a board of education, we need to
054ask for that now. I think we need to know how are we going to end? How are we projecting to end this year so that we don't have this much money in excess and we now are just putting money in reserves because that's a problem too, >> right? So for me, >> Lisa, one more thing. Not yet. The thing the thing I want to say is that there really >> excuse me I was getting ready to say something. So just one second please. Thank you. >> So Megan, thank you so very much for um what what you stated. Um, I think you've brought out some clear points, but also what I wanted to say was this, that the information for me, what has been helpful that has been provided tonight, hearing what the surplus was
055for the revenue area, hearing that it was budgeted one way and we end up with the surplus because it was done in a conservative fashion. looking where we um generated not generated where we end up surplus in other areas gives me a better understanding how we got to I'm going to say the 8 million because the 2 million came came from the state. So as we move forward I think it kind of goes to the question that I had posed earlier this what was budgeted for 242 in for the in 2425 for the for our budget now what's happened we now we realize we have a surplus but what we did not know during that time frame we did not know that would be this much of a surplus so before I go to move
056anything around I need now that I have an understanding of this I now need to see what's what is what are the next steps can't that can occur. So even though like let's say transportation for uh for example we may have a surplus in transportation but at this point in time what have what has been our expenses so before we go to move any money from one spot to the next I want to know what do we have left so if for example it says 1.5 in transportation but up until this point in November of 2025 we have expensed $300,000 from that surplus then what do we really have left over to work with and that's some of the things that for me so I don't disagree >> I mean by right the estimates are
057complete so like >> but I think we we this he had to delve deep to get this information to us and go through a number of different areas probably get all this information so I think for me the next step I'm okay with hearing in January because by that point we will have more information to go from to make an informed decision instead of um not have not instead of not being completely informed about what our options are going to be. So the timeline that we have I'm fine with because I need to know all all this has helped me to understand so therefore as we move forward I know what is the best direction that we as a board can go and and moving money around. So go ahead first president. >> Thank you.
058Um I respectfully disagree. I I think um I would like to know sooner than later our financial position. I think we are at a pivotal moment right now in this district. I will state my opinion which is I don't know any reason why we shouldn't have anything higher than a 0% tax levy going going forward especially with a $10.6 million surplus. And another conversation we need to have is what is going to be the budget amount going forward because don't forget we ran a school district on $107 million. >> Any other questions? So we're going to I'll move forward to other slides. >> I have a question. Mr. Snder, you are the financial expert and you come to us highly recommended. What are the ramifications, the pros and cons of returning money to the taxpayer?
059>> What are the I'm sorry. What are the ramifications of >> pros and cons at this point? If just so we have more information, considering it, not considering it, >> when you're at 15.7%. You don't have the money to return anything. That's my opinion. I get your point. As board members, I'd never be a board member because you have an obligation to watch out for the taxpayers and an obligation to watch out for the financial security of the school district. And there's a real tough time balancing them and you're talking about it right now. If you're at 25% I'm a little more like okay if I'm a board member because that's not my decision I'd be like yeah maybe we can return a little but at 15 with what I believe is a state aid
060crisis looming and with the volatility of those results in the past and without us having a firm handle on it I wouldn't I wouldn't it's not my position to not advise it. I'm simply saying, can you afford it at 15%. And what would the impact be? I mean, we could run those numbers to say if we gave back $5 million, what does it mean to the average assessed value home? What is that meaning to the taxpayer versus lowering your fiscal position by $5 million? It could be an interesting analysis. >> I like that. >> So, but I still wouldn't recommend it at 15.7%. But again, I respect the fact and please understand it's not my call. >> I I understand but this this is where the discussions should take place right here. This is it.
