me. Yeah, true leaders do. You know, Mrs. Pury, that's how it works. Good lord. Joseph's favorite math teacher. Hi repeat. Good evening and uh and thank you for
being patient with us. Unfortunately, executive went a little longer and we're going to have to go back into it after the meeting. So, we apologize in advance. The public has been duly informed of this meeting in accordance with chapter 231 of the public laws of 1975 by
posting at least 48 hours in advance. A notice on the bulletin boards in Stevenson and Churchill schools, a notice to the township clerk, and a notice to the Herald and Progress News. With that being said, please join us for
the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. I'll start with the
president's report. It'll be quick. There's just two things uh I'd like to just mention. I don't know if for those of you at home watching or for those of you that are here, uh, you had an opportunity to see the recent press about West Essex High School and how it ranked in the state of New Jersey. I
just want to congratulate, uh, the superintendent, Damen Machochi, uh, Principal Dun Levy, everyone up there, they're obviously doing a fantastic job. And the reason why I thought it was important to bring it up is because their test results, which I I think were in the in the 30s, correct? They they
play somewhere in the 30s. But if you dig a little deeper and you look at actual uh public schools, you'll see that Fairfield is sitting right along five or sixth highest ranking public school in New Jersey. And the reason I'm bringing it up is because I think it's a true testament to what our current
superintendent has done up there in years past because you do not get that kind of ranking uh with the director of curriculum that was that replaced Mr. Gupta in just two or three months. So, I just thought it was very um apparent and
obvious that the board had to recognize how great the high school is doing. And Mr. Gupta, for all you've done up there to get them where they are, I want to thank you on behalf of having a middle school eighth grader who's going
into freshman. And just to say how excited we are to have you here and know what you're going to do for us in, you know, the the years to come is very exciting. and we're thankful and congratulations because a lot of your success, a lot of their success is
attributed to you. So, congratulations. Um, one other thing in President's Report, I had a past board president approach me about a week and a half ago to let me know that um, in front of Church Hill School, believe it or not, I don't know if there's a picture up there, Will, if you have a picture of
it. In front of Church Hill School years ago was a fundraiser and it's actually right outside of our flag pole area. And I guess they did a paver fundraiser years ago where people in the community donated money and they had their their names subscribed in a
brick paver and they brought it to my attention. And to be honest with you, having children in the district and out and and you know, one at Church Hill, I never knew that it was was even there. I actually thought it was just a bunch of trees in front of our flag pole. So,
what I did is I reached out to uh a local landscaping company who who was wonderful, Mike Manning from Manning uh landscaping. Uh and he worked closely with the school and an anonymous donor who donated the boxwoods and all of the
mulch. And we actually worked on it over the break. And you can go to the new pictures. That's what it looks like now. So if you go to a before and after picture, this is a true representation of what the front of Church Hill School should look like and Stevenson. I think we should
take pride in our schools. Our students should take pride into where they go. I can't thank Manning Landscaping and Mike Manning enough for donating the labor and for the anonymous donor who donated the mulch in the boxwoods. We are very grateful and appreciative. I think it
changed the whole dynamic of the front of the school. I think it looks absolutely amazing and uh it definitely paid homage to the board members that were in office uh you know many many years ago who initiated this fundraiser program and it actually sparked uh the board of
education's first fundraiser which we are going to be working closely with um Denise Kafone is going to give us all the information that the town's used in the past and we're going to we're going to do a fundraiser in the spring. We think it's going to be very exciting. I
think we're going to make some money for the schools and uh it's also going to change the appearance of things which is great. So, congratulations to all involved and I you know I think the pictures speak for themselves. It looks great. With that being said, I'd like to move things on to our superintendent report.
I'm going to use a lot of my time for the budget presentation which we're going to start. But I did want to thank Anthony. Don't think for a second that I did not tell the board that when they got the scores back, which were last scores, do not give the new person credit. don't forget. But if the score is dropped, it's definitely the newbie.
