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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-03-11 Finance Committee MinutesOF R Imo - C 939: lNCOPpOPP Town of Reading Meeting Minutes Board - Committee - Commission - Council: Finance Committee Date: 2015 -03 -11 Building: Reading Town Hall Address: 16 Lowell Street Purpose: General Business Attendees: Members - Present: Time: 7:30 PM Location: Conference Room i' CL1iED W CLERK �L_!ENUI MASS. 2M JUN 25 P 3: 42 Chairman Mark Dockser, Members Peter Lydecker, Craig Merry, Paul McNeice, Marc Moll, Anne Landry, Vanessa Alvarado, and Karen Herrick Members - Not Present: Vice Chair Paula Perry Others Present: Superintendent of Schools John Doherty, Director of Finance of the Schools Martha Syburt, the School Committee, Barry Berman, Bill Brown, Nancy Docktor, and Administrative Assistant Caitlin Saunders Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Topics of Discussion: Chairman Mark Dockser called the meeting to order at 7:30 PM. He explained tonight's meeting is to hear the school and facilities budgets. Dr. Doherty explained the School wanted to create a budget according to the goals of the district. The five goals being: 1) student learning, 2) professional practice, 3) student support, wellness, and safety, 4) resources and space, and 5) communication. He noted it is no secret Reading is at the bottom for per pupil spending. He also stated that our Chapter 70 aid is down since past years because our per capita income rose at a faster rate than the state average. That means we are not getting as much state aid as other towns that are spending more per pupil. Dr. Doherty explained the Town already takes 53% of taxes and puts it towards the schools. Mr. McNeice asked how that compares to other towns. Ms. Sybert indicated she is not sure what percentage other towns spend for the schools. She said the schools always return some amount of money and the drive of the budget is, as always, the salaries. She noted there was an increase in special education and they will be negotiating a new gas contract in June. Dr. Doherty explained that some of the savings in the budget were in substitute teacher pay and by the elimination of all non - mandatory busing. The overall impact of the budget constraints is shown in the decrease in per pupil spending. He also wanted to point out that many of the savings were generated from one -time accounting adjustments that cannot be repeated in subsequent He pointed out the majority of the costs are regular day needs and the list of unfunded budget requests is growing and they cannot replicate these reductions next year. Page 1 1 FINCOM Minutes 2015 -03 -11 Page 2 Mr. Dockser noted Chief-Cormier would like a second School Resource Officer (SRO) and asked if that was something the School Committee is interested in and willing to have conversation about. Chair of the School Committee Mr. Caruso said yes absolutely, the committee would love to start talking about that. Mr. McNeice asked if the list of unfunded requests is needs or more of a wish list. Dr. Doherty said they are doing other things to address the issues where cuts are being made and there are things they would love to do but can't because of budget constraints. Elaine Webb noted most of these things are only being done to meet the budget but they need to be done. Dr. Doherty explained this budget does not address long term improvements to the school district and if limitations exist in FY17 as they are in FY16, then they will be looking at staffing reductions. The School Department Facilities is responsible for maintaining substantially all of the town buildings. Bill Brown wanted to know why the cemetery building is the only building not under the facilities department. Dr. Doherty and Ms. Syburt were both unable to answer that question and said that is a question for possibly the Town Manager. Ms. Syburt said she reached out to RMLD for an estimate on price increases to base the budget. She also noted their gas contract is up soon and they are hoping to lock in a low number but they are not sure right now what they are going to get. She said the budget saw a huge increase in gas usage at the DPW garage and she is trying to figure out why and what is driving that increase. Mr. McNeice asked when we increase sports fees do we see a decrease in participation. Mr. Caruso answered not yet, but they are keeping an eye on it because they do not want to push too much and have that happen. He also noted they try and make sure people know there is assistance for people who cannot afford the increased rate. Mr. Lydecker commented that they are on a 5 -6 year technology upgrade cycle and that is a long time in the technological world. He asked if there would be a significant increase money wise if they were to go to even say a 4 -5 year plan. Dr. Doherty said it would probably be about a $250,000 increase if he had to guess and noted they have talked about but it is just not doable with this budget. Mr. Moll asked if there were any opportunities to reach out to big companies to help provide new computers. Dr. Doherty said not to the point you would think, they invest more in programs they know will work. Ms. Herrick asked what the financial relationship between Reading COOP and the schools is because they have a branch inside the school. Dr. Doherty said they provide staffing help and we have students that work in the bank. He noted it was an arrangement that was set up years ago. Mr. Merry asked how we are doing with teacher turnover since we have lower paying salaries compared to other surrounding districts. Dr. Doherty explained it definitely does happen; teachers have left due to better pay in a different district however it is not a huge problem. School Committee leaves at 9:00 PM. Page 1 2 FINCOM Minutes 2015 -03 -11 Page 3 Mr. Dockser said next week the committee will be looking at the enterprise funds which should be fairly straight forward and quick. He told the committee that the 25th is the final vote so ask any questions before then. He then informed the committee that the subcommittee should be getting the phase one report back from Powers & Sullivan next week and they will report back to FINCOM as soon as they go over it. Mr. McNeice made a motion to accept the minutes from February 23, 2015, second by Mr. Moll and approved with a 7 -0 -1 with Ms. Herrick abstaining. Ms. Landry made a motion to accept the minutes from October 29, 2014 as amended second by Ms. Herrick approved with an 8 -0 -0 vote. Mr. McNeice made a motion to adiourn at 10 PM, second by Ms. Landry and anDroved with an 8 -0 -0 vote. Respectfully submitted, Secretary Page 1 3