001Okay, we've just gotten the signal that we are good to go. So, I'm going to call this evening's finance committee to order and we'll start with the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> I will never get used to the fact that we need to bang something to start a meeting. >> Gavlin. Okay. Thank you very much. >> Um so very happy that you all are here this evening. Let's start with um a motion and a second for the approval of the minutes from our September 9th meeting. >> So moved. >> Motion by Mr. Fusco, seconded by Mrs. Stole. Any comments or questions? All those in favor
002say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. >> Mrs. Ramage, if I may, I apologize for not saying so sooner. We do have board directors who are attending virtually. I just heard Mr. Rush's voice. Is anyone else joining us virtually right now? >> Okay, Mr. Rush, uh, just one more time, can you hear me? Okay. >> Yes. Thank you very much, Dr. B. >> You got it. I hope you feel better. All right. Thank you, Mr. >> and thank you for joining. Um, okay. So, we I'm going to turn it over to Mrs. Hower for um our items that are recommended for work session and action. >> Hi. Sorry, we were working on our vote there. Um so the first thing that I have for you guys this evening is the resolution not to
003exceed the act one index. Um so in the state of Pennsylvania with um the way that we have to to send our general fund budget to the state um we if we are going to go for a special ed exception or some other kind of exception to the act one index we have to produce a preliminary budget um by December um and pass um and then request those exceptions with a preliminary budget or we can forego creating a preliminary budget for December if we know that we have no intention of going above the act one index and we can pass a resolution prior to the same date um in order to just to move past preliminary and then we go right to proposed final and final like normal in the spring. Um so what I
004am proposing um is that we pass the resolution not to exceed the act one index this year. >> Okay. Do I have a motion and a second and then we'll move to questions? So move >> motion by Mr. Rash, seconded by >> Mrs. stole >> and then any comments or questions? >> I do have a question. >> So I know that the special ed exception is not much, right? >> It's probably a couple million dollars. Yeah. >> So my concern is because the federal government and has just gotten rid of um the special ed department at the department of education and they don't even have a budget and who knows when we're going to get our money with the shutdown. And then the state also having their budget issues and who knows when that money's
005coming through. Like I don't obviously well I won't even be here to go above the act one index but I'm just curious like are we tying our hands before? >> Um I I I don't think you're tying your hands. Um we have had healthy surpluses the last couple of years. >> Okay. >> Um and we have a healthy fund balance. I don't believe that the amount of like I said I think it would probably be somewhere in the neighborhood of two and a half to three and a half million dollars >> because we'd still be required to provide all the special ed services. >> Yes. None of the money is going away. The costs the costs are not going away just possibly the funding, right? >> Um we don't really know and we'll get to
006this later. I know you had a question about where we are with budget with the state, and I'll get to that in someformational items, but um I I just don't feel that with the number of years that we've had a surplus that we should be asking for exceptions this year. It's not to say that next year for the 2728 budget, we wouldn't. Um but I think this year at 3.5, the Aquin index being at 3.5, it's healthy. Um and I would generally agree with you. It's just that I don't think we've ever been in the position before where the both the state and the federal government >> are stuck. I agree. So, okay. Thank you. >> Y >> any other comments or questions? Um I agree. So, I think um to Mrs. Stole's point. I
007think if we will move forward with the vote on this and then we'll keep this as a an item that we'll continue to follow and track both the state budget and the federal government um the federal government budget and the state budget impass knowing that our financial needs, our desire to serve our students um and our special ed program and the mandates still exist but yet the funding and the flow um have been disrupted. Um so we'll continue to follow. What what I can offer is if if we want to move this to full work uh full action meeting on the 23rd between now and then I can calculate what the special ed except get an estimate of what the special ed exceptions could be. Um and then I can send that to everyone to
008to get some input >> and maybe we'll have an update by then as far as the federal government or the state maybe. >> maybe maybe we'll see. >> So >> thank you. >> I think that that is a great idea. So thank you very much. So, as a reminder, this is a motion to place this forward onto another meeting agenda. And if anything were to change between that time, we can revisit, consider, discuss, >> and then I can, you know, if I think if things look dire, um, we can pull the resolution and then I would have to prepare a preliminary budget >> um, for you by December, December's finance committee meeting, and then you would we have to advertise it and all that kind of good stuff. >> Okay. So, all in favor? >>
009I >> Any opposed? Motion passes. >> Could I ask one more thing, Julianne? >> Sure. >> Could when we uh figure out how much uh u special education funding there is, if we could break that down into federal and state in case one of the budgets doesn't get passed. >> Yes. Yep. Okay. Thank Thank you very much. >> Perfect. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Volunteer firefighter tax rebate. >> Okay. So, I did a little really brief succinct presentation for this month. Um there are two decisions that we need to make this month. My down arrow isn't working. I will just scroll. Um, your first choice is what kind of plan do you want to offer in the rebate? Do you want to do a variable rate award, which would mean that individuals in the fire departments
