00:00:00,170 S1: Like, wow. All right. Like $900,000? Yeah. Yeah. I tried to throw away from 2400. 00:00:12,900 S1: Oh, right. In 2024. 00:00:17,570 S1: Yeah. Yeah. 00:00:21,100 S1: Yeah. Okay. Okay. So I think. 00:00:27,230 S1: Someone said the big question again this week. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So far, so good. I just I hope it helps. But I guess I said that. And. 00:00:47,869 S1: Joe, you also have to go first. Okay. Okay. And we'll see how that goes. Yeah. And then the second. Hi. How are you? So So that's why it's my most favorite. So you guys are up second, right? I don't know what's going on, you guys. Okay. 00:01:11,200 S1: I heard your friend said he'd be like, I need it from anybody else. 00:01:20,129 S1: I really wish I would have taken it over the coming. 00:01:27,569 S1: Of age. 00:01:30,200 S1: Or older? 00:01:35,200 S1: For every one. 00:01:40,200 S1: Hundred females. 00:01:44,500 S2: Age 18. And over. 00:01:51,069 S1: And. 00:01:54,329 S1: Over and over. 00:01:55,730 S2: And over again. Yeah. 00:01:59,500 S1: Yeah. Hey, Renee. How you doing? Um. Um. 00:02:06,370 S1: Yeah, I'll take you right now. You know. 00:02:13,800 S1: That I've ever seen Betty respond to it. I want you to read it. I sent it to you and said, like I said, there's LinkedIn and I'm going to be gone. So, yeah, I think I'm coming down with something. Check it out. Yeah, I can feel it. 00:02:29,229 S2: I don't know. 00:02:30,699 S1: But you have to. You have to finish one of those up tomorrow and Friday and then work together. Okay. She's getting a little bit. 00:02:44,199 S2: Longer. 00:02:45,469 S1: Except that the interest rates that we have today. Yes we do. Okay. All right. We got some records. All right. These guys have. They have a quorum. They have a quorum. I know those fingerprints anywhere. All of them. They don't have a quorum. Here we go. Okay. 00:03:04,669 S2: All right. 00:03:06,169 S1: Hey there, Ben and Gary. Okay. And then Benson doesn't have a quorum. I know we do. We do now. So I'm gonna get started, but I just I just want to know what is hanging. What? 00:03:25,169 S1: Are you doing? Thank you. So where should we try to avoid that? I just. 00:03:32,500 S1: Want to talk on the air. Yeah. I don't know. I don't know. Whatever they want. Yeah. Yeah I know. It's like. Yeah, it's never enough. And do they have. They have we do we? Oh. I'm sorry. 00:03:46,900 S2: Yeah. 00:03:48,330 S1: No. That's okay. I'm talking about the diaries. We have. 00:03:58,229 S1: Let me know. I got one chance to get on the agenda on one side, but I don't have the part on it. Oh, yeah. I don't know what to say. It's just unbelievable the way taxes are. Just. And people say, oh, I want to do something for all of you. We're probably ready when you are $1 million for being ready. Ready when you are. I'm sorry. Yeah, yeah. 00:04:27,629 S3: It's not that. It's a competition. Oh. 00:04:31,930 S1: Wow. 00:04:34,129 S4: Thanks, Ron. 00:04:35,800 S5: Okay. Can everyone hear me? All right. Uh. Good evening. Um, this time, I would like to call to order the meeting of the Hamilton Windham Regional School Committee at 633. Um, and I'm going to ask that each board go around and call your meeting to order if you have a quorum present. Um. Let's go. This way. 00:05:00,569 S6: You all start at 6:33 p.m.. I'll call to order a meeting for the Hamilton Select Board. Second. 00:05:10,829 S5: Are you. Are you all. Are you all ready for the, uh. Not yet. 00:05:14,500 S1: All in. 00:05:14,899 S6: Favor? We got a quorum, right? 00:05:16,199 S5: Well, good. Yep. You guys are. 00:05:17,370 S1: Good. 00:05:18,000 S5: All right. 00:05:18,430 S6: Good. 00:05:19,069 S5: Um. Not yet. 00:05:20,029 S7: Hamilton doesn't have a quorum yet. Okay. We will. 00:05:22,870 S5: All right. Uh, Wenham. 00:05:27,170 S8: Come in. Select board. Have a quorum. Yes. We are missing Peter. Peter is coming in. 00:05:33,470 S3: Yep. I'd like to call to order the Wenham selectboard. 00:05:39,600 S9: And we'll call to order the Wenham Finance Advisory Committee. Thanks. 00:05:44,370 S5: Okay, great. Um, I just want to. This room is a little bit challenging acoustics wise, and we do have to share microphones. I want to just ask that when you are speaking, if you could make sure to share the mic so that everyone can hear you and please just yell if you can't hear someone and I will do the same. Um, so that we can make sure everyone is heard. Um, okay. Uh, so first up. Um, are we going to just go in order of the agenda? First up. Um, I'm going to turn it to you. The Hamilton, uh, budget highlights. 00:06:24,930 S8: Okay. All right. 