Town of Winchester, NH
Budget Committee Meeting
December 6, 2011
Members Present: Jack Marsh, Ted Ryll, Harvey Sieran, Brian Moser (Chairman), Hubie Crowell (Vice Chairman), Ken Gardner (Selectmen Rep.), Elisha Jackson, Bob Davis, Rick Horton, Kathy Hebert, Rikki Bolewski
Meeting called to order at 7pm
-Because nobody from the School Board is present to present their budget, Brian makes a motion to approve $8,000,000 today, then Brian will go to the School Budget Meeting immediately following the Budget Committee meeting to let them know this has happened and let them know if they want the board to consider anything above that, they need to get the board the documents and then they will consider it, Bob seconds
Kevan sent Brian an e-mail stating that the School Board was not ready tonight and will let the Budget Committee know when they are ready
-Motion carries 7-1 with 2 abstentions
-Harvey makes a motion to approve the minutes from the November 29th meeting with one correction – Elisha would like to add under Financial Administration that under the discussion about changing the auditors that Elisha mentioned that it is recommended that the auditors be changed every 3 years, Rikki will make the correction, Ted seconds
-Motion carries 9-1
-Brian will notify the board as soon as he gets an answer on when they want to talk to the board regarding the budget
-Jack requests a complete copy of all the budgets with all the changes and suggested cuts a week to 10 days before the Public Hearing, Ken will get that for anyone who would like it.
-Jack makes a motion to adjourn, Harvey seconds
-Motion carries 10-0
-Meeting adjourns at 7:10pm
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9 comments:
The school has dragged their feet for years when it is budget time. The less time there is for the committee to review things, then the better the chances to pass. An eleven million dollar budget is an abomination in a town the size of Winchester. We'd be better off to tuition all the kids out and close the school. Winchester will face a horrible future if we don't get a handle on spending. Previous budgets have been built on state aid,which is fed money. When that is going south what do we do? Time to take the bull by the horns.
These hearings have been going on since October so why isn't the school board ready yet, they've had plenty of time to get there stuff together.Sounds like they think they are omnipotent and don't have to comply with the board's request to come before them to explain their budget.
This has nothing to do with Winchester or our budget committee,but it should give most of us an idea how important it is to keep a hard line on spending and the way our dept. are operated. Its just one of the wake up calls as to how bad things are and will get in the future. Its an editorial by Steve Gilbert, titled, Too Much Too Little Too Late. Although the school is the biggie, I don't think we have any debts. that couldn't cut back or change the way they operate, to save the taxpayers in this town or any town. In my opinion its not can't, its won't.
How come the school board rep didn't bring the requested documentation to the meeting and if the school meeting was so important that not one member could be present for the budget meeting why wasn't Kevan there? Sounds like a real crock to me and that they just don't want the budget committee looking over their books.
From the FAQ on the school district web site:
http://www.wnhsd.org/files/748068/frequently%20asked%20questions.pdf
1. Why have my December 2011 school taxes increased so much?
The increase in the school taxes is primarily the result of two occurrences.
The first is that the District experienced a revenue shortfall of $$698,446. [See Question # 2]
The second is that the District at the end of the school year June 2011 had a deficit of $326, 806.77. [See Question 2.]
These two occurrences unfortunately resulted in a financial “perfect storm” for Winchester.
The school district’s attorney spoke with personnel at the Department of Revenue Administration and the shortfall was adjusted
during the December tax rate setting process.
2. Why did the District have a deficit for the year ending June 30, 2011?
In the spring a deficit was suspected by the former business administrator and was confirmed by the District audit in the fall.
The deficit amount is $326, 806.77 with a variance of +/‐ $50,000 when the audit is finalized.
One significant issue in delaying the finalization of the audit is the expiration of the former SAU 38. SAU 38 has yet to complete its audit.
[See letter from accountant attached]
The deficit is primarily the result of overspending in the following areas:
Teacher Salaries $ 55,193.48
Health Benefits $ 77,122.17
Related Services $ 157,627.17
Keene HS SPED Tuitions $ 186,500.76
Sped Transportation $ 121,437.28
The deficit amount was $822,475.13 but was offset by the prior end of year fund balance of S495,668.36 resulting in the deficit number. This number will be applied against the fund balance ending in June 2012.
It is important to note that the district had an unanticipated special education student with severe needs move into the district after the budget process of the following year. That cost was in excess of $330, 000. Had that not occurred the district would not have had its deficit.
Pretty soon we will have no school system as I hear the teachers are going to strike.
What would the teachers want to strike for? They just got a decent raise when they got their new contract ok'd. Public employees in Winchester, haven't exactly suffered since the great recession started. Perhaps they won't be so lucky in the future.
Shortfall my a$$, the school blood suckers didn't get the aid from the state they expected and knew they weren't getting when they duped us into voting to form our own school district and someone ask Colleen Duquette who was it responsible for bring that special ed kid here to Winchester costing us that whopping 385,000 just for him and what she got out of it. Some of us aren't as dumb as these fools think we are.
Hmm, years ago you threw the high school out and sent the students to Keene because you could not afford a $5M dollar school budget. Now, look what you have! Your budget is $11M and there is no guarantee that our students are performing proficiently at the high school. No one has addressed any of the social behaviors that our students exhibit. The question that I raise is should we continue to have our students educated in this town or should we send them some where else? We need quality education not quantity of educators in our system.
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