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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - City Council - 04/11/1991BUDGET HEARING 11 APRIL 1991 The City of South Burlington held a Public Hearing on the proposed 1991-1992 City and School Budgets on Thursday, 11 April 1991, at 7:30 p.m., in the Conference Room, City Hall, 575 Dorset Street. City Council Members Present: Paul Farrar, John Dinklage, James Condos, William Cimonetti School Board Members Present: Theodore Manazir, Dennis Snyder, Julie Duppstadt, Karen Shilgalis, Barbara LeWinter Also Present: Charles Hafter, City Manager; Frederick Tuttle, Superintendent of Schools; Margaret Picard, City Clerk/Treasurer; James Goddette, Fire Dept; Brian Searles, Police Dept; Bruce O'Neill, Recreation Dept; Claire Buckley, Community Library, Donald Whitten, Water Pollution Control Dept; Leo Brown, School District; Mary-Barbara Maher, Planning Commission, Fred Maher, City Charter Committee; Sid & Ruth Poger, The Other Paper; N. Crouchley, Hugh Marvin, F. Rocque, Samuel & Ruth Bogorad, Linus Leavens, Sue & Rob LaClair, William & Michele Auclair, Roderick Marcotte, Sandra Stoddert, Diana Snyder, Paul Schaberg 1. City Budget: Mr. Hafter recognized Department Heads for their part in preparing and living within the City Budget. There has been a 3.25 increase in the Grand List which would allow a comparable increase in the taxes. The actual tax increase is 2.4%. The maximum operating budget increase allowed would be 10%. The actual increase is 8.1% or $91,000 less than the Charter would allow. All Charter limitations have been met. The total tax rate for the city will be .765 which means that a home assessed at $100,000. would pay $17.00 more in taxes than last year. Mr. Hafter explained that a lot of the 8.1% general fund increase is due to grants and other pass-through funds that weren't in the budget last year. The increase is only 5.2% in terms of real dollars. Major increases are in 4 areas: salaries/benefits (employees were given a 5% cost of living increase plus a 1.5% step increase), medical insurance (a 25% increase: last year it cost $3900 for an employee and family, in the next year it will cost $4800), Lime Kiln Bridge repair (this will begin 21 April and be completed in early July; the State will provide $50,000 for this work), and special vote funds which were not in the regular budget last year but are this year. There will be no new city personnel this year and no dramatically new programs. Road work will include: Patchen Rd. (already under way), Dorset Street South (to begin in late April), the Richard Terrace sidewalk, rebuilding of Joy Drive, repaving and sidewalks for Farrell Drive. The Water Pollution control budget shows a 24% increase in expenditures. Water use is down 10% in South Burlington. However, this year the city began treating Colchester sewage in the Airport Parkway plant. Colchester paid a one-time $330,000 fee and have agreed to increase the plant when more capacity is needed. This agreement covers the decrease in water use and there will be no rate increase. There is a $70,000 increase in debt service, all of which was approved by the voters. The Dorset Street project is to begin in July. The Recreation Path comes up for an Act 250 hearing in May. The city will be looking to expand the Bartlett Bay Sewage Plant in the future. $140,000 that would have been paid by S. Burlington residents will now be paid by the Colchester agreement. There is a large increase ($50,000) for the hazardous waste assessment which was voted on by the voters and approved by a 3-1 ration. In the 10-year capital budget, two projects have been added: a Public Works Building (added for 1998-9) and replacement of the Lime Kiln Bridge (added for 1996-7). Mr. Hafter noted a new "Goals and Objectives" section of the budget and said that next year the city can assess how it measured up to these goals. 