Selectmen challenge state over MBR

WINSTED — After an executive session that lasted more than an hour Monday night, the Board of Selectmen voted to direct Town Attorney Kevin Nelligan to draft a letter to the state Department of Education challenging its findings regarding the minimum budget requirement (MBR) for school year 2011-12.In a recent letter to the Board of Education and the selectmen, Brian Mahoney, chief financial officer for the state Department of Education, wrote that the town is not compliant with the MBR.Town voters passed a budget in late May that set education funding at $18,600,000, which is $1,449,466 below the MBR.Right before the selectmen went into executive session, Selectman Ken Fracasso handed the media a draft letter addressed to Mahoney.Mayor Candy Perez confirmed that the points Fracasso made in the letter will be in the letter addressed to Mahoney.“The Board of Selectmen and the town of Winchester hereby affirms its continued belief that Winchester will be found in full compliance with the MBR for 2011-12,” Fracasso wrote in his letter.The first point Fracasso makes in his letter is that the town has closed its seventh- and eighth-grade programs in response to declining enrollment, outsourcing the classes to the town’s semi-private school, The Gilbert School.“This outsourcing arrangement is documented under a multi-year contract with The Gilbert School, giving rise to a permanent level of savings that is measurable and known,” Fracasso wrote in his letter. “These documented savings add up to $586,366, and we note that the legislation allows for a downward adjustment in the MBR for Winchester upon [the state’s] confirmation of these figures.”The second point Fracasso makes is that the Board of Education committed to closing a school building in its written budget presentation to the town in March.However, in April, the Board of Education voted not to close a school building for the 2011-12 school year.“While we understand that the [State Department of Education] may not elect to adjust the MBR until the building closing process is completed, we note that the savings associated with such a closure range between $548,415 and $764,618, depending on which building is closed,” Fracasso wrote in his letter. “It is clearly not in the state’s educational interests nor in those of the town to spend scarce financial resources on maintaining in operation empty buildings. As the school budget presentation referenced above made clear, closure of a building is justified by a decline in the student population and would in no way jeopardize educational outcomes.”The third point Fracasso makes is that the town budgeted and spent $388,500 for asbestos remediation for Pearson School in July and August.“These expenditures are part of the town’s ongoing program of ensuring that our educational facilities are in sound condition and in compliance with health and safety codes,” Fracasso wrote. “We understand that there will be reimbursement associated with this project in due course.”In his last point, Fracasso wrote that the selectmen will make supplemental appropriations from the town’s unencumbered fund balance in amounts that will not exceed discretionary and unrestricted revenues.According to Fracasso, these appropriations would be received from the state Department of Education and would be added to the unencumbered fund balance during the current fiscal year.“You have informed us that the excess cost payments represent the largest of these discretionary and unrestricted revenues for Winchester,” Fracasso wrote. “Based on the above, the town of Winchester amply satisfies its MBR requirements.”The selectmen voted 6 to 1 to have Nelligan write the letter, with Selectman Michael Renzullo voting against the motion.“I don’t believe we are in compliance with the MBR,” Renzullo said before the vote. “I thought we were going to ask questions to whether or not we were. We were going to ask yes or no questions to get answers.”“During our discussion I know we didn’t agree with the compliance issue,” Perez told Renzullo. “We realize that the state has to answer questions to move us forward and to get issues on the table. All of this has to move forward.”In an interview after the meeting, Perez said that though she doesn’t necessarily support the idea that the MBR is too high, she supports sending the letter to resolve the question.“My personal position is this thing has got to move,” she said. “We can’t continue to be in limbo. The state has got to rule on these points. That’s why I was in agreement in sending the letter. Rule one way or another, but rule. Don’t keep everyone in the dark.”Perez also said she hopes the new superintendent of schools, Thomas Danehy, will find a way to quickly straighten out the school system’s financial books.“The new superintendent has to get the financial house in order with the audit and the numbers,” she said. “It is imperative for him to do that. If he doesn’t do it, the school system cannot move forward.”Meanwhile, opening day for school is set for Wednesday, Aug. 31.Additional reporting by Michael Marciano.

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