e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e good evening everyone welcome to the Tuesday March 26th budget Workshop meeting of the Wall Township Board of Education please join me in saluting the flag for stands na indivisible andice for all thank you at this time I'm going to ask Mr SMI our board secretary to please read the sunshine announcement and perform roll call as this is the Wall Township Board of Education special meeting for which adequate notice under the open public meeting Act was provided by a notice to the co-star Asberry Park Press all Wall Township Public Schools Township administrator's office and the wall business administrator's office on February 1 2024 I'll take a roll call Mr anio miss barbier here Mr buffer here Miss D Giovani here Mr malof here Mr Nasser here miss shimko Mr wandra Miss STS here thank you um at this time I'm going to be opening the floor for public comment on school related issues if anyone has anything they'd like to contribute please come to the podium last call for public comment seeing none I'll be closing the floor for public comment prior to starting um our special meeting I would just like to congratulate Miss Steiner on her Award with the Crimson night at the Crimson night Gala um this past week very proud of all of her contributions and she is here this evening um and also in her honor I have worn my seven mindsets t-shirt tonight 100% accountable I believe is our topic for the current the current cycle so um just reminding our public and our community um if you're following along with seven mindsets this program is very important um and I think that this meeting plays into that this is in fact a workshop meeting where we are going to have some presentations to the board um to understand a little bit more about how the budget is being crafted um so that's what we're doing this evening um are we doing an approval okay at this time um prior to going to Dr hander hand's report um I'd like a motion for approval of the consent agenda I'll make that motion Mr Nasser I'll second Miss D Giovani Mr Smite a roll call Mr anesio yes yes just like to add a comment uh I see Miss Beth Tori is retiring and she's been here for a very long time she's probably probably in the top two maybe top three in longevity in the district so she will be uh a great asset mist and wish her well in her retirement come June Miss barier yes Mr buffer yes Mr dgani yes Mr Malo yes and I concur with Mr Adano regarding his remarks about Miss Tori Mr Nasser yes Miss stes yes at this time I'm going to be turning the floor over to Dr handerhan for superintendence report thank you very much Miss Stites good evening everyone uh Welcome to our second full board budget Workshop these workshops just a reminder I know I uh really um specified this last month but I think it's uh in case you wable to view um our meeting that we the first Workshop we had I think it Bears um repeating these workshops provide an opportunity for the full board to meet as a whole and to discuss the 2024 2025 budget and th this meeting is in addition to the discussions that take place during our committee meetings where in our committee meetings there are no more than four board members that meet with School administration on a and District administration on a monthly basis budget workshops are held in public because they include the full Board of Education and therefore provides an opportunity for the public to observe the board as they work on the budget the budget workshops to stress are working meetings of the Board of Education and because there are more there are five or more in assembly they are public meetings uh budget Workshop meetings are not presentations of the budget and most documents being referenced reviewed and discussed this evening have not been made available to the public because currently the budget is a work in process handouts and links however will be available for the public budget hearing which is now scheduled for April 24th please note that this is a change in the date we will still have our regularly scheduled Board of Education business business meeting on April 23rd however the budget hearing will be a standalone meeting to be held on April 24th after the budget presentation there will be an opportunity for the public to comment specifically on the proposed next year's budget and then the Board of Education will vote on the on the budget before we get started this evening I would like to once again share with you the priorities of the of um next year's budget as we move move through the process our goal is to create a budget that supports the following curriculum updates and programmatic changes rooted in evidence-based practices and brain-based research strengthening capacity of Staff members through professional development and increased leadership opportunities student wellness must continue to be at the Forefront of our decision-making K12 evidence-based practices will be implemented continued focus on maximizing efficiency with respect to Staffing and purchasing this for the first uh budget Workshop session which we had back in February we discussed um curriculum and instruction we discussed student wellness and we also discuss special services this evening our themes for discussion include technology Staffing and operations um at Large um including maintenance custodial Services Transportation so um without any further Ado I would like to welcome Mr John hyim our director of information and Technology integration to our discussion Mr hyim I'm going to turn this over to you good evening superintendent Hanahan president Stites and members of the Board of Education I am pleased to present this annual update on behalf of the Wall Township Schools district technology department this past year has been one of significant achievement and progress making a period of robust technological advancement and infrastructure enhancements across our schools our teams dedication hard work have resulted in substantial improvements that directly contribute to enriching our educational environment and operational efficiency over the past year we have achieved several significant accomplishments that have greatly improved our educational and operational capabilities we have successfully deployed and configured wireless access points in classrooms across all schools ensuring robust internet connectivity to support digital learning initiatives a significant technological upgrade involving transitioning our Genesis server from in-house infrastructure to Amazon web services which has improved our operational resilience and scalability we have also installed new color printers and copiers at the K5 level expanding the resources available to our elementary school learners in terms of upgrading classroom technology we have made notable improvements by deploying new Apple Computers in the high school's TV production art and music classrooms and new Chrome boxes in the high school media center significantly increasing our digital learning capabilities we have also implemented a wireless screen sharing solution in the K12 classrooms facilitating a more interactive and engaging learning experience across access and security have been upgraded by implementing single sign on for our Genesis platforms two-dimensional barcode login for our youngest Learners and a new help desk solution these have improved accessibility security for our students and staff and increased efficiency in getting assistance when needed projects that are in progress we are installing new network switches and fiber optic cabling to bolster our Network infrastructure and assure it remains resilient and capable of meeting future demands our efforts are not solely focused on Hardware enhancements we are also dedicated to strengthening our security measures this includes implementing multiactor authentication for Key Personnel optimizing our active directory and Google structure for improved efficiency and security and upgrading our classroom technology by replacing end of life projectors with latest models to ensure the highest quality of visual aids recognizing the ever evolving landscape of cyber threats we are also introducing a new email spam and fishing solution this system is designed to detect and neutralize sophisticated fishing attempts and spam safeguarding our organization's email Communications by integrating this robust filtering technology we aim to