NH Muni WatchStatewide meeting record

SRSD Budget Committee Meeting 9-10-26

Speakers are labeled SPEAKER_N. This transcript is machine-generated.

Recording

Welcome to the Sanborn Regional School
District Budget Committee meeting for
September 10th, 2026. Let's begin with
the pledge of allegiance.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all.
Thank you. So, we have a new member
tonight with us, Scott Rollins. And we
should go around and introduce ourselves
since Scott doesn't really know many of
us here tonight. So, Shane, you can
begin.
>> Uh Shane Queeny, Kingston.
>> Hey, Shane. Nice to meet you.
>> You as well.
>> Oh, that loud a couple weeks ago, but
yeah. Belucas from Newton.
>> Brenda Philippo from Kingston. Hey,
>> Brooks Clark from Kingston.
>> Hey, Brooks.
>> And Pam Brown Kingston.
>> Am
>> and Scott's from Newton.
>> I am. Yes. Scott Rollins from New
Hampshire.
>> Well, welcome to to our committee. We
appreciate your volunteering.
Um, and we have two excused absences.
Jim Summers and James Hasselbeck could
not be here tonight, which is fine. So,
as I said before, I'd like to start out
with approving the the agenda because
you may want to add or subtract
something. So, um, can I get a motion to
approve the agenda tonight?
>> A motion.
>> Okay,
>> I'll second it.
>> Any changes you'd like to see made?
All in favor?
>> Hi.
>> Thank you so much.
And schoolboard updates. So, James, our
school board member, sent me a summary
of what's been happening with the school
board. First, the teachers union
contract negotiations are beginning and
will continue for several months. We'll
we he'll provide regular progress
updates as this develops to keep the
budget committee apprised of any
financial impacts we should consider. We
should certainly plan on some some level
of increase which is typical for
negotiations. Second, health insurance
costs continue to increase and Dr. Hton,
our superintendent, is beginning to
explore alternative provider options to
gather comparative data that can help
guide future decisions and attempt to
minimize the cost impacts while
maintaining employee coverage. So any
decisions are several months away, but
they're going to begin negotiations this
year. So we're going to be exploring
insurance cost increases. And um I did
notice we put out um an RFP
>> for cost estimates for different
scenarios, different options. And um
wow, the RFP was 43 pages long. So I
need to read that this weekend. Looks
interesting. a lot of data on our
current plans and so that
>> which is helpful for the starting point.
>> I did email the town of Rise financial
director because I know Ry had decided
was trying to decide whether to move
from health from one of the risk pools
to the regular commercial market for and
I said have you done that and what's
what's the result? Do you like what you
know you're doing now? I haven't heard
back. So hopefully he'll say something.
We've had a couple uh school districts
uh not necessarily locally but uh in
this area that have done it and the
initial reports have been positive. So
>> I know Dover is using a group called HUB
International which is a broker and
helps them to find optimal policies.
>> Yeah, member Rochester is as well.
>> Oh, great. Thank you. Um work has begun
on long-term facilities use plan which
is a complex project and will require
collaboration among staff, community
members, parents, budget committee and
other stakeholders and that's um on an
ongoing project in the coming months.
The facilities team is working on
separating out a list of projects which
are called annual maintenance versus
capital improvements and using standard
definitions and that should help the
committee with its decisions. Sway gym
has been in the news a lot if you've
been looking at the school board
meetings. Um we're trying to decide if
we want to in continue our lease of the
the gym for one, three or five years. Um
so the board is looking into moving
ahead with different options and we'll
make a decision on that. Um there's
quite a lot of use of that gym although
it's not entirely the district. There
are many community groups that use it.
Um, and then finally, major capital
improvements is a big topic coming up.
We have significant needs for our
facilities and it's in the millions of
dollars. So, they're thinking about a
warrant article this coming March to
address some of those. So, that's his
report to the committee.
And now moving on to the budget
calendar.
I gave everyone a copy of the truncated
version of our calendar
>> I believed me tonight.
>> It's the one I have up on the screen
here.
>> There is a longer version which includes
all of the deadlines for completing
forms and so forth that the school board
has been working on. So this is really a
truncated version.
Both of these are in your Google Docs
drive.
>> I printed them too for tonight.
>> Oh, you did? that and the the longer one
that you're mentioning still has to be
approved. It's in draft form. The school
board has to approve it. We're still
waiting for like more exact dates from
DRA.
>> Okay. So, I I placed it in Google Docs
for us, but I know it's a work in
progress.
>> So, I believe most of you know how to
use Google Docs, but I just did a little
diagram for you in case you wanted to
Oh, hi Jim. Hey there.
>> There you are.
Let me give you a copy.
this guy and this guy.
So, if you log into your your SAU email
account,
>> thank you.
>> As you know, there's a little
square of tiles up in the corner. You
just hit that and you're going to see
the Google Drive triangle.
