Canton, Massachusetts · Saved source text
FINCOM 20200210 Minutes
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Canton Finance Committee Minutes Voted on: 2/26/20 Meeting Minutes Vote: 7-0-0 February 10, 2020 Finance Committee Members Present: Christos Arsondiadis, David Clough, Dan Cole, Emilio Mauro, Tim McKenna, Barbara Saint Andre, Cindy Thomas and Wai Wong. Finance Committee Members Absent: Rob Barker. Guests Present: Kristen Mirliani, Chair, Canton School Committee Jennifer Fischer -Mueller, Superintendent, Canton Public Schools Barry Nectow, Business Administrator, Canton Public Schools Randy Scollins, Finance Director Ellen Jones, Finance Committee Secretary Opening: Mr. McKenna called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. in the Salah Meeting Room of Town Hall. A. Approval of Agenda - Mr. McKenna reviewed the agenda. B. Announcements - There were no announcements. C. New Business Discussion with School Committee — FY21 School Operating Budget and various ATM Articles School Committee Chair, Kristen Mirliani, introduced Mr. Nectow and Ms. Fischer -Mueller as well as fellow School Committee members Kristian Merenda, Nichola Gallagher and Maureen Moran. The School Committee has been using the Strategic Framework to guide them in their budget decisions. Ms. Fischer -Mueller thanked the members of the Finance Committee for their years of service. Some of the highlights from the Superintendent's presentation included the following: • Canton's per pupil expenditure for FY18 and FY17 is $16,861 (according to the most recently audited data from the state). Canton is the fifth lowest in comparison to 12 other communities and the state's average per pupil expenditure of $16,465. Wellesley has the highest per pupil spending at $20,365 as compared to Milton with the lowest per pupil spending of $15,469. • Canton is approximately 10 FTEs (or approximately $1 million) short by what the state average per pupil spending is for administration and instructional leadership positions. The only administrator position request in the FY21 budget request is for a Humanities Coordinator with a requested salary of $102,000. • The Superintendent's budget request includes contractual obligations of $1,761,488, a reduction of $73,561 (1.0 FTE JFK 2nd Grade Teacher) and an increase of 14.4 FTE's totaling $917,739 plus $193,107 for supplies and services. The Superintendent's budget request for FY21 is $2,798,773 or a 6.34% increase for a total school budget request of $46,913,135. Mr. Nectow reviewed the FY21 school budget request summary. In response to questions from the Finance Committee the Superintendent offered the following comments: • MCAS scores can correlate directly to average housing or a mother's educational level, however, Ms. Fischer -Mueller would not state that high MCAS scores are directly related to higher per pupil spending. There are communities that have MCAS scores that are not aligned with the per pupil expenditure. In response to a member's question about the correlation of increasing the per pupil expenditure with an FINCOM 201200210 Minutes Page I of 4 2/16/2020
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increase to the MCAS scores, Ms. Fischer -Mueller stated that her staff refers to their Strategic Framework with areas of focus identified which result in a district action plan and a school improvement plan. • With regards to a question about fulfilling administrator positions, a Pre -K to 12 STEM Coordinator was added. Also, because an out -of -district coordinator position could not be filled for six months, the FTE and salary for that position were used to create a position of an Assistant Director of Student Services. • Mr. Scollins confirmed that municipalities are generally similar in their budget sharing/split arrangement of 2/3 for school departments and 1/3 for town departments. • The School Department's FY21 budget request of $46,913,135 is approximately $500,000 higher than the recently revised Summary of Revenue and Expenditures school target number of $46,419,604. • Mr. Nectow stated that they have been following special education costs closely, no spike has been identified thus far and levels are rising as expected. Current projection is that the FY20 special education reserves ($700,000 voted at last year's ATM) will be used and drawn down to zero. The number of out -of - district student placements is currently in the mid -50s. Article 39 — Reimbursement of Transportation Costs for Students in Foster Care — Mr. Nectow gave a summary of this article. There is a small population of students for which the Town receives no reimbursements for. There is a group of students that are in a Department of Children and Families (DCF) program and that are not necessarily on an Individual Education Plan (IEP) or considered homeless. In order for the Town to participate in this federal program the Town needs Town Meeting authorization to apply for and receive these funds. A motion made by Ms. Saint Andre to recommend Article 39 to Annual Town Meeting 2020 was seconded by Mr. Wong. Vote: 8-0-0. Discussion of Free Cash Certification as of July 1, 2019 and Cash Reserve Balances Mr. Scollins presented a slide presentation of the Town's cash reserve balances as of July 1, 2019: • Water Enterprise (retained earnings) - $1,357,137. Sewer Enterprise (retained earnings) - $2,239,897. Rink Enterprise (retained earnings) - $76,980. General Fund - $5,731,060 (an increase of $1.4 million since July 1, 2018). • Stabilization Fund - $8,490,281 (includes core Stabilization Fund and Solar Stabilization Fund), This fund requires a 2/3 vote at Annual Town Meeting to withdraw from this fund. • Overlay Reserve - $2,459,492. The Overlay Reserve decreased $1.3 million since Fiscal 2018 because the Board of Assessors released $1.5 million for the Rink project. • Total General Fund Reserves: $16,680,833 which is 16.64% of budgeted general fund expenditures above the Town's target of 15%. • The maximum use of the reserves at the upcoming Annual Town Meeting should be $1,646,903 to maintain the 15% target. Discussion of Revenues and Expenditures for FY21 Mr. Scollins presented the updated revenue estimates for FY21 as of February 9, 2020. He reviewed property tax revenue, property taxes from debt exclusions, state aid, local receipts, transfers from other funds and fixed costs (see meeting documents). Total revenues for FY21 are estimated at $103,500,786 which is a 4.5% increase over the current year. This is also a $296,950 net increase from the total revenues for FY21 voted by the Revenue Forecasting Committee (RFC) on January 30`h. The $296,950 net increase represents the removal of $571,950 TIF (Spear Street Capital) and the reduction of the new growth estimates by $275,000. Real Estate new growth for FY21 is estimated to be $600,000 (originally voted by the RFC at $700,000). Personal Property new growth for FY21 is estimated to be $200,000 (originally voted by the RFC at $375,000). FFNCOM 201200210 Minutes Page 2 of 2/16/2020