create a more secure and reliable digital environment for our entire community Community looking ahead our future projects include preparing for a virtual PBX upgrade to modernize modernize our phone system optimizing our networks for better traffic management and expanding our multiactor authentication user based to bolster security further these accomplishments and ongoing projects underscore our commitment to providing a technologically advanced learning environment that supports our Educators and students needs our Focus has been on improving educational outcomes and preparing our students for success in the 21st Century as we look to the future we remain dedicated to exploring new technologies and methodologies that will continue to enhance our educational offerings and operational effectiveness I look forward to your continued support and partnership as we advance into the next phase of our technology Journey uh if you would the red uh packet that was handed out inside there on the left side you should see theuh technology slide deck uh it opens up with a technology mission statement uh Wall Township Public Schools technology department aim a to create a secure resilient adaptable Innovative technology infrastructure that enhances learning supports academic social and emotional growth and prepare students as confident responsible digital citizens ready to contribute to the global Community the next two pages uh talk about uh a lot of what you just heard in my uh in my opening statements uh not any significant infrastructure over Halls uh we're very fortunate over the past couple years to play catchup with our our switching and our uh wireless access points so we're going to focus on enhancing and optimizing existing uh infrastructure that we have security upgrades is always an ongoing um cat and mouse game so we'll continue to uh hone in on that uh networks connectivity uh we talked about that also with the the switches and cabling that'll be starting this spring and move into the summer uh to be in place before the school start before the start of school in uh September the next slides uh talk about um I I chunked the uh the Department's spending into categories I thought were digestible for the Board of Education the first one cyber security and data backup um you see we're we're projected to spend or budgeted to spend approximately $243,000 for next year and the bullet points outlined on on how we come come up with that figure our multiactor authentication our uh domain name content security filtering uh Windows Mac antivirus Etc as you go down the list there next uh next page talks about productivity collaboration communication and student management tools some of the components of that 300 and approximately $40,000 comprise our Google workspace for educational licensing our our Genesis licensing for our platforms uh website hosting our internet and phone service uh printer management Etc next category is student and staff devices at approximately $259,000 uh Chromebooks uh for students some additional staff Chromebooks laptop computers to fill in uh for attrition uh we are looking to purchase approximately two grade levels worth of Chromebooks for the upcoming year um to have in place for the students in September next slide uh maintenance and repairs at approximately $315,000 uh somewhat of a catchall basically anything that breaks kind of goes into this category which is almost everything uh our desk phones our Network equipment uh student devices teacher devices projectors Etc as you read through there we also have a catch all of miscellaneous expenses that are included in there physical security at approximately $130,000 these are our uh door access control devices security cameras our various emergency preparedness platforms um that we have uh also our uh clock speakers that we use for our announcements throughout the school district uh the next slide uh talks about system management and tools um these are some of the things that go on behind the scenes that help us manage and operate uh the department and the IT infrastructure uh licensing fees for some of our equipment uh fees we pay to synchronize our data between different services um Etc things that are are listed outlined on that page so I think that concludes the uh main categories that I um broke the budget into with the respective dollar amounts uh can I answer any questions from the board IAM chair yes sir oh Mr time uh thank you for this um do a lot of good work uh so in Chromebooks I know you know last few years we've been very diligent getting you know so we're not overburdened you know like having to buy uh half half of what we need every year how are we in regards to that by doing just two grade levels are we on track to keep the inventory up to dat so Google has expended extended out the usable life of devices that helps us to a degree uh we also have uh um Li devices that commend of life because the batteries were only charged so many times for example um last year we did come on board with three grade levels worth of devices um I I think the responsible thing to do this year would to bring two on uh we still have I I feel healthy enough inventory to get us through next year uh so you know next year we'll we're projecting that that uh you know approximately 500 or so student new student devices in the district uh we're looking to probably roll those out the grades 5 n um is our indication at this point so about how many were we buying this year so uh this year we we came on with three grade levels so we have approximately 250 students per grade level so we're talking about 750 devices oh okay so next year you're anticipating a drop and what we purchased we're going to reduce uh Reduce by a third uh to go with about 500 uh devices on board for September okay new devices and the devices that we purchased this year and next year we're also um engaging uh a four-year warranty on the devices also so um we're have we have had good success with with that company in that warranty process today how long did they extend them out for now so the the the devices are upwards of seven years actually depending upon the the device um in in a best case scenario unfortunately the devic is due to physical use and or number of battery charges um it's somewhat unrealistic to think that seven years on a device is advice will still be around for S years probably like more like a fouryear cycle yes I think that that's a good Target to you know to work towards yeah uh something that wasn't mentioned in here and we've talked about it previous years and it's been kind of floating around for quite a while now the observatory at Allenwood school I know we had infoage doing some stuff to it it was donated to us as you might know any movement on that anything you see carved out in the budget where some money can go to it so it can actually go online sometime soon so approximately 1 to two years ago now um there was resources um dedicated towards uh getting that making that available um we have to explore further who's the best um advisor or or teacher what have you to engage the students with that with that platform on there um as we left it uh we did leave it in a usable State uh with the the uh M excuse me the telescope that's on site as well as a portable telescope as being viable for for use is is it activated is it could it be used now or is it lastly heard it was still tweaking the software and there were is so there was a decision made after Consulting with uh some experts who had volunteered their time to help us to bring it to uh when I came aboard to revisit where it is the decision was made to step away from going with uh a streaming solution so to speak with the device so if you if you're there in person using the device it is it was functional and it should be functional relatively easily but you have to be on site so that correct but we haven't used we haven't done anything with it since trial pictures were taken a couple years ago I don't believe I don't believe anyone has used the used the device uh in the past one to two years so I would suggest that is something we should tackle at a different time it's own separate issue because just by some history I don't know who else was on the board but at the time we did have some interest from some colleges that wanted to partner up with that so maybe this might be a good time to revisit that and see if they want to