You just hit that guy. And then over
here you have to kind of go into some of
the folders and subfolders to find the
various agendas for each meeting. Does
this help a little bit?
>> It's a very um it needs a good weeding.
Frankly, there's a lot of links we don't
really use, but it's near the top.
That's helpful. So there you go.
Okay. So for the calendar,
the short calendar,
most of these are Thursday nights.
for meetings. The occasional meeting on
Wednesday is because we have joint
meetings with the school board and
occasionally it starts at 6:00 instead
of seven.
>> So that's just the way it's going to be.
And
we have snow dates listed here.
>> Don't say that word.
>> Oh, sorry. So hopefully this um works
for everyone here.
Thursdays are kind of busy for Jim and I
up in conquered because that's the night
we the day we have house sessions. But
we'll just have to go kind of fast on
101 getting back here. I think we can
make it. Oops. Never mind.
We'll be good. We'll just
try to hurry. Um and I just wanted to
mention um the tax cap measure that's on
the November ballot. It's in the courts
right now
and I don't know what's what the status
of it is at this point. However,
the bill that that um drove this tax cap
um to be passed indicated that a hearing
should is recommended or is to may
occur. So, I think if it it is supported
by the courts by September 19th, that's
the deadline for making a decision, and
the court says it's going to go on the
ballot, I think we should schedule a
hearing, a public hearing to explain
what it is, what this tax cap entails.
Are you all amanable to that? And maybe
the board should run it. I don't know if
we could do a joint meeting, but we do
have a couple of meetings coming up on
October 15th,
we have a Wednesday night meeting. That
might be a good night to
have a hearing.
>> I'll put it on the agenda for the school
board for next week.
>> But we need to talk to the school board.
>> Yeah, I'll put it on the agenda.
>> Okay, that sounds great.
Thank you so much. So, hopefully all
these dates work for you. You all
can I get a motion to approve our
calendar or as
>> a motion
>> considered a second?
>> Okay. All in favor?
>> Thank you.
And now um our BA
will walk us through some of the data
we're going to be looking at.
Um,
well, actually, hold on a second. What I
want to do, going back to the calendar,
is we should probably go through the
actual events that will be taking place
because I know Scott is new to our
committee. U, we're going to discuss um
the past data, the past expenditures
over the past five years, take a look at
those, and bring any questions we have
to the superintendent.
So if you see something that seems to be
trending upward, you may say, why is
this happening? For example, also the
budget that is approved is not the same
as past expenditures because there are
line item transfers that occur during
the year. So you may see one number
which suddenly changes to a higher
number after the budget's been approved
by the voters. Um so that might be
something we look into and just bring
our questions. So, those questions um
the data we'll go over in a few minutes,
but the questions you might have should
be emailed to me by next Friday
by where is it?
>> The 18th.
You can email them to me and I will
forward them to the superintendent so
they can take a look at your questions.
>> Uh Pam, I have a I have a question about
we get into the budget. I was just going
to ask you about the uh so today or over
the last week I've spoke to the New
Hampshire Department of Revenue and
today cleared with the Department of
Education about the passing of uh of um
the bill we have up at the House that
got signed into law HB574 which got
signed into law went to effect July 1st.
And what this does is, and this will
affect the way the budget was done this
last year, um, under NHRSA 1984B,
school districts can retain up to 5% of
their net operating budget in an
unassigned fund balance. The 10%'s now
gone. It's now 5%.
With the because, and this is where I
was asking about, so the 3.1 million
that was retained is more than 5%.
Therefore, it says that this because of
that the school district um under
Department of Revenue Administration
guidelines, this excess must be
liquidated to reduce the upcoming year's
tax rate for Kingston and Newton by
December 1st, 2026 to be returned to the
taxpayers
of the excess. So, of the assessed
value, which the assessed value of the
budget looks like it was between 35.8 8
to 36.5
5% which would be 1.79 million to 1.82.
So that would be a difference of 1.28 to
1.31 million being returned to the
taxpayers or liquidated by Janu by
December 1st.
>> So you're you're thinking that's in
addition to the
34
>> 416 million that's being returned this
year. Um, I just know that's the part of
the that I don't know if it's the
additional on top of it, but I know we
only returned 1 million to the taxpayers
of this last budget from four down to
three, but out of that 4 million, the
only part that the only bit they could
rem that could retain was uh 1.28 to
1.31
or excuse me, I'm sorry, 1.79 to 1.82
too
>> and retained in other words to spend
that spend that some of that ending
balance I believe is what you're saying
>> that's correct
>> well they did spend seven
uh 740,000
so it was under that amount
>> so I think we're okay
>> well didn't they have $3 million left
over
>> yes but it was 3416
million and
of that 4724
for 742,000
was spent on some facilities projects,
>> right? And then
>> the rest was returned to taxpayers.
>> 3.4 is being returned.
>> 3.4 million is being returned to the
taxpayers. Yes.