But I I do uh I I do appreciate that. And just um something else on the beautifification, it's the beginning because we all agree as we walk around, there's things you just don't notice and you kind of get accustomed to. So as we walk the grounds in different areas, it's just amazing that we can do things
like this and we have a tight budget and we have a community that will step up and donate. And that didn't cost us a And if you pass by Church Hill now, it's a beautiful entrance. And as again, as we walk through, you're going to see that process. We are going to focus on beautifification. And we have a
gardening club that can now participate and help us do some things. So, you're going to start seeing those things. And again, it doesn't take a lot in in terms of the budget, but it does take the care of the community and the care of the staff here. And they're thrilled about it. So, just coming in, the Church Hill staff seeing that, it's nice. They
weren't expecting it. It was like a surprise. So, um, thank you to Manning and and again, hopefully you'll see more things like that as we go because we do want to take pride in and again, you get accustomed to seeing things and you don't really look at it closely and that was something that I think I passed
every time. Didn't even realize that there were bricks there donated with people's names. So, um, great job with that and it really does look beautiful. And just to touch on what Ryan said, we actually we I believe he placed the boxwoods in a position where the gardening club can plant
um annuals in between and every year he's agreed to do different things. So, you know, during Thanksgiving, maybe moms or you know, it it's it's going to look nice. It's going to bring some color and and like I said, it's just it's nice to have and we're we're grateful for all involved.
All right. You want to start? All right, we're going to tag team a little bit here. I'm going to start off and uh First thing I'd like to do is just introduce the board of education members. I think that's uh um some people don't know too much about it.
It's an elected position. It's all volunteer. Um it commands a lot of time and the uh the burrow is very fortunate to have um board members who work tirelessly and try to do the best job for the residents and students of Fairfield. Um the board is broken up
into separate committees and one of the committees is the finance committee with Mr. Fiti and Mr. D. Pascal on helping with the budget preparation. They were there from the beginning and a lot of um their input is what you're going to see tonight.
All right. Thanks. Um we are you're going to say we're really really proud of this budget and kudos to Wall-E. He's done a tremendous job. He knew the constraints we were up against. He knew the priorities of this of this district. We had board goals. We had district goals. And you're going to see a budget
that just keeps everything of of importance in line. Not to say it wasn't tough. As you know, we have we have had to make some tough cuts. And if you're watching the news, you see districts making huge amounts of cuts right now that I'm sure are devastating. So, it still is difficult. um we did have to
sacrifice for this, but as you'll see, it's it's a budget that I'm very very proud of and and and it emphasizes teaching and learning. So, um just a reminder to start off. So, our district goals, we had two goals we've been working on, and these will probably be continuous because they're so important. Changing the culture and climate, making sure it's positive and encouraging to
everyone and supportive. And then the big one we just were talking about with scores is increasing student growth and achievement. That's always going to be at the forefront. So this budget goal not only is aimed at supporting those district goals but it provides the best possible educational experience for the children and that could be in terms of
anything anything your kids will go through in and they experience at school. We want to have a positive impact on that. So we're going to go into just a little bit of details on that. And of course that last piece which has got which has gotten a lot of other districts in trouble is doing that with the utmost diligence and watching
where we spend the money. We would love to do a lot of things but we really have to focus on the things that can make that have the biggest upside with that won't require as much capital and funds. So here are some of the things that of course we focus on safety and
security number one. We we want to maintain all of that. Health and wellness of our students that goes right in line with the safety and security of our students. But some of the other things that are constant classroom technology we are always going to be upgrading. Um this year we were lucky enough to have a grant from the
foundation that we got Prometheian board. So that kind of sped up the process but there are a lot of other technology needs in the district. Major facilities improvement which we've talked about again Wally has brought up the finance committee has brought up. We're going to need a a new boiler um a server upgrade which will be happening.
