From: joposti@yahoo.com
Subject: Building use fees
Date: Sat, 31 Mar 2012 12:35:35 -0400
All,
This year, the school board is considering a number of budget reductions as well as revenue generators to help close the budget gap created by reduced State and local revenue. The 2012-13 budget is currently about $1.9 million out of balance. In addition the teachers union has filed a grievance that could result in approximately $900,000 of exposure for the district. In addition to the reductions being considered, the board is also considering a millage increase and use of a portion of our fund balance in order to close this gap.
This morning Mr. Goldman, Mr. Ostergaard and I hosted the first of several community coffees the board plans to have in order to get additional feedback about these difficult decisions. Because one of the revenue generators we are considering is charging fees to groups such as Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts for use of school buildings I wanted to get your feedback.
If we were to start charging fees for use of the buildings how would this impact your troop? The board has not yet discussed what such a fee would look like and whether it would be something nominal such as $10 per hour or whether it would be the actual cost of the electricity and custodial services provided. Would your troop be willing to pay a fee to use the school buildings for troop meetings and activities or would you need to find another location? Are you involved with other activities such as Odyssey of the Mind that could also be impacted if we were to implement this practice?
Our next budget discussion is Monday night and we will have several more board meetings before adopting a final budget in day. I would love to hear your feedback between now and then on this and other reductions being considered. Please take a look at the most recent reduction list the board is considering:
http://www.mtlsd.org/district/budget/budgetmeetingdocuments.asp
We will continue to update this list as discussions develop during the next two months.
We will continue to update this list as discussions develop during the next two months.
Thanks for your feedback,
Jo Posti
Sent from my iPad
Sent from my iPad