Shutesbury Board of Selectmen February 10, 2009 Meeting Minutes Select Board members present: Chairman Rebecca ?Becky? Torres, Ralph Armstrong and Al Springer. Finance Committee members present: Chairman Eric Stocker, Lori Tuominen, William ?Bill? Wells, Fredrick ?Rus? Wilson, and Patrick Callahan. School Committee members present: Chairman Michael DeChiara, Kristen Luschen, Daniel Hayes, and Marianne Jorgensen. Also present: Union 28 Superintendent Joan Wickman, Assistant to the Superintendent Charlie Paulin, Shutesbury Elementary School Principal Robert Mahler, Pelham Finance Committee member Fred Vanderbeck, Town Administrator David C. Dann and Leslie Bracebridge, recording. Meeting opened at 7:10 P.M. Finance Committee Chairman Eric Stocker: * The Finance Committee?s goal is to not use any free cash or reserves to fund the FY 10 budget because financial news is not good. * It is rumored that the Governor?s budget will be the best shot at the final state budget, though his figures will be high. * Anticipates that business as usual will not be ?as usual.? * Already seen tremendous cuts at the regional level. * Looming ahead is the soil contamination clean-up at the fire station. School Committee Chairman DeChiara questions ?hanging hat? on Governor?s budget. Amherst-Pelham School Committee Representative Marianne Jorgenson: * The Finance Committee and town has been very responsible, other region towns will be worse off than Shutesbury. Finance Committee member Elaine Puleo: * Shutesbury was smart and responsible to have the override when it did. School Committee member Dan Hayes: * The School Committee has a history of returning money when it is not needed. Eric: Thanks the School Committee for trimming budget Union 28 Schools Superintendent Joan Wickman: The first FY 10 school budget was developed with a 3.14% increase over the FY 09 budget. She then heard a request from the town for a 2.75% increase target: * This 2.75% budget has no new staff. * A 4% increase would be needed to ?level fund? the school; quotes, ?Death by a thousand cuts.? * The driver page at the front of the handout tells the cuts made to reach a 2.75% budget. o Dan Hayes: The instrumental music program has been modified to introduce fees for people using it. o Michael DeChiara: There?s lots of discussion to cut and save and keep the integrity of the program. Once you introduce fees, they increase year after year. We?re at the place that we don?t want to get to. o Marianne Jorgensen: The town is benefiting during these budget cuts from the lowering School enrollments. * Fuel is always questionable. * The summer program was reduced by $2,000. * The substitutes budget was level funded. * There is a .6 aide reduction in staffing due to a child moving on. That said, it is never known what new support resources will be needed. * Professional development sub-salaries were reduced. * Instructional supplies significantly cut, were already cut in FY 09. * Modest assistance for field trips will be requested of parents for field trips though no child will be left behind. Questions/Discussion: Salary increases Joan: Union 28 enrollment salaries were increased. Teachers receive contractual steps, longevity, lanes, and increases for increased education. Dan: When negotiating, look at comparables in addition to steps and lanes. Looking at comparables we have the lowest paid superintendent and are in the lower range for teachers as well. Elaine: Union 28 percentages? Dan: Replied that he requested that Union 28 look at budget to keep it in line with what Shutesbury was doing; 2.75%. The other communities were higher. They did not want to tie the Union budget to Shutesbury, though they did reduce the percentage to 3.9%. Michael: The school budget took the cut to compensate. Elaine: Requested a message be sent to the school committee that she doesn?t think the union should have a larger percentage increase and to make cuts in the school budget to achieve the higher increase. It?s not realistic to be independent of the member schools. At the Amherst Region they make an effort to align increases with the capabilities of the lower town. Eric invited Superintendent Assistant Charlie Paulin to discuss the fuel purchase process. Charlie: * The two most advantageous purchasing group bidding coops are the Lower Pioneer Valley and Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG). * The budgets created in October were working on different assumptions than what we?re operating on now. * The last shipment came in at $2.95/gallon. We?re now buying on the January 10 futures market. * The near term pricing will probably not change. * Most contracts have guaranteed prices and guaranteed buys. We must buy at least 90% of what we contracted for. The town Accountant is keeping track of how many gallons are being purchased and will let us know when to stop. The first bill came in at $2.95/gallon, so Charlie suspects that FRCOG did something to bring down the $4.50 bid price. Charlie had budgeted for $3/gallon. The math consultant, paid for with a grant is the same consultant that Amherst uses and keeps us aligned. When all budgets get cut, why don?t we cut the testing budget? It?s federal law. Neither Obama nor Patrick wants to look at it. There are pros and cons to testing. Does the school have a wish List? Robert: Because there are 29 third graders there is a combined 3rd/4th grade. Robert would hire an extra teacher so there could be 2 third grades. Michael: Is there a ?little things? wish list? Robert: Field trips, text books and instrumental music. Describe the status of the Circuit Breaker fund: Charlie: Reimbursement happens in the following year. We?re not getting big reimbursements