kick some money in and do the the online portion of it where you know we can certainly have it accessible for our students and uh you know a wider range maybe bring in a couple dollars because I I I see it every day and I think about it every day and I remember you know going to the you know the the meetings about it and thinking this is the coolest thing in the world and uh unfortunately haven't seen anything except those trial pictures that were initially taken so figur budget time good time to bring it up no um the actual going on site to use a device I don't believe has happened however the smaller portable telescope um I believe was used several times by one of the high school teachers with some high school students but that that's not at the observatory that would be brought to the building truly portable can can travel around correct yeah w i mean the one that's in there should is pretty good I mean we did have interest so something to revisit thank you Mr H yes sir okay thank you very much for your report just uh how old the oldest devices Chromebook devic that we have how old are they on that are currently in use so probably the oldest device we have is probably an approximate of a four to five year uh approximately four years old this fine and the ones that will be purchasing this year are they have they really upgraded features are they pretty much the same how often do they do they improve over the course of they they're slight incremental upgrades um from from year to year um not we haven't seen in the past years any significant um developments does anyone else on the board have any questions mrhe thank you so much it's really exciting to hear that it sounds like um I think we had a little bit of a mountain to climb there for a while and it sounds like we've really hit the mountain and kept going and we're really in good shape um that's really exciting because it's going to give our kids the opportunity um to fly with this technology they really need to be able to access um their devices um I mean I think we've seen a lot of growth with that technology use and thank you and your department for all your hard work thank you awesome thank you very much Dr handrian thank you Miss ties thank you Mr him for updating everyone on uh the technology aspect of uh next year's proposed budget at this time I would like to welcome Mr Michael Scarano our director of Human Resources to um to share uh some of the Personnel side of the house um as far as next year's budget so at this point I'm going to turn to you thank you Dr Hanahan thank you madam president Board of Education uh always appreciate the opportunity you've provided me to do this work and uh specifically to present on what we're doing in the human resource department in preparation for this uh for this upcoming budget it's always nice to get a seat at the adult table um once in a while so we appreciate that um also like to thank Miss mccan Miss Bond Miss Steiner Mr Heim Mr SMI for their work and their assistance as we work through the process um as well as building and District admin there's a certain symmetry with our departments that things run through so that symmetry is is really vital to what we put together so I want to thank them for their input their discussion and their um you know their their their value that they had in this so I I want to thank them for that as well as and I'd be remissed if I don't thank the rest of the R department Miss Lisa Ros Amilia and Miss Michelle Meisner for the work that they do uh every day a lot of times they're the F first face that many employees see when they come into the district and um I think they they leave those employees with a really good first impression of uh of our district so I want to thank them for the work that they do every day for our employees as well so thank you uh as we get started I just wanted to draw your attention to the goals every time we go into a say budget cycle or a project we like to start with a mission or certain goals some of these goals are familiar from year to year others um will be specific to the particular year that we're working through so we always want to ensure that our Personnel is maximized and that the district is appropriately staffed this is what we refer to as efficiency we want to be as efficient as possible in the money that we're spending and then the services that we're getting in return um we look to audit certificates to ensure that our staff are appropriately assigned uh in an effort to provide the greatest possible assignment flexibility so what that means is certain certificates might allow us to move people into different positions particularly if they're harder to fill certificates um so we will audit those every year to see which positions we have open and do we currently have the staff that can fill them uh we will verify the alignment of Staffing FTE and I'll talk specifically uh and briefly about what FTE are in a moment um but we we make an effort to try and align those FTE with specific position accounts and we do this with building and District administration essentially we want to to ensure that our salary percentages are properly charged to the correct fund accounts so someone could be a full-time employee but have their salary split across multiple accounts or multiple schools so we also want to make sure that they're being charged appropriately depending upon their specific FTE um we evaluate our current Personnel options for Staffing new programs so if there's a new program we'll look at the current staff we have and the viability of them to serve in those roles and then if somebody does make that move we would then re-evaluate the need to fill any transferred position sometimes they don't need to be filled if one changes from something uh from one to another so we'll we'll evaluate that as well um always trying to allocate staff to make sure that we're continuing or expanding any of our programs and services and as always it's a goal to maximize the breakage which is the salary savings or the difference in salary difference in savings between a higher outgoing salary and a lower replacement salary so that's what we would refer to as breakage as well as our attrition Savings in order to develop um a balis budget and the attrition savings would be those that are not replaced so we look to maximize the savings that we have from those particular positions in our budget to see what can be funded what needs to be replaced and what doesn't so full-time equivalence this is essentially how we categorize our staff based on full and part-time status it's the amount of time an employee works for an organization or within a specific Department uh we use this to account for salaries full-time status full and part-time status as well as employee time off sick and personal days depending upon an an FTE um they can be applied as days worked in a week or classes or time that is worked in a day um to use a teacher as an example if a teacher works three days in a week they would be A6 FTE they would work four days they would be 08 if they were to work all the entire week then that would be eight a a full one FTE however like I said before that one FTE might be spread across multiple buildings and multiple accounts so one teacher might serve all four elementary schools and they would be a 0.25 in each school that they that they serve that was what I was referencing before in terms of the salary accounts um it could also be that a teacher teaches a half a schedule every day so if they teach three out of six classes that would be a 05 FTE but they might be in the building every day so this could also so apply to hourly employees such as par professionals and then their FTE would be adjusted based on their hours the final budget from last year or actually from last year into this year for the 23 24 school year at 73076 FTE and this current budget as it stands now is proposed to have so essentially looking at retirements um reductions non-renewals and how they can be repurposed so the reason that they're new positions is because they're being re repurposed they're not in addition to things that were already there it's things that were moving out of the budget and these would be replacing special essentially we have three special education teachers two would be specific for the the new high school schedule that's been discussed and one of those positions would be for the Rise