>> Okay.
>> But I will look into that if you could
email me that information.
>> Okay.
>> I did have some um
some bills I was going to mention
tonight, but I don't think that was
among them. So, I'll have to look into
that some more.
>> Okay. And then second one just to add on
top of that because I spoke to the
department of revenue and department of
education about this as well. So last
meeting and then the even the uh in the
between meeting we had election we had I
brought up the uh pay per student. So my
question I have is and I and we can
bring this this might be come up as
afterwards or later but I know we come
up to with a 38.25 25 million gross
budget divided by the 1180-200 students
we have it comes up to 32,500 per
student and I was calling to the local
schools because the little towns here
they either go to Timberlane or they go
to exit and both of those schools
average 22,000 per student
and once we lose the Fremont which will
be the this coming fiscal budget we're
doing right now we will be up to if even
if we keep the budget exactly flat the
way it is right now we'll will be at
38,000 per student which will make us
the third most expensive in the state.
So I'm just curious about how we can how
we can be so different from those two
town all the towns around us paying
22,000. I mean if you look at it that
way
>> depends on what you include in the 32 or
the 38,000. You're not supposed to
include transportation costs for example
which is a huge driver of our costs. I'm
not sure if you included that to get
>> that was the net. That was the the net
was 38,000. The gross was uh the gross
was 42 million. Is that correct?
>> Um our total operating budget what it's
41
>> 41 almost 42. Yeah.
>> Almost 42.
>> So the net which is what they assess off
of is 38 uh 38.25 million.
So there all these figures they're doing
off of the uh the um net.
>> It's not as simple as you're making. I
mean you have to do the DOE25 which is
projects or determines the cost per
pupil and it's a big 25page report. I
can call it up and show you because
we've already submitted ours this year
and it tells you how much the cost per
pupil is. Okay.
>> I think Jamie, you should send your data
to Marie and let her look at it and then
we can do an AB side by side to see why
there's a difference in the two numbers.
>> Okay.
>> To understand where you're getting your
numbers from. We are spending more than
the state average per pupil. That is
true.
But um
>> so we're are we so we're nowhere near
32,000?
>> I don't think so. Not if you're using
apples to apples, it shouldn't be that
high compared to surrounding districts.
So, I'd like to see exactly what numbers
you use to get that average, which is
what we typically look at.
>> Put it on the ballot this year, too. And
I think it's 22,000.
>> We'll figure it out.
>> No, that's good. We should We should
figure out exactly what it should be.
>> On the ballot.
>> I don't know about the ballot. I'm just
I use the Department of Education cost
per pupil thing, which comes from the
DOE 25.
But I do see fiscal year 26 they have a
different number that 31,500 to 32,500
per pupil that was gross cost per pupil,
>> right?
>> But that's not net but okay.
>> Well, we need to look into how you got
your numbers versus how Marie puts
numbers together for the the ballot.
>> Okay.
>> And see why there's a divergence there.
Um
>> I remember last year it was like 27
28,000ish per student from what I was
able to gather I believe what was on the
ballot as well around that.
>> Yeah. I just
>> I don't want to just throw a number out.
>> As you said, there's a lot that goes
into it.
>> Oh yeah.
>> And maybe the the Timberlane and etc
22,000 might be wrong too. This was what
they gave me.
>> Okay.
So, we will be discussing all of these
numbers in detail, believe me. Um, but
just going over the process, we will
look at past trends. I'd like to get
numbers on a five-year trend for
facilities spending both out of the
reserve fund, the capital, the revolving
fund, and out of the operating budget at
some point. Okay. um just to see if our
facilities repairs are mounting over
time, which would argue in favor of a
warrant article.
Um that's the only thing I'd like to
pull out of the five-year trend. Um
and so if you could just get me those
questions by the 24th, that'd be
awesome.
>> The 18th.
>> You said 18th.
>> Oh, the 18th. That'd be awesome. And
then on the 24th, we're going to meet
and discuss the questions we had and
we're going to discuss data needed for
the default budget because as of now we
are responsible for the default budget
and that's something we haven't done in
the past. So we need to work on that.
Then on october 15th, we're going to
prepare the default budget and begin
discussing what we want for the
operating budget data. And we're into
October, we're going to have the
enrollment numbers which come out the
1st, I think. October 1st.
>> And I'm going to want everything. What?
What? What do you want, Pam? Everything.
I'm going to want um
a directory of all staff in all the
buildings including additional staff
that
are not apparent like the coaches and
>> everybody collects a paycheck
>> co-curricular and mentors team leaders
>> so forth.
>> Yep. So there's like three clumps and we
have to separate the SAU staff from the
other other building staff because
there's a new uh law now that states we
have to put the SAU budget as a separate
um
warrant article from the operating
budget. Now
>> that's part of the November referendum.
>> It's not. It's a separate law.
>> I thought it was part of the warrant.
