#MIDDLEBURY #SOUTHBURY
By MARJORIE NEEDHAM
The Regional School District 15 public hearing and adoption of the 2016-2017 budget is tonight, Monday, April 4, at 7:30 p.m. in the Pomperaug High School (PHS) AP Room. Before the budget is formally accepted by the Board of Education (BoE), taxpayers will be able to express their opinions on it. The BoE vote will follow the public hearing.
Region 15 Superintendent of Schools Regina Botsford presented her proposed 2016-2017 budget of $67.1 million, a 2.86-percent increase over the current $65.3 million budget, to the BoE Feb. 29. Following three March BoE budget workshops, the budget now stands at $66.9 million, a 2.6-percent increase over the current budget.
Middlebury BoE member John Cookson said last Tuesday, “I feel the budget is transparent. I feel the budget is fair in providing the type of education and the quality of education we are accustomed to providing in Region 15.”
Cookson said BoE members agreed at the March 16 budget workshop to ask Botsford and Region 15 Finance Director Keith McLiverty to go back and look to see if there were areas where they could find reductions without hurting the budget.
Botsford and McLiverty returned to the March 22 budget workshop with budget reductions totaling $180,810. The reductions were as follows. Certified salaries were reduced by $68,810 for one unpaid full-year leave of absence. In the Central Office, $9,000 was cut from non-instructional supplies, and $5,000 was cut from the allocation for Central Office printers.
Miscellaneous maintenance equipment for the district was cut by $25,000. Cookson said deferring purchases of new equipment to replace that currently being used made this reduction possible. Also deferred was replacement of the PHS gym doors, which saved $10,000. Another $10,000 was saved by obtaining a firm fixed price for the annual audit. A third item that provided a $10,000 reduction was changing fixed-asset inventory services to every other year instead of every year.
District-wide publishing and printing was reduced by $37,000 through reducing newsletters to one a year and reducing outside printing. Finally, BoE meeting expenses and supplies were reduced by $6,000.
The BoE also reallocated some funds from Botsford’s initial budget proposal to increase Botsford’s proposed $100,000 special education contingency fund to $300,000. This was done after Botsford reported Feb. 29 that unexpected increases in the cost of special education this year ran more than $900,00 over budget.
For the second year in a row, Middlebury taxpayers will see an increase in the percentage of the budget they pay. This is because Southbury’s enrollment dropped by 66 students, to 2,589 from 2,655, while Middlebury’s enrollment dropped by three students, to 1,233 from 1,226 for a total of 69 fewer students in the district for the upcoming budget year. Enrollment numbers for a fiscal year are the numbers as of Oct. 1 of the preceding year, so these numbers are as of Oct. 1, 2015.
The enrollment changes shift a larger burden of the budget onto Middlebury taxpayers. For 2016-2017, they will pay 32.08 percent compared to their current 31.59 percent. Southbury’s burden drops to 67.92 percent from 68.41 percent.
On Feb. 29, Botsford mentioned four cost-saving measures. One is the $1 million saved annually by the district self-insuring employees and staff. Because medical claims are low this year, the self-insurance cost did not increase in the proposed budget. The conversion from oil to natural gas at PHS and Rochambeau Middle School saves $50,000 a year, a wireless network grant saves $84,250 in the proposed budget, and 19 teachers have agreed to take early retirement at a savings of $390,000 in the proposed budget.
Staffing decreases in the proposed budget are 3.2 fewer full time equivalent staff while increases of one special education teacher and .4 PHS school psychologist (this restores a prior cut) yield a net reduction of 1.8 positions.
Noting that prior years didn’t always keep up with technology, Botsford said the district needed $73,000 for technology for the 2016-2017 budget year. The overall technology improvement program calls for 718 unreliable desktops and laptops to be replaced by refurbished ones that will be leased for a total of $173,620. Replacement of switches and other components will cost $66,000, and server replacement will run $7,000. Technology costs will benefit from a $84,250 grant for upgrading the district’s wireless network.
While these costs total more than $73,000, Botsford said the leased items (desktops and laptops) will have no dollar impact for the 2016-2017 budget. Neither will the grant for the wireless network. She said $73,000 is the budgetary impact from the switches and servers.
Math textbooks for grades four and five will cost $62,835. Math textbooks for grades six through eight will cost $80,000.
The new social studies course at PHS does not require textbook purchase. The course will cost $1,477.
New textbooks are needed, however, for AP Biology, and they will cost $8,018. Botsford said the current text is more than 10 years old and does not meet current standards for AP biology.
New lab equipment for chemistry and physics at a cost of $5,588 will allow more accurate probe readings, data collection and display and will allow lab data to be transferred to computers and cell phones.
Botsford said the wrestling practice mats are more than 10 years old and need to be replaced so they can be properly cleaned for health reasons. The cost for new mats is $12,000.
Middlebury and Southbury voters will vote on the Region 15 budget at a referendum Wednesday, May 4.