program that was discussed at the last budget presentation uh from Miss Bond um we also use this to account for any additional teaching assignments uh that the high the new high school schedule might require um in addition to extra classes that might need to be picked up so we factored that in it's important to remember that the high school schedule was one that we were hoping for last year but these positions were removed uh for budgetary constraints so we're certainly excited to be able to put them in and move forward with that project um for the high school and for the district uh we have pair of profess assignments and a new District supervisor which again was a previously unfilled position it was in the budget it was one when uh when the individual transferred into a principal position that supervisory role was never filled just like the uh special education positions for the high school schedule it was removed from the budget for this year because of budgetary constraints and we're in a position to be able to um implement it back into the budget next year for that additional support across the schools um I think the most important thing to to note on here is that these positions are funded entirely through retirements um reductions transfers or any potential non-renewals so they're not additions they're funded with that breakage in attrition so we're excited for for that looking at our total our current and again this could still evolve uh over the course of the next month as we get additional retirements potential resignations uh but as we stand now our total retirement reduction non-renewal or transfer savings is um a little over 4 $466,000 when you take into account some of those those new positions and what those would cost um including accounting for the breakage we're looking at about 163,000 which would be a total savings to the district of over $300,000 in this particular budget um so anytime we can get new positions and still come out with the savings I think it's a it's an exciting opportunity for us so now that we're there we look at the next steps as we go through you know essentially the next month in refining the budget and we'll continue to evaluate our class sizes and our enrollment numbers uh those enrollment figures become important um as there's new development in town different classes schools and sections that may increase so we would look at those class sizes and see if there's any appropriate or additional Staffing or transfer Staffing that may be necessary uh if class sizes enrollment figures continue to rise um during the course of that process also looking to review the need for the current positions that we have um again reviewing staff certifications for additional position flexibility and along the lines of that we'll utilize staff transfers as a means to preserve positions so if there's a an opportunity for us to transfer a staff member to preserve a position that's what we would do so um that goes along with the certifications and the position flexibility um we'll continue to identify and look for areas of inefficiency so that we can add additional consol uh potential consolidation um and that's where we're looking now where we'll go forward some additional steps are to notify impacted staff members so when we return from spring break any staff members that may be impacted we would look to discuss and notify and then that we would look to inform any potential transfers little later um as we work through that process our goal is to post for new positions that are Replacements are already in the budget uh soon after that notification to staff members so somewhere around early to mid U April after we return from spring break to post for those positions for next school year with our goal of getting all of our hires for next school year on our May and June agenda that goal would be important because any teachers that might be coming from a different District it would would allow the appropriate 60-day notice so that we would have them essentially able to start with us so that's why our goal is is always to get our new positions um and any new hires on our May or June agenda any leave replacement positions would follow that because anytime you hire leave replacement positions too soon you run the risk of them you know Finding potentially a more permanent job so we fill our permanent positions first and then we move to our leave replacement positions over the summer but again our goal is May and June for those additional uh or for any new hires for the 2425 school year um we would reapproved staff at the May Board of Education meeting and during that time continue to monitor any potential savings that we might might be able to incur through retirements or any additional um reductions so our current proposed budget uh salary accounts are just uh are about 51 little over $5 51.8 million um our total budget our total salary accounts in last year's well this year's budget where we are in the 23 24 school year uh was close to 50.7 million and that increase is about 2.43% from the previous year um and that accounts for salary increases that's all the general salary percentage increases and just for the sake of comparison the difference from 2223 to 2324 was about 2 2.14 % increase so we're within the same percentage increase um from previous years but this this particular budget um incurs slightly larger uh agreed upon through contract negotiation salary increases for certain groups so that's where the uh those numbers came from so um are there any questions I could answer anyone have any questions from the board Mr scrano Mr scrano thank you so much um thank you appreciate this information um and I appreciate the job that our HR department is doing under your leadership um certainly you walk a fine line you kind of are the bridge to everybody um I appreciate the way you represent our staff um and how nicely um the relationship that you've bu built with them is um I also appreciate the fact that you're looking to maximize our staffing um so that we serve our students as best as possible and the taxpayer um so that you know everybody is maximized to the best of our ability but I appreciate the job that you're doing and we look forward to seeing all the progress that you're making with your department so thank you thank you Dr handerhan thank you Mr scano um at this time I'd like to turn our attention to our final theme of this evening and that would be uh Support Services benefits capital projects operations and at large and it's my pleasure to introduce Mr Brian SMI our business administrator and board secretary Mr Smite thank you Dr Hanan uh so we have two handouts for the board related to the budget the one is the budget report of revenues and Appropriations which we provide on a periodic basis as we go through this process it's discussed in the finance facilities committee meeting but I'd like to just briefly go through it so that there's a better understanding with regard to uh you know how we fund our budget and essentially there's um five areas uh and this is important because as we go through um you know the actual uh categories or departments within the budget it it helps provide some some context so you know the revenue side of the budget 87% of our budget is funded by the tax levy um we have second state aid or all AIDS because it's state and federal is about 8% of our budget we have about roughly 2% which is we categorize as miscellaneous Revenue whether it be interest on our bank accounts uh facility use fees um as well as tuition that we receive for students attending the district and that is about $1.5 million and then in addition to that there's three categories that um or two that make up each 2% of a revenue Source One is the uh funds we take from our Reserve accounts our maintenance reserve and our capital reserve to help fund this budget and lastly our budgeted fund balance um which is one of the line items which again is about 2% of the total budget and the budgeted fund balance is funds that we uh anticipate having remaining at the end of this school year that is going to be used to fund the Appropriations in the subsequent school year it's not technically a revenue uh because we already have the funds but I think it's important to note that you know it's a 80 our current budget is an $85 million budget and we anticipate uh you know spending or utilizing around 98% of what we