061So let me ask you something else and this this is an honest question. Have have you seen state aid go down? >> Yes. >> Oh yeah. Okay. There were massive state aid cuts in 2010 111 and 112 that led to those deficits sir and drove several districts close to bankruptcy. There was also some state aid takeback I believe in 171 1819 >> and it's always the districts that get the most state aid that get hurt the worst because that's where all the money is. >> Understood. And I know that >> yes I do believe that you will see reductions in state aid at some point in the future because the state's already signaling they have problems and given the relationship between Albany and Washington DC I think you're going to see state aid cuts at
062some point in the future. Okay. >> So, look, I that's opinion. >> I I understand and and I I think we share the same goal which I've heard you say before, which is to smooth out that annual surplus deficit because you see it widely fluctuating. Widely fluctuating. To me, that says that we don't have a true handle on some of our finances and there's always a lot of variables that flex. So, how in your opinion, how do we smooth out the annual surplus deficit that we see on our screen, which fluctuates drastically from running a deficit, it looks like, of $8.1 million in 2223 to overcoming that and running a record-breaking surplus of 10.5. How do we smooth this out? You have to stabilize your central administration, sir. >> All right. Thank you. >> Um,
063so I'm I'm going to move on. >> I just have a thought to build on what Juan's saying and just to kind of tie my point to your point. >> Um, you know, the board of education is being asked to put distribute some $4 million into various reserve buckets, right? And so we have to decide that now. and we've been told that we can create a reserve bucket, too. Um, so to your point, do we really want to do all of that or do we want to give some of it back? And then I'm just tying it to my point of just like how are we going to end this year so that we know and we can actually answer that question because if we're going to end with another $6 million on top of
064the $4 million well then >> that I just want to reiterate the thought process of do we need to spend it >> whatever but I think that that's what Go ahead. The problem with even coming out in January, which I publicly committed to, is that I'm using data for books that were closed in November. So, I've given myself really September, October, three months worth of data to work with to come up with a projection. But I feel like I have to do it so that we can try and become more stable to do it. Now, I have September and October. I probably don't have o I h I probably don't have October for another two or three weeks. It's just not a lot of data. And what concerns me about doing it is that some
065of those Boseies codes that were up on there, you don't get all that data until July and August of the following year. So I'm guessing at movement of students who move quite a bit and there's a lot of money there. I also don't have the TRS pension expense until August and and I'm agreeing to go ahead and give you the projection because there are ways to do it. But the more time I get to look at it, the more I'll be able to land the plane close enough to the runway that we're not making bad decisions. But it's still crystal ball stuff, trustee. It is. >> I can appreciate it. >> I really can. I've added in my career, but I'm not gonna tell you I'm going to be within 1% margin of error. >>
066And I think that probably in some categories you can be pretty darn close, right? Yeah. You know, and teach your salaries. I agree. We transportation and I >> Yeah, but the special ed transportation routes aren't always build ratably. You don't always get even invoices from them. and sharing credits, which is how we saved money in 2425, do not get put on your bills until much later on. >> But the big chunk of the transportation is not right. Like I'm that's what I'm over and say we're going to spend this much and then the credits come in and voila, we've got a much bigger surplus. You know, I know how I look in public session doing that, but I told Dr. Talbert, we have to do this. >> We have to do it, >> right? So
067can I I just have I have some questions from some of the slides. So I just want to ask if we can go go through the slides to ask the questions. So I'm just going to go through and see has any additional questions. So I think we were at 2425 revenue surplus summary. Any questions on that particular slide? >> This one or the detail? >> Yeah, this one. >> This one? >> Yeah, that one. Any questions on that one? Yeah, I got um I know on the on a future slide you're saying that the pilots are unknown. Is there any way that to find out what the pilot agreements are? Does the public have any access to those in any way? Cuz like it's an agreement with a government agency. Yeah. >> Trusty Naring. I
068wish um a couple of years ago I reported directly to the commissioner of education that he needs to step in and force townships to provide pilot data to school districts so that we can appropriately plan our tax levies, >> right? Like they must they must know what they are and they plan accordingly but >> and they grant them. So, how about the IDA, which is a separate administrative agency that guides these things, provides us with the pilot payments that they've awarded at least for a five or 10 year period so that we can plan our tax levy. Sounds like a wonderful idea. We don't get it. We get what we get and then we adjust the levy subsequently. It's not done in real time. the the extra money we earned in will adjust the 2627
