District Will Use Utility Windfall To Protect Teacher Jobs

By John Voket

School Superintendent Janet Robinson told The Bee Wednesday that she plans to apply more than $300,000 in utility savings the district has developed since finalizing its annual budget toward minimizing teacher layoffs. The district recently dispatched notices to about 50 nontenured teachers informing them they could be facing termination at the end of the school year because of budgetary constraints.

But after learning that district Business Manager Ron Bienkowski developed $303,000 in expected savings in electricity costs, Dr Robinson said, “It will definitely be applied to saving close to six positions.”

The savings are being derived from two sources, Dr Robinson explained. Part of the added revenue will come from the district locking in electric rates that are expected to total less than projected in the district’s final operating budget.

The balance of the savings is anticipated because the district will continue to participate in a voluntary program to reduce peak electrical load during select summertime usage periods. Through the final few budget deliberations, Dr Robinson had been reporting that the “load response” program, which issues utility credits back to the town, was lapsing.

“Our best estimates up to that point included the load response program which we were told was supposed to expire,” Dr Robinson said. “But it is going to be continued.”

The program requires the district to pull qualifying facilities off the electrical grid by temporarily switching to generator or other alternative electrical power generation upon being notified by the utility provider about peak usage emergencies, typically during periods of intense hot weather during summer months.

During the first year of program participation, Mr Bienkowski said he expected the load response program savings to exceed $47,000.

Dr Robinson said while she believes negotiations on lowering the district’s electric rate began before the budget proposal was finalized, final negotiations to lock in the maximized savings “probably began last week.”

She said the district had previously participated in a power buying consortium along with the town, but when the town did not want to negotiate on rate cuts, Mr Bienkowski chose to negotiate electrical rates on his own.

“Ron is empowered to handle all utility related business — he’s very good at that,” Dr Robinson said. “We thought we were pretty much locked in before Ron came in Monday to report the estimated savings. This was the first I knew of this.”

The superintendent said that while the expected windfall reduces the impact of reduced budget increases from more than $800,000 to just under $600,000, the district is faced with addressing that shortfall through job reductions. Using her formula of $50,000 per teaching position still leaves the district with an apparent need to reduce about a dozen positions unless additional savings are developed before the budget is made final after taxpayers pass a referendum authorizing a spending plan for 2009-2010.

First Selectman Joe Borst referred specific questions to Finance Director Robert Tait, who was not immediately available for comment. But Mr Borst suggested the town’s commitment to using green power at a slightly higher cost than so called “dirty generation” might account for some of the difference in the final negotiated rate since the district chose to break from the town’s power buying consortium.

Finance board Chair John Kortze said the savings will help, but questioned the nature and timing of the announcement, saying as far as he is concerned “how this happens doesn’t engender confidence in the process.”

“It seemed to have materialized very soon after the budget process was finalized,” Mr Kortze observed. “I think the public may wonder how that happens. We asked specifically and we were told we weren’t going to get this savings. Now three days after the council finishes the budget we see the district [announcing] a 40 percent swing from what Ron presented to the town during deliberations.”

Reserving additional comment until he sees details on how the savings were achieved, Legislative Council Chairman Will Rodgers still classified the announcement as “good news.”

“Whenever a department head can develop six-figure savings it’s a good thing for the town,” Mr Rodgers said.