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Date: 2/21/2023
MONSON — The tri-board meeting of Feb. 13 brought the School and Finance Committees together with the Select Board to highlight and line item their prospective budget plans for fiscal year 2024.
The town portion of the draft budget overview was presented with inclusion of the individual department requests as well as the 2023 expenditures and a summary of increases from the previous budget year.
Finance Director Jamie Farnum offered a current budget overage of about $315,000 in the draft budget and some factors behind the increases, including Hampden County retirement, medical increases and unemployment costs.
Also recommended for review were departmental requests including the police department which is seeking the addition of two officers as well as the overall increasing fuel costs for the town.
Farnum said there are still several numbers pending for the budget proposal to be finalized.
Dominated largely by examination of school financials, the remainder of the meeting focused on the district budget overview.
Superintendent Dr. Cheryl Clarke detailed the district’s budget proposals, including enrollment and the “three-year strategic plan” for the schools and the students.
Clarke described the theme of the budget as “maintain,” keeping the current electives, opportunities and class sizes in place in order to keep children in the district.
Clarke said four budget positions have been cut, including two retirements and a counseling position which may eventually be offset by grant funds.
One additional special education position has been proposed with the objective of saving the cost of out of district placements, which Clarke described as extremely costly.
With the absence of grant offsets and the inclusion of contractual raises, the draft budget overage was presented as $481,000.
The enrollment figures are currently above 800 in the district including 72 preschool students which have necessitated the addition of another self-funded preschool.
Clarke did make note of a drop in overall student numbers across Massachusetts and a declining birthrate in the state.
The budget presentation also included transportation numbers for special needs students utilizing out of district services for programs not offered or available in Monson.
A working agreement with Palmer schools currently brings in revenue for transporting their students to the same programs.
The meeting concluded with the Finance Committee offering information concerning the pending firehouse plans and next month’s Town Hall discussion on financial plans for the project.