We're looking at upgrading of the playgrounds for our students. And here's the key especially for someone who has the educational background. It was extremely important that we maintained all of our academic programs. The last board meeting I mentioned our um our autism program. So we're talking about
special ed, our general education programs. We're fortunate enough to have a gifted talented program which a lot of districts do not have. We have of course our have our um uh RTI programs, our social emotional learning, character education that all costs money. Those are presentations, those are trainings,
those are programs that you have to invest time and money in. So maintaining all of that was a key. extracurricular clubs and activities. That's all in this budget. And here are a few that were just really jumped out at me and some um
I've talked about it in chats with parents anecdotally. We've had discussions. It's one thing to ask teachers to do something and to be able to meet a certain expectation. It's another to provide them with the support they need. So when I started hearing
about we don't have the textbooks or the resources or the programs that they know would work but that wasn't in a previous budget. Those were the things I prioritized and said, "Okay, if we're asking our students to achieve here and we're asking our our staff to perform here, we better make sure we give them
all the support they needed." So you're going to see in this budget that there is there is money allocated for the textbooks, science kits, online programs, subscriptions, and of course professional development because you can't roll out a program or expect staff to perform if you don't provide professional development. That is all
here. And then one of the biggest ones especially in terms of the parents concern is maintaining class sizes. We wanted to make sure that even though we did make some tough cuts in terms of staff, we did not do anything that was going to affect the class sizes. So the students will remain our class sizes
have averaged about 18 or 19 per class and the projection for next year will be 18 or 19 again. We did not uh do anything that would warrant a change in that. And now I'm going to kick it over to Wally who's going to go through more of the money issues and what's driving
our budget. So our budget is based off of things that are going to drive it. And a lot of the things that drive the budget cost a lot. Um, some of the some of the costs that uh dictated where we're going to spend money are our labor costs. We have a four a new four-year contract. Um, and
those percentages are in excess of the 2% tax levy cap. So, that that's a a budget driver, health benefit cost. The district was lucky in years past not to see the increases that other uh districts have. We're in a BMED program
um separate from the state plan. And this year, unfortunately, our healthcare costs are 16%. So that again that's way above the 2% cap. Um we were lucky in previous years uh to stay below that but the uh three-year average that we have
now is 11.5% increase whereas the state average is 11.8. So we caught up with the market trend and unfortunately the health sector is trending upward. So expenses on the healthc care side are going up and dictate the budget. special education. All costs associated with
special ed are extremely high and uh they have to be accounted for especially out of district placements and out of district services. Um in in addition to those placements um operation and maintenance uh we have increased energy
cost this year and specifically the electric uh market is roughly around 20 to 25% um supposed to be an increase and the reason for that is New Jersey um does not produce enough electricity so we have to outsource it and outsourcing
that costs money. um ways we're going to try to combat that is we're doing a boiler project. So, we're looking to reduce some energy cost by creating some efficient products. We're also doing a lighting upgrade in the district this summer, which is hopefully going to reduce the cost. We're switching
everything over to LED. A lot of the uh lights in the district are original, um very old, and uh the cost to the district will be very minimal because there are a lot of rebates from PSEG for this program. And we're expecting an energy and maintenance savings of
roughly 20 to 25,000 a year in energy costs uh by doing this. Um technology uh technology you buy something two days later it's it's obsolete and you have to buy something new. So technology costs are always going to be recurring in the school district. Um networking uh
textbooks um platforms. So that's these are the the big things that we start off with when preparing the budget and then we start going down from there. Um the way to combat that is we do some efficient things. We are part of a BMED program which is our employee um medical
fund, health benefits fund. Historically they provide better rates than the state health benefit plan. So we're we opt to stay with them um because they provide a good service. Um we're part of cooperative purchasing programs. Uh what they do is essentially bid for us. So
they take the bidding process out of it and at times can provide lower rates and discounted rates. um than if we had gone out on our own. Uh we're also part of an program which is for a technology reimbursement uh for networking um some
type of equipment and um for phone usage and data. Uh we're part of an energy cooperative uh where we buy our energy from. Uh New Jersey School Insurance Group is our insurance broker that goes out there and researches the market for
best coverage and rates. That's another way we're trying to cut down our costs. We do have a shared service with the town um where they provide some services at a reduced or no cost to us which is highly beneficial. And transportation, we're part of a cooperative um that do
again do the bidding for us for transportation routes. And they also uh provide shared routes which reduce the cost because we're splitting the cost of a bus with other districts. So, what everybody wants to know is what is this going to cost us tax-wise? So, I
start off with the tax levy and the tax levy is going to be a 3.7% increase um from the prior year. So, how's that possible with a 2% cap? Um the reason is is per the statute um there is a 2% cap, but the state does
allow some allowances and adjustments. So we were eligible for two uh allowances and adjustments this year and one was an enrollment adjustment um based on our enrollment forecast and the health benefits adjustment due to the