010earn points as laid out in the resolution that's attached to the agenda. There's a description of all of the different activities in that resolution um that they could perform and they would earn points for that. Um, and to receive the maximum number, the maximum rebate, you would have to achieve 200 points and then you would go down from there incrementally by 25% buckets. Um, so you could create a rebate that's variable rate. The tracking is not on us. The tracking is 100% on the fire departments. They keep track of who the residents of the district are in their force. only residents of the district would be eligible obviously because they're the only ones paying taxes in our district. Um and then they would have to meet all of these criteria by the different jobs that
011are in the resolution. Responding to a fire is one, responding to an accident, doing training, all of those things have different um point categories. And then we would set a maximum amount for the rewards. That could be 750, that could be a thousand. Um and I have an example on the next slide, but I just want to walk through the two types. The next type would be a fixed rate award where somebody must earn a minimum of 50 points based on all of those same criteria. We would change the resolution to read um that they would have to meet uh they would have to earn a minimum of 50 points, but then everyone would get the same rate. So it doesn't matter if you responded to 20 fires or two fires, as long as you
012hit that 50 point mark, you would get whatever that flat rate is. with either one of those plans, we could say we're just going to budget based on an approximation. Um, and we're going to move forward and if there are more or less firefighters that apply, um, then we would just, you know, we would budget a round amount just like we always do. So, we would say, uh, we'll, but we'll put in the budget $120,000. Um, but if you know you have 235 firefighters next year that qualify, we might go over. Or if you only have 215, we might go under. Okay? Or you can say, "We're only going to budget 120 and however many people show up, we're going to take that 120 and we're going to divide it and then figure out the
013math from there." That one um would just take some mathematics on my part, but the still the tracking and all of that with criteria would still be on the departments to do. Um, and then you could do the same thing with the fixed rate. So, we're going to do 350 across the board or we're going to say we're going to plan for $120,000 and we're going to divide it by whoever shows up with 50 points. All right. So, for a example of the variable rate plan, this is I just redid this from last month. Um, so this this year we had approximately 230 Oops, I lost my title here. Um, we had approximately 230 volunteers that qualified. So there were more volunteers than that in the departments, but only 230 of them met the point
014requirement to be able to get 25, 50, 75, or 100% of the point uh dollars based on their points. Um, and then admins only get 10%. So there are people that work for the fire department that, you know, they have bills to pay, they have bookkeepers, they have trackers, they have people that track their training and all that kind of good stuff that don't actually respond to fires. Um, so they would qualify based on a maximum amount of 10%. So, if we did the 750 based on this year's this year's folks that that showed up for us, we would have laid out $116,000 um if if we had implemented this rebate for this year. So, this is an example, what I have documented here is an example of saying what the person could get and
015just going along based on what the people actually individually earned. Okay? Or I could have said, I'm going to budget $110,000 and then however that 230 worked out in this math would be what the maximum amount was. Um, for the variance that I think we're going to see, I think that basing a program off of an individual's earn would be a better incentive, which the whole point of this is to incent folks to want to be volunteer firefighters. Um, basically because then they know exactly what they're going to get, right? So, if I do my 200 points, I'm going to get $750. If we say the plan is going to be based on a bucket of money and then whoever shows up, well, if 500 people show up, which I don't think will happen, but
016just say, um, now my reward is not as as high as it would have been if we had just picked an amount per person. Um, so, you know, my recommendation is the variable rate plan because it rewards people based on how much they volunteer and it's a fixed rate so they know exactly how much they have. However, I am happy to do what whichever I really don't think there's going to be that much swing in the budget if we said you know 110 or 125 but this is an example of 750 would have cost us 116. So that's a variable rate plan. The other option that you have is a fixed rate plan. So I did three different examples based on those same $230 volunteers who would have made they all qualified for they all
017got 50 points or more. Um if we had paid everybody a flat rate of $350, we would have outlaid 81,000. Um if we had given everybody $500, we would have outlaid 115,000. The reason it's a little different, again this is fixed rate, the other one was variable. So there were people below 500 and above 500. Um but the same thing we we could we could theoretically do the same thing here. So instead of saying we're going to have a $400 rebate no if you achieve 50 points, >> we just going to say we're going to budget $95,000 and whatever whoever shows up, we'll divide that out at the end of the year. From a budgetary perspective, I it's six of one half dozen of the other for me because I think we're going to get
018pretty close. I they're, you know, in conversations with the chief, their their volunteer base has been fairly steady. It's it's it's been fairly steady. Um, so I I think we could try it for a year at the 750 mark, see how we do. Try it for a year at the $500 mark for the variable rate. Um, or whatever you guys would like. So, I'll entertain that and then So, just to make it clear what we need to do tonight. So tonight we need to decide if we want to do a variable rate plan or a fixed rate plan. And then once we pick which one of those we want to use, do we want to do it variable based on a per person cost or variable based on a fixed rate a flat a total
