y Doneen Durling
Reporter

Posted at 6:00 AM

ASHBURNHAM — There have been concerns expressed after a recent discussion on voting whether to allow School Choice within the Ashburnham-Westminster Regional School District. Though many community members have said that they wish to cut back and even stop accepting School Choice, others have expressed their concerns over impact.

School Committee Chairman William Ewing sought to clarify information from a previous discussion concerning accepting students from out of district. The state must know by May if the committee intends to allow School Choice. If the committee votes not to accept School Choice for the 2020-21 school year, all those currently attending in-district will be grandfathered and will be allowed to stay until they decide to leave or they graduate. No new students would be accepted.

In previous years, students accepted under School Choice from other districts sometimes helped to fill budget gaps. When the district accepted 200 students, it could count on another $1,000,000 every year, and as long as those students filled empty seats in a classroom, it all worked out.

When there were too many students in one room to balance the teacher-student ratio, the district would have to hire another teacher, eating away at the $5,000 per student received from the state.

Many people in the two member towns looked at the per-pupil cost and noted that the $5,000 did not cover what it was costing them to educate the children in their own towns, and expressed those concerns to the superintendent.

The School Committee and superintendent saw that community members had a point, and thus decided to whittle down the incoming School Choice students. The number dropped from more than 200 to approximately 140 last year, and this year 117, giving the district $585,000 without expanding the classrooms.

Ewing said he has received a couple of emails and phone calls from concerned residents that prompted him to provide clarification.

“When it comes time to vote on School Choice, which happens in May, I believe, or has to by that time, it’s either yes or no,” he told the committee on Jan. 21. “There was confusion as to whether we could set limits. The School Committee does not vote on the numbers, however, the numbers are based on a variety of factors.”

Ewing explained that students from out-of-district are accepted while factoring in class size.

“We do indicate some preference there,” he said. “We also have a policy, which is based on homes in the district. We have asked the administration to try and gradually reduce the numbers as time goes along.”

As the two communities grow, it becomes even more imperative to decide whether there will be room enough in certain schools. In the last few months the district has grown by 29 students. With the current building going on in both communities, the number is sure to grow.

Ewing noted that if the committee votes no, there is a requirement that the district hold public hearings, and as part of the no vote there would be a resolution that indicates the reasons for voting no.

“Other than that, everything is very straightforward,” said Ewing.

Currently, out of the 117 School Choice students in the district, 28 of them seniors.

Students shared concerns about School Choice with committee member Jennifer Storm, saying that if it was closed it would be a detriment to arts, academic and athletic programs.

Ewing told the committee that if they vote School Choice down this year, it is possible to vote it in at any time in the coming years.

The committee is waiting on an impact report from the business manager before making a decision.

from MGL chapter 164:

Section 56. The mayor of a city, or the selectmen or municipal light board, if any, of a town acquiring a gas or electric plant shall appoint a manager of municipal lighting who shall, under the direction and control of the mayor, selectmen or municipal light board, if any, and subject to this chapter, have full charge of the operation and management of the plant, the manufacture and distribution of gas or electricity, the purchase of supplies, the employment of attorneys and of agents and servants, the method, time, price, quantity and quality of the supply, the collection of bills, and the keeping of accounts. His compensation and term of office shall be fixed in cities by the city council and in towns by the selectmen or municipal light board, if any; and, before entering upon the performance of his official duties, he shall give bond to the city or town for the faithful performance thereof in a sum and form and with sureties to the satisfaction of the mayor, selectmen or municipal light board, if any, and shall, at the end of each municipal year, render to them such detailed statement of his doings and of the business and financial matters in his charge as the department may prescribe. All moneys payable to or received by the city, town, manager or municipal light board in connection with the operation of the plant, for the sale of gas or electricity or otherwise, shall be paid to the city or town treasurer. All accounts rendered to or kept in the gas or electric plant of any city shall be subject to the inspection of the city auditor or officer having similar duties, and in towns they shall be subject to the inspection of the selectmen. The auditor or officer having similar duties, or the selectmen, may require any person presenting for settlement an account or claim against such plant to make oath before him or them, in such form as he or they may prescribe, as to the accuracy of such account or claim. The wilful making of a false oath shall be punishable as perjury. The auditor or officer having similar duties in cities, and the selectmen in towns, shall approve the payment of all bills or payrolls of such plants before they are paid by the treasurer, and may disallow and refuse to approve for payment, in whole or in part, any claim as fraudulent, unlawful or excessive; and in that case the auditor or officer having similar duties, or the selectmen, shall file with the city or town treasurer a written statement of the reasons for the refusal; and the treasurer shall not pay any claim or bill so disallowed. This section shall not abridge the powers conferred on town accountants by sections fifty-five to sixty-one, inclusive, of chapter forty-one. The manager shall at any time, when required by the mayor, selectmen, municipal light board, if any, or department, make a statement to such officers of his doings, business, receipts, disbursements, balances, and of the indebtedness of the town in his department.