increase in health benefits costs. Um so the way the tax levy is calculated is you take the prior year's tax levy of 143. Um you add in the enrollment adjustment of 62,000 then the 2% is multiplied against
that. So that's going to be the 2% tax levy. Um added into that is the healthcare adjustment and that's a onetime adjustment. So it's not compounded every year like the enrollment adjustment is. So that'll make up um the 3.7%. That's how that's
derived. So, how does that affects the homeowner? All right. So, this is a an example of what it's going to cost the average home in Fairfield. So, if you look at the 2025 column, the cost of an average home that is calculated by
taking the tax levy um I mean not the tax levy, the the estimated net valuation and dividing that by the amount of parcels in the borrow. that will give you the average cost of a home. And when you apply the tax levy to that average cost, um you will get the
annual tax on that average home of two $2,470. And that's just the school tax. That's not the entire to. So that's why that number looks lower than what you're probably paying in your regular tax bill. If you take that um compared to last year, it represents a 57 um dollar
increase from prior year. So, it's not a substantial increase. Um, coming out to $481 a month on the average home. So, you will see in tonight's agenda, this is going to be the resolution that's presented. So, I talked a lot about the tax levy, which is the 14 million. Um, but that's only
the local share. The entire budget is $18 million representing the operating budget of 17 and special revenue fund, which are grants um that we receive. So the total budget is $18 million, but I'll go into more detail about the operating budget in the next few
slides. So revenue dictates what you could budget. You only could you it's the driver. Revenue controls your expenses. You can't budget more than you're going to receive. Um so if you look at local taxes represent 84%
roughly of the budget. That's that's basically where all our funding comes from. Uh we do receive some state aid. We did receive a 3% cut in state aid this year like many districts in the state. Um came out to $30,944. So it was a little significant
but not too much to hurt us. Um the budgeted fund balance of legal reserve for 653. That was a legal reserve for the audit. And if you go back to the November audit presentation, that was explained in detail by our auditors. That's money that was put aside that we were couldn't spend it at the time was a
legally restricted reserve. But in this year's budget, it has to statutoily be brought in. So, we brought that into this year's budget. The fund balance um of 41,000 that was used to plug a to plug the bunch to balance revenue expenses. We needed a couple extra
things on the expense side. In order to make that happen, we needed to draw down from our fund balance. Um in prior year, we drew down 78,000. This year, we only needed 41. And then the rest are capital reserve withdrawal. That's for projects
that we I'm going to go into later in the in the presentation, but that's the amount we're taking out of our reserves to fund those projects. So, we don't have to go out for bond or or go off for a referendum or anything on that. Um, and then the remaining ones are just some uh forecasted revenues that we
anticipate um that we do every year. So, now the budget side, um if you look at the bottom, the total matches the revenue side and it's broken out by uh different categories. So you have general and special ed education instruction make up the bulk of the
cost. Uh employee benefits that includes um health benefits which again are extremely high. Um contractual obligations and statutory requirements like FICA and and those kind of um benefits uh support services that looks like a very big number but it makes up a
lot of things inside that number. So in there you have health care um which is nursing. You have occupational physical and speech therapies. You have any extraordinary circumstance uh services which are onetoone aids and we do have uh we have a about 16 I think paras and
and onetoone aids in the district uh district um guidance uh CST and media services are also in there. So that's why that's a pretty high number. um operation and maintenance of plant. That's um building and ground so to
speak. You know, keep the building operational, uh cleaning, repairs, um electric, gas, um transportation costs, uh well, excuse me, administrative costs are superintendent, principles, business offices, uh legal expenses, um auditing
expenses, um stuff like that. transportation costs are our regular and special ed costs. Capital outlay is for any capital improvements that the district's looking to do. And I'll get to that in the later slide, but that is money that we're going to you're going to see is drawn down from the reserves to fund those
projects. um out of district tuition. That's a that's a big expense for a lot of districts in the state and a very touchy subject because um you know you have to budget for that uh and anticipation of possibly sending out students or
requiring those services. So in our district that's made up of some charter school placements and students uh that are placed in private schools for the disabled. Um so that's um unfortunately that's a very high tuition rate and and we bear the burden of that and the food
service piece is the portion of the free and reduce that we are obligated to to pay. So this is uh this gives you a visual on on where the money is. So if you look at salaries and benefits that represents about 70% of the budget and
that's you know that's we can't really change that. A lot of that's contractual. We need that. We need those services which only leaves us with about 5 million of other expenses. Now that other encompasses everything, you know, that encompasses gas, electric, liability insurance, all maintenance of
the facilities, um you know, anything that's instrumental in just getting the doors open. Uh that's what that other is. So, you know, if you look at it, we really don't have a lot of money to spend um on the other stuff versus the contractual salaries and and
benefits. Now, if you break it out that 17 million by major categories, and these are categories that the state dictates, um you have student costs, facility costs, and employee and admin benefits costs. Student costs represent 60% of the budget, which is pretty good.