019I'm sorry a total outlay for the year or fixed rate per person fixed rate total outlay. >> I have questions. >> I'm going to go first. I'm often trying allowed to give you permission, but I give you trying to get in there, but I'm not sure. >> Can I get in there? All right. I just clarifying questions because I don't want us like going down rabbit holes with with the wrong assumptions. >> Yeah. >> The 230 is the number of volunteer firefighters who reside in our district. that reside in the district and also met the criteria >> and also met >> there were more that lived in the district that did not meet the criteria so were not part of this >> okay so they um meet the cr the criteria whatever the criteria is
020I'll go back and look >> and they live in they reside in okay good >> and when I look at the variable or the point system does that mean that if I've had 10 shifts and in the 10 shifts I haven't had to respond to a fire then or to a call >> to a call then I do not get the opportunity to earn the points. >> No. So let me let me pull up the >> let me see if I can pull up the resolution here. >> I'm sorry. I'm having trouble >> No, you're fine. >> My computer here. >> And while Tara's doing that, I will say that some of the pieces of the resolution that can the activities right while she looks up that specific would be training in community outreach. Um,
021which I feel like there at at Penddale this past weekend, um, the Fairmont firefighters were out doing a touch the truck outreach activity at the farmers market. So, that type of thing is are things that they do. um to kind of educate and support our community, but also then activities like trainings and professional development. Um and you have it now, so I'm gonna turn it back to No, you're fine. >> So the program criteria, this is again, this is a draft resolution based off of Springfield Township's resolution, which was based off the other county. Um so each one of these program criteria, so to qual to to qualify, they have to do some of these activities. So the other public education activities like you just talked about touch a truck that kind of thing would
022fall under other public education activities. Um fire prevention activities that could be um you know when they come out to schools and they they talk about fire prevention. Um then they have leadership roles in the department to keep the department organized. The chief if the chief is unpaid again these are all volunteer positions. They they receive no renumeration for their their um activities. the chief would get 10 extra points, a line officer would get five um so on and so forth. So these are other activities that they would do um that they would acrue points for and again it's the chief's responsibility or someone or a chief designate in the department to keep track of and to certify they notoriize and certify that these are true and and and appropriate. So the first one is
023emergency response calls. >> Correct. But that and that could be anything that they leave the leave the house for. >> Firehouse is what I meant. >> Yeah. >> I'm surprised that's only two points, but I won't get into the nitty-gritty of it. >> Per. Yeah. So I mean >> Yeah, I know. But you have, you know, 10 points for being an elected board member. Maybe I'm underelling being an elected one. >> All right, I understand. Thank you. >> Yep. >> So, Kathy, that go ahead, Tina. Was Kathy gonna go? >> No, you go first. >> I just wanted to um say I definitely think the variable rate per person is the most incentivizing method and that is what we're trying to do. So that would be what I want to support. >> Okay. >> Mrs.
024McMerry, I like the variable for the reasons that you identified in terms of performance and incentive incentivizing them. I do like the idea of the 750 max per year to start. Um the thing is if we do that, you mentioned I think Mrs. Hower that it's 10% of that would be given to the administrative not 10% they would get 10% of the maximum award if they meet their points criteria. So they would have to the administrative people would have to get they if you're not responding to calls and that kind of stuff you're only eligible for a 10%. >> So that be $75. >> $75. Yeah. All right. That's what's in the last column there. >> Thank you. >> And there there were a decent number of those types of volunteers. If you look, I
025think there's about 25. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> And the criteria and the points that have been set that you that you have shared >> that that matches the county. >> I I'd have to go back and say I got this particular resolution from Springfield Township. Um, but I believe that one also matches the one that we had in Bucks County. And then the chiefs in this area have gotten together and come up and believe that those are reflective of the duties that they perform. >> I think we would just want to make sure that they match so that the chiefs are not needing to then create >> Yep. I can do that. >> You know, different um systems for tracking different where Yeah. where Yeah. So, if that could be something that we consider
026Okay. Um or just make sure. Okay. >> So it sounds like we are going to move forward with a motion. >> I have another please go. Thank you. >> So for the two districts that you mentioned, Springfield, which which method are they using? >> Um they they're using it based on how it's written and they were actually the the the resolution that I got from them was a max of a thousand. >> Um but all of the points and stuff are the same. >> And they're doing variable. They're Yeah, they're doing the variable program per person um with all of the points criteria that I just showed you, but their max was a thousand off of municipal taxes. That was uh a municipality, not the township or not a school district, >> right? Okay. It
027just the variable whilst I agree with so we're voting anyway, but I just think that the fix is more predictable. Maybe it's a type A person in me, right? I mean, >> it is, but I don't think so. My thing was it rewards >> everybody the same. And some people do more work than others. So, by doing a variable rate, it's based on what you earn. So, you're earning it. So, you know, if you achieve these points, you're going to get 750. If you know you achieve these points, you know, you're going to get 56250. If you earn this many points, you get 375. So they still know how much they're going to get based on the maximum amount. So it's only variable from the standpoint of how much they work. >> Right. Right. Right.