So, are there salaries for L&W commissioner's? If so, how much and who set them?

For the Athol Daily News

Published: 6/16/2019 9:50:17 PM

PHILLIPSTON – The Select Board recently received a report on the financial health of the town following an audit conducted by public accounting firm Roselli, Clark & Associates of Woburn. The management letter received by the board covered the fiscal year ending June 30, 2018.

Company partner Tony Roselli briefed the board on a number of items, but began his presentation by discussing the impact of interest rates on municipal finances.

“One of the things that is appearing in most of the management letters that I’m looking at across the state,” said Roselli, “I have about 60 communities that I do audits for, is the interest rate. The Federal Open Market Committee has had a lot of action in the last year. They are the arm of the federal government that increases or decreases interest rates. They’ve moved interest rates up in the past 12 months. What’s happened is, that’s had a nice effect on bank interest; it’s moved bank interest rates up to close to three percent.”

“So, what I’m noticing,” he continued, “and it’s not just here, it’s not an indictment of what’s going on here, it’s more that this is what I’m seeing everywhere. And that’s that the (town) treasurers for years didn’t worry about interest rates because back in 2008 and 09, after the financial collapse, interest rates dropped to 0.1 percent. Well, those rates hopped up last year and it kind of caught treasurers off guard.”

Roselli explained that the town currently has about $1.5 million in deposits sitting in accounts bearing interest of only 0.0 to 0.5 percent. As a result, he said, the town earned only about $11,000 on its deposits.

The management letter said, “We recommend the town treasurer evaluate the town’s depository balances and accounts and evaluate the possible benefits of reallocating other portions of the town’s excess funds to...financial institutions that offer very liquid safe short-term investments.”

Such a move, he said, could earn the town upwards of $25,000 on its deposits.

He then zeroed in on the town’s Community Preservation Fund.

“The Community Preservation Trust Fund,” said Rosell, “showed no interest earned, which is impossible. The CP Fund should either be in its own bank account or, if it’s in a pooled account, there should be an allocation to put interest in the fund. I recommend just putting it in its own bank account and having it earn its own interest.”

Town Accountant Kelli Pontbriand said many of the steps outlined by Roselli have in fact been taken in the past year.

The management letter pointed out that the town is still owed $708 in property taxes back five years or more. He suggested the town simply write off the loss.

He also pointed out that more than $6,600 is owed to the town for motor vehicle excise takes bills that are 10 years or older.

“What’s great about motor vehicles,” said Roselli, “is if you don’t pay your taxes the Registry tags you, so, if you don’t pay your motor vehicle (taxes) you’re not going to be able to renew your license or your registration. However, the Registry just did a massive computer conversion last summer and they basically got rid of anything greater than 10 years old. So, you’re never going to collect that, in my opinion. I would suggest just writing them off. I think this would help really clean up the ledgers.”

Among recommendations made in the management letter is the development of a more centralized procurement process.

“Department heads,” said the letter, “essentially handle their own purchasing with no input from the executive level or town accountant's office...We discovered that that there is no requirement that the town accountant or executive secretary maintain copies of any contracts and there is no central purchasing function.”

Overall, Roselli seemed to express confidence that the town is financially healthy, while adding steps remain to be taken to tighten up certain bookkeeping procedure.

Where your money goes and why the state government is always trying to get more tax dollars: Templeton is not the only ones making bad deals for taxpayers!