So, a lot of money is getting channeled to the students. It's getting towards the education into the classroom. Um, again, facilities costs include the capital improvements. That's why that number is high. So, if you take out that 15.5 million of improvements we're looking at, that's only down to about uh
a little less than one one and a half million to operate the school to basically open the doors and and keep the place running. Um, and then the admin and benefits. Again benefits are statutoal and a the health benefits. Um admin is central office, business office
again um legal fees, uh auditing fees. This is assigning a number to that pie chart just so you can get an idea because you know like what makes that up. And again these numbers will translate to previous slides. There's the 17 million. There's a regular special ed instruction. um breaks out
further with basic skills, bilingual um again the tuition that goes out of district charter schools a piece of that as well. Um student services again that that's a lot of things that fall into that student services that I addressed a little bit earlier. This is the admin and benefit
piece. So the benefits are 3.3 million of that um that number of that 4 million. 1.2 Two is central administration which is again salary um superintendent's office, business office and uh principles and this will give the uh
capital expenditure piece of that. So again half of the cost is maintenance and uh repairs of the building energy costs the other half is we're doing a capital improvement. So that's why that number looks high. It's but um only half of that is actually what we're using to
run the building. I went one too far. Okay. So, this makes up the capital improvements that we're looking to do in 2526 in Churchill. We're looking to do a boiler replacement. Um and part of that boiler, we're looking to do a direct install program with PSENG. I think I spoke
about this in a previous meeting where PSEG will give us rebates towards that program. So, we're anticipating anywhere from 250 to 275 uh reimbursement towards the project um once it's complete. Uh the electrical is just a piece of that um in anticipation that we need to
upgrade services for the boiler. If we go to Stevenson, we have an MDF room upgrade going in this summer. We did the similar thing in Churchill this past summer. Um, we're running that through -ate. So, we're able to get some of that money back through um through. It takes
a little while, but it should offset some of the costs. And the bottom one, the recreation improvement grant, that is something we touched on uh last meeting. It was an $87,000 award. So, the finance committee, building and grounds committee, and and Mr. Gupt and I will sit down and decide what's the
best way to spend that. Are we going to do the full project or are we going to scale it back a little bit? Um and then if you move down with looking at uh speaking with the facilities director, um we do have some doors that are aging out. They do get a lot of use. Um and we're looking to do an upgrade every
year to upgrade four or five doors around a district just so we could spread the cost out over years rather than try to do a massive project all at once. Um there are some professional fees associated with the recreation improvement. We're not sure if we're going to need that depending on the scope of the project. Um we do have some
debt servant assessment that is money that when the state um funds a project this is basically the state assigns that expense the principle and interest to other districts and it comes off your state aid. So we just have to account for that in the capital portion of the
budget. It's nothing we're going to spend. It's just the state saying here we we did a project. We gave you some money. Now you got to pay it back. Um and then they spread that out over years. And um the total facility
construction is about 1.5 million. 1.1 is coming out of that capital reserve that I mentioned earlier. 328 is coming out of that legal reserve of the 653. Uh we're using a portion of that to fund some of the capital projects. The remaining of that is going back into the
regular budget. Um, so moving to the future, um, there are a few things we'd like to to improve. Classroom and office floors in Stevenson and Churchill. Some of them need upgrade. There's some carpeting. There's some older flooring. We like to bring that and uh and start repairing
that um as needed. There is a need for an HVAC upgrade at Stevenson. I believe the project was started years ago, but it never um it never materialized. So, we're looking to do a little at a time and and get everything up to spec there. The Church Hill cafeteria gym floor
definitely needs an upgrade. Um it's in it's in some rough condition. So that's going to be a priority next year is to try to figure out how we want to address that and what's going to be the best solution for that area. And then the Churchill Recreation Area, we're hoping that that grant is available next year
