A still image from the video of the Seymour School Board meeting of Jan. 24, 2022.
SEYMOUR – The Board of Education is facing a $839,000 budget deficit caused by a “miscalculation” of employee benefits last year.
Superintendent of Schools Susan Compton and Board of Education Business Manager Salvatore A. Bucci revealed the news during a budget workshop meeting Monday (Jan. 24).
“We have a deficit situation in an area where there were miscalculations of fringe benefits,” Compton said. “This was done by a former business manager who did last year’s budget. It was uncovered by our new business manager after doing an internal audit of accounts and budgets. This is something we can fix and we have to move forward.”
According to school officials, the budget approved last spring contained old, outdated dollar amounts for health insurance and pension costs. The actual costs were more expensive than budgeted for, resulting in the $839,000 short fall.
Click the play button to listen to a “Navel Gazing” podcast featuring audio from the school board’s discussion.
Bucci, hired in November, discovered the problem. He replaced former business manager Sherry Holmes.
“During the preparation of the budget for the fiscal year ending on June 30, 2022, the projection for employee benefits, which primarily includes health insurance, employer payroll taxes and pension contributions, were underestimated,” Bucci said. “Several months into the current fiscal year, it became apparent that month to month, year-to-date expenditures were accumulating ahead of the amount budgeted for the year.”
School district officials are looking at ways to fill the budget hole.
“The district is looking to mitigate this deficit in employee benefits through the reduction of expenses in other categories where planned expenses have yet to be incurred,” he said. “We will put a freeze on money that has not been spent, until we can figure out where we are.”
Compton said a worst-case scenario could involve cutting staff, or not replacing departing staff members.
“We have a strong Board of Education and we’re going to get through this; cutting jobs would be a last resort,” she said.
Town officials, during a virtual Board of Finance meeting Tuesday (Jan 25), expressed concerns about not being apprised of the situation sooner.
“I want this thing resolved and I want to know why it happened,” said Board of Finance Chairman Bill Sawicki. “We’re going to reach out to the auditors and bring all the paperwork and documents to the table and we’re going to sit down face to face and figure this thing out. This will get resolved. I’m not going to point fingers. There shouldn’t be a reason for this. People make errors, nobody’s perfect.”
First Selectwoman Annmarie Drugonis said blame cannot be placed on the superintendent or the business manager, both of whom are new and did not work on the current budget.
Drugonis also said officials are checking to see if the budget mistake could involve the accounting software both the school district and the town uses to prepare spending plans.
With the deficit factored in, the $37.8 million school budget proposed for the 2022 – 2023 school year contains a 6.9 percent hike, or $2.4 million more, than the current $35.4 million budget.
Last year’s budget was approved by voters with a 2 percent increase. Bucci said a 4.5 percent increase alone is necessary just to keep the budget at status quo.
Bucci said the driving factors behind the increase – outside of the deficit – include a 12 percent spike in health insurance; 3 to 3.5 percent contractual teacher salary increases (reached through arbitration with unions); a nearly 5 percent hike in utilities and a 12.4 percent increase in special education costs.
School Board Chairman Chris Champagne said the deficit aside, the proposed school budget contains no fluff.
“It’s a status quo kind of budget,” Champagne said. “It’s not excessive; we’re not adding new programs, we’re not building any new buildings; it’s keeping the lights on. Last year (benefits) were budgeted incorrectly and it has to be adjusted.”
The board will hold a second workshop at 6 p.m. Jan. 31 at Seymour Middle School (and will live stream via YouTube), and cast a vote on the proposed budget. The board is scheduled to present the proposal to the town’s finance board via a Zoom meeting Feb. 2.
Board member Jim Garofalo said going in with a 6.9 percent increase is going to be a tough sell.
“I see given the current circumstances, given the inflation that is hitting people, it becomes increasingly more difficult to convince people to say look you have to toughen up, you have to bite the bullet, you have to go forward regardless of whatever pain it may mean to you personally and that’s not a good selling point. If I were to read the temper of this town, they’d tell me to go take a hike. We are subject to the community’s whims and there isn’t much anybody is going to do for us. I’m fearful. I’m very concerned.”