028But it's it's not >> the more hours, the more money. >> To us though, it's more unpredictable. It's not I'm not talking about I see what you're saying. Yeah. >> Like for us it's more predictable. >> In conversations that I've had with the fire departments like >> they're fairly steady. So, and that's why I said, yeah. So, for the next couple of years, I imagine that we'll stay fairly steady. If this takes off and lots of municipalities and school districts start doing this, then we might need to re, you know, this would be a conversation that we have every year at budget time, what the max is going to be for the following rebate year, just like we do with the um with the other tax rebate. >> Yeah. Okay. Thank you, >> Mrs. Rebeck.
029I Oh, go ahead. >> Oh, I just wanted to ask um and maybe I missed this at the beginning. So, all of the um municipalities in our area, are they all do they all have a similar They all have something like this that they're already doing? >> No, they do not. Not all. Some >> So, of of the ones that of the townships in our area who are doing that, >> I can find out >> or who who is doing it? I mean, it just seems like this would be something that we would want to do in partnership. Like I would want them as well to be doing because, you know, we're the school district. Of course, we have a vested interest in this as well, but you know, from many of the townships, the
030>> correct >> the fire departments are under their scope. So, >> well, these are volunteer fire departments. They're independent of the municipality. They just they serve based on mun municipal borders but they as far as I know they are not funded by the individual municipalities. They're volunteer fire they're volunteer fire companies. So but I I understand your question Dr. uh G and I will find out for you. >> So can I just to really quickly on to that too I Dr. G I have spoken to some township supervisors in Burough um council members too. um they are looking to North Penn School District as kind of a model and a partnership um because many of them too are also considering the feasibility of the volunteer model. They're hoping that this will assist with recruitment so
031that they can continue evaluating and assessing next steps too. So I think a unique partnership is forming and I think we can definitely keep those conversations going. And I believe that Mr. Fusco had um a question. I just wanted to clarify something because it made me think about it when you said that not all the townships uh have a program. So the the qualifying volunteers is that just all of all the departments people that would have would have qualified based on the amount of service or those that actually got paid something. >> So these were folks that I got the reports from the chief from for five of the seven that are up there. Um and I got the individual reports that showed who actually earned what time. >> Okay. So was it based on
032time not on some Okay. >> Yeah. Well and their time number. Yes. >> Okay. Yeah. >> Who met the criteria of the resolution. >> Okay. Okay. So I what I have heard um and tell me and if we can continue this discussion but it appears that we are interested in moving forward with the variable um option. I have heard possibly starting it at 750 and at the is that so I've heard that. Are we in agreement that that is what we want to frame in the terms of a motion? >> I didn't state it but I am comfortable with the 750 variable. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. >> Okay. Go ahead. >> I don't know. I don't I need to look at I need to look at the reference with you. So, okay.
033>> And we could prorate, right, Miss Hower? We could do 500 max if we wanted. >> Yeah. >> But same value system same points value, but then the math would work different. >> So, if you did 500, it would be 500, 375, 250, 125 would be the payout for the different cortiles. >> So you're essentially cutting it by a third and if the estimate's 120 it would be 80. >> I just wonder because it is an incentive program how much of an incentive it is at $500. I mean I know 750 is not much more but I mean the question would be why are we doing this? It would be to incentivize folks to do this work this very necessary work. So if we're going to go and do it, I feel we should do
034it in a manner that actually would incentivize people to take interest in participating and trying to reach the goal. >> Yeah, I I agree. And I think maybe one of the reasons these numbers seem so large in comparison with our other tax incentive is because our other tax incentive is based on uh lower income families in the first place, which means those rebates wouldn't be as high anyway, you know, on average. >> Yeah. I mean, I'm grateful for the work that gets done. I'm grateful that my neighbor is a volunteer firefighter. So I I have all the respect in the world. I also know that we will come here every annually to discuss this and then have discussions about if we decide to go lower what impact that means what message that sends etc. So,
035I guess I'm more conservative in starting lower and giving ourselves some grace to go up or down in next year versus having to then churn over where we land in next year. That's my position. However, I this is not one that I am going to die on a hill for. I think there is precedent for doing that. We ha and by being able to fold this into the budget and have a discussion and review what the lessons learned and we've done the same thing with with our other tax rebate program. We started small. We increased over time. So if we do want to be more conservative, we can certainly I think consider that any other >> just one frame of reference because and look, I don't want to diminish the value of $500, but we're
036not just talking about $500 just like here here's $500 for all your hard work. It if you're looking at someone with a real estate tax bill of $5,000, 500 bucks is 10%. It's a 10% tax break. It's pretty significant. Um, so if you look at it from that perspective, I do think Ms. RNick that makes sense. >> Um, again, we can revisit this in a year, see where we are. Perhaps it won't have the desired effect. Perhaps it won't recruit more firemen and we need to revisit it uh from just like a theory perspective. Um, but if there's a little bit of aida with the 750, we can certainly draft things with the $500 number in mind, whatever is the desire of the board. Any other comments or questions about that, Mrs. Mcmmerry? Anyone? >>