>> No, it's a it's a separate law. So, I'm
also going to want all of the class
schedules and
the population, the projected enrollment
per class, per grade, and per classroom,
and per high school class section like
we did last year.
And those are the two main things I'm
looking for.
>> One thing from the I mentioned it to the
previous superintendent, but I never got
a solid answer. The numbers we got for
the amount of students was 22 higher
than what was submitted to the DOE. I
just wanted to know where those numbers
came from, but I never got a solid
answer. I'm not sure if that was
>> the total enrollment.
>> Correct. Yes.
>> The only number I'll give you is the
October 1st number because that's the
one that you can go to the Department of
Education website and look up.
>> So, we'll always work off of
>> reported. Yeah.
>> Yeah. Always use that one.
>> Awesome. And I would like to get the
enrollment numbers as soon as they're
available, emailed to everyone, not
waiting till the 15th.
>> I compiled them this afternoon because
they've been on my board reporter.
>> Oh, thank you so much.
And also the the class sizes, the the
the enrollment per class, per classroom,
and also per high school course section.
So, if there are five English freshman
English sections, I'd like to know what
the enrollment is in each of those
sections. to see if there's any that are
super underpopulated,
for example, and just ask why that's
happening
>> um as enrollment continues to decline.
And I think we should start working on
this stuff immediately because
we need to work with the school board
and the superintendent. We shouldn't be
like coming in with our ideas at the
last minute. We should be working with
them to understand what's going on. So
when an when a budget's presented by the
superintendent, we're like, "Yes, we
know what you're talking about or we're
going to have to raise our hand later."
So we just need to work together this
time and not have people, you know what
I mean, just coming in and presenting
things they're concerned about without
having a good discussion early on in the
process.
>> And I'll be clear that I'm committed to
doing the same thing with all of you.
And if you ask for it, I will get it.
>> Oh, no. I'm sure you will. Thank you so
much. Um, so Dr. Brown, can I ask a
question?
>> Yeah, sure. Um, wouldn't it also be
prudent to understand what classes are
requirements for graduation for certain
students and the differentiation between
when certain classes can be taken? Um,
for example, students that are going to
SEC
>> that they might have to take a certain
class in the afternoon even though
there's room for enrollment in the
morning but they can't do it in the
morning because you know what I mean? So
it's also kind of important have lower
numbers because the students need
additional support
>> correct
>> from the instructor. So I understand
that as well.
>> Yeah.
>> I guess we're we're going to be
basically negotiating okay if this is an
underenrolled class because of an SST
conflict. Is this happening for students
that could possibly wait a year or you
know what I mean? Where you could offer
this course every other year
>> so they can still meet their
requirements but the classes were
filled,
>> right? No, I I understand that for sure.
I just want to make sure that that's
also part of that number of enrollment
cuz
>> it's a really important factor to take
into consideration because a class might
only have five students but it's the
only time those students can take that
class and it might be required to take
that class before graduation.
>> Then there's always VAX. Okay. Right.
What I mean we're just kind of figuring
out how we can make our budget efficient
but absolutely students and I'm really a
fan of SST.
>> Absolutely.
>> So I approve I approve of those students
going over there. Um,
so
we're going to work on the default
budget, which is due, I believe, October
19th. Then the election hits and we'll
we'll be in complete disarray. Um, and
then we have a meeting on November 4th
and it's a joint meeting. It's a
Wednesday with the school board where
we'll hear about the proposed
expenditures and then um we have some
more meetings coming up to
um
vote on an appropriation level
and we'll ask questions about the
expenditures requested
and then eventually we will have an
agreement on an appropriation after
several meetings.
Then we have a public hearing coming up.
I'm on page two
and
we need to have slides prepared for
that.
And then we have the deliberative coming
up in February which has slides. I
believe the school board will prepare
those slides. Um and that's February
3rd. So there are many steps coming up.
And
the earlier we start looking into the
data, the better.
So, if you have any questions, Scott,
let me know. I can maybe answer them. If
not, I'll have
um Adam or Marie help you out.
>> Oh, don't worry. I've got no problem
voicing my question.
>> I'm sure I'm sure you know much of
what's happening anyway. So, yeah.
I've been around for a few minutes. So,
>> yeah.
As far as the um fiveyear expenditures,
look back, Marie, do you want to bring
up that slide and just kind of show you
us what the columns are reporting?
Did you also send the the current
operating budget?
>> It's okay. Because I only saw the
five-year look back, but maybe it's in
it's in the same file
>> or Excel spreadsheet. I
>> sounds good.
So you can see column D is fiscal 22
actuals, column E is 23 actuals, column
F is 24 actuals, column G 25 actuals and
then H is 26 actuals and then this
current year FY26 budget is in column I
is that what you were looking for?
>> Yep, I see it.
>> Yep. So, it goes right down the line.
