1/13/2011 FINANCE COMMITTEE Minutes

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lb 1 Mr. Gash added that the Water District tax rate is 21 cents and the Community Preservation Act surcharge is 25 cents, which brings the total property tax rate for 2011 up to $8.83/$1000. r 3. Membership in the state Finance Committee Organization— Oskar Kienert Oskar Klenert asked the committee as to their wishes regarding continuing the deferment of payment of the $200 association fee to the Massachusetts Finance Committee Organization. The annual membership fee covers the time period from July 1 to June 30. George Schmidt made a motion that the Committee defer the payment of a $200 membership fee to the State Finance Committee' rgani ati n until July 1, 2011 in order t get a full`year of benefits of the membership. Bill Johnson seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously approved. . School Com ittee Liaison Report rt— Mark Davini Mark D vine stated that, as the backup liaison for George Schmidt to the School Committee, he attended the School Committee.-meeting held on January 5# 2011. dark's report included the following points: - unanimously approved their capital improvement priorities list - glary Kate O'Brien has started a new math program called The Every Day Math Program. It is a methodology f teaching math to elementary through high school grades, is being implemented slowly, and is very successful. - Student Council president gave an impressive report - Superintendent's report included a discussion of opening up attendance to students outside of Mashpee with feedback at the February School Committee meeting - Discussion of assignment of Professional Days and whether or not to increase the number of days. - Athletic transportation.busing—accepted bids and voted to change the company currently used - Strategic Man in place will be reviewed by the school Committee before end of school year Budget overage of$27,000—Special Ed and Out of District Tuition the two biggest budget'items. The committee agreed that it was better to ask for more money rather than less to eliminate the necessity of,asking for more + - Principals' Reports—ail principals attended January 18, 201.'1 meeting —discussion of rationale to cancel. The comrnitte stated that their primary reason for not granting to attend the meeting was the consensus that they felt that ghat they had requested for the meeting was not what was going to take place. They had anticipated a monitored, untelevised, facilitated, neutral site where all attendants could air their concerns and hopefully work out the issues that were on the table. The committee also stated that the hectic meeting schedule in January made the tuning of the meeting unfortunate_ Thee- bottom line was that these issues represented significant and meaningful charges to the meeting as it was proposed in December, and did not reflect the spirit of cooperation in which the School Committee first came up with the idea. . General Comments by Finance Committee Members George Schmidt stated that he attended the December School Committee meeting, and reported discussion of the CA IS system in which he clarified that budget numbers entered into the system.were not locked in but were interchangeable. Oskar Klenert Mated that as a taxpayer and a resident of the Town of ahpee-, he is perturbed by the feelings of discontent which exist among the School-and the Town. Mr.