With little comment from the small in-person crowd who attended Wednesday night’s Deliberative Session, Jaffrey-Rindge School District voters moved all proposed articles to the warrant unchanged.
Voters had no amendments and virtually no comment to the district’s proposed $26,768,736 budget.
If passed, the budget is expected to have an impact of 81 cents per $1,000 of value on the tax rate for Jaffrey, and $1.85 per $1,000 of value for Rindge.
If the district does not pass the budget, the district may adopt the default budget, which is last year’s budget, plus contracted increases. The default budget is $27,142,266.
The district is asking voters to approve three other warrant articles aside from the budget.
The first would allow the district to retain up to 5 percent of the total budget for use in certain emergency situations. Currently, the district is allowed to retain up to 2.5 percent of its budget, but the law detailing how much districts can retain and the process for accessing the funds has been recently updated. In addition to allowing an extra 2.5 percent, now districts must only hold a public hearing before expending the funds, where previously the Department of Education had to approve the expenditure.
In 2020, the district did retain 2.5 percent of its budget, or a total of $437,107.
Roberta Oeser, Selectwoman for Rindge and a member of the School Board’s Select Board Advisory Committee, said she was in favor of the article. She said each year, when the district approaches the budget, it’s difficult to budget conservatively because everyone “is afraid of the ‘what ifs.’”
“This would take care of the ‘what ifs,’” Oeser said.
The final two warrant articles request to use unexpended funds to add to the district’s capital reserves. One article requests $25,000 for the special education contingency fund, used to fund programs or staff for special education students who move into the district mid-year.
The current balance of the fund is $412,845.
The final article requests $500,000 for the building maintenance fund, which currently has $290,783 in it.
School Board member Laurel McKenzie said the intent for the fund in the coming year is to continue to improve parking lots at all three district’s schools.
“The parking lots in all the district’s schools are in dire need of replacement,” McKenzie said.
The district has solicited bids for the reclamation and replacement of parking lots at the Conant High School/Jaffrey-Rindge Middle School and Jaffrey Grade School, and resurfacing the lot at Rindge Memorial School, which are expected to be submitted to the district this month.
If there are not sufficient funds left at the end of the 2020 year to support either the special education or building maintenance fund, they will be void, but McKenzie said the district currently anticipates there being enough funds to support both articles.
voting on all warrant articles is scheduled to be done by the official ballot on March 9. Jaffrey voters will vote at the Jaffrey-Rindge Middle School Pratt Auditorium, and Rindge voters at the Rindge Memorial School gymnasium from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.