budgeted for the current school year uh we will transfer funds into our Reserve accounts uh but again just like identified here we utilize those Reserve accounts to fund uh each subsequent budget um so I think again it's a budget uh and we're projecting out you know between three months and 15 months ahead that's what we're looking to budget for so uh we do have to uh accommodate for changes and the system is set up so that at the end of the year we do have funds remaining in our budget and that's why they're able to go into the reserve accounts as well as uh be included in budgeted fund balance for the subsequent year what the um chart of accounts the system is not set up for is being short with regard to what you budget for Appropriations as as compared to your revenues um so when we go through each line item uh or the different categories and you're going through the line items on your detailed um detailed reports uh just just keep that in mind where you know we anticipate spending 98% of our budget and we'll utilize the last 2% um to roll over into the subsequent year as a revenue any questions on the revenue and expenditure report okay so the different categories that uh I I'll address one is uh the support service programs that we have in the district as well as the general fund tax levy and uh and we're also going to touch on our debt service so uh first slide is you know these are the different departments as well as capital projects and uh the percentage that these categories are of the entire budget which I think is pretty interesting that are required Building Maintenance and is 1% of our total budget uh and our Capital Equipment and Capital Improvements our capital projects is only 1% of our budget uh and then you know you can go through the other areas custodial uh as well as student transportation are up in the 7 to 8% uh category but uh in going through this this is so when you're reviewing the budget details reports that have been provided you have some context uh with regard to uh those pages within the budget report but first category is our building maintenance we have uh and when you're looking in the budget details report I provided the uh the chart of account the account code 1130 261 and the required maintenance or these maintenance accounts are important because the district is required to fund uh these accounts a to to demonstrate that we are uh investing funds to maintain our facilities and anytime we're going for aid from the state for any facility improvements whether it be for a rod Grant or as we just did with the referendum looking for Debt Service Aid we must demonstrate that we've invested in the maintenance of our facilities and they have a 10-year look back and you need to demonstrate that you've invested 2% of the replacement value of that building in order to be eligible for Aid which obviously we have demonstrated we do we report that annually as part of our comprehensive maintenance plan every uh every um October November uh that the board approved and that's what uh enabled us to be eligible for the aid regarding the referendum the total budget is 77,78 which is $700,000 so these this category of of accounts of 77,000 is funded almost entirely from our Reserve accounts it's not coming from the state aid or the tax levy this is being funded from our Reserve accounts and by Statute what is required if we do not use those funds under maintenance res uh under uh these maintenance accounts we must return those funds to the maintenance Reserve we're not permitted to transfer them into other accounts or utilize them for purposes so uh when we look at this area and we want to reduce costs U there would be no impact on the other Revenue sources because this is strictly funded from the reserve accounts and the funds are returned if they're unused and again this is for routine and preventative maintenance um throughout the schools one notable one in the 2425 budget is the actual stripping down refinishing of the gym floors in both the uh uh in a number of schools I don't want to Mis misspeak to uh which ones EX L but I know the high school and Intermediate School are are included in that um any questions with regard to building maintenance no custodial accounts um this is a larger percentage of the budget it's $6.5 million it's 3% increase over our current year this includes all the salaries of our maintenance and our uh custodial departments as well as our non-instructional AIDS are categorized into this group of accounts uh as well as the supplies for cleaning you know the carpets we purchase blinds uh repairs blinds in the schools anything that is not categorized as uh required maintenance or something that would uh prolong the life of the building uh as well as our property insurance and our utilities and you can see um for the most part uh you know their nominal increases uh with the exception of the property insurance which is uh based on a recommendation from our Property and Casualty broker anything on building custodial Mr SMI yes what when you talk about the salaries here are they also included in what Mr scano was talking about as well and this is just kind of the the breakdown for this department yes okay so yeah it's duplicated in the sense um you know I'm not providing the numbers but the the total budget includes the salaries of the I just wanted to make sure everybody understood that okay thank you uh grounds and security uh consider be smaller uh percentage of of the budget you know grounds is is what it is uh it's the upkeep of the outside uh of our the property athletic fields include snow removal the supplies of salt seed fertilizer uh and then our building security which is our school safety officers in each one of our schools includes the salaries that was already spoken to by Mr Scarano uh it also includes uh some some of the software purchases uh the maintaining of the programs that we run and the actual physical repairs and Replacements of our door access controls we have in each of the schools and our security cameras okay student transportation you know big portion of the budget it's 7% of our operating budget uh to Total proposed budget is 6 million uh it's an increase of 2.6% over over the current year or12 ,000 um which is largely made up with regard to our salary increases and also looking to fill positions that are are vacant uh and excuse me thank you there's a relationship between the salaries and then the next bullet which is the contracted Services which we're looking to maintain flat um even though there's an increase in salaries of 6% it's because our goal is to bring uh any contracted or not any as many contract uh Transportation routes back inhouse so that we can have them performed by our inhouse staff it is more efficient we have better control um but if we but if it's not cost efficient then uh we are required to Outsource that and the first step in doing that is using uh the mamian Education Services Commission which all of our contracted routes um that we send out all are contracted out through the MC uh we don't contract out to any private uh provider so uh in the event during the school year uh if we're not able to fill positions uh or if it's not efficient to hire staff to perform the routes then we will contract out so there is a a sharing of costs between salaries and contracted Services additionally uh as part of our lease purchase replacement schedule for school buses we're looking to replace uh five school buses uh in next year's uh budget uh it's overall on the lease purchase account it's a $113,000 uh increase but that also includes a 5year lease purchase coming off the books and adding a new one uh to the tune of $125,000 so we're budgeting each bus and these would be gas buses at $25,000 a piece in case there's an electric question coming up we are still in the program for electric buses um they are really expensive but okay I'm sorry are there any questions on student transportation thank you for answering my anticipated uh status update request on the electric buses and and the grant that we uh applied for and were awarded and we are still uh uh working through um and and trying to prolong so that we still have it available to us uh will fund the uh additional cost of purchasing an electric bus as compared to a gas bus so we're so we're uh including including in the budget the purchase of gas buses but if we are able to uh take advantage of