so we could write and do some improvements over at the Churchill Recreation Area like we're trying to do over at Stevenson. Um we do have a proposal on the um on this budget and as Mr. Fiti had mentioned in on several occasions in
past board meetings, you know, that we're going to have to start doing these small proposals in order to get these services into the district. So what we're looking at um is a $359,000 question that will be on the ballot in November. And what we're trying to do is get three classroom
aids, a special education teacher, and a guidance counselor. Um, so when you break this down and again using the the formulas in the other slide about what's this going to cost me, what's this going to cost the taxpayer, we're looking at $4.95 a month. So $60 a year for the average taxpayer in town to have these
services provided in the district. So it's not a it's not a large cost um to the taxpayer, but it will make a significant impact to the district with with services and and um Mr. Gupta and I and and the board spoke about this and and we felt that this was necessary and this was the route we wanted to take
with that and uh thank you for your attending. This information will be all posted on the website tomorrow and uh submitted the final budget um if it passes tonight will be submitted to the county office for approval and then we just start moving forward with that. So,
thank you. Thank you very much, Wally. Thank you, Ryan. Uh for those of you that were here last year, you'll see that this year's presentation was a lot more detailed. Uh thanks to Mr. Lindsley, Mr. Gupta, and and uh Joe for, you know, being along
the way uh being on finance. Uh Joe chairs finance, and I I just kind of sit along and listen to what he has to say. But while he definitely went above and beyond and hopefully broke it down to like really explain exactly what we're doing and what our goals are. And you know, to say we're out of the woods is
uh definitely premature, but we actually we feel like we're heading in the right direction. And uh you know, that $495 based on $530,000. 530 is probably unrealistic. Obviously, the real estate in town is doing very well. So, you could pretty much figure between a five or $10
increase, which is still minimal considering to the benefits that it brings to the district. So, you know, please take that in consideration. And if you have any questions in regards to that question, we'll be more than happy to address them. With that being said, I'd like to open
up nonaggenda items only. Comments. Public comments. Non-aggenda items. Absolutely. of the three onific the aids will always be used priority is
when it was required right so we can have the intention of okay we're going to bring them back and we're going to use them in a specific area um and which we always need the aids but when it comes we'll never be able to specify they're going to be for kindergarten they're going to be for fifth grade they're going to be a churchill because as soon as a student comes comes with an
IEP that needs a one-on-one aid, that aid is going. And that's exactly if you happen if you remember what happened with the kindergarten aids a while back where those three had to be moved to an area where the law required them to be. So they will always be pulled there. So it's impossible to specify where exactly they'll be. And then the guidance
counselor is that school or for the whole district to share one, right? Yes. Ideally, that would be a shared guidance counselor. Yes. No, good question. formally Nicole Shud. I know it can possibly that for the upcoming
school year just because it is impractical for parents who work because it is in the afternoon and it does not make sense to any two working families dropping my daughter off at 12:15 in the afternoon and for 2 hours
and 45 minutes at 3:00 so I need someone in the morning to do that part and then get her as I hopeful possibly follow suit with that. It's definitely something that we can look into and discuss and
see if there's any uh see if there's an opportunity for it or, you know, maybe poll a general need, you know, on on on how many people would be interested. I think that would probably be the first thing that we would do. I know the moms that stay at home are
obviously are able to have that opportunity and I'm paying extra instead of the money going towards Fairfield now. So the money possibly this way. We
would we would love to do that but um space is the problem. We don't have the space. So we take in one group and then the space is emptied and then we so um the restrictions on a lot of our programming is space. Um and you know a referendum was proposed you know a few I
don't know how long ago was was to try to fix some of those situations but in the current situation like you see we have trailers um space is a very restricting resource right now. So I can tell you right now the the main reason why we can't do that the full day is because of the space. Yeah but
definitely something we want to look towards. Any other questions? questions for agenda items only. Anyone have anything? Okay. Committee reports.