069tax levy. There's no other way to handle except to lag it. >> So really we don't even know if the amount that we received is the correct amount. >> Yeah. Like we we don't know if there's some new pilot getting awarded today that's going to have and I think Dr. Lando pointed this out at CBAC that's going to have 50 kids in the development that are going to move in. We don't know if a major business pilot's going to expire and come off the rolls and leave us short in one year and then two years later I've got to put it on the levy and it spikes the levy and we'll look at that formula next month. I've seen that happen where a pilot just disappeared because the IDA terminated it, didn't tell us, and
070then two years later all that money goes right on the levy. Get more pilots, tax decrease. lose pilots, it's a tax increase. It's a zero. That surplus from the pilots is going to get wiped out in 26 27. >> So this >> we don't have any information and I wish we did. >> So this is one area for example that um we have to prepare for to have something in the bank. So therefore if the situation that you just explained occurs that that a pilot ends and we're not aware of it, we have to be able to compensate it in in our budget. It's a good reason to have good fund balance in reserves so that you can just fill that gap for a year and then wait for it to catch up. But we
071shouldn't be waiting for this data. It exists. They're just not sharing it with us, sir. It's a an issue that's been raised by business officials and Nassau SuffK school boards for a long time. >> They're they're not listening to us. And so even with on this slide here like even with the days with the um day school tuition that amount we came over to $27,000 but once again we being as a transient population we don't know what's going to happen. We don't know who's coming in who's coming out. We have no >> and some of it is older revenue that finally got paid. >> Okay. >> So I I view that as mostly a oneshot. There might be a slight uptick, >> but you're not going to see a 427,000 over budget condition this year,
072I believe, >> based on what I know today. >> All right. And with interest and earnings, once again, that um >> that's a tough one, right? >> We we don't know. Okay. >> Interest rates are dropping, but we have more cash on hand. How they offset each other, we'll have to see how that looks. We have $10.5 million more dollars in the bank, but we also borrowed less on the TAN if you remember, >> right? >> We borrowed less. So, our cash position has fluctuated a little bit and interest rates are dropping. We're going to have to look at that correctly because I think that interest revenue code has to be corrected because it has come up short many years. >> Another question I have for the other state aid, it um that's the money
073that we received. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Right. So why did it go up like $400,000? Was that just >> because it was budgeted? >> Okay. >> That we knew that that 2 million was coming in in 2425 and it was put in the budget. >> But it was a oneshot. So I'm including the revenue earned 2 million. But the other 400,000 was miscellaneous. Okay. >> Revenue that I discounted. I'm only counting the two million grant. >> Okay. >> Because we typically will pick up a couple hundred thousand of miscellaneous state aid from year to year. >> Okay. That that was my I wasn't too sure whether or not it Yeah. Okay. >> Can Can I ask a question about this in the pilot in the Long Island Power Authority? So, if if I'm reading this
074correctly, if I'm not, please correct me. The revised budget, is that $220,000? >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. Revenue earned, is that what we actually received? >> Correct. >> Okay. Unearned revenue, is that anticipated revenue that we did not receive? It's a poorly worded column, but it's just the different I agree it's poorly worded, but it's I'm just giving you the screenshot of the revenue. >> That's why I'm asking what is that? >> That it's just how you did it. Meaning in the pilot revenue, we came up $68,000 short >> short >> than what we anticipated. >> Correct. Which 20, >> right? So, >> it's poorly worded. >> That's okay. But just before we put an enormous amount of focus on this pilot, the total is $220,000 on a budget of 117 and some change million
075dollars. It's it's it's a fraction of 1%. It's onetenth of 1%. >> It's up there because the total between you could see the other pilot payments came in over budget a half million dollars. I know. So, it got my attention in terms of the top movers and it's going to lower the tax levy next year. >> Right. So, now that you have this information, how did this affect It's not even a big deal, but how how did this affect your budgeting for pilots the year after this? >> No, no clue. >> Hope hope is not a great budgeting technique. I hope that I'm going to get the same amount again. Maybe a little bit more. But it has a pilot fallen off of the books. >> They don't tell us. Right. That's that's what Aring
076and I would >> My question is, have you revised your revised budget or the amount that's budgeted from 2425 or will you >> I don't know >> to lower it. You know, >> it's a good question. >> Okay. >> I'm going to have to revise the tax levy in 2627 and lower it by this amount because that's the law. So there will be a t talk about giving money back. There's $430,000 that's going like I I guess it's not really a lot but that's going back to the taxpayer. But in 2526 what am I going to get? Don't know sir because they don't tell us. >> All right I'm going to Any other questions on this slide or can we move on to the next one in terms of transportation expenditure and certain bus detail?
