BC20121015

APPROVED

TOWN OF PELHAM

BUDGET COMMITTEE - MEETING MINUTES

Monday, October 15, 2012

APPROVED – October 22, 2012

CALL TO ORDER – approximately 7:30pm

PRESENT:

Mr. Larry Hall, Mr. Daniel Guimond, Mr. Bob Sherman, Mr. Greg Farris, Mr. Dav= id Cate, Mr. Dave Cronin, Mr. Ken Dunne, Mr. Greg Smith, Ms. Daryle Hillsgro= ve, School Board Representative Brian Carton, Selectmen Representative Doug Viger

ABSENT:

None.

Also Presen= t: School Business Administrator Adam Stee= l, Pelham Superintendent-Elect Amanda Lecaroz

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September 27, 2012

MOTION:

(Guimond/Sherm= an)To approve the September 27, 2012 meeting minutes as written.

VOTE:

(10-0-1) The motion carried. Mr. Carton abstained.

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October 1, 2012

MOTION:

(Guimond/Croni= n)To approve the October 1, 2012 meet= ing minutes as amended.

VOTE:

(10-0-1) The motion carried. Mr. Carton abstained.

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F= iscal Year 2014 School Budget Review – Pelham Memorial School

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The Board reviewed information provided by Mr. S= teel that was provided to answer questions the Board brought up during their previous meeting. The book replace= ment schedule would be forthcoming.

Mr. Steel told the Board that there was not much= to the budget this year. There was no= thing that stood out as a major initiative. He began by discussing the elimination of the seventh grade teacher. He said the district was seeing a decli= ne in enrollment at both the elementary and middle school levels. They were eliminating the seventh grade position and moving it elsewhere. = After the change next year, there will be eight regular classrooms in 6^{th
grade, seven classrooms in 7^th grade and eight at the 8^{th
grade. When next year’s seventh gr=
ade
class moves into 8^th grade, they anticipate decreasing the numbe=
r of
8^th grade teachers.}}

With the elimination of a teacher Mr. Sherman wa= nted to know if a classroom would now become available. Ms. Lecaroz said it would allow them to provide services that were currently in confined areas.

Mr. Guimond asked the age of the current LCD projectors. Mr. Steel said the LCD projectors were new for the Unified Arts classes. Once purchased, they will have one for = every classroom.

Mr. Cronin saw that there was an increase in of consumable art supplies and wanted to know if they were making up for what wasn’t purchased last year. Mr. St= eel said the calculation was done by taking a three year average and adding 5%.

There was an increase in textbooks for math. Mr. Steel said they were replacing math textbooks at all three grade levels based on the new national standards they were required to teach the students to and also based on the new testing re= quired. Ms. Lecaroz discussed the changes to curriculum that would be occurring based on new national standards. They will no longer be using NECAP; the= y will be using Smarter Balance. The reso= urces they currently have at the middle school don’t provide the resources to the teachers to teach the new standards. The new math textbooks will be needed to do so. The school is looking at an on-line textbook as well as hard copy bo= ok.

Mr. Sherman asked if they had chosen a text book yet. Ms. Lecaroz answered no. Mr. Sherman questioned if the proposed = cost included the teacher’s addition and support materials. Ms. Lecaroz said the cost didn’t includ= e for the teacher’s addition, because their history with the text book company was that they would provide that material.

Mr. Guimond asked if the teachers had to be trai= ned on how to do the new methodology. Ms. Lecaroz answered yes. She said whe= n the company provided textbook resources, they also provided professional development. Additional profession= al development would be funded through Title II (Federal Grant).

Mr. Guimond asked how many students participated= in the music program. Mr. Lecaroz rep= lied all students participated in music; approximately 75 participated in band a= nd chorus.

Mr. Farris asked if two new positions were budge= ted for instructional assistants. Mr. = Steel said they were new for the current fiscal year; they were forecasted positi= ons at the beginning of the school year because they knew they would have to hi= re them. As of today, the positions h= ad been hired. Mr. Farris confirmed = that even with the declining enrollment, the positions were hard to predict beca= use it was unknown which children would be coming into district. Mr. Steel answered yes. He said last year the budget had been decreased by $76,000; and even with the two positions included the budget remained down by $16,000. Mr. Cron= in questioned if all the instructional assistants at the middle school were for special education. Mr. Steel answe= red yes.

Mr. Guimond questioned how well the co-curricular sports were running. Ms. Lecaroz s= aid they were doing well. Mr. Guimond = asked if a lot of students were involved. Ms. Lecaroz answered yes. She said the= y had spoken about looking at proposals how to add some ‘B’ teams without a major fiscal impact to the budget.

With regard to the sports programs, Mr. Farris a= sked if the increases represented additional coaches, or salary increases. Mr. Steel believed he arrived at the nu= mber by reviewing the Collective Bargaining Agreement (‘CBA’); all the stipends = are included. Mr. Farris commented if = there was no increase in coaches, the stipends were growing significantly. He asked if there were any participation fees. Mr. Steel replied every stud= ent that participated in sports was charged a transportation fee. He anticipated bringing in approximately $30,000 in revenue to offset taxes just with transportation fees.