By State House News Service

When Gov. Charlie Baker lifts the curtain on his fiscal year 2021 budget next week, many Beacon Hill observers are going to flip right to the education section to see how great of an increase public schools might get under the new funding law. But there's another spending area that will grow by an even greater percentage -- the annual payment towards the state's pension liability.

Baker's budget office filed the new, three-year pension funding schedule Wednesday, detailing how Massachusetts will boost its annual pension payment by more than 9.6 percent each year -- and by more than 30 percent over the three-year period -- as it works to stash away money to cover the $41 billion unfunded portion of the state's expected pension liability of more than $96 billion.

To remain on track to fully fund the liability by 2036, the state's annual pension contribution will have to grow at a clip far more rapid than the forecasted growth in state tax revenue.

The funding schedule doesn't just limit some options for lawmakers as they craft the state's annual budget, but it also impacts the approximately 314,637 retired or active state employees and municipal teachers who are part of the Massachusetts State Employees' Retirement System or the Massachusetts Teachers' Retirement System.

The fiscal 2021 consensus revenue agreement announced Monday provided the first confirmation that the pension contribution will continue to grow faster than state revenues.

Legislative budget writers and the budget managers at the Executive Office of Administration and Finance agreed to make a $3.115 billion transfer to the pension fund in the next budget, an increase of $273 million or about 9.6 percent over the fiscal 2020 contribution. State tax revenue is expected to grow by 2.8 percent in fiscal 2021, which will start on July 1, top officials also agreed on Monday.

As revenue growth decelerates and the pension fund contribution increases by almost 10 percent, the same budget could funnel an additional $427.8 million or 8.3 percent into public education funding, according to a budget model prepared by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation using data released from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Other analysts believe a smaller, but still sizeable increase is possible.

MTF said its fiscal 2021 budget model demonstrates "the financial squeeze caused by low-growth tax revenue expectations and rising spending" related to the new education financing law, the state's share of MassHealth expenses and pension obligations.

"After two consecutive fiscal years of above-trend tax growth and manageable spending increases, an initial analysis of the state's finances suggests policymakers will face tough choices as they begin budget development for state fiscal year 2021," MTF wrote in its fiscal 2021 budget preview released Wednesday.

The 9.6 percent annual increase in the pension fund contribution is in keeping with a recommendation the Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission (PERAC) made to A&F Secretary Michael Heffernan in the fall, and the schedule Heffernan filed Wednesday adheres to the PERAC recommendation for the rest of the three-year funding plan as well.

PERAC decided in November to recommend that A&F adopt a funding schedule that assumes the state’s contribution will increase 9.63 percent each year until fiscal year 2035, with the final payment coming in fiscal 2036.

State faces $900 million budget gap, watchdog warns

By Matt Stout Globe Staff,Updated January 15, 2020, 12:00 p.m.

The state could be facing a nearly $900 million budget gap next fiscal year thanks to slowing tax revenue and growing costs, including those under Massachusetts’ sweeping new K-12 education law, a Beacon Hill watchdog is warning.

The analysis by the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation suggests that lawmakers may have to consider “tax increases or spending cuts” to balance the state’s $43 billion-plus budget. It would mark a stark reversal from recent years when officials’ primary money problem was jostling over ways to spend an unexpected windfall amid back-to-back years with a $1 billion surplus.

But as Governor Charlie Baker readies his annual budget proposal — and House lawmakers a transportation financing bill that could raise taxes — the non-partisan foundation suggests policy makers will face “tough choices.” That includes finding an estimated $428 million in new money for local schools and closing a gap of $880 million between estimated revenue and the state’s obligatory spending for the fiscal year that starts in July.

“I try to err on the side of being conservative in my assumptions. I wouldn’t be surprised if people actually doing the budget writing are looking at a gap that’s bigger,” said Heath Fahle, the foundation’s policy director and the author of the 20-page report.

The analysis acknowledges that the gap may not appear in public-facing budget documents released by the governor or lawmakers, making it difficult to compare to past years. But one legislative leader recognized this year’s budget will be “tighter.”

The business-backed foundation has warned of similar gaps before, including in its forecast for fiscal year 2017 when it pegged it at between $800 million and $1 billion. That year proved a fiscal struggle: Tax revenues lagged the state’s optimistic projections, and lawmakers ultimately trimmed their next spending plan so much that one lawmaker called it “the harshest state budget since the last recession.”

