HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002-09-05 Finance Committee MinutesFinance Committee Meeting
September 5, 2002
';'ECEIVED
T0WH CLERK
,`EiADIING, MASS.
2003 JUL I l P 1: 5 8
The meeting convened at 7:35 p.m. in the Arnold Berger Room, 16 Lowell Street, Reading,
Massachusetts. Present were Chairman Catherine Martin, Vice Chairman Richard McDonald,
Finance Committee Members Jim Francis, Karen Epstein, Chuck Robinson, School Committee
Chairman Bill Griset, School Committee Member Pete Dahl, Superintendent of Schools Dr.
Harry Harutunian, Town Accountant Richard Foley, Town Manager Peter Hechenbleikner, and
the following list of interested parties: Nadine Wandzilak from the Advcoate and Linda Phillips.
Review of School Department Budget Process and Information Available - Superintendent
of Schools Dr. Harry Harutunian during his presentation handed out the following information:
A copy of the Fire Emergency Management Budget for FY 2003, a list of budget questions from
1998-2002, a two page budget calendar for the School Department for FY 2004, a memo dated
September 5th regarding the Alice M. Barrows School cost of boiler repairs, a memo dated
September 5th outlining the unencumbered funds at the end of the year from 1992-2002.
Chairman of the School Committee Bill Griset asked what the Finance Committee was interested
in accomplishing. Finance Committee Member Jim Francis noted that they would like to see the
same information that is in the Town budget a breakdown by positions and what teachers are
in different positions within the individual school buildings. .
( Mr. Griset and School Committee Member Pete Dahl indicated that they would like to provide
the Finance Committee with whatever information they would find useful but wanted to
understand what it was that they were looking for.
Mr. Dahl noted that one of the issues they would be concerned about with having information
that is too detailed is the affect that it would have on the Town's bargaining position. Mr. Griset
noted that the School Department provides the same information as is provided by the Town.
Mr. Francis noted that would be true if they showed each individual school budget, but Mr.
Griset noted that the School Department is one department just like the Fire Department and the
Police Department. Mr. Dahl noted that the School Department had been asked in the past to
breakout the Superintendent's and the Associate Superintendent's salary separately and that they
could do that.
Dr. Harutunian gave a history of the budget since 1996 when he began working for the Reading
School Department. He noted that they breakout every position. The only position that is not
broken out separately is the Superintendent and the Associate Superintendent's positions.
Mr. Francis wondered whether it would be possible to have the School budgets developed so that
you can see the cost of operating each school. Dr. Harutunian noted that those are all included in
the regular day budget. If they are going to break that out, they would go from six department
budgets to 12 departments. Mr. Dahl noted that expenses by school are broken out on per pupil
basis. Dr. Harutunian noted that the information in the budget is approximately 18 months old
from the time it is initially put together to when the budget is implemented. The individual
Finance Committee Meeting - September 5. 2002 - Page 2
school budgets are insignificant on a per pupil basis. Mr. Francis noted that they are significant
when you include salaries.
Dr. Harutunian noted that in the 1998 budget process, the School Department responded to 218
written questions. For the past three years, three Finance Committees have attended every
meeting and gotten all of the details of the budgets. Problems with providing a per school budget
is that some areas like SPED are not broken down properly because the student may not be in the
school that they would normally be attending. Mr. Dahl noted that in addition, this information
could target SPED by school and might have a negative impact.
Dr. Harutunian noted that the School Department is going to give detailed information to the
three Finance Committee members who are liaison to the School Department. To do more than
what they are doing now would require a larger administrator budget. The School Department
administrative budget is under funded by $3.5 million currently.
More discussion ensued on the individual school budgets. The only thing that is budgeted
individually by school is per pupil expenses. Finance Committee members noted that one could
also provide for personnel and facilities cost on a per school basis. Dr. Harutunian stated that
was very difficult because some, of the things like the fuel prices are difficult to determine on a
per school building they know what the bills are but they don't always understand why the
bills for energy for the different schools are as different as they are.
Mr. Francis noted that he would like to see summary information by school. He'd like to see
( major costs tracked by school, including personnel and summary expenses. He feels this may be
useful information. Mr. Griset noted that he thought the information might be misleading. Dr.