Mr. Cronin asked how the figure for the stipends= was arrived at. Mr. Steel said the bac= k of the CBA listed every position and the amount. There was no formula, the amounts are negotiated between the teachers union and the School Board. Ms. Le= caroz said it was based primarily time, not experience.

Mr. Sherman wanted to know if there were scholar= ships available for families who might not be able to afford the transportation fees. Mr. Steel said there was a c= ap on the amount a child/family would pay during the course of a year. He said there was also help for student= s who had financial difficulties. <= /o:p>

Mr. Dunne questioned what the athletic consumable supplies consisted of. Mr. Steel s= aid it would be all of the balls, bats, nets, pads, etc. basically everything a sports team woul= d use in the course of their season. Mr.= Dunne asked if there could be an increase in membership to reduce the figure. Mr. Steel said even if they increased t= he fee to students, they would still need a budget line because they had to show t= he expenses and revenues.

Mr. Guimond saw there was no line for a Library aide. Mr. Steel said a Library Med= ia Specialist would be in the library to assist students. There was no longer an aide.

Mr. Farris asked why there was such an increase = for books being added to the library collection. Ms. Lecaroz replied now that they were transferring over to an on-li= ne source and there was a new media specialist, they had done an inventory of = the collection and identified holes with it. She said there were specific target areas they were looking to fill. Mr. Farris asked that the Bo= ard be provided with the areas that were targeted for improvement.

Mr. Cronin wanted to know why the audio-visual h= ad increase 200% in the Social Studies department. Mr. Steel said there were specific requests by the department; he wo= uld provide the Board with that data. =

Mr. Guimond questioned the increase in the Assis= tant Principal’s salary. Mr. Steel said= there had been a turnover in the office. He said the former Assistant Principal was now the current Principal at the school. Mr. Dunne asked if the sal= ary rate would be increased to that shown for the Principal in the budget. Being a personnel matter, Mr. Steel sai= d they wouldn’t discuss the salary in public session. He said they would be conducting interviews for the Principal positi= on shortly.

Mr. Cate wanted to know why there was so little = being spent on graduation. Mr. Steel sai= d the ceremony had been downgraded over the last couple years to more of a promot= ion ceremony. Even with the expenses b= eing reduced, they were confident that they could do a good job.

Mr. Cate asked if the custodian overtime figure = would be adequate. Mr. Steel noted that = the District budget had a line for additional overtime and believed there was enough to cover the expenses.

Within the Repairs & Maintenance lines, Mr. = Farris questioned how much of the FY13 budget amount of $99,995 was unanticipated repairs. Mr. Steel replied $15,000= .

Mr. Guimond saw that Fuel Oil showed a decrease = from last year; however, he wanted to know why there was a 25% adder. Mr. Steel said out of all the utilities= , fuel oil was the most volatile.

With the 8% increase budgeted for rubbish remova= l, Mr. Sherman wanted to know if there was a possibility of working out contracts = with the Town to create an overall rubbish pick up. Mr. Viger recalled having discussions in the past; there were issues with coordination of pick up because the School utilized that type of servi= ce a lot more than the Town would. Prev= iously it wasn’t cost effective, but they would review it again.

Mr. Dunne asked what portion of the parking lot = would be painted. Mr. Steel said they re= did all the painting approximately every other year. Mr. Dunne questioned if it was absolute= ly necessary. Mr. Steel said they rep= ainted every other year and felt it was a wise use of expenses.<= /p>

Mr. Guimond asked what the Misc. Replacement line covered. Mr. Steel said was for the replacement of equipment, such as vacuums, floor washers etc. He said normally the line would be much larger if they were replacing a large piece of equipment, but they didn’t n= eed to this year.

Mr. Farris said the Board was told that enrollme= nt in the elementary and middle schools were anticipated to be down. He said in using a three year average to calculate budget lines, the consumables lines are going to be weighted higher. Mr. Steel said he had no preference as to what method was used; he was just trying to be consistent = and use a method. He commented there w= ere lines, such as fuel oil, that were brought down by using the average (becau= se costs had been increasing). He lef= t it to the Board to indicate what method they would like the calculations to be determined.

Mr. Hall noted that the employees paid by the gr= ant didn’t appear on the rosters in the budget. He questioned where their health insurance would show up in the budg= et (if they were entitled). Mr. Steel= said all costs, such as insurance, FICA, and New Hampshire Retirement, would all= be paid out of the grant. Mr. Hall as= ked that the cost be provided to the Board. <= /span>

The Board concluded their budget review.

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A= DJOURNMENT

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MOTION:=

(Cate/Sherman)To adjourn the meeting.

VOTE:

(11-0-0) The motion carried.

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 8:15p= m.

= Respectfully submitted,

= Charity A. Landry

= Recording Secretary