037I I understand um what Mrs. Rundick said and I'm still um I mean it is it is district money that we're using. So, I respect that as well. But in light of what these um participants do in a volunteer manner, I still believe that if we are at 750, not that I'm trying to convince you, we still have the ability if we need to based upon budgetary constraints to go back down to 500 which still which would be still respectful and then we can stay there if we're unsure and not go to a thousand. So, I would rather go in with a bit more um commitment and optimism. And we're not at the top. We can still go up a little. We don't have to go up and if we need to go down a
038little based upon our responsibilities, we can. I'm the 750 person. So the um ask is the recommendation is to authorize the administration to take all the necessary steps, prepare a resolution and such um for approval, right? And there has to be a public hearing and so forth. Correct. >> Yeah, that's right. that once there's a decision to uh move forward with a resolution, the district has to give 30 days notice in the newspaper of the fact that that's going to appear on an agenda for adoption and then hold a a hearing which could take place at the start of a board meeting itself. Um, and would not be anything too extensive, but it's something that we'd have to take care of. >> So, do I do I have a motion and a second? >> So
039moved. >> Second. >> Motion by Mrs. stole seconded by Mr. McBain. >> And that motion to be clear and the second was in favor of the variable rate $750 maximum. >> Okay. Any other questions or comments? Okay. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Motion carries. Approval for forecast five budgeting and forecasting system. Sorry, let me get back over here. So, we already utilize um several of the products from the frontline suite. We use them for recruiting and hiring. We use them for um training. Um they also have a package called forecast 5 that um I we use the comparative analytics to do the big budget book. This is adding on the budget and forecasting component to it. Um, this year it would be about I I believe it's 13,000 is
040what I have in there. Um, I'm sorry I'm still getting used to not being able to see the full agenda. Um, and that would be for setup for this year. They prorrate it for the back six months. They're giving us November and December for free. Um, prorrating it for the back six months. And then that would help us um do our monthly reporting. There's a dashboard um and a lot of the a lot of the reporting that comes out of it is a little bit slicker than what you guys are used to seeing. So, um, it's easier to read and that kind of thing. Um, I've used it, uh, in two different other districts. So, >> so, do I have a motion and a second to move forward with the approval to purchase forecast 5
041budgeting and forecasting program? >> So, moved. >> Second. >> Motion by Mrs. Mc Merry, seconded by Mr. McBain. Any comments or questions? >> I have a question. >> Um, I see this and then I see the next item. Are both of these within the the budget that you have within our the business office budget? They'll be able to be covered by that? >> Yes, they will. Um and some of the some of the funding actually for the next one when we get to it. Um I have a meeting this week with P school to pull off some of the customizations that we had because they can no longer handle doing our benefits enrollment with the upgrade. Um which is ironic. Um but so we actually also have some offset in some expenses too. >> Okay.
042So, this is not in addition to we're not adding on to the budget by purchasing these additional things. >> Not for this year. No. >> What about are we saying that we would need to next year? >> Well, for next year, I would put it in the budget as a specific line item. This year, I'm going to use money that I'm not going to spend in other places. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yep. Great question. Thank you, Dr. G. Any other comments or questions? >> Okay, seeing none, all in favor say I. >> I. Hi. >> Any oppo? Sorry, any opposed? >> Motion carries. >> Um the next item is for um Hillenddale's product called Beacon. Um Beacon is a um enrollment an enrollment service package that we uh demoed a couple of months ago.
043Um Mrs. Schmidt and I, she's our benefits coordinator. Um and it's it's it's pretty nice. It has a lot of options for our for our district. It's not only medical and dental and all of the things you think of when you do benefit reg uh reg uh >> Enrollment. Thank you. Sorry to say registration. That's not the right word. Um when you do all the enrollment stuff, but it also has the ability um we can add on some components to it to do like tuition reimbursement. So it would all be systematized and might be a little bit easier if we choose to go that route. Um they also provide to um provide to our staff. They sell pet insurance. So when you go through to do like the um when you go through to do
044the enrollment that would be 100% covered by the employee. It's just a courtesy that they would offer through that. And if we if enough employees opt into some of their optional coverages um which again are not funded at all by the district, this whole system is free for us. So, um, if they'd have there's in the agreement, the most that this would cost us would be 18,000 a year. Um, which we the customizations that we have in P school are about the same, if not more, um, to try to get P school to do the the open enrollment, that's not currently working. Um and so but if people opt into things like pet insurance or extended care insurance or those kinds of things um essentially we get credit back towards that and the package is
045free. So but I put 18,000 in there because worst case scenario if nobody buys a thing um that's where we are. Great. Um, do we have a motion and a second to approve the agreement with Hillendale to acquire and use their benefit enrollment platform for medical pharmacy and other benefits? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion by Mrs. Stole, seconded by Mr. Fusco. Any comments or questions? >> Quick question. >> I have a I have a question. Um, are any of these packages on the cloud or we still uh putting them on our North Pen service? um whi which the the last two pro products that we talked about are cloud-based. Um P school I believe is still on premises for I I believe it's still on premises. I'd have to check with Mrs. Landis.
