Town of Pittsfield
January 23, 2008
Budget Meeting
Members present: W. Abbott, W. Case, L. Deane, G. Gilman, C. Keuenhoff, A. MacLellan,
R. Morse, L. Okrent, J. Prue, H. Schoppmeyer, M. Vaughan, L. Vogt (School Board rep).
Members absent: F. Hast, L. Small
Meeting was called to order at 7:20 PM by Chairman Keuenhoff.
Minutes of the January 16, 2008 meeting were approved as presented.
Leslie Vogt explained the School District Warrant Articles as given to the committee members.
Briefly:
ARTICLE II. Determines salaries of School Board and any other officers or agents of
the School District
ARTICLE III. To raise and appropriate $315,724.00 for support of the School Lunch Program.
This amount will be funded by a like amount of revenue from the sale of food and other
state and federal sources. This amount is slightly higher than last year because of higher
cost of food.
ARTICLE IV. To raise and appropriate $25,000 for building maintenance. This is for short
term maintenance for items that are not included in the Operating Budget , such as roof rocks and
walkway at the Elementary School, and front door replacement and cupola repair at the Middle
High School.
ARTICLE V. To raise and appropriate $25,000 to be added to the School Buildings
Maintenance Reserve Fund. This is a savings fund for long term items such as
new gym floor, new gym roof, new elementary school roof, and high school roof.
There is currently about $112,000 in this fund.
ARTICLE VI. To raise and appropriate $15,000 to add to the Capital Reserve Fund
established to meet the expenses of education educationally disabled children.
Currently there is $105,000 in this fund. The state reimburses a percent of this
cost, but it isn’t received until 1 ½ years later.
ARTICLE VII. To raise and appropriate $9,937,132.00 for the support of the schools, payment
of salaries and payment of statutory obligations of the Pittsfield School District.
It was noted that an increase of $300,000 will raise the tax rate by $1.00. When asked
why the figure of 5% was chosen as a target increase in the school budget, it was
noted that there is a 4% teacher pay increase included in this figure and the remaining
would account for inflation costs.
The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 30, 2008 at 7PM in the Town Hall.
The Public Hearing will be on Monday , February 11. Other dates tentatively chosen
for committee voting were February 12, 13, and possibly the 18th if needed. Budgets must
be signed by February 20,2008.
The meeting adjourned at 8:40 PM
Joan M. Prue, Secretary