Schools
Viccaro Proposes 6.25 Percent Budget Increase
Region 13 superintendent says revenue shortfall is biggest factor in increase
Superintendent Susan Viccaro proposed a $35,295,141 million budget for the 2011-2012 school year, a 6.25 percent increase over current spending.
While overall expenses for the 2011-2012 school year are expected to increase by just 1.74 percent, the district's revenues are down, Viccaro said, resulting in the need to increase spending.
School board members were told the district's diminishing fund balance, which has been used increasingly to pay for shortfalls in recent years and is currently projected to be $489,215 at the end of the current fiscal year, was the biggest contributing factor to the increase.
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"We knew this was coming," said board chairman Thomas Hennick, who added that the district used additional fund balances during the current school year under pressure from the towns [Durham and Middlefield] "to try to find a way to mitigate the pressure of property taxes" from going up.
According to the proposal, health benefit costs are expected to increase by 10.6 percent, or $538,951, the largest expense increase in the budget.
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While the overall number of staff members in the district is expected to increase slightly, some savings were achieved as a result of diminishing class sizes at the elementary level, which Viccaro said will lead to the elimination of two positions.
"I will be able absorb them, I'm fairly certain, due to retirement," she said, while adding that the cuts would be made at Brewster and Lyman schools.
Viccaro pointed out that 221 employees of the district, or more than two-thirds, would not be receiving raises next year.
"I think that people are to be commended in understanding these are extraordinary times," she said.
The budget would also eliminate the summer school program for students in kindergarten through fourth grade, as a result of declining enrollment, according to school officials.
Viccaro said the program, which is not required by the state, was no longer "viable" and that parents could hire a tutor with help from available scholarship money.
What remains unclear is how much additional funding, if any, the district will receive from either the state or federal government.
"We had received a federal grant for $354,ooo. But we didn't include that money in the budget because we need to know what's going to happen to it. Obviously another $354,000 would be helpful," Viccaro said.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy recently proposed that he would maintain state funding of schools at current levels, but his budget still needs to be approved by lawmakers.
Board member Bill Currlin also said state funding would provide some relief and added, "This is an extremely responsible budget. We can certainly tolerate it."
Hennick also encouraged board members to reach out to town officials in Durham and Middlefield, who had not been briefed on the budget prior to the superintendent's presentation Wednesday night.
In the meantime, several more meetings are scheduled to review and discuss the budget.
The Board of Education will meet on March 9, March 16 and March 23 at Strong School. All the meetings are open to the public.
A Public Hearing is scheduled for April 6, at 8 p.m. at .
On May 2, the Board of Education meeting will be held at 8 p.m. at CRHS, at which point board members will vote on the budget. If passed, the budget will go to referendum the next day.
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