The first thing for everybody to
understand the account structure. Um I
don't I do have a little presentation
here if you want to if you look at
column A see how the number two says 10
and then 0000 Z00 Z
one is called a fund and then the fourth
set of uh the set of four numbers is a
function but let me call this up and I
know I reviewed this last year but just
for the people that were not here um
here is kind of a breakdown so you can
understand how the construct
and I did provide that in there for you.
Um so the fund is always the first two
digits. The function would be 1100 is
like regular ed instruction. The subject
um for this example is 02 is art and
then 561000
is supplies. And then we have a level
and a location. So anything 327 would be
high school. And then if we have federal
grants, the projects are eight digits
long and anything connected to a project
for a federal grant would be under a 522
and then it would have the project along
with it.
Um and then it just this just talks
about the government um accounting
handbook that we have to go by. the
state of New Hampshire dictates. They're
actually in the process of reviewing
that entire um financial handbook. Um so
the numbers could be even longer next
year.
We'll have to wait and see.
Um but yeah, then we have the so the
general fund is 10, then the special
revenue fund, the food service is 21. Um
the grants I said is 22. The facility
use revolving is fund 20 which would be
a special revenue fund. Um and then we
have the trust funds and the agency
funds and all the trust funds start with
a seventh just to give you an idea. Um
here's another just another picture of
the talking about the fund.
Then anything that under the function
under instruction there's a
1100 is regular programs 1,200s are
special um programs which we special ed
1300 is vocational and then it goes down
to support services which is anything
that starts with the 2,000
um for students and instruction staff um
school administration like all the
principles have a 2400 line that's where
all their salaries would come out of
business officeic This is 2500
and so on. It just goes down the line. I
also in that other um packet I gave you
another sheet that shows a more detailed
right there that shows you the um Yes.
Go ahead, Greg. Yeah. Kind of a
breakdown and and a definition of what
those functions um include.
But it's helpful when you're looking at
this giant spreadsheet of the five years
plus
what um so for example like I said high
school is 327
well 121 is bakey
122 would be memorial and then 225 is
middle and then 327 is high. So you see
how it kind of flows down under
location.
And then that that was the projects that
we use for the federal grants which the
state dictates the um project number.
And then this is just a little quick
fiscal 27. This current operating budget
article 3 that was passed was the 41
million28,910
and then the administrator's collective
bargaining agreement passed for the
48,10.
Um and then we
voted to reserve money for the capital
reserve and the special um education
trust fund. So the total appropriations
for this fiscal year is 41,451181.
Um here's just a little uh stati
statistic of the electricity. We 1.78
million kilowatts in the entire
district. heating oil, we consumed
approximately 79,000 gallons. In
propane, we used approximately 17,000
gallons of propane
in fiscal 26.
Um,
and these are just different resources
if you want. This is linked in your
budget
in the drive that Pam was showing you
earlier, so you guys can drill in and
look if you want to look into more of
the um the basic law of budgeting and
whatnot. And then it pretty much tells
you how to set a tax rate and you take
the appropriations minus the revenues
and then whatever's left over that we
don't have in revenues, that pretty much
goes to the taxpayers and that's how
they set the tax rate. That would be the
burden of the taxpayers.
Um and then there's a whole bunch of
um forms that we have to fill out for
the department of revenue.
Um
and it goes through here. The MS-27 is
the proposed budget. And then you have
the you know when the dates are due,
budget committee has to sign the MS27.
school board has to sign the MS-22 which
is the report of all the appropriations
which after that March vote when it was
um voted the school board signed that
and then the MS24 are our estimated
revenues and I signed that and then um
the DOE 25 which is what dictates the
cost per pupil is what that form that
report um was done in August. So I can
call that up to um Dr. summers. If you
want to see what a DOE25 is, I mean, I
can show you that. And the very bottom
of the form shows how much the cost per
fut
>> Oh, okay. Thank you.
>> Um, and then this just kind of goes over
each of those reports and what they are,
which I kind of just went over. Um, but
that's that.
So the appropriations includes
placeholder for any grant money we might
be getting in from the federal
government. For example, suppose we're
getting in the $2 million grant. Just
pretend.
>> That would be
>> that might boost our appropriation
number, but it would not go to the
taxpayers, but we have to have the that
in the budget in order to spend it
later.
>> Correct. So the taxpayers may think it's
an increase in taxes when it's actually
just showing that we're expecting a
grant coming in and that might boost the
ent the entire number up.
>> Right. Right. But here is the um
expenditure the expenditure report that
you wanted five years. But now if you
wanted to look just for an example uh
line 20 um other professional salaries
high school. So anything with a 51
in that object column is salaries.
Anything with a 52, you see where it
shows 51. So these are all salaries. If
you scroll down after all the salaries,
you have benefit lines. So anything with
a 52 would be a benefit, which would be
health insurance or FICA, life
insurance, anything that the district
has to pay. Um all of those five twos
are benefits. And then you scroll down,
there's FICA. All of the um New
Hampshire retirement would be 523s,
either teacher or non-teer.