046I don't think she >> I'm glad we're starting to move to cloud-based products. Thank you. >> Yep. >> Mrs. Rednick. >> Yeah. So from a budget perspective, what I just heard was that we would probably be neutral with the 18. >> Yeah. Okay. Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Seeing no other questions, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Motion carries. Um the next item is an approval for the exemption of property tax for the parcel as noted on Gwen Gwennit Drive, Gwen Gwen Mount Drive. Um this is owned by the township. Montgomery Township actually owns this for open space. Um, and they're just asking us that they are going through the process with the assessment board to get it to become a taxexempt property. They didn't get that done
047in time for our 71 billing, but it will be done for the county and the municipal billings in January. So, they're just asking us to wave this year's taxes. It was around $800. Do I have a motion and a second to approve the request from Montgomery Township to wave taxes build on 712025 for the parcel above? Second motion by Mr. Fusco, seconded by Mr. Mrs. Stole. Any comments or questions? >> I have a question. Is this something is this um something that happened? I haven't seen this very often. Is this something new and different or >> I think normally they just get it it didn't get done in time for our tax billing to go out. So usually it would have been done in time and they just they just didn't get it done in
048time to to mark the pro the parcel as tax exempt. >> So they have to do this every year for their >> right because I believe it was donated land. >> All right. Thank you. >> Do they do it >> every year or once a year? >> No, they do it one time. Yeah. Once this part So the parcel >> we bill every year. I'm sorry. And I get a tax exempt list every year. But this once a parcel is deemed taxexempt it stays that way unless there's some reason why the classification change. I do think we waved the taxes for somebody once before. I can't remember when, but it seems like it was a couple years ago, but I do remember doing it once before. >> I think it might have been at toson
049Township Park or something. I I do recall this kind of something very similar, but yeah, not very often for sure. >> Is this over by like where they're building the pen medical center? >> Oh, I have no idea. I'm the wrong person to ask. >> I live in Allentown. >> Okay. All right. I'll look myself. Thank you. So, did they get the tax exempt status or they're planning to? >> The letter says effective January 1st, they will have it. >> They will have it. Yes. >> Okay. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> I. >> Motion carries. >> Just check to make sure. >> Sorry, I delayed. >> No, it's fine. Apologies for cutting, >> Dr. G. Just to be clear, that was not a nay. Correct. >> That was
050an I. No, it was an I. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Next item. >> So, the next item is just anformational item for this month. I'm not asking for any um decision at so this more of a discussion. So, we believe at this at the end of the audit this year, we're going to have about a $19.6 million surplus. Um most of that is the result of um extraordinary interest earnings because the rates have been so high um over the course of the last year as well as some savings on personnel. Um and I will be able to give you more detail on where the extra surplus came from as we get further into audit. Um and we'll have a conversation about that. Regardless, um we're looking at probably about 19.6
051million. Um, in that agenda item, I've also included a document that explains the different types of fund balance. Um, the different definitions of the different types of fund balance. Um, we have the general fund budget, which is we call it fund 10. That's just the number that the state of Pennsylvania uses for your general fund budget. Um, and we also have a fund 30. Um, all of the 30s together, 31, 32, 33, those are all capital reserve funds. um which once you transfer money out of your general fund, fund 10 into fund 30, it needs to stay there and be spent for capital projects. Okay. Um if the funds remain in fund 10, if something changes and there's some catastrophic need, we have the ability to reallocate funds within 10. Once they leave 10 and
052go to 30, we don't pull them back. Okay. Um so the surplus is sitting in fund 10. So we have the ability to commit funds which says the we right now at the end of last year's audit you committed inside of fund 10 $49 million towards capital projects. Most of that of course is earmarked for the high school. All right. So those funds would be used to offset any bond that we would need to take off or take out rather to pay. So once you commit the board controls a commit. So the board says we're committing these funds. I as the CFO cannot use those funds for anything other than capital. Um, one sort of capital or another. Buses count as capital as well as high schools. Um, it's similar to in the nonprofit world
053where if a donor donates money to a nonprofit, donor attentes and you have to do what the donor wants you to do with those funds. Um, so if the board says we're committing, the only people that can uncommit is the board through another resolution um or vote. There's also assigned funds. So assigned funds says the board says we would like to assign these funds administration. Um but we give you the latitude that if you see a need elsewhere, you have the ability to move that to another purpose. Um and unassigned is just unassigned. So it's just it's it's your rainy day fund. It's just sitting there. At the end of last year, I as I said in the general fund, you committed 49 thou 49 sorry 49,000 49 million um to capital funds and you
054assigned 2.7 million um towards health care um unexpected healthcare costs. Again, just a reminder, we are self-insured for our healthcare. So, we utilize a consortium where we pull our money, but we pay the claims that come in from our employees um and their dependents. Um, much like you know, United Healthcare or IBX pays claims, we use IBX's network and they do the processing, but we actually cover the claims. We don't buy insurance from them. We insure ourselves. Um, and why I'm kind of making a big deal about that is because of what's going on right now with the federal government. Um, we do not get tax credits um because we are not a taxable entity, but the marketplace does. Um, so as market cost increase, we will feel those costs increase as well. Um, as
055Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries are lessened in the marketplace, costs will go up for everyone because those folks will still seek emergent care and not have the ability to pay, right? So, those costs are going to drive that's bad debt that the hospitals will have to absorb and they're going to pass those costs on along to all of us anyway. um as well as just the unsuress in the market. Um we are we before all of this conversation started our first look if I believe correctly from CPASS was around a 9% increase 9 to 12% increase in healthcare costs for next year in the market. We last year were able to use some of our own um healthc care fund balance to reduce some of that. So, we we only I believe last year um again,
056I wasn't here, but I'm pretty sure they increased by about 5% last year. Um I think that was all that was in the budget. You can correct me if I'm wrong. >> Yeah, I believe we uh offset some of it with some of the money that was saved. Correct. I think the projected increase was 14%. >> Correct. And then we >> it ended up being five yish. Um, so I I what I would like to do with that 19 million in surplus um is leave it all in fund 10, assign it, not commit it. Um, assign about 10 of it to capital projects. So you would have 50 49 and change committed to capital projects, another 10 assigned to capital projects. um and add anywhere from 3 to four million probably closer to three to
057that assigned health care balance which would take the assigned healthcare um fund to 5.7 million um just to give us some buffer going into budget for next year. If we don't need it then we can roll that assignment into capital projects. We will always need it for capital projects. Um I think when this feasibility study comes out all of this money is going to be clearly delineated towards facilities. Um, but in the meantime, until, you know, the federal government settles down, the state government settles down, you know, I' I'd like to have the district to have some buffer. I don't think that I want to seek exceptions, but I have cash on hand that I would like to keep in reserve. Um, and then anything any other variance from there would just roll back into
058unassigned. Um, and then, you know, once I see where that un that total unassigned balance is, compare that to where the state likes us to be, which a budget our size, they would they like us to have about 8 to 9% um in unassigned. Um, but bond rers kind of like it a little bit higher. So, sometimes you push it to 11 or 12%. Um, so I'd have those conversations with our our um our bond guys and have a conversation like, do I leave 12 in? Do I back it down to eight? If they want me to back it down, then we would just throw it into the assigned for for capital. >> Tara, um, just for context, yeah, I don't know if you know this because you weren't with us last year, but um,
059what did we spend last year on unassigned that we didn't anticipate needing to spend when we passed the budget originally? Do you know offhand >> what what last year surplus was? Not with the surpluses, but of the unassigned am like how much unassigned money did we spend last year for things that we didn't? >> If you had a surplus, you wouldn't have spent anything because that means you had more revenue than expenses. >> A surplus is income. So, you wouldn't have eaten into the I think you budgeted to use unassigned. Okay. But then you didn't have to use it because you had a surplus, >> but you you had budgeted to eat into it >> and then you came out with a surplus, so you didn't have to eat into it. So I I believe
060your budget your expenses were higher than your revenues. So you were budgeting a deficit that you could fill with the assigned with unassigned, but then when you came out with a surplus, you didn't have to eat it. >> So we haven't had to do that for a while because we've had some correct. >> Correct. That's that's correct. So, Tara, one of the things that has really concerned me over the years is we we go out and we say we have a 19 million surplus in the general fund, but but in reality, we have uh 12 million to 14 million spend on capital improvements just to keep our facilities up to date. Uh and then we also have capital spend to uh improve our facilities. Um I' I've always so so so I've always been bothered
061going out and having the public uh hear that we have a $19 million surplus because in my mind we really don't have a $19 million surplus. we have a surplus of uh a few million dollars if even that considering that health care cost could go up to 10% or more this year. >> So Mr. Rash, great points. Um, and I agree with what I think you're implying where it's really it it is semantics, but from a accounting standpoint, it's a budgetary surplus, >> okay? >> Meaning money left over from the budget, but it is not a surplus of money. It is money that is >> I don't want to use the technical terms that Miss Hower just used, but uh committed, assigned, allocated, those types of things. We have projects. We have a capital project
062list of $142 million. We have a facility study that's going to be done that will probably be hundreds of millions of dollars. So, it is not a surplus. It's a budgetary surplus from last year. >> Correct. And and I think it's fair to say to to Mr. Rosh's point, um Mr. Mr. Slaughter and I have had conversations about developing a pretty detailed capital projects plan for the next I mean that's part of the fe feasibility study alone but on top of that we just know that we have a lot of day-to-day operational maintenance um some of it capital some of it operational you know opex spend um that we need to you know really look at where are we budgeting and making sure that we're utilizing those funds to to do the systems improvements and
063the facility improvements that we need to get Thank you very much. >> Absolutely. I >> Yeah, I just I do think that in this time of uncertainty, it's important that we remain flexible. So, I support your recommendations. >> I appreciate that. Do this this way. >> It's a com It's a comment and a request. I do appreciate and understand what you want to do and I support it being in um assigned and not committed. What I wanted to ask is um as monies are used uh in the assigned category if that's something you could bring to the finance meeting just to say hey we spent you know x amount of dollars $10 million this month on this assign just forformational. Yeah, we can do that. >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Yep.