077Actually, I'm going to jump to the next one because that one >> the next one. >> Yeah, >> that >> Yeah. So, the question I I have was that and I I I made a note. So, for our 2526 budget, I think that we had um budgeted like 12 million and change for um transportation, right? Uh >> and that and that reflected we we did we get that amount for the 25 26 year how did we get that amount because I know you said it went up 30%. Right. So did they multiply the 30% by the previous year transportation cost and we and that's how they went up to the 12 point because I thought it was going to be 28% increase. 30% was applied to the 25 2425 budget number of 9 million785953 that
078was increased specific >> 9 million or 8.9 >> you see the number right there 9785953 >> thank you okay >> that number was increased by 29.9% >> okay >> in anticipation of an RFD >> okay so my next question is for transportation so we got we had that increase because we had to go out for contract the contract now is good for 5 years, right? What will be the increase for transportation over the next 5 years? >> Do we know that? >> If the board agrees to renew it, it renews at inflation as determined by SEDD. So the 29.9% was a one shot for 2526. Every year after that, if you want to renew again, it's at inflation. Okay. So that's the law. Okay. >> So we have no control over Okay. >> So if
079we have no control over that one at all, >> no control over what the inflation number is, >> right? At what point does the district find out what the inflation rate is to determine the transportation cost? Is it does it come in >> January? >> Okay. >> Guesses about January. You get it in time to plan appropriately. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Can can I ask a quick question about transportation? that state mandate that said that buses were going to start going electric. Do you recall that? >> Yeah. >> I I haven't heard from that in a while. Is that still in play? And if it is, how how does that affect the budget? It certainly can't lower it. [laughter] >> It's not going to lower it. I haven't heard much from it. I think
080the governor backed off of it because the electrical infrastructure >> is not here >> doesn't exist. >> So, she had to back off of it. But in the future, should somebody try to roll this out, the increase would be astronomical. I think I heard one estimate from a different bus company of 40 to 50%. >> Yeah. And I think that was one of the reason that they backed off because I know at at NISMA, >> well, we don't have enough power to charge buses. >> Yeah. at NISMA meetings. That was something that was often addressed because of the simple reason if you're going on on a trip or something like that and there's a number of schools that are going to that particular event that school has to have enough resources to charge >> whatever
08120 30 buses that that are there. So they they realize and then there were some districts who did go electric and they >> even with the charge they were the buses were not lasting in the journey. So that's I think that was the reason why they they pulled back on it. >> Lisa, I'm sorry. Go ahead. >> No, go ahead. I was going to say any other questions on this slide. >> I'm sorry. I just my question it just came to my mind about the revenue surplus. So just before we keep going just can I just clarify? We show the $2 million and the state aid grant. >> Yeah. So, at one point in time early last year, we talked about how we were paying for the financial consultant out of that $2 million. So,
082we did use some of that. Um, I think we were even told that there was like a stipulation that we had to >> um, >> so I I I think the question is how was he paid and how can that amount still be in the calculation that full amount, >> right? Thank you for Yes. >> Do you understand >> completing my thought? I guess >> the expenditure of the consultant would come on the expenditure side of the budget. I don't know where that is. I didn't look at it. This the revenue side is the revenue side. >> So I see because we're looking at I'm sorry. Go ahead. >> All right. >> The $2 million was given in totality and extracted from the 2 million was $175,000 set aside for the financial consultant. >> Okay.
