Members of the Board of Education’s CIP/Facilities/Finance (CFF) Subcommittee discussed February’s financial report, as well as updates on transportation issues and the roof replacement at Newtown High School, during their Tuesday, March 18 meeting.

For her financial report, Director of Business and Finance Tanja Gouveia noted that their new projected balance is $270,701. This is an increase over the last month by $236,727, which Gouveia said can solely be attributed to their reinstatement of the Excess Cost Grant from the federal government.

Gouveia said that they submitted the grant back in December, anticipating and budgeting for 70 percent based on the State’s new formula. The reimbursement eventually came in at 59.96% in January, a $220,000 decrease in their balance that drove them into the negative, according to Gouveia.

She explained that this was a concern across a lot of districts and that a lot of people reached out and submitted testimony.

“Thankfully, Connecticut lawmakers changed a bill that reinstated the amount that was going to be reimbursed to districts, so we’re very fortunate,” Gouveia continued.

The increase was $273,824, which she said “completely turned our statements around.” If this grant money did not come in, Gouveia said they were potentially looking at holes in various places just so they could stay above water.

Gouveia continued by saying that salaries continue to be a major driver of their balance. She noted that the salary component is made up of two components: certified and non-certified. This balance, she said, is coming from their non-certified staff.

Gouveia explained that this has to do with unfilled paraeducator positions, adding that they’ve had a lot of turnover this year and are not filling some positions in anticipation of the budget. She added that they have a small surplus of $85,000 in special education, which will be transferred over to behavioral therapist services because that has to do with the unfilled positions with behavioral therapists.

Gouveia also noted the supplies category, which she was “really dragging down the entire statement” due to their electricity overage. She added that there is still no relief in sight, but added that there is a little bit of anticipation built into this deficit of $348,000.

While Gouveia said she’s anticipating demand will back off a little bit in that area, she added that she “hasn’t seen anything yet.”

“So I think we’re kind of stuck with that number, unfortunately,” Gouveia said.

BOE member Brian Leonardi then asked Gouveia if there were any objects or specific expense categories that gave her concern as they approach the end of the school year. She said that the big one is “always special education,” but that she feels like everything else is pretty solid.

Transportation And NHS Roof Update

Gouveia also delivered a transportation update, specifically on how she and her team are making sure All-Star Transportation is applying credit for parked buses for the year. She said that they have been billing All-Star back for parked buses through February.

From year-to-date, she said they’ve had 34 days where they’ve had to park one of their buses, and that they’ve recouped $48,000.

“I know it’s not a large amount, but it’s per the contract and it is something,” Gouveia continued.

The big piece of transportation, she said, was the sporting piece. At the subcommittee’s January meeting, Gouveia noted how they were seeking athletic transportation liquidated damages for athletic trips not being covered by All-Star, as per the company’s contract with the district.

Gouveia added that their Q3 is not complete yet and that they’re anticipating another credit to come through of about $15,000-$20,000. This, she said, is to bill All-Star for the differential and cost between an outside service and what All-Star would have charged for an athletic trip.

From year-to-date, Gouveia said they’ve billed them $88,000 to recoup those costs on the differential, so she thinks they’ll probably come in a little under budget for that line item.

Gouveia also noted that First Student, a school bus services provider in North America, recently reached out to the district and wanted to help with athletic transportation.

Director of Facilities John Barlow also gave an update on the auditorium of the Newtown High School roof. Barlow and the maintenance department went up to the roof for inspection mid-November and discovered a 180-foot-long crack on the section of the roof above the auditorium.

Barlow added that they have a pending final approval amount of $3,700,000 to do that replacement, which is on par with what the proposal is. Barlow said that he is expecting for the number to change after meeting with the roofing contractors and pull back on some of the application that they want to put on top of the roof.

“So I think we’re good as far as going forward with the roof project,” Barlow explained.

At the next CFF Subcommittee meeting, Barlow said that he’ll have everything put together in a spreadsheet for the other subcommittee members.

“We’ll work on contract approvals, pending that it gets approved through referendum,” Barlow said.

As far as the rest of the facilities, he said that everything has been “pretty routine,” minus a couple of leaks at the high school.

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Reporter Jenna Visca can be reached at jenna@thebee.com.