By BILL CHAISSON
[email protected]
CLAREMONT — On Nov. 8 the SAU #6 board held a public hearing for the 2019-20 budget. No one from the general public spoke at the hearing, which began with a presentation from interim Superintendent Keith Pfeifer. When Pfeifer presented the overall budget, he mentioned that new healthcare numbers had come in and would be lower than what he was presenting. Director of Business and Finance Michael O’Neill followed up Pfeifer’s remarks with the specifics on the new lower healthcare coverage costs.
The SAU budget is based on revenue received from the member school districts, Claremont and Unity. In the 2018-19 school the SAU budget was $1,945,832, and in the proposed 2019-20 budget it is projected to decline to $1,930,809, a drop of $15,023.
“We wanted a flat budget,” said Pfeifer, “and in a larger sense we have met that objective.”
The decreases came largely from a lower number in the categories of wages ($22,125 less than this year) and equipment ($9,900 less). There were planned increases in contracted services ($7,500 more than this year) and healthcare costs ($8,625 above this year).
Pfeifer summarized the revenue sources for the budget. In Unity the equalized assessment of property valuation went up, so the town will pay a greater share of the SAU budget this year. In Claremont the trend was downward. The district will draw $75,000 from its fund balance to put toward next year’s budget.
“The amounts are what the district is paying for SAU services,” said Assistant Superintendent Cory LeClair. “The bulk of SAU revenue comes from the districts not from state aid. It’s revenue to the SAU, but it’s expenditure to the districts.”
LeClair also told the board that the wage line item had decreased because a curriculum coordinator position had been eliminated. Board member Michelle Pierce asked LeClair if the staff member would be replaced.
“Their duties are being handled by the curriculum specialist in the Claremont district and by me,” said LeClair.
Board member Sara Lowe added that the coordinator had done so much to “set things up” that the curriculum work had now shifted to the districts with LeClair overseeing them.
As there were no questions from the public the hearing was gaveled to a close.
O’Neill then passed out the updated numbers for the new health insurance plan. “We budgeted for a 6-percent increase,” he said, “but it went down by 4.2 percent.” The cost would be $20,659 less than the number Pfeifer had presented, bringing the decrease in the overall budget to $45,290.
Pfeifer pointed out that this would decrease the local contributions from the districts, Claremont by 2.98 percent and Unity by 0.92 percent. The new budget number came to $1,901,533.
“We took the lead in moving to a more affordable health care plan with a deductible,” said Lowe. “We want to get the teachers to do that and so we did it first. It saves a lot of money.”
Pfeifer’s superintendent’s report was short. He said that a new part-time food service director had been hired. Four candidates applied; two had no food service experience and two were interviewed. The person selected is already employed in a similar capacity in Plainfield schools. “They have outstanding skills,” Pfeifer said, “and I think will add a lot.”
Board member Carolyn Towle, a member of the committee that is organizing the search for a new superintendent, told the rest of the board and the administrators that they committee is in the middle of putting together the criteria for the search. (They met in the second week of November to finalize the details.) They are also planning two public forums to solicit input for the search process.
“We are hoping the public will participate in these forums,” she said, “and help us pick the very best superintendent that the public wants to see too.”
The forums are planned for Dec. 1 in Claremont and Dec. 5 in Unity. More details will be available in coming days.
With that the public portion of the meeting and the board entered a nonpublic session per RSA91-A:3. They did not, however, announce any specific purpose for the session as enumerated in the law.
The next SAU 6 board meeting is on Dec. 8 at 6:30 p.m.
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