State budget writers have since leaned on relatively modest projections, including this year. Baker’s finance secretary and the Legislature’s two top budget writers said this week they’re estimating tax revenue to grow 2.8 percent in fiscal year 2021. That’s well below the 6.9 percent revenue jumped in 2019, and halfway through the current fiscal year, tax collections are up 4.7 percent, according to the Department of Revenue.

The consensus estimate provides a starting point for Baker in crafting his budget proposal due on January 22, a day after the Republican delivers his State of the Commonwealth speech. Representative Aaron Michlewitz, the House budget chairman, called the 2.8 percent projection “responsible and fiscally sustainable.”

In building its own estimates, the Taxpayers Foundation relied on a more conservative growth forecast, at 1.7 percent. It underlines the feeling among some economists that the state’s flush revenue stream may soon ebb.

The foundation report notes that the state’s workforce is aging, which could drive down income and sales tax collections. And the better-than-expected tax collections of recent years leaned, in part, on changes under the 2017 GOP-led federal tax overhaul. The cash bonanza also relied on surging revenues from capital gains taxes — levies on investment profits — which tend to be volatile.

“The swings in capital gains becomes a margin of error,” Fahle said, calling those collections the difference “between a good year, an average year, and a bad year.”

Michlewitz, a North End Democrat, said in a statement that he can’t comment on whether there will be a budget gap as the foundation describes until Baker files his proposal. But he didn’t dispute the state could be entering leaner times.

“We respect the work MTF does, and agree that it will be a tighter budget than we’ve seen in previous years,” Michlewitz said. “Once the Governor files his budget and the committee begins talking directly with agencies and stakeholders about their detailed budgetary needs, we will be in a better position to answer those questions.”

A spokesman for Michael J. Heffernan, the state’s secretary of Administration and Finance, did not directly address the report, but in a statement, said the Baker administration has “focused on returning structural balance to the budget” since facing a yawning deficit early in Baker’s first term.

Senator Michael J. Rodrigues, a Westport Democrat and the Senate’s budget chair, did not respond to requests for comment. The House and Senate typically release their spending proposals in the spring, and will have to reconcile any differences before sending a final budget to Baker’s desk this summer.

The potential budget gap is driven, in part, by increasing costs, especially in education.

Lawmakers last year passed a long-awaited bill that reshapes the state’s school funding formula while promising $1.4 billion in extra direct local aid. But the new law doesn’t include its own dedicated funding source, meaning the costs — which lawmakers estimated at roughly $300 million annually, including inflation, over seven years — will have to be carved out from existing tax revenue.

The Taxpayers Foundation projects the added spending will be closer to $428 million for the coming fiscal year, given that “the bulk of the changes” under the new law are “front loaded,” according to its report.

Put another way, more than 80 percent of the $521 million in new money the foundation is projecting for the state’s coffers would go toward K-12 education, squeezing the resources available for transportation, health care, or other priorities.

The foundation also projected added spending in the state’s Medicaid program, known as MassHealth, and a $273 million increase in the state’s contributions toward its pension fund.

On the other side, Baker and lawmakers are also accounting for drops in revenue, including a cut to the state’s income tax rate, which dipped to 5 percent on Jan. 1, and the return of taxpayers’ claiming charitable deductions on state tax returns in January 2021. Over a full fiscal year, those deductions could cost the state $300 million in revenue.

Baker has opposed raising taxes or fees to balance the budget, even though he’s signed a variety of increases into law.

Meanwhile, every seat in the state Legislature is up for reelection in November.

By ZACK DeLUCA

Staff Writer

Published: 1/12/2020 4:27:30 PM

Modified: 1/12/2020 4:26:45 PM

NORTHFIELD — The Pioneer Valley Regional School District School Committee is holding a special meeting Thursday to vote on whether to recommend for the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to close Warwick Community School.

The potential closure comes nearly a year after the committee voted to close Pearl Rhodes Elementary School in Leyden and amid months of discussion around financial constraints, with Warwick community members fighting to keep their town’s elementary school open.