064Um so that was justformational. Um I I will be honest. Our student reps emailed me today and my day got away from me. So I don't think they knew what they were supposed to do today. So that may be on me. Um so I will reach out to them tomorrow and apologize. Um I just >> Good news is we have special finance meetings so we'll catch up. >> Yeah. >> So they'll get to come to plenty of >> meetings and lots of >> welcome them at their next meeting. Yeah, for sure. Um, and I if if they get credit for that for some school activity, I will sign off on their credit. Um, uh, the right to know is out there for in executive content. We only had four this month. Um, so and they
065were all pretty straightforward. Um, all of the, uh, reports and stuff are out there for the month as normal. You can re peruse and, um, let me know if you have any questions. And I believe with that, it is time for public comment. There it is. There you have. Okay. Um, so thank you very much for um the presentation. Appreciate the followup on the firefighter um tax rebate program and for the reports. So um the next thing on our agenda is we'll move into the public comment portion of the meeting and I will start by reading the statement. So individuals attending this meeting and intending to speak to the committee should be aware that they are being recorded. In order to meet the requirements of Pennsylvania sunshine sunshine law, it is required to record the
066names of all citizens who speak to the committee during the meeting. To assure compliance with this requirement, it is essential that those planning to address the committee state their name and municipality. As a reminder, the public comment portion of this meeting is designed for residents and taxpayers of the district to provide comment and feedback on matters being discussed at tonight's meeting or matters that may come before the finance committee. It is not designed for debate or discussion with members of the committee. When appropriate, committee members may choose to respond to a public comment that has been made or make a request that a member of the administration follow up with the speakers after the meeting. Members of the audience are asked to limit their questions and comments to three minutes and that is in reference
067to board policy 903. Anyone interested in making public comment this evening? >> Uh Jason Lir Lansdale. Uh, I found it interesting. You guys were talking about the uh limiting the act one index or not going over the actual one index for the next tax season without looking at this tax year and how much that's increased and what we're getting for that money. So from if you take a 10-year run from 2015 to 2025, the average household is paying $1300 more than they were in 2015. So what are we getting for that? I know we we have a lot of the school projects, but we're not actually are the acumen of the kids going up. What what are we doing with this money? How much money do we spend on on on uh professional development that
068really isn't to necessarily benefit kids, but to make kids feel better about themselves? I guess that's the idea is we want them to feel better but not know what they're doing because it seems like we spent a lot more money on that than proficiency. And I can get into that, but there again, you guys spent 30 minutes roughly debating whether or not to get firemen uh firemen a a tax break of up to $750 for a total total expenditure of $120,000. And when you spend so much money on things that I I don't even know if you guys realize what you're spending money on and improving and there's not a lot of debate here. That was a 30 minute debate. uh, you know, little unusual, but when I looked at the the the recent capital
069improvements, and there's one thing that stuck out. I mean, a lot of them don't make a lot of sense to me. They seem awfully high, but one which is for updating Penfield Middle School modular classrooms, three classrooms, you're going to upgrade their AC for $914,000. Am am I misunderstanding what a modular classroom is? It's like looks like a a trailer bench basically. And there's three of them and it's going to cost close to a n $914,000. What is that? Is that right? It seems a lot. It seems like a lot, but we're just going to do that. And I I won't even get into the the amount we're spending on roofing. It seems like we're we are way over the top when you when you read about in in uh in trade magazines what it
070costs to replace commercial roofs. It seems like we're paying top dollar and I know we're paying top dollar in the high school project and we're getting a lot or spending you know what a quarter million dollars on that or quarter billion dollars on that and what you know is this going to be beneficial to the kids in the end. That's really my concern and uh I'll leave it there. Thank you. >> Thank you. Would anyone else like to make public comment this evening? >> I was going to give a quick answer to what we've spent money on in 10 years. Full day kindergarten, new high school, renovation of NAP, scores of new teachers, counselors, special educators, psychologists. So, the money's been invested in the schools, right? It's 10-year period. We have inflation, things go up.
071So, >> in addition to the day-to-day operations, >> in addition to the day, >> okay, >> so >> the question was what did we get out of it? So, >> I think there's a good bit of a list there. So, >> off the top of my head, >> in summary, um the items moving forward to work session are the resolution not to exceed the tax one, the act one index, the volunt um volunteer firefighter tax rebate, approval of the forecast five budgeting forecast system, the US RPB US enrollments Hill Andale contract, and approval of the exemption um from property tax for the property in Montgomery Township. Um, our next finance committee meeting will be, sorry, um, November 11th. Um, apologies, my board docs was moving very slow. Um, do I have a motion to adjourn
072this meeting? >> So, >> second. >> Okay, meeting adjourned and I believe we're going to roll right into our next meeting in five minutes. Okay, so we'll take a pause, we'll reset, and we'll be right back.