Harutunian noted that there is a lot of costs that aren't necessarily in the "home school" budget
like stipends for athletics, etc.
Mr. Dahl noted that we want to have clarity with the budget. He also noted that the Finance
Committee may want some of this information but Town Meeting might find it difficult to
understand. Dr. Harutunian offered to provide a "scatter sheet" for all regular day personnel, and
Mr. Francis asked if that could be done by school.
Finance Committee Member Karen Epstein wondered if we couldn't get summaries and track
total expenses for different areas; for example, it's hard to tell what happens with Language Arts.
Is there a way to pick up all of the lines for Language Arts and/or other curriculum areas. Dr.
Harutunian noted that this is hard information to track because often administrators make
mistakes in budget coding. In order to do this kind of work, they would need a fully staffed
business office. Ms. Epstein noted that she would like to see trends in curriculum initiatives and
see their affect.
Linda Phillips noted that she would like to see additional columns that would show the actual
expenditures compared to appropriations for the prior two years.
The Finance Committee discussed the budget form and format. After a great deal of discussion,
they decided that they would like to see actual expenses for two years, budget for one year, and
Finance Committee Meeting - September 5, 2002 - Page 3
Town Manager's (or School Committee's) recommended budget for one year. For example, for
the FY 2003 budget, there will be four columns as follows: Actual expenditures FY00, actual
expenditures FY01, revised budget FY02 and. Town Manager's recommended budget FY03.
Additionally, the Finance Committee may want some summary information such as professional
development, etc. but they can work on that as they go along.
Dr. Harutunian presented a memo regarding the Barrows School project. He indicated that they
spent $25,400 on boiler repairs. If the Barrows project had been able to proceed on schedule,
this project would have been done as part of the overall building project and would have been
covered by SBA reimbursement. He noted that the School Department would try to cover these
expenses within the budget for FY03, but would like the Finance Committee to put a "place
holder" on part of the reserve fund in the event that they are not able to cover it through the
School budget. He also noted that the school facilities budget are maintenance budgets and do
not anticipate major repairs like this. He noted that they did not have the time to do a full
replacement and get the boiler in place for the new heating season. This repair will be good for
two heating seasons.
Linda Phillips indicated that the School Department had $186,000 they had to expend for the
Barrows School to avoid arbitrage. They have spent $122,000 leaving a balance of $67,000.
Why can't that $67,000 be used to cover this repair? Dr. Harutunian noted that they had
borrowed $400,000 on Barrows, they spent $33,000 to date, and have bills that they've just
processed for $84,000.
( The Finance Committee decided that in reviewing the FY04 budget, they would have two
sessions on the School budget to better review the budget based on the discussion tonight.
Liaison Reports
Jim Francis noted. that the RMLD Governance Advisory Committee has been meeting, They
may be looking for Charter changes or special legislation. There has been discussion by RMLB
members about creating a cooperative from the current Light Department service area. He noted
that they recently found that the General Manager's bond, required by State law, was set in 1997
at $0.
Minutes
The Board did not approve minutes - there were only four of the five members at this meeting
who were in attendance at the last meeting.
The Town Manager reviewed the probable Warrant for a Special Town Meeting. The Finance
Committee agreed to meet on September 12, 2002 to review the Warrant.
The Town Manager reviewed particularly schedule 3 of a debt and capital exclusion analysis.
Finance Committee Chairman Catherine Martin suggested adding a line which shows what the
current tax rate was. There was discussion about the misleading headline in the Advocate article
this evening, and the Town Manager will talk with the Editor about it. They would suggest that
this schedule be given to Town Meeting as part of the presentation on the Capital Improvements
Program this year.
Finance Committee Meeting - September 5, 2002 - Page 4
The Town Manager will develop a schedule for the FY04 budget process and present it to the
Finance Committee, hopefully, by their meeting on September 12, 2002.
On motion by Francis seconded by McDonald, the Finance Committee voted to adjourn their
meeting of September 5, 2002 at 9:45 p.m. by a vote of 5-0-0.
Respectfully submitted,