083Thank you. I was not remembering that number. Thank you. I don't I don't know where that is on the expenditure side. Right. Right. >> Had to be there. I just don't know where it it was booked. >> And is the $2 million for this year, is there any stipulations associated with it? >> No. The $2 million was given uh or the intention of Northeast. >> Okay. >> But there's no >> there's no >> no stipulations associated with it. >> Right. >> So, any other questions? Can we can we go to the 2425 operating surplus slide? Keep >> which one? Matt, >> keep going. >> Yeah, special education. Any qu go back one. >> That one. >> Yeah. Any questions on this slide? Anyone? I think the only question I had in terms of it's so
084you have OTP and support services just what is meant by support services just for a quick >> it could be anything other than OTP but the predominantly most of those expenditures would be autism related and parent training uh probably some other stuff I'd have to defer to Mrs. Ste Dr. Stevens and Dr. Talbert, but I know that autism is a big driver in that code. >> In that particular area there, um there was a vendor providing services to students um at an astronomical rate. Um actually the business official and myself met with the vendor to request accountability, sign and sheets, verification of services. As we continued to um delve down that path, um it was understood that services needed to occur based upon IEPs that were verified and so some adjustments were made based on
085the requirements of IEPs and those services were then rendered accordingly. >> Okay, thank you. Any other questions on this slide? All right. Um, going to the next one. Any questions on on this one and Boseies is aidable. So, we get the money back, but we don't get the money back until like a a year later. >> Yeah, it is. It is aided, but you have to front obviously the expenditure. But, Sure. Can I ask a question on this? So, when I when I looked at the budget and and your wrote right there, a major a major um expense is that the savings of $1.2 million. So, when I when I read it, it looks like there's a lot of services that we're not using anymore like we used to and systems. Can you talk a
086little bit about um what we're seeing on the screen right here? What do we no longer use Boseis for and how how that's affected us right now? to a question honestly for the special ed director I can tell you in general >> okay that based on the movement of students if you see Bosey's op center 3 that's a big code and Nassau Bosey's handicap and and Bosey's 2 handicap you know those are codes where you know some of your most disabled youngsters are going and if they move as is the case in some instances or the IEPs change and the placements change and we find that information out after April, then you're left with surplus. It hasn't always worked that way in the past. Believe me, we've been burned by not having enough, but 2425
087was a good year. I I couldn't give you specifics about the types of IEPs that drive which which OC's code they land in except in general I know which ones are the more expensive ones. >> Any other questions on this slide or the next slide? Go ahead. >> Just an additional comment. There are also um situations where students are appointed to certain placements um through the CSSE process and also through the county process that may land a child in one of these options as indicated here. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Any questions on the next slide? Go to the next one. Um, I'll go to the next one. Any questions on this slide here? >> Oh, I I have and >> this one or the one before? >> No, this one here. So, it was
088like you said, I think it was like 20 was it was it 24 in the spring of 24 where the um infinite campus came into play. I think that's when it came to place. So 20 22 23 that's when it came into play. So the question I I have I know we put on hold because we had to put on hold but when you implement the new system there's typically um training that that occurs as well. Yeah. >> So the system went came into play but was it the training that was that money was stopped for the training? Is that >> do we think >> my my understanding of that directly was part of that savings was related to holding off on some of the training not all of it. >> Okay. But some of
089that 275,000 savings was because training was scaled back. >> Okay? >> And what I'm saying is I don't think we're going to be able to sustain that. So I think you're going to see this code start to land over 400,000 going forward and we can't count on this rolling forward into subsequent years. >> Thank you. Any other questions on this slide? Next slide. Any questions on this slide? Any questions on the next slide? Uh, go to the next one. Any question? Oh, monitors are paid. They're paid hourly, right? The monitors hourly, right? >> Uh, monitors and aids are paid hourly. So that's not so it's not like a big area for example that if someone's not paid hourly it's not like we're going to have a lot of savings in that area. Correct. >> It
090just so happened that in this year I I believe there was some excessing that happened with these positions. So you generated some savings and hourly employees. You know sometimes there's savings around holidays and in June with these that did contribute a little bit to that savings. It's >> It was just enough to make the threshold of what I was putting in the presentation at 417,000. >> All right. Um I'm move on to the next slide. Next slide. Any questions with the I I do have questions about benefits, but does anyone have any questions about benefits? >> I have a question on this slide. >> Okay. So, I see there was a transfer out on the health insurance line of about a million dollars. I know you weren't here when that transfer was made. Would you