the grant uh purchase electric buses they would fund the additional cost related and if not then we would look to uh lease purchase gas buses uh the state is in the process of um extending the life of existing buses uh as long as they are able to pass inspection uh through DMV uh which our our mechanics work closely with so there are some buses that were originally anticipated to retire uh based on uh their 15-year life cycle but we're looking to have them extended uh but regardless buses that have been around for 15 plus years uh we what we like to do is one keep on our replacement schedule so we don't have too much of a hit or impact on any one particular budget year but also we'd like to move them into the spare category and have the newer buses on the road on a daily basis Mr SMI uh if we are able to take advantage of that grant for the electric buses correct me if I'm wrong that would include the um infrastructure that would be required for charging the buses um to a degree yes thank you any other questions on student transportation okay personal benefits uh I won't go through each of the categories I will tell you Social Security contributions uh we're looking to keep flat that that is still under review we still have another month before the uh public hearing uh but we are continuing to monitor that although uh in trying to keep total Personnel benefits at at a manageable um uh Pace or manageable increase uh we're looking to keep that flat our uh support staff pensions that's our Pur obligation so uh the district is responsible for payment um to treasury for uh the pur pension system for all the staff that are not considered certificated or not uh in the teachers uh pension annuity fund uh so our current year bill was $1,539 th000 uh and um based on what we budgeted for the current year we're looking to uh decrease that by the 25,000 in budget to 1.6 uh workers compensation as recommended by a broker uh is 635,000 guess I am going to read through them uh but health benefits uh is the biggest increase again recommended by our uh broker uh it's about a 6% increase in the line item for health benefits which uh is in line with the increase in the State Health Benefit Plan uh is 6% and I'll touch on it again in the health benefit waivers uh but for those costs above 2% which districts are considered to uh absorb as part of the 2% tax levy increase uh the amount above that up to the increase of the State Health Benefit districts are permitted to uh apply the health benefit waiver to the tax levy so that's the additional 4% um however the State Health Benefit Plan increased about 6% but there's four Plans offered by the state they have the direct 10 direct 15 which is similar to our our direct 10 and direct 15 and then they have the ehp and Garden State plan which we also offer but the increases that they have in the direct 10 and direct 15 are about 2 6% increase over the year and in the ehp it's a ne3 in change so you know the the overall you know I guess the net percentage increase worked out to be 6% and so districts are uh are held to that although you know depending on the district and where you are you know I know we've discussed this any employee who's been hired after July 1 of 2020 is required to go into either the uh Educator's health plan or the Garden State Health Plan uh however you know depending on the number of uh you know your turnover the number of new employees you could have a majority of your staff that are not in ehp or the Garden State Plan they're in your direct 15 plan uh so on a comparable basis to the state that should be in the 20% plus increase as opposed to um comparing the majority in the uh ehp plan but I just bring that up as a side note so uh our increase is 800,000 again we are self-insured so we pay the actual claims uh it would be a lot more straightforward if we were in a private plan or if we were in the State Health penefit Plan where we would just pay the premiums uh for the number of employees depending on what they're enrolled in on a monthly basis uh however we've demonstrated uh since we've been self- insured in 2011 that uh We've saved money as compared to being in the state benefit plan the last couple years when the state was making significant reductions in you know holidays for uh they called them premium holidays where those districts in the plan didn't have to pay a month um you know it it was getting close however uh through our broker we did an analysis between July and December uh that uh those costs within our plan as compared to being in the State Health Benefit Plan uh it it's cost the district less than if we were enrolled in the State Health Benefit Plan um you know and again our our claims on a monthly basis can range from 1.2 million to $800,000 um so uh again it can be somewhat volatile at the beginning of this school year uh based on uh our our monthly costs and what we were projecting uh there were serious consideration into maybe we do need to go into the State Health Benefit Plan um but over the course of the last last couple months in uh reviewing uh you know the status of our our self-insured plan uh and discussions with our broker that is no longer um necessary uh and no no longer uh uh being being considered uh and one thing to to keep in mind and we just compare it on a straightup basis being in the state plan as being self-insured and you know our goal is to be less than if we were in the State Health Benefit Plan uh we look to keep our premiums less than the premiums of the State Health Benefit Plan so our employees contribution is based on a lesser premium we call it a premium equivalent as opposed to being in the state health benefit plan although the move to chapter 44 uh the contributions are no longer a percentage of the premium they are a per a percentage of the employees salar so the premiums are no longer uh that much of a factor with regard to the employee contributions any questions on I just have question sure uh in our uh self-insured plan if I'm comparing it to let's say a a Blue Cross plan when you get a you get a bill and it'll say something like you were charged $88,000 and Blue Cross will pay $2,000 all right who determines how much we pay if we're self-insured who who makes that determination so uh we're self-insured but we use a third-party administer to manage the plan and that's Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield so they're a third party administrator they make that determination on uh and that's already said on what uh what amount they will pay for the services provided it's just that we pay them instead of horizon paying them or Etna paying them pay cross to do that for us that's a separate line item in our budget as a third party administrator um and however that is one of the costs that we include when we comp compared to being in the State Health Benefit Plan so when we compare ourselves to being in the State Health Benefit Plan obviously we compare the cost of our claims for the medical and the prescription we include the cost of our thirdparty administrator which in in this case it is Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield uh we include the cost of our stop-loss insurance which uh again our stop- loss insurance is covering the costs uh if a uh if a member's plan costs exceed $125,000 in a in the year our stop- loss Insurance picks up those additional costs so God forbid uh you know there's a situation where claims are you know half a million dollar or a million dollars the district is uh only required for the 125,000 and we get reimbursed or we get a credit on our billing through Horizon because this year in the last couple years Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield has been our stoploss provider uh in Prior years um because you know that goes out to quote quote the stop loss insurance we put that out the quote through our broker uh we've had other providers that have been our stop- loss carrier as opposed to Horizon Blue Cross um but um so in the sense uh because we're in the ver uh The Horizon plan the plan sets the cost of the services that we pay okay all Capital Equipment uh this one should be quick uh again it's only $112,000 o overall uh it includes you know furniture replacement that would cost 2,000 or more uh you know routine replacement of custodial and grounds equipment HVAC equipment when we buy a piece of equipment because we're replacing a condenser or