Budget Summary 13 Dec 2017 below:
Rye budget committee presentation Dec 13
Rye FY18-19 Proposed Budget Draft
FY19 Rye Propsoed Budget Draft master (1)
1. SAU50 Assistant Business Administrator Amy Ransom presented the proposed operating budget for 2018-2019 of $14,023,994, up from $13,893,451 in 2017-2018 and $13,092,108 in 2016-2017. The proposed budget reflects a reduction from that approved by the School Board by $60,423 due to an error in the Teacher Retirement line item found by a Budget Committee member and brought to the attention of Ms. Ransom by email. Editor’s note: While the 2018-2019 budget is only slightly up from the prior year, the 2017-2018 budget was up over $800,000 from 2016-2017, despite the fact that nearly $300,000 in bond principal and interest payments went away between 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 due to the maturing of a bond (11:13 elapsed).
2. Budget committee members asked a number of questions about various line items in the budget (42:13 elapsed).
3. The proposed budget uses a Portsmouth High School enrollment projection assumes that current 9th through 11th graders continue and that all eighth graders at Rye Junior High (including one from New Castle that is not the responsibility of the Rye School District) continue on to 9th grade. This was challenged by a Budget Committee member based on the historical rate of 70-80 percent continuing on to Portsmouth High School and the fact that the 2017-2018 budget had been based on a 90 percent rate. The difference would be 4 students at a cost of nearly $70,000 (113:13 elapsed).
4. A $75,760 line item for the Robert J. Lister Academy, an alternative educational school in which, in recent years, it appears only one Rye student has briefly been enrolled, was questioned by a Budget Committee member. The legality of the contract was also questioned, as it appears never to have been ratified by voters. It was revealed that the School Board is still looking into the issue of the Lister Academy (122:43 elapsed).
5. The Budget Committee voted 7-1 to recommend the $14,023,994 operating budget as presented, with the reduction for the error in the Teacher Retirement account (133:03 elapsed).
