FINCOM 20230315 Minutes

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Canton Finance Committee Minutes Voted on: 3/29/23 
801 Washington Street Vote: 8-0-0 
0 Canton, MA 02021 
Meeting Minutes 
March 15, 2023 
Finance Committee Members Present: Dave Clough, Dan Cole, Karen Foley, Emilio Mauro, Tim McKenna, 
Maureen Menconi, Reuki Schutt and Cindy Thomas. 
Finance Committee Members Absent: All members were present for the meeting. 
Guests Present: 
Charlie Doody, Town Administrator 
Mark Driscoll, Canton Representative to the Blue Hills Regional Technical School 
Ellen Jones, Finance Committee Recording Secretary 
Gene Manning, Interim Town Planner 
Michelle Resendes, Business Manager, Blue Hills Regional Technical School 
Jill Rosetli, Superintendent, Blue Hills Regional Technical School 
Randy Scollins, Finance Director 
Call Meeting to Order: Ms. Thomas called the virtual meeting to order at 7:05 p.m 
Ms. Thomas reviewed the Finance Committee's agenda for the meeting and stated the Committee would be hearing 
about the FY24 Blue Hills Regional Technical School budget request and voting various Town Meeting articles. 
Discussion - #840 — FY24 Blue Hills Reotonal Technical School (BHRTS) Budget 
Mr. Driscoll, introduced himself as Canton's Representative to the Blue Hills Regional Technical School Committee. He also 
introduced Jill Rosetli, the Superintendent, and Michelle Resendes, the Business Manager. Mr. Driscoll turned the meeting 
presentation over to Ms. Resendes. The following are some of the highlights of Ms. Resendes' presentation (see meeting 
documents): 
• How the Budget is Created — They analyze historical data and plans for the future. Their Leadership Team reviews 
budgets with their teachers. Basically the team is asked to start with a zero budget and formulate a budget through an in- 
depth process, based on number of students instructional materials needed to build their budget. Budgets are looked at 
line by line. The Leadership Team bring their budgets to Ms. Rosetli and Ms. Resendes for discussion of all increases and 
decreases to the budgets. 
• The final budget is brought to the School Committee for their approval. The Superintendent and Business Manager can 
then determine the assessments to present to the member communities. 
• Budget goals are determined prior to starting the budget process. These goals are presented to the School Committee. 
• Poverty, low income, Special Education, aging buildings, technology/information, inflation and student learning options 
continue to be budget expense drivers for BHRTS. 
• The Student Opportunity Act has come into play with the Ch, 70 funding that school districts are receiving. The six -year 
plan started in 2021 and will continue through 2027, Some of the increase in Ch, 70 funding is due to four expense 
drivers such as Low Income, ELL population, Employee Benefits and SPED. These items make up the foundation budget. 
The state is looking at the expense drivers to help the school districts to be able to realistically pay for what the costs are 
to educate the students, thus the significant increase in Ch. 70 aide/funding. 
• Overall the BHRTS budget is Increasing by 3.78% which according to Ms. Resendes is a fairly normal increase and is 
an indication that their educators, despite inflation, are still allocating funds to appropriate places. 
• There is a 4.54 /, Increase to the BHRTS salary accounts with the majority being contractual increases. BHRTS is 
not negotiating any contracts for this year but will be negotiating live contracts next year. 
• The budget is based on a request for the movement of two positions:.5 Nursing position out of the ESSER grant 
into the General Fund, thus no increase in FTE. A .5 Athletic Trainer moved from contract services to Blue Hills staff, 
does result in an increase in FTE but does not have an increase in expenses. 
• Overall salary Increase for District School Committee, Superintendent and Business Office is 1.7%. Instructional 
salary increase overall is 3.4% increase (all contractual). Food Services had been absorbed into the General Fund 
budget over the past few years due to COVID. School lunch is now free. In order for the account to not go into the 
negative the Food Services salary of $64,000 has been moved into the budget. 
• Expense accounts are Increasing 2.92%despite inflation. The Vocational Director, Curriculum Director and many 
other BHRTS staff work very hard to gel any other allocation of funding through grants, keeping the cost of supplies and 
materials and technology/equipment down. 
• An Employee Separation cost Increase from $5,000 for FY23 to $12,500 for FY24 or an increase of 150% is due to 
the increase in possible retirements by the end of the fiscal year. 
FINCOM 20230315 Minutes WRS DVC.docx Page 1 of 9 3/19/23