Yes. I was just going to touch on the the uh budget presentation. Uh thanks to Wally and Ryan. You know, their first year. Obviously, they put a lot of effort into that. They knew coming into this district the challenges we faced. So, kudos to them.
Um, obviously costs go up every year. This is this is nothing that anybody's shocked about. I think what should be pointed out is that 3.7% increase. Uh, you know, when I first joined the board, the one of the first exercises I did,
it's was clear that those like those adjustments aren't something that just Wally magically found because he's a genius, right? These were available in the past and they weren't taken advantage of. Okay? So, these are things that put you in this situation and we need to be more
um advantageous when we when we take a look at our budget and say, "Okay, 2%'s nice. We'll keep taxes low, but also this is available and we should take it before we're behind." You know, that goes in line with the ballot question. That goes in line with not being not taking money from fund balance every year to to cover certain recurring
expenses. That's the thought process and that's the plan. And, you know, so far we're we're headed down that path. Cap expense They knew coming into it that we were light. We're we're going to use the money. That's taxpayer money. We should be using it for the schools and we will.
Um that plan's in place. Obviously, the ballot question, that was a great question before, but every year it's special education cost us more money. So, we have to be ahead of that. Let's be ahead of we're going to have to spend more money in special ed. Unfortunately,
that some things I don't want to be negative. That was a great presentation, but I am here to make sure everybody's aware of the things we have to watch out for and things that I'm aware of and we're aware of and some things that we don't we're not aware of. And let's face it, those things can happen like that healthcare adjustment was minding that
was substantial. But out of districts going to continue to go up. Um there is something out there about a preschool mandate which means that'll be that'll be a cost to us. Forget about just offering it now. It'll be an actual mandate. Um our friend Mr. Trump
you know, he's doing some things. He comes in with his machete and he just starts cutting left and right. We do have fed funds in our budget. Okay, it's 200,000, but 200,000 is just shy of 2% of what we increase here. Um, state funds, we lost 35,000. That's a decent number. Maybe next year it could be
more. Who knows? Could be less. Uh, what is our free and reduced lunch percentage? Because that's another thing that if we go over a certain percent, we could have a cost. We're below the threshold, but we're creeping up, right? So, yeah. So these are just things that they're out there, folks. So let's just let's be happy while we can, but we got
to be a little we have to be ready. That's just my my cautious optimism is always going to be there. But I think you guys did a great job and another another year hopefully will say the same thing. Yeah. And Joe, you as well obviously a big part of uh you know the the budget and your knowledge of
spreadsheets and numbers is obviously apparent. Um, and and to touch on something that that Nicole asked and and Joe touched on with Wall-E, we really thought long and hard about the questions and there there was a lot of dialogue and and conversations about
what is the the forever need and and unanimously the board, you know, with the guidance of our superintendent came up with the aids and the guidance counselor because it seems like no matter what we're running into a shortage, right? So when you look at the
constant, that's the constant right now. So it's important to like Joe said for for a couple dollars a month to really just keep building, not just, you know, one question, but year after year. And and that's what allows us five or six or seven years from now to be extremely
fiscally strong. And hopefully Joe's still here and Wall-E still here and and Ryan. And if you talk to people, it's not, like we said many times, it won't be every year. No, we're not going to look to have a question every year because that's not even fair. Um, we'll do our best to just be conservative with
what we spend, but for now it'll be this year. And by the next one, Ryan will have three years under him. And maybe it'll be more surgical as to what we need, not just a blanketed, you know, not that it's not important,
uh, special ed's not important, but maybe it'll be something that'll be for gened and special ed. And one of the things I had to mention in the previous not the meeting prior to this but before that was that we were going to do two questions and one of them be a one-time expenditure that was turned
