Brewster School Officials Continue Budget Work March 24

Brewster school officials meet at 6:30 p.m. March 24 to continue building a budget plan for 2015-16.

The challenges, they said in a presentation March 10, include not knowing how much state aid the district will receive and keeping the budget under the mandated tax cap. Enrollment is also a challenge—the size of the student body dropped precipitantly in the 10 years after 2004—from almost 3,700 students to under 3,300—but are up this current year.

At the March 10 meeting, administrators said the draft spending plan would be primarily funded by a tax levy of $69,771,843, up 2.28 percent from the current budget.

They broke down the spending plans for transportation and buildings and grounds.

Here’s their Buildings and Grounds overview:

• 9 buildings totaling 500,000 square feet
• 200 acres of grounds & fields
• 3,900 individuals in/out of buildings daily
• 500 community events annually

Increases next year in the costs of utilities, material and supplies would be slightly offset by decreases in salaries and equipment, resulting in a departmental budget line of $5,009,150, up from this year’s $4,928,436.

In transportation, here’s the overview:

• 106 Student Passenger Vehicle Fleet in Service
• 1 Million Miles Driven Annually
• Services to 35 Private and Special Education Schools

Officials hope to cut transportation spending by a little bit: down to $6,112,052 from $6,146,270. They expect to save almost $100,000 next year in fuel costs, but the costs of repair and parts will rise.

School administrators want to continue the Fleet Replacement Plan that was re-started in 2013 after three years in which no money was spent to replace buses. Currently, almost two-thirds of the district’s buses are more than 10 years old.

“Fleet Replacement Plan: the most efficient, predictable, cost-effective, and safest means of budgeting,” officials said in the presentation.

So administrators are recommending that the school board put a second proposition on the ballot May 19: to borrow $479,975 to purchase:

• 5 35-passenger buses
• 1 42-passenger bus that’s wheelchair accessible
• 1 12-passenger bus that’s wheelchair accessible

The state would reimburse the district for 42 percent of the cost. The rest would be paid off starting in 2017 in five annual payments of $59,436.

The trustees will discuss the draft budget tomorrow and on April 7; they plan to adopt a final proposal April 21 to put before voters May 19. The state mandated public hearing on the budget will be May 12.

PHOTO: from March 10 budget presentation