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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-01-14 Finance Committee MinutesTown of Reading Meeting Minutes i LCE1VED OWN CLERK "; ING. ml�ss. Board - Committee - Commission - Council: Finance Committee Date: 2015 -01 -14 Building: Reading Town Hall Address: 16 Lowell Street Purpose: General Business Attendees: Members - Present: &S MAR -9 A 9: 53 Time: 7:30 PM Location: Conference Room Chairman Mark Dockser, Vice Chair Paula Perry, Members Ann Landry, Karen Herrick, Marc Moll, Peter Lydecker, Craig Merry, and Paul McNeice. Members - Not Present: Others Present: Town Manager Bob LeLacheur, Superintendent of Schools Dr. John Doherty, Director of Finance of Schools Martha Sybert, Administrative Assistant Caitlin Saunders Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Topics of Discussion: Chairman Mr. Dockser called the meeting to order at 7:30pm. He explained the main topic of tonight's meeting is to hear a proposal from the School Committee about modular classrooms for the elementary schools. Dr. Doherty said he will be speaking on behalf of the School Committee tonight while he is making this presentation. Dr. Doherty stated full day Kindergarten enrollment is at a historic high and if this does not get approved they will have to do a lottery. He explained as of right now if they go to a lottery, 80 students will be denied full day kindergarten. He also stated the numbers will probably be a little higher as there are still several months before next school year. Dr. Doherty explained if they do not get the modular classrooms, a lot of those students who get turned away will go to private kindergarten but then come right back for grade 1 and we will have the same problem all over again for space. Ms. Perry asked why we couldn't take the students from the schools that are full and move them to one of the other schools with fewer students? Dr. Doherty said we could do that however then those kids will have to continue their whole elementary career at that school and then they would have to decide what to do once they move up to the middle school, either keep them in the new district or send them back to their old district and away from their friends. He said a lot of parents also like to keep their kids with the neighborhood schools they are near. Ms. Sybert then explained where the possible space would be to put the modular classrooms. They came to the conclusion the best places would be 2 at Barrows, 2 at Page 1 1 Finance Committee Meeting - Janua[y 14, 2015 image 2 Killam, and 2 at Joshua Eaton for a total of 6 modular classrooms. Ms. Sybert then went on to talk about the estimated costs. She noted DPW has too many projects coming up to help with the site prep work so that would be an estimated extra $25k per site. It would also cost roughly $25k per classroom to furnish and supply. The costs projected are pretty accurate; the most varying cost will be the site prep work. It is an additional $77k to "Lease to own" compared to just purchasing six modular classrooms. Dr. Doherty explained if they have to turn down students, that is tuition money they won't be getting and putting into their funds. Also, they will be losing money on before /after school programs that a lot of these students pay for. Estimated costs are between 950k -1.2M. Dr. Doherty said there will be no other costs because they will not need any additional staff as they will use what they already have. The primary costs will be utilities. Dr. Doherty went on to say if we do not fund the modular classrooms the revolving funds will be down which will cause a reduction in the operating budget next year, and we are only prolonging the problem because when all the kids who do not get full time kindergarten come back for first grade we will still need space or class sizes will be extremely large. Dr. Doherty also explained if we have to do a lottery for full day kindergarten, which hasn't been done in years, then it will only be at the schools that can't hold any more students. There will be approximately 80 students that will not be able to get full day kindergarten if they have to do the lottery. FINCOM asked if there would be a cost to get rid of the modular classrooms when we don't need them anymore? Ms. Sybert said it would depend on if we were scrapping them or selling them. Ms. Perry asked what the costs would be if we possibly made them more permanent? Ms. Sybert explained an architect would have to determine that. Mr. McNeice asked if 6 modular classrooms would be enough, Dr. Doherty answered with hopefully but it is hard to predict numbers this early still. Rebecca Ward of Kingston Street stated she moved to Reading specifically for the school system and thinks when people hear that Reading can't put kids in full day kindergarten it will drive people away. Linda Snow Dockser of Beaver Road wanted to inform everyone that she went and visited the modular classrooms and looked at them and went inside and she wanted everyone to know they have come a long way and they look much better than you think. Nancy Docktor of Pearl Street asked what the financial ramifications would be if we can't charge for full day kindergarten. Dr. Doherty answered it would be around an 850k reduction. Mr. Nichols from West Street said he has invested his future in Reading and the people of this community need support from the town to further keep our schools top notch. Page 1 2 Finance Committee Meeting - January 14, 2015 - naae 3 Ms. Landry voiced that financing and providing school space should be on the top of the list for Reading to do. Mike Fitzgerald of Scotland Road asked if we funded the modular classrooms what would that mean for taxpayers of Reading? Mr. LeLacheur said it would change nothing for the taxpayers. Mr. Dockser stated we will most likely need an override next year so we need to keep mentioning that so people get used to hearing it. Linda Snow Dockser stated it's important to be a part of the discussion and be involved and it would be really wonderful if people could come to Town Meeting as well. Mr. Dockser thanked the School Committee and appreciate them coming to FINCOM to present this before the Financial Forum next week. School Committee leaves at 8:45 PM. Mr. Dockser said the committee needs to authorize the transfer of funds for the investigation. Mr. Dockser made a motion to transfer funds from the reserve fund to the audit account in the amount of $35.000, second by Ms. Perry and approved with an 8 -0- 0 vote. Mr. LeLacheur said the budget he has right now is simply what was requested and not balanced. He stated he will not balance it until the Selectmen have heard all the presentations. Mr. LeLacheur said this is a hard budget because there are a lot of things we put off that must be budgeted now. He also mentioned health insurance rates came in at 8.2% and we are staying with MIIA because they are giving us an incredible deal. He also informed FINCOM that Reading got $300,000 for road repairs from the state that hopefully we will be able to use next year. Ms. Perry made a motion to accept the December 8th minutes as written second by Ms. Herrick and approved with an 8 -0 -0 vote. Mr. Dockser said he will reach out to RMLB Chair Dave Talbot and RMLD's General Manager Coleen O'Brien to give them a heads up that the investigation process will begin soon. Mr. McNeice made a motion to adiourn at 9:30, second by Ms. Herrick and approved with an 8 -0 -0 vote. Respectfully submitted, Secretary Page 1 3