down which I didn't know that could actually happen. That was the county turned that down or the state the county. Yeah. So basically because we have the money in our capex they wouldn't let us put it on a ballot. So just in case anybody was still thinking about that um we we have we haven't
pulled every lever correctly. I guess we missed that, but it is what it is. So that that's all I have. Anyone have anything else on their committee reports? Sure. Uh just very briefly, uh the HSA
is holding their fundraiser on May 15th. It's going to be casino night. Uh the theme of Savannah night nights. Tickets are on sale until uh May 5th of this month. So please come out and support them if you can. It's going to be a really great night and all the money goes back to our students. They work really hard and they raise a lot of
money and we get a lot of great things for our kids. So, please come out on May 15th. Um, also the SEPAC committee, they've been meeting, I guess an executive committee has been meeting with them and they're posting resources on their Facebook page, on their Instagram page, and they really want
people to take an interest and take a look at that. And they are also going to have a meeting on May 7th, which is following the HSA meeting. So, the HSA meeting will be first and the CPAC meeting will follow that. So hopefully we'll get a big turnout for that. They
do a lot of great things and a lot of great information they put out there. So please try to come on the HSA. You know, we say this every time it's brought up and unfortunately it's not brought up enough or as often as it should, but the HSA it's just it's a it's a constant
grind what they do for this district. And a lot of times it goes unnoticed because a lot of it's behind the scenes. So, if you can come out and support in May, you know, the HSA would greatly appreciate it. You know, I we throw numbers around quite often and and you can't say enough to an organization that
donates, you know, upwards of $100,000 a year directly back to the kids, right? And and and like I said, a lot of it is behind the scenes. They don't have these um large events that often. So, if we can get everyone in the community to
come out, that would be fantastic. Um, with that being said, anyone else on committee reports? Okay, finance. Yeah. Okay. Page four. Uh, the following finance motions are made at the recommendation of the superintendent of schools. Anything placed on this
agenda, items 1 through eight will be voted upon in one motion. Uh, I'd like to motion items 1 through eight. May I have a second? Second. Roll call. Miss Jandoli, yes. Mr. Fiti, yes. Miss Street, yes. Miss Alai, yes. And Mr.
Deep, yes. The following administrative motion is made at the recommendation of the superintendent and schools. Anything placed on the agenda, item one will be voted upon in one motion. I so move. May I have a second? Second.
May. Roll call. Miss Jandi. Yes. Mr. Fiti. Yes, Miss Street. Yes. Miss Alai, yes. And Mr. Deep Pascal, yes. Following personnel motions are made at the recommendation of the superintendent of schools. Anything placed on this agenda, items one through five will be
voted upon in one motion. I so move. We have to pull uh 5P. We're going to be only be voting on one through four. Okay. We're going to table 5. So, anything from 1 P to 4 P. May I have a second? We have a
second. Second. May I have a motion? Miss Cheni. Roll call. I apologize. Miss Chandoli? Yes. Mr. Fiti? Yes. Miss Street? Yes. Miss Alai? Yes. And Mr. Sepascal? Yes. The following policy motions are made at the recommendation of the superintendent
and school. Anything placed on this agenda. Um, we're only going to be voting on one through three. Four, five, and six are going to be tableds until next meeting. So again, we're voting on one,
two, and three. I so move. I have a second. Second. Roll call. Miss Jenolei? Yes. Mr. Feedy? Yes. Miss Street? Yes. It's all tie. Uh, yes to numbers one and three. Abstain to two.
Mr. Pascal. Yes. At this point, goes back to you. Thank you very much. I'll say it again. Public comments and non-aggenda items only. With that being said, there's none. Next meeting be resolved that the next meeting will be
held in person on May 29th, 2025. Public work session beginning at 6 p.m. followed by executive session with public session resuming at approximately 7:30 at the Fairfield Municipal Building. May I have a motion? Motion second.
Roll. Missolei? Yes. Mr. Fit? Yes. Miss Street? Yes. Mai? Yes. Miss Pascal? Yes. Thank you very much and enjoy the evening. Thank you.