Um and oh, and anything that says 070 is
districtwide. So that could be charged
to a teacher that works for the entire
district. That's how we separate that
out. Um, but anything like here's 121
meaning bakey, 122 is memorial, 225 is
middle, 327 is high school. And then
once you pass all the salaries and
benefits, then you come down to all of
the actual supply lines, um, tuition
lines, things like that, mileage,
supplies is always 561. You can see that
right there.
And so the whole report starts with all
the 1100s and then you start going down
and you'll see all of the subjects
appearing now. So you see supplies art.
So O2 would be art.
Um you keep scrolling down. 03 is um ELO
and then 05 is English. So they're kind
of you just get them grouped together
like that. That's how you can figure it
out. And then these are all broken down
by middle, memorial, high.
And everything is always bakey, middle,
bakey, memorial, middle, high is how the
reports always pretty much run.
And you just goes all the way down. So
then if you pass all the 1100s, then
you're going to see all of the 1200s,
which is all special ed. So anything
1210 is all special ed. 12 40s, 1250s,
all this is special ed costs. Sorry if
I'm moving too fast, but this
spreadsheet is a thousand
1240s. It's
all special ed.
>> It's 1900 entries. Boy,
>> h
>> 1900 entries.
>> 1290 is preschool.
1410 would be um co-curricular.
1420 is athletics.
Um 2110 is social worker. Then the now
we're in the 2000 series. So those would
all be the support.
2120 is guidance.
So you can kind of see a pattern. Um,
health services is 2130.
Do you want me to keep going all the way
down if you see them? Anything? If I I
can skip over the 21s, 22s. That's
library. Um, 2600 is all facilities.
Pam, I know you were looking for
facilities.
Um 2510 is our business office, but
here's facilities is 2600 and it goes
from 2600
to 26 depending on what it is because
it's a it breaks it down 2630
um
26
40s. So it's like care and upkeep or
just regular um facilities all different
ones. vehicle
operation 2650.
2660 would be M um security services and
then we get to 2700s which is all
transportation
and then depending 2700 is usually
regular ed transportation. 2722s
are usually special ed
kind of goes right down the line. And
then 4600s would be capital improvement.
So you can see that over the years we've
done some capital improvements that
projects have come out of those
accounts.
And then um
is transportation for out of district a
separate line
>> for someone who's out of going out of
district placement or
>> no transportation for special ed is all
bumped as just special ed broken up out
of out of district.
Um and then you have um food service is
2100 and then the grants were 2200
and like Pam said we do budget for the
grants and the food service but we know
we're getting revenues in there so those
will get offset.
So yeah there's 1934 lines.
Um, but if you want I can call up the
DOE25 if you guys want to.
>> I was going to ask you but I know it
showed the total of the amount budgets
at the bottom the line item. Does it
where does it show the uh the amount
that was retained from the uh for the
extra?
>> What do you mean contingency fund or
>> contingency fund? The general fund for
the 10% that was kept the million.
>> We didn't keep 10%. We voted this year
to only keep uh
>> 750 I think.
>> No, it was Hold on. Um I just wrote that
down today, too.
Hold.
Just worked on it. So,
>> it was 690,000
or 670,000.
>> It was 670, but and then we returned
that one back and then we voted I think
it was 4.75%.
It was 480 something,000. Remember?
>> Oh, that's all.
>> Rick lowered it. Yeah.
>> Yeah,
>> he definitely lowered it. Just remember
what it was.
>> So,
>> hold on. I just worked on this today and
I'm just
And the account codes you said is a
separate tab in that file you just
showed us is one of the tabs at top was
the account codes document. Okay. It's
all part of one.
>> The account code. What
>> was that? tab on the on the file you
just showed us, the account codes
document.
>> You the one the paper the Which one are
you talking about?
>> The account codes are a separate PDF in
the September 10th.
>> Oh, I did put that in, but I was just
wondering if you had also put it in
there, Murray, because I had put one in.
>> Oh, no, I did put that in. Sorry. Okay,
then I put this It's This is an old one.
Hopefully, it's the same though from a
couple years ago.
>> Oh, okay. All right.
the I just updated all of the trust
funds today. So, as of August 31st, uh
the special ed expendable trust fund has
$766,000
because we put in 108,000 up here from
the March vote because we were trying to
make it um work out to be $750,000
talking.
Um so with the earned interest we
actually went above the 750 because we
earned that much more in interest. And
then the capital improvement in
maintenance um we put in 265,549
from the March vote um and that is up to
763,000.
The unanticipated educational
expenditures um trust fund capital
reserve fund has 298,176
and the unanticipated utility cost has
202
facility use revolving has um 282,197
which is right here but this is what I
was looking for the continued 2.5%
of the net assessment is what we ended
up doing and it was 489,00
269 is what we kept. So last year we
voted for 671. So that goes back and
then this goes.
>> Okay.
