Town Meeting OKs $300,000 Appropriation

To Be Covered By Schools Fees

By Jan Howard

A small number of voters approved an appropriation of $300,000 for school-generated fees for the 2003–04 Board of Education budget during a special town meeting October 21 at Town Hall South.

The appropriation, which is to be funded by cash receipts credited to the General Fund, passed by a vote of 14 to 1.

The Legislative Council and the Board of Finance approved the appropriation.

First Selectman Herb Rosenthal, who moderated the meeting, explained that without the resolution being approved, someone could file an action against the Board of Education for overspending and misappropriation of its budget. The funding has to be included as a revenue item so the school system can spend the fees it is collecting.

The vote was preceded by questions from Legislative Council member Joseph Borst and resident Doug Brennan about the activity fees, how they would be managed, and who would be accountable.

Mr Brennan cast the one vote against the appropriation.

Mr Rosenthal said the Board of Education would control how the money was spent.

Financial Director Ben Spragg said the school system would only be able to spend what it collects in fees. If it fails to spend $300,000, the remainder would be returned to the General Fund. The allocation is a “wash account,” he said, and would have no impact on the budget. He said fees would be collected and expenditures made. It is a mechanism to put on these programs, he noted.

 Mr Rosenthal said any fees collected and turned into the General Fund would be returned to the Board of Education and not used for town expenses.

Superintendent of Schools Dr Evan Pitkoff said that total revenue is combined to cover expenditures.

Ron Bienkowski, business director for the school system, said school activity fees are a small part of the revenues and that the costs for the programs “far exceeds the revenue generated here.”

The revenues would offset transportation fees for sports programs, pay coaches salaries, and other costs. He said the school system’s total revenue of $4 million is generated from grants from the state and others in addition to local revenue.

Mr Brennan raised concerns that a discrepancy existed between fees that should have been collected and actual collections last year. He asked for assurance that the funds would be fairly allocated. He maintained that 40 to 50 percent of the fees were not collected for high school sports last year. He said 1,000 athletes should have generated fees of $50,000 at $50 each, adding, “another $22,000 should be coming in from last year that were not paid.

“The disparity concerns me. I want to know that everybody pays the same as everybody else,” he said.

Elaine McClure, chairman of the Board of Education, said the board would look into the number of program participants and compare that number to the amount of money received.

On Tuesday, Dr Pitkoff said he knew of only two waivers of fees last year. In response to Mr Brennan’s concern, he said, instead of 1,000 students at $50 each, in reality there were 850 students with two waivers, which amounted to $42,400 collected. With a balance of $400 that was carried over, he said a total of $42,800 was collected.