2. School Budget: Mr. Tuttle introduced members of the School Board. He noted the School Board tried to make the budget format as readable as possible. Narratives have been added from the school principals. The same Grand List figures were used by the School District resulting in an allowable operating tax rate of 1.978. The actual rate is 1.937. $13,671 is allowable in taxes. The 10% allowable budget increase would allow a budget of $15,141,167. The actual proposal is $91,400 under this or $15,049,677. Mr. Tuttle noted that anticipated State aid is $14,000 less than last year of $336,150. Other anticipated income includes tuitions ($420,000), surplus 1989-90 taxes ($200,000), surplus 1989-90 tuition, earnings on deposits, foster children payment, facility rental money, and surplus 1989-90 earnings ($240,000). The figure to be raised by taxes is $13,388,537. This represents a budget increase of 9.34%. Dept service continues to decrease. The total tax rate is 1.966. This represents no increase from the current year. Mr. Tuttle then gave a overview of the school district. The projected enrollment for 1991-2 is 2,076 which represents an increase of 34 students. Teachers and the Board have approved the fact finders report. There will be a 2-year agreement and the settlement is within the budget for each year. This will result in 6% new money each year. The District is utilizing managed care in health insurance which saves $38,000. Administrators are in the last year of a 3-year agreement and are negotiating a new agreement. Negotiations are underway with support staff. The starting salary for a new teacher will be $25,355. The maximum salary (for a Masters Degree + 60 credits and 12 years experience) will be $50,710. The average salary this year was $41,891. The projected average for next year is $44,289. There were 93 tuition students this year, 3 at the elementary, 4 in the middle school and 86 in the high school. Tuition rates for next year are $5700 for grades 1-6, $6,000 for grades 7-12, and $4300 for Kindergarten. Pupil teacher ratios are 18-1 in elementary, 19-1 in middle school, and 17.36-1 in the high school. The average cost per pupil this year was $7,052. It is projected to be $7,458 next year. The drop out rate in S. Burlington for 1989-90 is 1.4%. The State average for the same year was 5.1%. No new programs are planned for next year. There will be some staff adjustment. 2.5 FTE's will be added in the elementary schools (1 at Orchard, 1.5 at Central), 2 FTE's will be added at the middle school, and there will be a reduction of 3 FTE's at the high school. This is an overall addition of 1.5 FTS's. Losses have been anticipated in federal and state funds and these have been covered in the budget. All schools have gone through the public school approval process. There is $56,800 in the budget to cover problems indicated in the process. There are minimal deficiencies in programs. Most problems are in buildings, including door latches, illuminated signs, etc. Walls will be added to learning centers in the elementary schools. The oil burner will be replaced with gas at Chamberlin School. High school tennis courts will be repaved. In the area of technology, the school will begin to provide the kind of support students should have. There will be 2 Mac labs and 1 lab in the business department. There will be 5 additional computers at all schools and there is money in the budget for continuation of this program. In the capital budget, the high school addition will be paid in 1996-7 and the energy package in 1993-4. It is proposed that the bus garage be replaced in 1993-4 and that a new elementary school be projected for the same year. Mr. Tuttle noted that a citizen's advisory committee has been studying enrollment needs. Their report is anticipated in 6 to 8 weeks. It is a goal of the Board to ask parents and other citizens to complete a report card on the school district. This will be distributed near the end of the school year. 3. Comments from the Public: Ms. Auclair praised the new budget book format. She then asked if medical insurance is being paid for a husband and wife who both teach in the district. Mr. Tuttle said there is a program for all personnel by which a person is paid $1200 for "signing off" if a spouse carries medical benefits for the whole family. Ms. Auclair then asked about 1/2 days for teacher-parent conferences and asked why kids have to be out of school so much. Mr. Tuttle noted there are evening as well as day conferences. Mr. LaClair asked where the "cost per student" stands in relation to the rest of the state. Mr. Tuttle said they are usually just a bit above average. Mr. Manazir noted there is a very strong staff development program in the District. Teachers are taking advantage of courses at UVM. There is also an on-going evaluation/review program. Mr. Leddy also commended the readable budget report. He said he had no complaints about the quality of education or city services. He commended the DARE program as a model program, also the recreation program. He said his only complaint is the 8% increase in expenses on both sides. Mr. Crevier said he was bothered by