>> But that
I'm sorry. One more question for you.
>> Going to call up my DOE25 so you
>> Oh, sure. Sure. Thank you.
because it is interesting. It's a bear
to do, but it's interesting.
>> You're a nerd.
So,
>> this is the DOE25, which is literally a
25page report with all of the fun stuff,
all of the expenditures for FY26.
It just goes right down from the um
balance sheet, assets, liabilities, fund
equity. But the key number that everyone
wants to see is this one right here.
That is the amount 3,416,382,62
is what's going back to the taxpayers
>> to reduce the taxes for next year
on the bottom of this report. And then
it just goes I don't want to scroll
through but the and then it just goes
down from um elementary expenditures,
middle school expenditures, um high
school expenditures, any transportation,
all of this stuff gets all included. But
the very bottom line of this report
once you get it to prove and all of
these have to be zero.
>> Um this is where it shows the cost per
pupil. So the elementary cost per pupil
is $33,9910.
The middle high school or the middle
school I should say is 26,721.
The high school is 25,000. And then the
average for this district is 28,873.
That is the cost per pup.
>> Thank you.
>> And that's what this giant lovely report
does.
>> Right.
>> I think it's also important to note too
that this form comes from the Department
of Education. All we can do is input the
numbers into it. There's it's not
something we're designing ourselves to
report out. No.
>> No. And if it is not right, this will
tell me does see all those zeros. I
didn't have that immediately.
>> Um,
>> and also it's it's average daily
attendance is what working with and not
the number of students enrolled
>> right here. Average daily membership. So
they have
>> that's why when you divide the you have
to divide by the right number. Yep.
>> Get the average. Yeah.
>> Yep. So, you have to plug those numbers
in here, which
I believe those are the October 1st
numbers.
Sure. Um, but these are the numbers and
that's how they come up with it.
>> No, thank you. I think that answered
both my questions actually. The 3
million that was concerned about
>> last year and then the price per
student.
>> Yep.
And then the last one I have for you is
I'm sure the the amount we were paying
for the school for the loan for the
school to pay off the school
>> that's probably been negated in this
year's upcoming budget. Correct.
>> Was two years ago.
>> Two years ago. So
>> Yep.
>> Yep.
>> Do you want me to go over anything else,
Pam?
>> No, that's great.
>> Thank you.
Just for my reference here as well, say
if we were to bring in other districts
into the high school, would we be
charging them the $28,000 cost per pupil
roughly or the $25,000ish
for the high school?
>> The high school number. Okay.
>> One thing So I think it's important to
consider on that and one thing I've
approached with the board is looking at
if open enrollment were to come to
fruition in the state there is a
different tuition u calculation that
comes as a result of that that the
sending school district is responsible
for 80% of the cost and I you know
thinking that this is where it looks the
world is headed for us. I have started
to talk to the board about considering
that formula as being our tuition
determination
because that would save us later having
to like here we're planning the a
proposed budget. You're planning on this
number and then suddenly open enrollment
comes and it's less.
And so looking at that and trying to
think about that is something we're
we're trying to think about as well.
I believe that the incoming students
would not have we would not pay for
their transportation though.
>> True. That is true.
>> The savings right there. But
>> yeah, although that one's kind of
changed back and forth over
>> these bills changed hourly. So
>> yes,
>> that's scary. Um okay, great. Thank you
so much. So, we're going to look this
over um the next few days and come back
with any questions we have. And I'd love
to get um the information we I mentioned
as soon as it's available.
>> Yeah.
>> Um
>> we'll start working on it tomorrow.
>> And I believe in the annual report, it
does have all the staff names and
physicians and their salaries. Is the
sal does the salary um line include
their benefits as well or just the
salaries? So, I guess I'd like both to
include salaries and benefits for the
current directory of staff for each
building.
>> Okay. I'm just trying to figure out how
you're going to get that. Um,
>> yeah, that that's doable.
>> Okay.
>> Yeah.
>> I wouldn't, in other words, I don't want
like the benefits as a lump sum amount,
>> right? The total cost of the employee
>> per per employee. Yes. That'd be
awesome. Now, just to clarify though,
because you mentioned the annual report,
you're looking for the current list of
employees because the annual report
would be
>> wasn't past
>> last winter. So,
>> like current.
>> Okay, that's what I thought, but I just
wanted to double check that you said.
>> Very helpful. Thanks. Um,
>> so I had one more slide. It was called
tax revenues. I don't know if it's on
your I sent an email to you. So,
>> oh,
>> can you if you have that on your
>> Yep.
>> computer, that'd be awesome.
>> Good.
>> So, now we're into committee comment,
and I'll begin
with my first comment. Um, I was just
going to mention the un unassigned
ending balance, which we just went over
was 3.4 million. um that comes out to be
8.5% of a cushion
um for our for 25 26 years 40.3 million
budget. So that's a pretty good cushion.
