Board seeks to increase transparency on budgets

Some residents thought it wasn’t entirely clear — looking at the information they were given — why the budget was increasing.

During a candidate debate that ushered Tiffany Donza, Emily Rosenbaum and Jim Brochhausen into their current board seats, Donza said she thought the board should look more in-depth at the budget before accepting it.

Brochhausen wanted to be able to look at budgets by department to determine if the district was spending money equitably across the disciplines and schools.

The duo continued their pleas at a meeting Monday night.

“The budget needs to be laid out in a way that’s comprehensive, and explains what each line item is,” Donza said.

“Can we code by subject and compare math costs in the Stowe Elementary and Stowe High schools, etc.? It would provide a way to think differently about the budget,” Brochhausen said.

Superintendent Tracy Wrend doubts that would be particularly useful, as department spending can be skewed by such variables such as pay levels for new hires, which run lower than veterans’ salaries, and the need to buy new textbooks. Art and science also use a lot of consumable supplies, which would boost their budget over math or English.

“Your point is valid,” Brochhausen said. “It would be hard to look at year to year, but over time, a three-year or five-year rolling average may provide some clarity, especially when comparing (Elmore-Morristown) and Stowe expenses.” The two school districts form the Lamoille South Supervisory Union.

“It may increase understanding of the budget if we knew what we were investing in,” said Cara Zimmerman, board chair. It could also help the board to set investment priorities in a given year, depending on the priorities that came before.

And with new financial management software — Tyler Technologies Infinite Visions — recoding expenses to match up with departments could make the process simpler. However, the budgeting module won’t be used until the 2019-20 school year.

Brochhausen also hoped that the board could increase transparency by supplying the full budget to the public, either in print or online, and provide real-time updates that would be easier to follow along with during budget meetings.

“The problem with transparency is that we see more detail than the public, because of the cost of printing all those pages,” he said. “If we could do it online and remove the printing factor, it would be better. We could just let people know they should bring a laptop or tablet or — if they have good eyesight — an iPhone to the meetings to follow along.”

Wrend believes that could cause problems around accessibility, and she worries that mistakes could occur in real-time calculations that weren’t vetted properly.

Other options include an in-depth PowerPoint presentation with a narrative explaining budget items and context — in terms of why things are budgeted in different categories, or at the community level rather than the supervisory union level.

“The numbers just don’t tell the whole story,” said Emily Bradbury.

In the next few months, the board will decide which changes are feasible this year, and which should be made a year or two down the road.

Budget development will continue through January; at that point, the board will formally propose a budget time to be presented to voters in March.

Capital projects

One other budget issues last March was the use of capital reserve funds.

When the last fiscal year ended in June, the fund had $270,000 plus $500,000 that voters decided to transfer into the account from a budget surplus.

Voters also authorized the school district to use $45,000 from the capital fund for the new financial management software and $40,000 for the Stowe Elementary School dishwasher and kitchen improvements, leaving between $650,000 and $700,000 for future use.

The issue is not how much is in the fund, but how the board uses it.

The district has never had a written policy for what constitutes a capital fund project versus what can be taken care of through the annual maintenance budget and what needs a multiyear bond for completion.

The school board hopes to establish a written procedure outlining cost limits, tax-rate impact guidelines and the lifespan of a project before Town Meeting Day.

It also wants to establish a capital projects committee to go through a 2015 audit of enrollment and space needs, and make recommendations for a multiyear capital improvements plan.

Work on both will likely begin in December.