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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2005-09-01, Page 27THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2005. PAGE 27. Catholic school board approves $44.7 million budget By Stew Slater Special to The Citizen On the night before a government- imposed deadline of Aug. 30. members of the Huron-Perth Catholic District School Board approved a $44.7 million budget for 2005-06. On paper, it was presented with a balanced bottom line, but to make that happen, trustees had to accept cutting back on projected expenditures by about $325,000, and drawing down a working reserve fund to almost nothing. “We’ve come up with a balanced budget but we drew $548,000 to do that, out of our working fund reserves. And with that, those reserves are pretty much depleted,” reported business superintendent Gerry Thuss on Monday, Aug. 29. “Next year will really be the tough year, as we work to move forward with some of the initiatives we want to move forward with.” The overall expenditure increase over last year’s Huron-Perth budget is just over $2.7 million. Enrolment is projected to decrease by about one per cent — to 4,737 students. But increases in the cost for transportation, utilities, and especially salaries and benefits are expected to easily outstrip any decreased costs represented by declining enrolment. Changes in utilities costs are both inevitable and unpredictable over the medium term. They are, however, easy to explain. Trustees were told the board’s 2004-05 contracts for natural gas hovered around 15 cents per cubic metre, with recent developments creating the possibility for renewals as high as 34 cents per cubic metre. “That’s a pretty significant hit for the board,” Thuss commented. The biggest “hit,” however, came as a result of a so-called “framework” signed last June between Ontario’s education ministry and the provincial negotiators representing public school teachers’ unions. Elementary teachers in many public boards had been on work-to- rule for several weeks in lieu of contracts which had expired several months earlier, and public secondary teachers had taken steps towards joining them. Some high-level involvement assured the issues were resolved on a province-wide basis, and the Catholic boards — which hadn’t suffered labour action despite also facing the expiration of teacher contracts — were eventually required to comply with the same frameworks. As boards began to work through the effects of the framework, however, it became clear — as expressed by board chair Bernard Murray following the meeting — that “the (labour) peace and stability wasn’t free.” The Perth South trustee described the teacher salary benchmarks, used as a basis for the provincial framework, as “the biggest force that’s holding us down.” Of the increased expenditures faced by the Huron-Perth board in 2005-06, just under $2.3 million is represented by salaries and benefits. Nearly $2 million will be covered by an. increase in provincial government grants. But combined with the increases in transportation and utilities budgets, that still leaves about $700,000 to be covered by the reduction in expenditures from other areas, and the drawing down of the working fund reserve. According to Thuss, there are areas where the board will continue to spend more money than is in the specific envelopes provided by the province. These include transportation, special education, and the provision of a full slate of courses in their two secondary schools. Other than that, “what we've had to do is go through our operations and find areas to reduce our expenditures.” He suggested the board was lucky in some cases: it had just come off implementing major ongoing initiatives in which the up-front cost was the main expenditure. Examples include a computerized human resources management system for assigning supply teachers, and the board-wide upgrades in library facilities and textbooks. “We've made some big strides and now we can be in a kind of holding pattern,” he explained to the media following the meeting. But Thuss admitted there are “some program areas that have seen a significant impact. This is not something that, in the long term, we can maintain.” He said there will be no impact felt in terms of the programs or services offered, but there are areas where the board has chosen not to maintain resources or fix facilities to the We've got a deal for you... Students away at college or university can receive news from home every week I with a special J 8 month subscription to L Here's something you can really smile about! JP® The Citizen Only ‘16.00 + GST Clip this coupon and return to The Citizen ------------------------ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1 The Citizen •' Box 152 Box 429 Brussels, ON Blyth, ON NOG 1H0 NOM 1H0 t Find enclosed $17.12 ($16.00 + $1.12 GST) for an 8 month subscription to The Citizen for: Name............................................................................................................. Address........................................................................................................ I Postal Code . . ........................................................................................... I jr IM degree they might prefer. “There may be things like school repairs that are just going to have to wait," Murray explained after the meeting. "Is the board all that comfortable to dip into those reserves?” Thuss asked reporters. "Probably not.” That lack of comfort wasn't necessarily expressed in the final vote, which provided unanimous support. But it was expressed during the pre-vote discussion. Stratford trustee Ron Marcy put forward the figure of $7,100 per teacher for which the board is being forced to cover a shortfall in provincial funding. Thuss would not commit to such a precise figure following the meeting, saying he would have to check his figures more closely. During his presentation, however, he did provide a somewhat lesser estimate — saying the average would be “somewhere between $6,000 - $7,000 per teacher that we don’t receive a grant for.” Thuss also faced a question from Marcy about the fairness of the framework being applied simultaneously to all school boards. The business superintendent responded that all boards may not have been in an equal position for this budget cycle, and some might even have been in a worse position than Huron-Perth because they didn't have reserve funds on which to draw. But next year, with the framework pulling boards much closer to an equal footing in terms of teacher compensation and also locking that in until 2008, they’ll all face similar challenges. “1 think we'll get through. And next year, all (school boards) are going to be there," Thuss said. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Thuss noted the past two years have been marked by a great number of unbudgeted government funding initiatives, released to school boards at various times throughout the fiscal year. He expects that trend, which he described as beneficial to the boards but difficult to account for, may continue. A recent example is the money provided to phase in the limit of a 20- to-1 student/teacher ratio in primary grades. Not only was Thuss required to submit his board’s budget by Aug. 30, he was also required to submit where that money had been spent so far. The business superintendent expressed confidence that, this year, the teacher salary benchmarks will be addressed. He stressed to trustees, however, that boards must continue pressuring the government to communicate their requirements for those benchmarks. In response to an earlier question from Marcy, however, Thuss seemed much less confident that a new transportation funding formula will be in the works in 20Q5-06. Break-in in Brussels On Aug. 29 at 1:30 p.m. an officer was on foot patrol in Brussels when a citizen approached him about a break-in at an Elizabeth Street residence. A person had entered an unlocked garage sometime in the previous 10 days. Stolen was an older model Delta drill press and a new Stihl chainsaw. The value of the stolen tools is approximately $800. If you can help solve a number of break-ins that have been occurring in the neighbourhood of Brussels contact the Wingham OPP office or call Crime Stoppers.