A video of the meeting will be posted here by Thursday evening….
Region 1 school board OKs budget
(full story at http://rep-am.com)
FALLS VILLAGE — The Region 1 Board of Education unanimously passed a budget Wednesday night following a hearing that lasted less than an hour and drew only a few comments.This comes in sharp contrast to the first hearing held last year, when the meeting room was filled to capacity and there was much opposition to a plan that called for eliminating teaching positions. The budget season lasted until October, taking seven referendums to pass a plan.
About 20 people attended to hear business manager Samuel Herrick outline the plan. He explained how the six towns in the region are assessed by the number of students attending the high school from each community. There are currently 420 students enrolled and the cost per pupil for next year is $23,920.
During the comment period, Tom Gailes of Canaan asked if the rising health costs are due to illnesses of one or two employees. Herrick said there are 420 employees enrolled in the Region 1 pool and there are 17 claims of more than $100,000. When Gailes asked if there is any way to track so they’ll know about costs for the following year, Herrick replied that cannot be done due to medical privacy rights. Marshall Miles of Salisbury congratulated the board on its hard work in developing a budget. “You all came in under a tough situation,” he said.
During the comment period, Tom Gailes of Canaan asked if the rising health costs are due to illnesses of one or two employees. Herrick said there are 420 employees enrolled in the Region 1 pool and there are 17 claims of more than $100,000. When Gailes asked if there is any way to track so they’ll know about costs for the following year, Herrick replied that cannot be done due to medical privacy rights. Marshall Miles of Salisbury congratulated the board on its hard work in developing a budget. “You all came in under a tough situation,” he said.
to follow up on Tom Giles comment, insurance companies are predicting a 15% increase in premiums next year due to obamacare. This is due to the failure to sign up the “bulletproof” younger demographics. I wonder IF this will affect all insurance plans?
This budget year there was a good constructive discussion and give and take by the members of the regional board and not much was said by the administration which is how it should be