Air air handler um that would be uh purchased through our Capital Equipment accounts and would be budgeted here uh and this the most significant one is a replacement of a maintenance vehicle of $75,000 I know we just approved one this past month but that was part of a lease purchase um you know from a from a prior budget uh and we have um you know taken a number of vehicles off the road only because of their age and their condition um so this is again replacing one of the vehicles that is already off the road that we we currently do not use okay capital projects uh again interesting it's only 1% of our uh you know total budget um but it is something that uh you know we have discussed through fnf in a prior budget meetings that you know the district needs to invest uh at least 1% the goal has been a million dollars at a minimum um for uh you know Capital Improvements Building Maintenance Etc um again this this line account which is actually two lines is funded entirely by our capital reserve Bud uh capital reserve accounts uh again it's not being funded through the tax levy so to say hey why don't we you know reduce our capital projects from a million dollars to 750 or to 500,000 that would have no impact on U the tax rate or the tax levy because this is funded strictly from capital reserve again we're doing district-wide Paving which we've done over the last two years uh we have Old Mill and Primary School slated uh and if we are um have the ability to do more again this is through a shared service with the uh Mammoth County Public Works that we utilize uh we purchase the asphalt through stavola on a state contract and pay uh the county to perform the milling and the paving through the shared service agreement and in addition we're doing uh entrance improvements at both the front and athletic entrances of wall high school and then uh anticipated temporary student transportation improvements it's it's estimated at $135,000 at this point again uh we have up to the public hearing to uh adjust this and similar to the same as the maintenance Reserve any funds not used um for Capital Improvements in the district uh must be returned to the capital reserve account they cannot be uh they don't allow you to transfer from these accounts into the general fund regardless um but because it's being funded from the reserve accounts any unused funds must be returned so it brings up the tax levy um 75 just under 7 million or just under 75.7 million uh the tax levy for the tenative budget as has been discussed includes a 2% allowable increase from the prior year includes the health benefit waiver as well as the banked cap uh that was utilized to balance the budet budget as along with the other budget reductions uh that were implemented the with regard to the order of utilizing the health benefit waiver in the bank cap the district must exhaust all health benefit waivers or any of the waivers prior to using any Bank cap and um to better Define what bank cap is that is um taxing Authority that wasn't used in any of the prior three years so either there was um the district didn't utilize the entire 2% that was allowable to be increased or there was a a eligible waiver such as in this case health benefits uh that was not utilized in the prior year and it be it is uh eligible in the subsequent three years as Bank cap so the average assessed home uh for 2024 is $492,500 uh so the increase on the average assessed home based on this tax levy is $874 and this is for the general fund tax levy or the general fund budget does not um the first three bullets as far as the allowable 2% the health benefit waiver and the bank cap is for the general fund however the increase in the average assessed home of $87 includes the tax levy based on the uh general fund as well as The Debt Service tax levy that is incorporated I'll go into it more detail when we talk about the debt service tax levy so we uh with regard to The Debt Service budget we retired all debt in the current school year the 23 24 school year uh this was discussed uh at length with regard to the referendum the idea of the referendum was to replace the debt um which we did uh so the debt service for the uh 2425 school year is solely uh from the referendum 2022 or 66,500 so our debt service for 2425 is just under 3.7 million that is um only interest there is no principle being paid as part of this this is uh and we only have interest due in the 2425 school year uh principal and interest will start in the 2526 school year so we received Debt Service Aid which works out to be about 30% um they fund it you know they save 40% by the time they throw in the 85% of that um and they identify what is they consider eligible cost it works out it worked out to be about uh 30% of our debt service budget uh and so the balance of that um total debt service is funded Through The Debt Service tax levy so The Debt Service tax levy has already been approved that was approved when the referendum was approved so and it's the board is not technically approving The Debt Service tax levy but it isn't it does factor into the calculation that we use for the tax rate on an annual basis to the average assessed home if that makes sense the budget that's being approved is the general fund or the current expense budget and that is the general fund tax levy but it the tax rate on the um on the taxpayer in Wall Township also includes a Debt Service so specific to The Debt Service tax levy again it's $2.5 million or it's our debt service obligation minus the state aid that we receive uh if we our prior debt our prior debt averaged about um 3.8 cents per $100 of assessed value um and that was prior to the referendum it in the 03 38 or uh 3.8 cents uh was conservative because it was actually like 3.9 cents of average assessed home uh if you recall the referendum for both question one and two uh was to it was anticipated that it would increase it to 5.1 cents per $100 of assessed value um however we had favorable conditions when we had our bond sale uh so the 2425 Debt Service which again his only interest is uh actually works out to be 3.4 uh cents per $100 of assessed value or $167 um so the if you recall from the referendum I think it worked out to be the estimate was about $260 uh for the average assessed home for uh both questions one and two so for 2425 it's $167 or again 3.4 what we anti pay for 2526 because the debt service will increase about a million dollar that it'll go to $4.4 cents per $100 and that would be the last bullet or $216 for the year again uh compared to what was projected as part of the referendum at 5.1 cents uh we're only uh and we anticipate that moving forward at being 4.4 cents um and that was just because of the favorable conditions on when we went uh to sell on the bond any question on debt service being part of the budget and one of the the most uh I won't say confusing difficult Parts with regard to both the general fund tax levy and The Debt Service tax levy is we calculate both on our fiscal year of July through June however the tax levy is calculated on the calendar year so um what what the reason why as an example 2425 The Debt Service is only 3.4 cents is because half of the debt that we retired which was a lesser amount especially in the in the last couple years is part of the 2024 tax levy so we have half from the 20 the 2324 and half from the 2425 goes against the 24 tax levy so we had the half of the old debt which was a smaller amount we have half of the new debt which was a larger amount and then next year not only will we have the additional principal added but it'll be half of two larger amounts if that makes sense but otherwise uh I can answer additional questions or and as I've said at each one of these meetings if there's any questions with regard to budget detail Pages if anybody wants to come in sit down and go through the budget in more detail to discuss further The Debt Service uh tax levy or just the general fund tax levy um I'm more than happy to sit down and go through this in more detail if possible dgani Madam president Mr Mr Smite a question on the health benefit waiver so if you use it this year does that become part of the base budget next year yes okay as as part of the the the number you would base at two the amount your increase in the tax levy would be part of the tax levy in subsequent years yes okay and are we still sharpening our pencils to try to cut down on the bank cap