how the percentage increase in the Grand List is figured where an "estimated Grand list" is used instead of an actual. Mr. Farrar explained that the Charter provides for use of an estimated figure, but there is a self-correcting element. There is a provision that if the estimate misses by more than 3%, the budget is recalculated based on the actual Grand List. Mr. Marvin also praised the budget presentation. He noted that Kennedy Drive is going to pieces and isn't scheduled to be repaired till 1997. Mr. Hafter noted that Kennedy Dr. work is actually scheduled for 1994-5 but may need to be resurfaced before then. Mr. Dinklage added that the city is trying to make sure state funds are there when they are needed. Mr. Marvin then asked about changing from electric heat to gas at the other schools. Mr. Tuttle said the up front costs would be very expensive, but the Board hopes to consider this in the future. Mr. Donoghue asked about increasing computer literacy for teachers. Mr. Tuttle said all faculty must be computer literate. There is a joint project with UVM for proceeding beyond basics. He noted there is a district technology committee that determines needs in this area. The staff is very well trained and eager to continue training. Mr. Tuttle noted there will be a 10-day technology program this summer. Mr. Leavens felt the city is very well run. He asked why there is never a decrease in the property tax. Mr. Farrar said this is due to the increase in the cost of living and the growth rate of the city. It costs more to fund the same services. Mr. Snyder said that in the schools there has been a $2,000,000 loss in state and federal aid. It costs more just to keep even. He noted that it cost $117,000 this year to fund programs that the state used to fund. South Burlington now gets more from tuitions than it does from the state. He added that 85% of the school budget is paid by taxpayers. The state average is about 50%. Mr. Cimonetti said there won't be a decrease in budgets until there is a decrease in services. He felt S. Burlington teachers salaries are high in relation to what other teachers are paid and in relation to income in general in the community. He felt this can lead to inequities with S. Burlington being able to "buy" better teachers than Berkshire. Mr. LaClair asked what measures are being taken to prevent a future "tax rate shock." Mr. Cimonetti said the city has a built-in protection from such a situation as it cannot exceed a limitation set up in the Charter. Mrs. Maher asked what percentage of teachers are above the average salary. Mr. Tuttle estimated 60-70%. Mr. Snyder noted a large percentage of the staff have a MA and have been in the district for 18 years. Mr. Tuttle added that the average education is a MA + 35 with average experience of 18 years. Mrs. Maher asked how much of Dorset Street South will be redone this year. Mr. Hafter said as much as $140,000 can do. It is hoped that the road will be completely redone. Mrs. Poger said it is good to see teachers getting higher salaries for a change. Mr. Crevier asked about the possibility of an "early retirement" program. Mr. Tuttle noted the schools average 2 retirements a year. The average turnover is 10-12 people a year. He also predicted a large number of retirements in the next 5 years. Mr. Schaberg noted tuition payments don't equal cost per student figures. Mr. Snyder said they can't charge for transportation or for bonded indebtedness. Mr. Tuttle added they also want to maintain a competitive figure in the area. Mr. Marvin asked about the possibility of leasing buses. Mr. Tuttle said they are considering it and have had preliminary discussions. There are a lot of requirements to meet and the level of service has to be considered. Ms. Auclair asked why there is no place for kids to play baseball. Mr. O'Neill said nothing can be developed on the new park land until after the Act 250 hearing. Mr. Hafter said the city asked the state if they could build some small fields up there before the Act 250 approval and the state said no. Ms. Shilgalis asked if the act 250 approval will be hard to get. Mr. Hafter said one question that will be raised is getting students to the park and this is being worked on. A drainage study also had to be done. In closing, Mr. Tuttle praised the good communications between the city and school district and appreciated the working relationship at all levels. The meeting was adjourned at 9:45 p.m. Published by ClerkBase ©2019 by Clerkbase. No Claim to Original Government Works.