Shutesbury Board of Selectmen with Finance and School Committees January 12, 2009 Meeting Minutes Select Board members present: Chairwoman Elaine Puleo and Al Springer. Finance Committee members present: Chairman Patrick Callahan and members Lori Tuominen, George Arvanitis, William “Bill” Wells, F. “Rus” Wilson and Secretary Marie Louise “Weezie” Houle. School Committee members present: Chairman Michael DeChiara and members Clifton “Clif” Read, Daniel Hayes (left at 8:50 pm) and Martina Dooley-Carvalho. Also present to speak about the school budget: Union 28 Superintendent Joan Wickman, Business Assistant Superintendent Charlie Paulin and Elementary School Principal Robert “Bob” Mahler. Also Present: Town Administrator Rebecca Torres and Administrative Secretary Leslie Bracebridge, recording. Select Board members Al Springer and Elaine Puleo individually joined a Finance Committee meeting in progress and created a quorum at 7:50 PM. The Finance Committee was reviewing the budget with Town Administrator Torres: * Review of the 4 levels of regional school funding distributed at the December 12 4-town regional meeting of Selectmen, School and Finance committees: People working on the Amherst override have asked Becky, “Where is Shutesbury comfortable between scenarios 2 and 3?” Finance Committee members recollected that on that Saturday Amherst said between scenarios 3 and 4. o Putting Shutesbury up 1.5% would put Amherst up 5%. ($690,000). Discussion was tabled with the arrival of the School Committee at 8:00 PM. Finance Committee Chairman Patrick Callahan: * The Finance Committee requested 2 sets of budgets from all town departments for FY 11: o A zero increase budget and o A 5% decrease budget; “grim,” but based on the real numbers that they are seeing. School Committee Chairman Michael DeChiara: * The School Committee is presenting a zero increase detailed budget. * A minus 5% budget would eliminate 1.5 full time equivalent (FTE) staff. Specific positions will not be identified until the 5% budget is a certainty. The School Committee will meet again with the Finance Committee and Select Board in February. * We pulled off a zero; “we’re clean,” “bare-bones.” School Committee member Daniel Hayes had 2 comments: 1. We were able to increase revenues including instrumental music program fees. 2. Looked for efficiencies: one savings in the current year and in next is paying for an Inclusion Specialist through a federal grant rather than place students elsewhere. We would have been looking at personnel cuts had not there been thinking outside the box. Chairman DeChiara: * Preschool is in the black – pays its own way plus overhead * After school over by $10,000 * The cafeteria is in the black. * The Inclusion Specialist – savings of $20,000. Union 28 Superintendent Wickman reviewed the proposed FY 11 zero increase budget: * Would like to present a 1.56% budget that she first prepared, instead she has a level funded budget. * Big shifts in Union 28 operations: o Each member town will contribute according to the Union 28 COLA based salaries consistent with what the town offers its teachers: For Shutesbury that’s a 1.5% increase. o Union 28 assessments are based on enrollment; Shutesbury’s contribution went down for FY 11 from 26.43% this year to 24.16% next year. o Legal expenses are higher this year. That line may be “in the red” before the end of the year. o Sped contracted services have been reduced by $20,000 due to the Inclusion Specialist. The Inclusion Specialist is being funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) “Stimulus” funds. The funding will end after two years; for the FY 12 budget. School Committee member Hayes: More than just the financial impact it is liked because of the quality of services. Principal Mahler: It was a planned process. Selectman Puleo: It is unfortunate that this money will disappear. * Cutting the substitutes budget is a gamble. * No increase to textbooks even though it is wanted. * The School Committee offered their conference money for enrichment programs. Summary, questions and comments: Principal Mahler: * We’ve cut all that we can, from this point forward, it will be personnel cuts. * Preschool will be asked to contribute to fuel because they are doing well. o Several years ago, tuition was increased which has brought money into the account. Community Partnerships for Children will be down another 20% next year. It’s a pretty much guaranteed grant; it was significantly more 10 years ago. They’ve also readjusted how the funds can be used. The huge increase to line 70 in FY09 was from an oil tank repair. All other accounts were frozen near the end of the year to cover it. DSL line now instead of T-1 line put in years ago; saving $400/month. It will be slower. Principal Mahler: We’re looking at what causes the least negative impact and this is one of those things. Will it be slower? Will they have more band width? It’s important for the school to have good instrumental music program to go to the Middle school program; the fees are going up from $40 to $80/year.? The artists in residence program is totally funded by parents, private contributions, Cultural Council grants and the PTO. The school population is 154 including the preschool. This is the same as the early 1990’s. Enrollment peaked in 2003, and then came back down. It’s hard to track enrollment for Shutesbury. There is a loss of chapter 70 funds of $5,000 for every child that goes to private and choice schools and a loss of $13,000 for charter schools. The more we get kids in early the more we save by not loosing them. The Food Service Director's salary, responsibilities, and quality of the program offered were looked at last year during contract negotiations. The food service director was being paid significantly less than the custodian. It was felt the responsibilities were on par and the pay should also be on par. An increase was made starting in the FY 10 budget. The $5,000 jump works out to only $2,000 due to the program running in the black. The Food Service Director provides healthy foods, a professional program teaching about food, and is a part of the team. We have the fortune of having someone good. The school cafeteria produces between 7 and 15 pounds of food waste per day and is looking for a pig farmer to come pick it up daily. Finance Committee Chairman Callahan said that a lot of thinking and enterprise has gone into dealing with an unpleasant situation. The school has worked hard at raising money and making decisions. We’re trying to steer through a difficult period. He hopes not to have to do it again next year. School Committee Chairman DeChiara said that he feels fortunate to be in a town that values education. The hard times are not of our own doing. Though the School Committee controls its own budget the committee is part of a larger community and they work as a team. School personnel and committee members left at 9:15 PM. ___________________________________________________________________________________ The Finance Committee and Selectmen reviewed the first round of projected revenues with a 10% decrease in Chapter 70 aid. It was suggested the decrease could be as much as 20%. The question was raised, “Are we being conservative enough?” New growth is a safe estimate. The guesstimate is in Chapter 70. We’re beyond break-even now but we don’t know about health insurance. Gabe will bring rates tomorrow. If the school reduces personnel, unemployment costs goes up for 2.5 years. The new growth line, the amount the town is allowed to raise without an override suggests we can afford $60,000 across the board from last year’s budget. Plus $28,000 because the Regional School Committee reduced their budget after annual town meeting by Discussion of what level of support for the regional schools Shutesbury be comfortable with resumed: * “If you’re being asked by the Amherst folks, we can’t go beyond zero.” * If Shutesbury’s contribution is up 2.5% we can still level fund our budget. * Who is asking? “They” is not the finance committee. * It’s going to be driven by what Pelham can afford. * The quality of education has to be the primary thing. * Superintendent Rodrigues is really trying. Chairman Callahan concluded: We’ll think about it until the next Finance Committee meeting on the 26th. Chairman Puleo left at 9:25 PM ending the Select Board quorum. Selectmen made no decisions throughout the night. The Finance Committee continued through their agenda for a few minutes before adjourning Respectfully submitted, Leslie Bracebridge Administrative Secretary 100112 Select Board with Finance and School Committee 1