The Board of Education’s CIP/Facilities/Finance (BOE CFF) Subcommittee reviewed May's itemized estimates report, and discussed Other Post-Employment Benefits (OPEB) and expected summer facilities projects, at its Wednesday, June 24, meeting.

For her financial report, Director of Business and Finance Tanja Gouveia said the district spent about 85% — almost 86% — of its total budget. They still have 12% encumbered, which leaves a balance of just under $1.9 million.

As such, she said the district is projecting an estimated year-end balance of approximately $108,000.

Gouveia continued by noting there were a few changes compared to the previous month. There was not a lot of change in the certified salaries category. Gouveia said they did some overall minimal adjustments, but those were standard year-end procedures.

"Just to tighten up the certified salaries and substitutes [line items]," Gouveia added.

Non-certified salaries, meanwhile, saw some larger changes. Gouveia said the special education services salaries line item houses job coaches, board certified behavior analysts, behavioral therapists, and so on; they did have to "add a dollar amount" for ongoing negotiations regarding a potential salary allowance and increases.

These increases, Gouveia said, will hopefully happen this year. They have now accounted for all the potential union wage adjustments in the line item.

"[The line item] did reduce by $27,000. Last month we had a balance of $35,000, so you can see we still have a positive balance in this area now, it's just we had to make that adjustment," Gouveia explained.

They also spent $47,000 in overtime in May. Gouveia said that this sounds like a really high number, which she noted it is, but added that they have been averaging about $8,000 per week the entire year.

"This is between the [Family and Medical Leave Act], open positions, unfilled positions, and overtime," Gouveia said.

While they were anticipating a balance of $62,000 in custodial and maintenance overtime, Gouveia said they are anticipating another $20,000 to come through for the month of June. This will put them at a deficit of $82,000 in the line item.

That said, Gouveia noted the district still has a very strong position in the salaries category overall, holding a balance of $80,631.

Moving on to employee benefits, Gouveia said the only change this month was that the district received an unemployment bill. This month, they incurred a charge for this quarter for $12,000.

"And we haven't seen anything all year, so this was kind of a funny area," Gouveia said.

She added that they budgeted $30,000 for unemployment, so they did come under that. The FICA & Medicare line item is still holding a negative after the district's adjustments to the area back in March; the only reason the employee benefits category is in the negative is due to this line item.

Gouveia said there were not many changes to the professional services category, only minor adjustments.

Purchase property services is still holding steady, with Gouveia noting they only saw a change of $1,300 over the prior month.

As for other purchased services, Gouveia said they saw a big change in their contracted services line item. This has to do with the district's behavioral therapists, but it also has to do with the transfer they initiated last month.

"So this increased the balance by $150,000," Gouveia explained.

For supplies, Gouveia said they are still tweaking the several utility line items. She is seeing demand go down by "quite a bit" in electricity, but noted the district is spending a little more on propane than anticipated. This was due to a colder April than expected, according to Gouveia.

The property category saw a small deficit because they had a recent purchase for some audiological equipment, as well as some PE equipment for Newtown High School's weight room.

OPEB Funding Strategy

Gouveia also delivered a presentation on OPEB, a fund established back in 2009 following an audit recommendation that suggested the district set aside funding to plan for future retiree health care obligations.

"So you can think of it as a savings account specifically designed for the retiree medical benefits," Gouveia explained.

At the time when this fund was created, Gouveia said there was concern that the retiree health care claims could increase significantly and, if they did, they would place financial pressure on the self-insurance fund the district currently has.

Gouveia said that, by setting the money aside in a separate trust, the district created a financial cushion that could be used if the retiree medical cost became unusually high.

One thing she found interesting was the liability past leadership set for the account was at $10 million.

"Which is really high, even in the town finance director's opinion," Gouveia added.

Over the past 15 years, the district has been funding this account and made contributions up to about 50%. Gouveia said they do not come up with the amount they set for the liability; it is based on preexisting calculations.

Superintendent of Schools Anne Uberti said the plan is "not for people at all" so much as it is a town protection.

"It's a small amount we've been funding," Gouveia clarified. "It's $100,000 every year, and can only be used towards retirees' medical claims."

She said that the fund is 50% vested. Gouveia called this a strong strategic position, which is rare for a fund like this; the national average is close to 10-15%.

Going forward, she said the district will not provide the annual contributions to this fund, so they can use the $100,000 towards other operational costs.

2025-26 Capital Projects, 2026-27 Summer Projects

Before going over this summer's projects, Facilities Director John Barlow reviewed the capital projects for the 2025-26 school year.

Newtown High School's (NHS) A and C wing roof was only over budget by $234.

"And that included being able to do all of the add alternates that we put into their project," Barlow said. "[Essentially,] there was a lot of extras that we were able to get done, replacing skylights, paneling, walls that were leaking, stuff like that," Barlow explained.

The Head O'Meadow Elementary School roof was under budget by $16,800, and the Newtown Middle School boiler was over budget by $2,654.

Moving on to the summer capital projects, Barlow said that the facilities department is currently managing nine capital projects with a combined strategic budget of $4,940,000 million.

He added that they have approximately $147,000 in established savings, with a completion date of Thursday, August 20 for all projects.

Barlow said they are at four finalized contracts: an oil tank removal for Head O'Meadow and, for NHS, a pool restoration, an oil tank removal, and HVAC replacements in the school's F, C, and D wings.

Barlow said they are also waiting on the pricing for bathroom and millwork upgrades for Middle Gate Elementary School. Another project in the works is Head O'Meadow parking and sidewalks improvements, which Barlow said is "basically done" because that is bid by the town, so Newtown's Public Works Department is going to do that.

"We have enough money in the budget to get that done, so that's going to be paved probably in early August," Barlow said.

The last project he noted was a fire and intrusion alarm for NHS.

"We only received one bidder for the fire alarm, so we did a bid extension, and there's now another bidder," Barlow explained.

He planned to do another walk through on July 6, with the facilities department awarding by July 14.

"And then they'll start right away," Barlow added. "And that's about a three-week turnaround on a fire alarm system for a high school, so it'll be tight, but we'll get it done."

Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.