yes okay thank I I mean and it so if and one of the areas we're looking at sharp pencil is in the health benefit line however reducing the health benefit line account reduces the health benefit waiver it doesn't affect the bank C right um so what would end up happening is it would reduce the eligible amount of perhaps a waiver uh and that's strictly only to the health benefit line and I say that because it is a a large uh line item um uh we have had more favorable conditions the last couple months but again uh you know it's it's somewhat volatile we don't know what the next few months are going to bring and and that's why I go back to the the the first category of of the revenue hey if there's x amount of dollars remaining in a particular line account those funds are utilized to fund a subsequent year budget like we're we're we taken 1 Point .5 million from all the accounts uh we're saying at the end of this year that we're going to utilize to fund next year's budget part of that comes from the health benefit line account so uh and again we're set up so that we have funds available at the end of the year to fund subsequent budgets but we're not set up that in the event we're getting into April May June and we don't have sufficient funds in the health benefit line account to fund our health benefits or any category of line accounts and what we had to do last year um is transfer funds from and we predominantly took it from uh salary accounts into the health benefit line account to um subsidize what we originally budgeted because we came in like a uh a little over $800,000 more than what we budgeted and uh we took that into consideration in the current school year budget uh that's why you know quite frankly we're looking next year at a 6 % increase in health benefits which you know that's a recommendation of the broker but they're saying that the trend is anywhere between 6% and 10% we're at that 6% overall on the budget not just medical uh and prescription claims but the the the uh Bank cap aspect of it as well that also goes into the base budget for next year as well yes so well the idea of that is if unless you have one-time costs within your budget you need to have it as a recurring Revenue because whatever as as long as it's not funding a one-time expense uh and it's funding such as health benefits which you know hey we welcome the day you know they go down uh but if there's costs that are in the budget that we would anticipate um uh increasing on an annual basis then that that's why it it continues to be within the base of the tax rate no I understand but my feeling on it it's always been that at some point the board in the last three years decided not to go to the full 2% and then you're kind of going against that board's decision in a way and now making a bigger jump this year on everybody so that that that's just my concern you know again well the last time was the 1920 budget where we were less than 2% we were at just under 1% um in the tax levy increase that was 1920 so this money is left over from then no that money that money uh I I would so how do we have that money was retired okay so how do we have Bank cap left if we so there would have been in any one of the couple prior years we would have been eligible for a health benefit waiver that we didn't utilize and I will tell you it was so that rolls over to bank cap yes so if we were not to use the health benefit waiver in the current year um well then we wouldn't be eligible to use the bank cap but health benefit waiver would roll over next year as Bank cap and then so between the two of them we'd have $800,000 in Bank cap listen yes I missed that all right thank you got and it would be any of the uh eligible waivers because there's an enrollment waiver there's a shifting of responsibilities between School District waiver there's a health benefit waiver so any of those waivers if you are eligible for them and do not utilize them they are available as Bank cap and subsequent three bug and that's the idea of it that okay well you didn't need it this year but you may need it because of this in future years which here we are so thank you you're welcome thank you Mr SMI I just um on this slide right here that has the tax levy and this bottom line it says increase on average home is 8743 a year you said that included the um The Debt Service Levy yes okay so Debt Service Levy plus the general fund Levy together 8743 per year is the increase from prior Year yes okay so I I just wanted to make sure I was understand because I heard it I wanted to it breaks down to roughly $729 a month would be the increase over prior year yeah okay and that includes the cost of the um the referendum The Debt Service from the referendum as well as the tax levy for the general fund so all our operational costs plus all the work that's getting done yes $730 a month more okay correct thank you do we have any other questions from the board from Mr smite I'm going to ask I'm going to ask a question a quick one can you just um review with me the one maintenance vehicle that we're replacing Ford F what are we looking at are you GMC Ford who who do you like um so we have a number of maintenance Vehicles the one we just replaced is a is a I think it's a you remember was it a Ford F250 you guys were facility guys it has a utility body on it um but it's something that is used it's equipped with a plow and has a utility body on it that is used by the maintenance equipment by the maintenance department this would be um the final decision I leave with the maintenance department uh and it'll be the debate between another utility body or a uh dump vehicle that could be utilized um for our salt operations um because what we used to always maintain is two vehicles that could salt our our schools uh we have Sanders salt mix uh boxes in that we would put in each of them uh so that they can cover you know send to the high school as well as the elementary school simultaneously uh because of we had to take a vehicle off the road it was no longer safe uh we only utilize one currently now fortunately we've had some pretty mild Winters so that's been okay um but again we've had vans that we've taken off the road because you know the floors have rotted out uh as soon as the mechanics would determine that a vehicle is unsafe we we remove it off the road so so we're playing a little bit of catchup with regard to maintenance Vehicles being replaced and we would make that vehicle last a long time we they do last a long time oky dokie all right all out okay does anyone else have any questions for Mr Smite Mr Smite I know that this time of year is um I'm going to just say grueling um um for everyone I appreciate all the work that you put into the uh giving us the information that we need um fnf I know you've been digesting and you work year round on this um thank you all for your hard work and I do encourage the board um if you have any questions um to definitely meet with Mr SMI when he says he's available he absolutely has availed himself to me year after year I'm sure we have a another meeting coming up soon and you're excited um so thank you very much for all the hard work you do on behalf of the district um working with Administration and getting us to where we need to be um does anyone on the board have any questions regarding anything else that we've heard tonight or anything on the budget anything you want to mention prior to okay um and Dr handerhan would you be able to just reiterate why we are having this Standalone meeting for the budget um why we're not doing that on the 23rd at our meeting as previously hoped um yes there are a couple reasons one on April 23rd we are having um in at our um monthly business meeting of the Board of Education we are having um a very special presentation for the teacher to remember contest from um that the wtea has been uh sponsoring and running every year so that is going to be a really special evening and um additionally there's a a time frame of which we need to uh provide the budget presentation for within the window states are those days yeah uh the April 23rd is not that was set by us but April 24th is within the window yes thank you okay and it's the first day of the window thank you so at this time may I have a motion for adjournment Mr Adel do I have a second Miss T Giovani do have we all favor all right thanks everybody so much for your hard work we see you next time for