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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-03-11 Finance Committee Minutes Finance Committee Meeting Minutes of March 11, 2024 Present: Brianna Stetson, Nancy Sarro, Regina Kean, and Keith Chaney Not Present: Dustin Silk, Ken Gray, Eva Pastor Present Non-Member: None Mr. 03pm. The open session meeting took place at School Admin Building 566 Main St North Andover in the School Admin Room. Public Comment None. Presentation of FY25 Recommended School Budget with Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent Dr. Gregg Gilligan and Dr. James Mealey were present at the meeting and gave a presentation of the FY25 Recommended School Budget. Operating Budget % Increase FY24 Budget $60,364,146 Level Services $3,084,404 5.11% Review Recommendations $235,624 0.39% Total Increase $3,320,028 5.50% FY25 Budget $63,684,174 Ms. Sarro asked if the conjunction with the General Fund is subsidized by the General Fund. Dr. Mealy stated yes, the fees generated can only be used for specific revolving account. Ms. Stetson asked if free lunch will continue in perpetuity. Dr. Mealey stated the hope as of right now it looks as though they will continue. Ms. Kean asked about the $2 million for transportation if that is money coming in from fees or operating. Dr. Mealy stated that the operating portion, $270,000- $290,000 is collected per year. Dr. Gilligan stated the governor voted to have free universal launch permanently unless noted otherwise. Ms. Kean asked if ESSR grants are complete. Dr. Mealey stated yes, they are finished. Mr. Chaney asked if there are any funds for preventative maintenance. Dr. Mealey stated there are not as preventative as they would like but do have a line of $212,000 for preventative items. Mr. Chaney asked if there has been difficult to maintain. Dr. Mealy stated no. Mr. O'Connell asked how often the strategic plan is updated. Dr. Gilligan stated it has a three-year review. Mr. O'Connell asked Dr. Mealey for more information on the budget. Dr. Mealey stated the out of district tuition had a 14% increase in tuition for private schools and it was not accounted for in the FY 24 budget. Ms. Kean asked if this year's budget assume the same number of district placements but with an increased cost or is there contingency planning that goes along with it. Dr. Mealey stated there is some contingency planning done with what is allowed to be budgeted. It is why they have the stabilization fund in place. Ms. Allen asked if $300,000 is the tuition increase. Dr. Mealey stated yes, this year's claims are higher so circuit breaker funds next year will be higher. Ms. Allen asked if unanticipated students came in. Dr. Mealey stated yes. Ms. Allen asked for the amount with $300,000 plus unanticipated students to ballpark the amount. Dr. Mealey gave the ballpark amount of a little over $1 million. Ms. Kean mentioned will be under funded by $1 million this year in the district tuition line. Dr. Mealey stated the state did not assist other than providing an opportunity through the circuit breaker program to submit expected eligible claims for this year and if it is over 10%, there will be some reimbursement. what contracts remain open. Dr. Mealey stated custodians and food services. Ms. Allen asked what does ther include on the FY 25 salary summary. Dr. Mealey stated it includes teachers aids which salaries are going down to where it was pre-Covid. Ms. Kean asked if transportation is covered to sport events for athletes. Dr. Mealey was increased. Dr. Mealey stated over last 10 years about 2 to 3%. Ms. Sarro asked if all items that remain completely flat are kept flat with the inflation. Dr. Mealey stated activities, advertising, awards, utilities are controllable and have some kind of a contract. Ms. Allen asked about electricity if it is a shared account now. Dr. Mealey stated FY 25 will start being shared account and will be removed in FY 25. Ms. Kean asked about postage, photocopy and IT budget should be shared es that Town Manager was speaking about is within Town departments only. Ms. Kean asked about IT department Shared Services. Dr. Mealey explained salary and materials are on the school side only. Ms. Allen asked if School had a similar program to ClearGov that the Town has. Dr. Mealey stated every September 30th a report is submitted to the state and that is provided to the public and it is link within school documents. Dr. Gilligan and Dr. Mealey spoke about the importance of having parent liaisons. Ms. Allen asked if there were any more conversations about the $7000.00 that SEPAC was asking for their program. Dr. Mealey stated the funds have been provided through the operating budget in the past and they will be discussing the requested funds at a later date with the group. Mr. Chaney asked about Andover statistics with student comparison. Dr. Gilligan stated Andover is not a DART comparison to North Andover so he is not sure on statistics. Ms. Sarro asked if parent liaisons are bilingual. Dr. Gilligan said yes some are bilingual in Spanish and Portuguese. Ms. Kean asked if Social Emotional Director is still in position. Dr. Gilligan stated yes there is a Social Emotional Director in place as well as a few other positions related to it. Discussion of Finance Committee Letter esentation next week. Approval of Minutes from February 29, 2024 MOTION: Ms. Allen made a MOTION, seconded by Ms. Stetson, to approve the minutes of February 29, 2024 as written. Motion approved 6-0. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Ms. Sarro made a MOTION, seconded by Ms. Allen, to adjourn the Finance Committee meeting at 8:18PM. Motion approved 6-0. Respectfully submitted, Jillian A. Brothers Executive Assistant Documents used at meeting: School Department FY25 Recommended Budget Finance Committee Letter Minutes