High level schools budget
Here's a high level detailing of the Superintendent's proposed school budget for '08/'09. Traditionally, the school budget is broken down into six major categories. Then the six major categories are further broken down.
My understanding is that reason for the six major categories is a legal one. That is, by law only the BOE may reclassify budgetary items among the six major accounts... while the Superintendent may reclassify budget items among any of the "minor" categories... as long as the money stays within that "major" category. But I'm not a lawyer... that's just what I've picked up over the past few years.
I'll try to provide more detail and analysis over the coming weeks and months.
Tim White
14 comments:
Tim, Do you know if on the Town side of the budget there are any payments to employees who elect NOT to take health benefits? If there are, how much per year are those costs?
In the BoE budget they budget $85,000 each year for those school employees who "waive" the health benefits. Granted it would cost more if they took the benefits, but I still feel it's a waste of our tax dollars to fund this item.
I seem to recall that both the town and schools offer about $1,000 to $1,200 to EEs who waive medical bene's.
Notable exceptions would be part-time staff, school Cafeteria Staff and perhaps others.
Just wait until all the apartments in the northend are built. Remember there are 400 acres. Lots and lots of housing and hundreds of kids. So don't worry about a few dollars now, think of about a school building program.
It's for young professionals who don't have children, that's a joke. Or, that empty nesters would want to live there is an even bigger joke.
Remember, the school superintendent didn't show up to the impact study meeting. It's because he didn't want to answer any hard questions, he knows there are going to be lots of kids. And Milone didn't want him there either as Milone wants this mall and residential units. More than 100 just from the W/S.
10:36 good point about the Sptd not attending that PZC meeting. Unacceptable in my opinion. (though I have no idea if he was even invited... so that comment is not a reflection on him by any means.)
They said he was unable to attend, so he was was invited.
This was one of the most important meetings of the year for our school system.
Imagine, not challenging only 11 more students from these condo/apts.
Then Milone said that if things change, the superintendent would go to the town council. So, you got your early warning, get out the checkbook.
In years past, the town has paid $1000 per year if you elect not to take the health insurance. To me that means the co-pays are not high enough. I was recently looking for a new job, and the co-pays were so high (in one case $178/wk) that I would have been thrilled just to not have to have that much taken out. I did not need a $1000 incentive to decline. This is a left-over from the days that health insurance was free to employees so without the $1000 they all figured "why not take the insurance--it doesn't cost me anything and might help in case of a catastrophic illness." It should go.
Where is that information posted in a previous column about the town rankings--(Cheshire #20 out of 117)? Is there a website? Also, in a column a couple of weeks ago, someone chastised someone for having a "reading comprehension problem" referring to the Amity school district when the original blogger was referring to "adjacent" towns. He must have a geography problem because Bethany IS adjacent to Cheshire and is part of the Amity district. Again, please, I would love to see that source of town rankings. Thanks.
11:07 You hit the nail on the head that the copays or employees' share of the costs of their health insurance are not high enough. Here's the breakdown on their current premium costs -
Teachers 15%
Administrators 12.5%
Custodial/Maint. Staff 5%
Sec'y/Nurses 7.5%
Office Visits $10 ($15 teachers)
Drug Copay $5/$10/$25 or $5/15/30
Gone are the days of free healthcare. I agree the "waiver" payments should be eliminated.
9:27
"Again, please, I would love to see that source of town rankings. Thanks."
http://www.conncan.org/
This site shows you why parents would like their children in Cheshire's schools and why the W/S proposal is very attractive to those families.
If they really wanted to attract empty nesters, they would make it age restricted. There is more money to be made by in selling the school system.
if most of this increase is for maintaining or upgrading the school strutures (which I agree with) why is it not a capital item? These structures belong to the Town don't they?
Hey! kids have to live somewhere..didn't you grow up and go to school and didn't taxpayers pay? A town without kids is a dying town
3:22 operating budget vs capital budget...
any item with a cost in excess of $110,000 and a life of five years is capitalized.
However, that number is never set in stone. For instance, the smartboards budget was $275,000 or 55 units x $5,000/unit. So should that be capitalized? It's a judgement call as far as I know... though some rules are documented... I just don't have them handy.
As for who "owns" the school buildings... in the four years I've been on the Council, the facilities have always been maintained by the school budget... but ultimately they belong to the voters.
wunderbar
wunderbar
Post a Comment