At approximately 10:30 p.m., about three and a half hours into last week’s meeting, members voted eight to four to hold a special meeting on Thursday (Jan. 16). All three School Committee members who are from Warwick, and one from Leyden, were opposed.

“Our administrative team recommends that Warwick Community School merge with the Northfield Elementary School for the fall of 2020,” Superintendent Jonathan Scagel said. “We feel it is in the best interest of our student body, teaching faculty, families and district as a whole.”

According to Scagel, the recommendation regarding the Warwick Community School closure was discussed and unanimously agreed upon by the administrative team consisting of Scagel, all four school principals, director of special education, curriculum coordinator/grants manager and the director of finance during a meeting Wednesday. He said the consolidation from closing the school would help to maintain programs and help the remaining schools become sustainable.

“We believe it is essential for the survival of our district,” Scagel said.

School Committee member and Warwick resident Susan O’Reilly-McRae said the Warwick community “felt it was not listened to, or respected by this committee.” Leyden member Sharon Fontaine responded, saying she felt the committee had gone “above and beyond” to hear the concerns of Warwick residents.

During last week’s meeting, David Young, a School Committee member and Warwick town coordinator, threatened to bring a lawsuit against the committee if it were to vote on closing the school.

“Citizens from Warwick will see this committee in court,” he said.

Thursday’s meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at Pioneer Valley Regional School, unless legal counsel dictates that it needs to be held in Warwick. Young petitioned, to no avail, to hold the meeting at Warwick Community School, so residents could be heard.

“We all wear different hats,” said School Committee Chair Kristen Gonzalez. “Our role here is to do what’s best for the whole district.”

Tom Wyatt, vice chair of the Warwick Education Advisory Committee, said the group will continue to pursue options for the future of Warwick Community School if the School Committee votes to recommend closure.

Moving Warwick’s kindergarten, first-grade classes to Northfield

The School Committee also voted seven to five to have Warwick’s kindergarten and first-grade students attend Northfield Elementary School for the 2020 to 2021 school year, regardless of the outcome of next week’s meeting.

“We just don’t have the enrollment numbers,” Scagel said of this decision.

According to Scagel, the decision came after a “tough and complicated” process. He said there are only two “eligible” in-district students for next year’s kindergarten class. These students are only considered eligible because they have not yet enrolled with the school district, he explained.

O’Reilly-McRae urged the committee not to make a decision without further discussion. School Committee member Michael Townsley, of Bernardston, and Scagel both reminded the committee the district is “under financial constraints.”

Committee member Abigail Pratt, of Leyden, asked Scagel what class size would be considered “financially sustainable.”

Scagel estimated a class of 10 or 12 students is appropriate. Moving students to Northfield Elementary would result in a class size of 19 students for the first grade. Scagel said the committee has to consider the cost of teachers’ salaries and benefits. If class sizes are too small, the income is not enough to support the cost for employment.

He said the district had been looking at the budget and considering cutting staff. While some staffing cuts have been based on declining enrollment, Scagel said others have been due to budget constraints that threaten to undercut what the district can provide.

Young, who was vocally opposed to moving the grades and the potential closure, questioned why students couldn’t be moved to Warwick Community School to balance the class sizes, saying the school had the “best educational attainment.” Scagel responded by pointing to Northfield Elementary as having the highest MCAS (Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System) scores in the district.

There are only two Warwick kindergarten students in the district, Scagel said, and they are enrolled in Northfield. One of these students has attended Northfield Elementary by choice since preschool. The other student was sent there after the committee voted to consolidate kindergarten classes last year. That student will now return to Northfield Elementary for first grade.

The student’s mother, Shauna Mallet, has spoken at past School Committee meetings to protest this decision. While Mallet could not attend this week’s meeting in person, she submitted a letter to the committee that was read during citizens’ comments. In her letter, Mallet wrote that the decision to move students has “put her family in distress.”

Zack DeLuca can be reached at zdeluca@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 264.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts 

Office of the Inspector General 

Hereby designates 

Adam D. Lamontagne 

as an Associate Massachusetts Certified Public Purchasing Official 

(Associate MCPPO) 

November 25, 2019 

This designation expires three years from the date of issuance 

Glenn A. Cunha Inspector General