PRESENT:
School Committee: Ed Zuchowski (Chair), Stephanie Pick, Howard Moore
Staff: Interim Superintendent Bill Erickson, Business Manager Susan Wright, Food Service Director Carol DiMauro, Director of Maintenance Mike Diemand, Director of Facilities David Pomerantz, Clerk Nicole Markel, one other person name unknown, and myself, Steve Herrell, filing this report.
Please note that I did attend this meeting, but not in the capacity of making a report for SchoolsWatch. I attended simply to educate myself on the budget process, relative to the possible change in the high school start time. Afterwards I was asked to write just a simple summary of the meeting anyway. Therefore, much of the below is from some very rough notes and my memory! I am sorry if it is somewhat incomplete.
This was the second of some preliminary meetings relative to the budget process for Fiscal Year 2012 (FY12), which runs from this July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2012 (the same as the City budget).
Much of the meeting was focused on the needs of Capitol Projects. Carol DiMauro, Mike Diemand, and Dave Pomerantz presented a listing of the projects, and they and the committee discussed each item at some length. The total of these projects is $910,500. Here is the list (same as given in the minutes of the January Budget and Property meeting, but bears repeating):
Building Needs:
Bridge St. carpet replacement $20,000
Jackson St. A/C library
Leeds carpet replacement
Leeds overflow parking lot paving 30,000
Leeds parking lot repaving 150,000
NHS Track Resurfacing and re-lining 85,000
Ryan curbing and sidewalk replacement 65,000
Ryan parking lot re-paving
Ryan ventilation, and A/C library 21,000
School furniture replacement
School and Recreational Needs:
District-wide gym repainting
JFK gym, floor refinishing
JFK pool filter replacement
Ryan playing field backstops, dugouts 60,000
JFK steamer and tilt kettle
Bridge St. dishwasher
Ryan kitchen remodeling and equipment 140,000
Jackson dishwasher
Jackson floor mixer
GRAND TOTAL:
There was a sense among committee members that not all projects will be approved and included in the budget. (This is only a small piece of the approximately $29,000,000 school budget). They prioritized by assigning numbers to the projects, according to safety and health issues, and how badly repairs were needed. No final decisions were made.
Stephanie Pick raised this issue: If we are going to close Ryan Road, and/or possibly Bridge Street, we shouldn’t spend money on the projects relative to those schools.
SW presented and discussed the “Revised Budget Shortfall Estimate,” and discussed various parts of it. The report shows in conclusion, “Revised Preliminary Gap for FY2012: $1,188.019.” That is, we expect that much less revenue for the schools (still based on a number of estimates and unknowns) than we had for this year. SW characterized this as “dismal”
SW presented a “draft” of a time line for the FY12 Budget Process. I’m pretty sure she wants to revise this (it lacks some specific dates) and it will be available soon, probably on the Northampton School Department’s website (as it has in the past), so suffice it to say here that the Budget & Property Subcommittee will take up the budget at all of its meetings; the School Committee itself does several reviews; and the ALT (Administrative Leadership Team) has several meetings re the budget. In mid-May, the Mayor submits the city budget to the City Council. In late May there will be the Joint Meeting of the City and Council and School Committee. On June 9 the School Committee takes its final vote on the budget. Still there are unknowns, but all is finalized by late July.
There was discussion of the elementary transportation fee, but no conclusion was made.
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