091happen to know where that got transferred to? And second question on that, do you have a mechanism in place where you track those types of transfers and keep a record so years from now your successor is able to track these type of things. >> The mechanism is the software and it's available in the software and I think Dr. Talbert asked me to find out what that was and I didn't do it. So I'm not sure where that transfer went. I'll have to open that up in the system. It's there's an accounting for it, so we know it went somewhere, but it tells a story that that code was coming in so positive for the district that my predecessor took a million dollars out of the code and used it for something else. That's telling about
092how strong the benefit codes were in 2425. To me, the real story with the surplus is this, >> right? So, a budget transfer of $1 million, that has to be approved by the board of education. So, there has to be a documentation of that somewhere. If not, that's a major problem. >> I'm Yes, I'm sure it exists. I'll give it to the board in the transmitter on Friday. >> Perfect. Thank you. >> Um I do have just it's just more of a statement than than a question is and I think you answered already with the health health insurance premiums. That's something that we it's always you you you don't find out until April roughly April what the health insurance premium is going to be for the next >> input when we adopt the 2627 budget
093>> right >> in April. I won't know the 27 health insurance premiums until December of 26. You get the rate in December. So, we're guessing. So, in April of 24, you had to guess what the 25 premium rates were, and you guessed, I think, nine or 10%. It basically came in at zero. And this was a major factor. You add to that the excessing and all the other stuff, and you had a monumental savings in health insurance that doesn't happen, and we can't count on it happening again. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> And just piggyback that question. So you're saying in December 25 we'll find out what the premiums will be for 26. >> Yes. >> Is there any projection of what that might be? >> So it could skyrocket as soon as that comes out
094the emails go around to all the business officials and we see it. Maybe it comes you know around now but typically in December I start looking for it. So realistically, this next year could level out and could shoot way up to make up for what we saved this year. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> That's not uncommon either, and that's my concern. >> All right. Thank you. >> Uh any other questions from the presentation? >> Thank Thank you so much for doing the presentation provides. >> Thank you. No, um I had one more. >> Sorry. Go ahead. >> Go back back one more. um benefit expense. Yes. Okay. And the unemployment insurance line. >> Wow. >> It's 2021. It's 2,400 then goes to 4,800 4,800 and then it shoots up to 75,000 and then skyrockets to
095202,942. >> Any explanation on what happened there? >> Excessing. >> Excess. Okay. You save but you pay for it a little bit in unemployment sir. >> Okay. So that's us paying the unemployment for those excess teachers >> should drop in 2526. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions on any of the slides? >> Yes. Quick question. I I think this is assumed, but is a major reason why we paid there was a decline in health insurance premiums is because we had less employees. >> What plays into it? >> I think >> it plays into the savings. Absolutely. But the zero on family I believe was the real mover. But it it had to play in absolutely. >> Just so I understand better, are you saying that the actual rate, not the amount of
096people that we provided for, but the actual rate for the insurance plan itself decreased. Is that what you're saying? >> It came in at zero. Didn't decrease. It came in at zero. And most and we were all expecting double-digit increases. So if you look back uh here the second bullet budgeted 8.7% 93,000 and you paid very little of that because family came in at 2.3 which is negligible. I'm sorry individual came in at 2.3 family came in at zero. That played a part of the surplus but so did the excessing the let the reduction of FTS. It's both. Okay. Thank you. Any any other questions questions? >> Thank you so much for the presentation. It helped to provide some clarity for me at least and then it'll help me to make some decisions along the
097way and what we need to do. >> Thank you. So, at this point in time, um, if the community has any in any questions on this presentation, um, in the back on the table, there is a piece of paper that you can put your name down, um, the question that you may have and an email that we can get back to you. So, this is connected to our policy that has been in existence since really 2022, but we have not been adherent to it. So, if you have any questions about this presentation, um just in the back on the table, there's um an opportunity for you to write the question down, provide your information, and then we'll go from there. So, if you have any questions, right, at this point in time, can I have
098a motion to adjourn at 8:59? >> Motion. >> Second. >> Chris Narin is first. Carol Sehoff is second. All those in favor? >> I I motion carries 6. Thank you for joining us.