because we don?t have expensive kids anymore. The school has been holding the funds as there is not a large build-up. There is a reduction in what is being asked for by using circuit breaker funds in the amount of $26,000. Eric: It is conceivable that we would have to come back for further reductions, if we get worse news than anticipated from the state. Dan Hayes responded that the School will spend very carefully and the School Committee will send any extra money right back. Marianne: * There is no regional budget yet. It is ?Amherst driven? and keeping to a 3.25% increase. * For Shutesbury that comes out to be a 1.4% reduction in the regional assessment. * Cuts are being discussed: o They?re looking at closing an elementary school and moving the 6th grade to the middle school. o The high school day care program might be shut down. * The regional school committee will be presented with a budget on Feb. 25. The cuts are enormous. * It?s a lot of decision making for interim superintendents. They would like to have a new superintendent on board before making these decisions. * A superintendent decision is expected by the end of next week. Eric invited Pelham Finance Committee member Fred Vanderbeck to speak about Pelham: * The Amherst driven increase is a 5.7% increase for Pelham. * Pelham Elementary school is coming in level funded. * The Pelham Finance Committee is looking for additional cuts in the total town budget. * Most towns (not Shutesbury) are getting a one time windfall from Hampshire County Health Trust ? one month, no premium. * The combination of things may ameliorate Pelham for FY 10. FY 11 should be extremely bad. * Right now Pelham is just hearing from town departments and schools are last. * Right now Pelham is ?in process.? Joan: Right now we have a ?pro-education? Governor and President, but finding the money is a problem. Medicaid money in the bailout will help other areas. The last promising year for education was 1994. School Committee members left the meeting at 8:25 PM. David reviewed the 2009 revenue, expense and budget reports: * Shutesbury is getting $20,000 less in lottery aid and investment income is off by about $15,000. * The expense report will come up short in a combined fuel line (highway, fire and police) by about $8,000. Also the snow removal wages line will be short by $5,000 and snow removal expenses will be short by $10,000. This is similar to last year?s snow and ice removal account. * The combined revenue shortfall and expense shortages leave the FY 09 budget off by $58,000. * Savings: The retirement contributions line has a $13,000 savings. A $10,000 savings is predicted (but uncertain) in unemployment benefits. Insurance and bonds account estimates $12,000 available. Savings from various small accounts of a few hundred to a few thousand could total as much as $10,000. Combined, savings could generate a surplus of $45,000. * Predicts a shortfall of anywhere from zero to $20,000 to $25,000. We will not generate any free cash and we may have to dip into free cash for up to $25,000. * Free cash right now is $459,586.00. Stabilization is $216,000. The total is a little more than 12% of the budget. Eric: There is also $38,000 in the Finance Committee reserves. We?ll have a pretty balanced budget; not bad for a $5 million budget. David: Never anticipated a cut in lottery aid and the nose dive in investment earnings. More bad news from the state is possible; state revenue projections keep going down. FY 10 budget: * Has a gap of $25,627. * Conservatively estimated projected revenue for FY 10. * The total projected budget is at $5,425,184. We might have to make adjustments down the road. * Proposed budget cuts in the $25-$30,000 range: o Cuts in hours for the Assistant Town Clerk, the Assessors Clerk. o A cut to the Recycling Coordinator stipend. Subsequently the Accountant suggested the stipend could be shifted to the Revolving Fund. Al reviewed some possible additional cuts: Reasonable accommodations, lower salary for starting Town Administrator, renegotiate in April for payments in lieu of taxes. Al estimated his cuts could total $23,343. Becky cautioned that Shutesbury?s minus 1.4% increase could be wiped out if Amherst comes back with a higher amount. We need how to look at how to budget for that. Al and Elaine: Negotiating Police and Teacher Contracts respectively need to know what will be offered to town employees: 0, 1, 2, or 3% raises. Traditionally police officers have gotten what town employees. The message should be carried on to the elementary school negotiation committee as well. After discussion, the Finance Committee delayed their decision until their next meeting. Elaine: Next school negotiating team meeting is February 25. They don?t renegotiate the steps; they do renegotiate their COLA (Cost of Living Allowance). Wonders about negotiating for one year only because no one knows where the economy is going. Becky: Reducing the increase would only make sense if it went to zero because it gets too complicated otherwise. To make it worthwhile, they would have to ask department heads to voluntarily re-open their contracts because their dollar amounts are so much larger than the other town employees. Becky requests putting the regional school line back to zero as a cautionary measure which leaves a gap of $18,000 more in the FY 10 budget. Ice storm reimbursements are ?moving along.? The question of FEMA reimbursement of volunteer time was discussed. David did not think it to be an acceptable expense. The Finance Committee and Selectmen adjourned at 9:37 P.M. Respectfully submitted, Leslie Bracebridge Administrative Secretary 090210 Combined Select Board with Finance and School Committees 1