2007-02-22-AC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

February 22, 2007 ?? The CEC is now in favor of fully funding the municipal Geographical Information System (GIS) project. The current request for $195,000 will cover the first year of a multi-year effort. ?? The school capital requests are still under discussion. The school department has prioritized its capital requests, and the CEC upon review has created an independent prioritized list. The CEC is supporting all items which they have designated priority 1 or 2. Under these criteria, the CEC would recommend only partial funding of the amount requested under 34(a) and 34(b) to meet new requirements for classrooms ($50,000 each); and under 34(l) to reconfigure the Estabrook bus area ($50,000). The total amount of all projects still exceeds the amount included in the schools’ original capital plan. There was extensive discussion about the pro’s and con’s of borrowing amounts beyond those anticipated in the school’s original capital plan, and reflected in the Town Manager’s original draft budget, in order to undertake potential energy-saving projects that might – but cannot be guaranteed to – generate relatively immediate savings in operating costs. Charles Lamb said that the CEC originally took the position that any such supplemental projects should be the subject of a debt exclusion override. Most recently, however, it voted 4:1 to support these projects with supplemental within-levy debt, contingent on: (1) Rob Addelson concluding that the projects are financeable, (2) a reasonable assurance that the projects will pay for themselves through operating savings, and (3) a commitment by the school department to track the savings generated (based on savings in energy unit costs since the costs of energy will fluctuate), to dedicate such savings to repayment of the debt, and to cover any shortfall out of the existing budget so that energy savings will not “evaporate” into other programs. Rob Addelson pointed out that once debt is incurred, it becomes a binding obligation, and if the anticipated savings do not materialize, this can put a squeeze on future operating budgets, particularly in times of declining revenue. Messrs. Griffiths and Diaz said that the School Committee was currently willing to proceed on the basis proposed by the CEC with some of the smaller energy-saving projects that can be assured of generating a prompt payoff. However, they are less enthusiastic about taking on such risks for some of the larger projects which tend to have longer payout periods, and some of which are necessary just to make heating systems properly functional and cannot be expected to save energy or reduce operating costs at all. The School Committee is waiting for a report from the school administration on anticipated cost-savings from the projects in question and whether it is willing to go forward with any of them on the basis proposed by the CEC. School Budget 3. . Tom Diaz and Tom Griffiths provided a brief report on the status of the school budgeting process. Highlights of this report were: ?? Last spring, after the FY07 budget was completed, the school department created a tracking tool for out-of-district special education (SPED) placements - 2 -