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Town of Enfield Budget FY 2009-10 Q&A
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Q. When and where is the Public Hearing?
A. April 29, 2009, 7:00 PM at JFK Middle School, 155 Raffia Road, Enfield
Q. By what date does the budget have to be adopted?
A. By May 19, 2009
Q. Where did the premium for the fully insured plan come from? Are they being taken from the schools budget?
A. In a self-insurance plan the Town takes on the risk for expenditures above the projected premiums. The premiums are set based on current experience averaged over a couple of years. The risk pool is established to cover the expenditures over the anticipated costs. The risk pool per our insurance consultants needs to be in the $3 to $4 million dollar range. The funds for the risk pool are being fully funded by the Town from those funds we are currently holding in our Self-Insurance Fund. The Self-Insurance fund was established when the Town received stock for Anthem BC/BS when they switched from a mutual to a publicly traded company. We have sold the stock over a number of years and placed the money in the fund to eventually establish the self-insurance program.
Q.The total proposed to go to the BOE is a little over $63 million and the adopted budget for 08-09 was $70.2 million, which brings us to a “deficit” between 08-09 and 09-10 of approximately $7.1 million. Doesn’t the move of the $7.2 million to the town side of the balance sheet basically put the BOE at getting exactly the same or nearly the exact same amount of money as 08-09?
A. Please note that the BOE submitted the same dollar amount for a budget as they have in this current year, less the $7.5 million that accounts for the building maintenance functions to move to the town.
"The 7,500,000 is the number for custodians and building maintenance provided by the schools to the town. The schools are approximately 53% of the budget based upon the new numbers factoring in the switch of the custodians. This percentage was the split of the revenue deficit.
2008-09 School Budget $70,211,007
Custodial/Building Maintenance -$7,500,000
Sharing of Revenue Deficit -$2,251,970
School Budget $60,459,037
School Percentage of Budget 53%
Town Percentage of Budget 47%
Revenue Deficit $4,249,685
School Share of Deficit $2,251,970
Town Share of Deficit $1,997,715
Q. Isn’t the BOE only short for the contractual obligations to the teachers, which we have been told from the start equates to approximately $4 million? Where is the $7 million shortage coming from? Since the items that they moved would be many of the items that go up on an annual basis such as utilities and maintenance.
A. The BOE is being asked to cover their contractual obligations and fixed costs increases projected at $4 million plus the share of the revenue deficit of $2,251,970 as outlined above. The Town is covering our contractual obligations and fixed cost increases plus the share of the revenue deficit of $1,997,715.
Q. What is the proposed Mill Rate for the 2009-2010 Budget?
A. $23.88/$1000
Q. What is Minimum Budget Requirement (MBR)?
A. MINIMUM BUDGET REQUIREMENT
Prior law required any town that received an increased ECS (Educational Cost Sharing) grant to increase its local budget for education by at least the amount of the increased aid. The act modifies the minimum budget requirement (MBR) to allow towns to spend part of their FY 08 and FY 09 ECS grant increases for non-educational purposes.
The minimum percentage of each town's ECS grant increase that it must spend on education is determined as follows.
1. For FY 08 and 09, each town must spend at least its budgeted appropriation for education for the prior year plus from 15% to 65% of its ECS grant increase.
2. The MBR percentage is based on an average of the differences between each town and the highest-ranked town in three categories: (1) current program expenditures per student, (2) per capita wealth (equalized net grand list adjusted for income), and (3) percentage of students who score below proficiency on state mastery tests.
3. The bigger the average of the differences, the higher a town's MBR percentage (i. e. , the closer to 65%).
4. Any town whose school district is in the third year or more of failing, as a district, to make AYP in math or reading, must add 20 percentage points to its MBR for education (i. e. , a minimum of 35% and a maximum of 85%).
The act defines "current program expenditures" and "current program expenditures per student" for purposes of the education MBR. Under the act, those expenditures are the existing "regular education expenditures" plus expenditures for special education and student transportation.
The act also makes a conforming change to repeal a penalty for a town that did not meet its ECS minimum expenditure requirement (MER). By law, this penalty was already part of the MBR. (The penalty is twice the amount of any shortfall. )
Q. How much is the projected revenue shortfall for the 2009-2010 Budget?
A. $4,249,685
Q. How big of a tax increase would be necessary to close the revenue gap?
A. Approximately $1.37/$1000 of value (5.7 % increase).
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