8.3%. I know that James Hasselbeck has
mentioned 10%. So 8.5% was pretty good.
Um
so
I just wanted to mention that
was that what you wanted? This tax cap
issue is looming ahead of us and I've
already mentioned I oppose caps of all
sorts because I'm an economist and their
price controls. But all right, moving
on. It's on the ballot and I wanted to
see what would happen if it passed. What
would happen to our available revenues
for
2028. So I looked at our revenues over
time and I took the inflation rate,
which is 4.1% right now, which is pretty
high. Mhm.
>> And I multiplied that times um this
year's expected tax revenues of $30
million.
And that is the cap if it passed. We'd
have to we don't be allowed to increase
our revenues by 4.1% of 30 million. And
that would give us another $1.2 million
in revenues
at most. Now, we could get grant money
in so the budget can grow for other
reasons. We don't have to rely on
property taxes alone, but we typically
do rely heavily on those. Um, I just
want to have that available. If this
thing is approved by the courts, we need
to explain what's happening to the
voters so they know exactly what's going
on.
Um,
okay. So, anyway, I thought you might be
interested in seeing that. The other
thing I found out is that this cap does
not apply to spending on bonded
construction projects and so forth. So
if we had a warrant article for $5
million bond project, that would be in
addition to any budget that we propose
and it's not capped. So we could put any
construction into a warrant article
separate from the budget.
And also I noticed that we could also
have non- capital reserve funds. So we
do have those. We have an unanticipated
um educational expense fund and we have
our special ed fund separate funds
reserve funds and those are not capital
expenditures. Those are not capital
article warrant articles. So we could
have any fund we want to set up and
segregate to increase our available
monies. It's just not part of the actual
operating budget.
Does that make sense to you? So there
are release valves that we could use,
but I believe those types of funds would
require a 60% majority vote to pass. So
and then finally, I've got
okay, House Bill 564, SAU budget has to
be separate a separate warrant article
that passed that has been signed into
law. So if that app that is approved
then
and if if the voters shoot down that
separate um operating budget for the SAU
a no vote means spending remains at the
prior year's level
and then finally the default budget is
our responsibility. So those are the
main new laws we have to contend with.
So, that's all I've got. Any other
committee comments?
Do we happen to know at this point how
many more or less out of district
placements we have or are we going to
get that kind of in the other October
numbers?
>> I that is something I'm not completely
sure of um because I'm new to the
district so I don't have the historical
information. I know from talking to our
director of uh student services we have
one right now that's possibly outbound
but um I think for the most part we're
stable but uh I will get I will add that
to my list to to get you that
information.
>> Appreciate it. I know it was one of the
big conversation topics last year just
again large charge unexpected could
happen at any time.
Yeah. And plus, I think we had the case
this year where one went out of district
and and left the district and then of
course almost immediately we had a new
one move in
>> which is sometimes what happens. Yeah.
>> It could change tomorrow because we
could have a whole another family
moving.
>> Yep.
>> Yeah.
>> I have a question. It was brought up uh
by the um the folks at uh actually the
polls this last Tuesday. concern was is
the amount of students we have
particularly in the high school. Uh how
many principles we have here in the
school compared to the students?
Uh right now we have uh one principal
and three assistant principles. Uh we
when I started we had one principal and
four assistant principles. We um had an
assistant principal resign and uh we
have decided not to fill that position.
So we have made a cut already this
fiscal year and
>> that's for the high school and middle
school together.
>> Yes. Yeah, they do have them assigned.
Um but I believe there was previously
and again I don't have all the
historical references but um I believe
there were three assistant principles
assigned to the high school.
>> Is the principal at the high school also
serving as the principal of the middle
school? Correct.
>> Yes.
>> Still okay.
>> Yes.
>> I see. Anyone
else?
Okay.
So, um, public comment.
Let's see.
>> Don't everybody get up at once.
>> Not seeing anyone tonight, so we're off
the hook for now. Um,
so our next meeting is September 24th at
7 PM in the library here in the high
school. And I'd also like to mention to
everyone that
for those people who are Kingston
residents, there's going to be a
community forum at the Kingston town
hall on September 23rd from 5:30 to 7:30
p.m. to discuss updating the master plan
for the town of Kingston. It's a very
important forum because we're going to
discuss long-term planning, housing,
includ including housing for families.
It impacts the schools. These decisions,
the zoning laws, and the decisions about
um business development, economy,
housing, and public investment
are all tied into the schools as well.
So, I would definitely encourage anyone
who lives in Kingston to go to this
meeting on the 23rd. They'll have tables
set up with little booths. They'll be
giving you information. You can provide
input while you're there. I'm not sure
how they're going to do it, but they
have it online as well. I'm not sure
where it is online, but I'll try to push
that out. So, if you're available that
night, I'd appreciate it if everyone
would attend. Okay.
And
I guess that's all for tonight. So,
thank you so much. Meeting adjourned.