Town of Pittsfield
December 5,2007
Budget Committee
Members present: W. Abbott, W. Case, F. Hast, G. Gilman, C. Keuenhoff, A. MacLellan,
L. Okrent, J. Prue, L. Small (Select Board rep), M. Vaughan, L. Vogt (School Board rep)
Members absent: L. Deane, R. Morse, H. Schoppmeyer
Also present: Scott Brown, Chairman of the School Board; Peter Roche, Business
Administrator; Tobi Chasse, Director of Student Services, Lois Stevens, Coordinator
of Student Services; and Dr. Compton, SAU Superintendent.
Meeting was called to order at 7:10 PM.
Minutes from the previous meeting were not available.
Leslie Vogt presented the proposed School Budget, which is up 4.9%, the goal being to keep
it under 5%. Warrant articles will not be ready until February of 2009.
Since Barnstead left the SAU, Pittsfield is now a single town SAU, causing costs to be higher.
The Board has chosen to have three full time employees: the Superintendent, a Financial
Manager, and an Administrative Assistant. The SAU will continue renting office space
at the Locke Building on Rt. 28 for one more year as it seemed to be the lowest cost space
for the 1 year.
The Elementary School Budget is very similar to the 2006 budget.. A permanent substitute has
been added to line 01-1100-51100.
Line 01-1200-55630 is decreased by $132,000 from last year’s budget because a special ed
student has moved out of district and one has moved to the middle school.
01-1270-56100 Gifted and talented line item for $1500 will cover the Artist in Residence
Program and the NH History program in the 4th grade.
1430 Drake Field Summer School – About 250 youngsters sign up for the program. The
average daily attendance is 40-50.
PT Services and OT Services have been separated for budget purposes. The assistant position
will be eliminated and there will be a full time OT.
Since Dr. John Freeman will be moving on as Superintendent, the ads are now out for a new
principal at the Elementary School.
It was noted that about 14% of the students at the Elementary School qualify for Special
Education. There are 350 students in K-6.
Total Proposed Budget for the Pittsfield Elementary School is $3,512,345.00.
Next meeting will be held on December 12, 2007 at the Town Hall at 7PM to discuss the Middle
and High School proposed budgets.
Meeting adjourned at 8:50 PM
Joan M. Prue, secretary