00:06:25,930 S10: Thank you. Good evening. Uh, Joe Dom lovitz, Hamilton town manager Wendy Markowitz, finance director, is with me. We're going to go through a real quick presentation of where our current, um, budget, uh, is looking for FY 26. Uh, second, second screen, please. Um, total expenditures in this budget currently are at $42,900,263, 00:06:46,829 S10: Dollars, which represents an increase from the current fiscal year of about $437,000. Town expenses are at $16,692,000, 00:06:56,769 S10: a slight decrease. That decrease is largely due to a decrease on almost exclusively due to a decrease in the amount of money we're spending in our capital budget for the year, and education increase expenses rather are to Hamilton, our $26,208,164, 00:07:13,600 S10: or an increase of 3.83% over the current year. All operating expenses are covered by the race Tax Levy. One time expenses including capital lease purchase, capital improvements and a portion of our unfunded liabilities are covered through free cash. Capital improvements are $780,045, which is a decrease from last year or from the current year, rather of 51.57%. And we are able to present a balanced budget where all of our financial policies for free cash, general stabilization, capital stabilization, capital spending requirements and enterprise retained earnings are all in compliance. Before I turn it over to Wendy, to actually go through the numbers, I'd just like to note that this budget process has always begins with budget goals set by the Select board and and the Finance Advisory Committee. Usually in September and October. Um, and one of the goals that is a recurring goal every year and is a goal of mine as the town manager, is to do everything we can to avoid a town override. So the budget is put together from that viewpoint, starting with maintaining services or improving where we can without going into an override position. We are able to do that this year. Uh, as always, I can't I don't have a crystal ball. I can't predict too far into the future. I we can project a balanced budget this year without an override. 00:08:33,700 S8: Wendy. 00:08:35,769 S11: Good evening. 00:08:39,830 S12: Um. Revenue sources. The about 89% of the revenue comes from the tax levy, which is $36.6 million. State aid of what we know right now, which is only estimated is $1.1 million, which is 3% of the budget. Local receipts were holding it steady from FY 25. The shift in the buckets have changed because of some agreements, but we're going to keep it at $2.8 million. That's what we feel is reasonable 7% of the budget. And then $1.77 million is coming from free cash to handle those one time purchases and capital expenditures and unfunded liability to supplement part of it, as Joe mentioned. So a total revenue budget of $42.9 million, which is an increase of 437,000, or 1%, from FY 25. So then when you go to the expenditure summary, okay, hold on. I can't see. 00:09:39,870 S8: The next. 00:09:40,129 S12: Screen. 00:09:40,500 S6: I'm sorry. 00:09:41,669 S8: This one? No, the next one. 00:09:42,570 S12: Next one. 00:09:43,200 S8: Sorry. 00:09:44,200 S12: Thank you very much. So we are showing a balanced budget, as Joe mentioned. Capital purchases are still in discussions. It may change slightly, but nothing major. So for discussion purposes, the actual operating budget did increase 1.92%. Because if you take out the capital, it's about 1.92% of the actual operating budget. So just showing you the buckets here. Um, education is 62% of of the operating expenses of $26.2 million. General government is 2.7 million, or 7%. Public safety at 4.3 million, or 10%. The Department of Public Works 2.5 million 6%. Health and human resources. Human services excuse me 1% at nearly 400,000. Culture and recreation. At 1.2 million. 3% of the budget and the unclassified. As you can see, I broke it out so everybody can understand what's under that, because it's a it's a big chunk of money, $4.7 million or 11%. The biggest spending in there is the pension, which is $1.7 million obligation. And the group and health insurance, which is $1.1 million. And then there's OPEC and state assessments, property and casualty insurance. So all of that combined under the unclassified equals $4.7 million. And then capital currently 780,000, which most likely will change slightly. 00:11:17,700 S12: And the last page just gives you a snapshot of our free cash. Free cash was certified on 918 at 4.5 million. In Special Town Meeting in September, 500,000 was approved for the Town Hall building project. Uh 5% reserve, which is our policy of $2 million leaves us with $1.9 million left in free cash available, and then you can see 780 is going to capital, 37,000 going to a one time retirement payout, 111,000 for fire department lease purchases 125,000 for OPEC, 550,000 is just a portion of the $1.7 million for pension, 15,000 for a general code. One time software 235,000 to replenish the capital stabilization from the fire truck. And then we have some anticipated prior year bills, which leaves us with only $130,000. 00:12:18,269 S11: That's it. Thank you. 00:12:20,200 S5: Thank you. 00:12:23,669 S5: Um, anybody on any boards or committee have any questions for Hamilton? 00:12:33,200 S5: Thank you. 00:12:36,929 S5: We do not have public comment on the agenda. I will certainly leave it to the committees if you have a specific question about a budget item. Yeah. 00:12:48,370 S13: No public comment was on one of the agenda items. If there was a public comment period. 00:12:53,330 S5: Uh, really? Which, um, do you know which agenda? 00:12:57,230 S13: I don't know about us, but it's day 630 and first meeting called the water public comment. 00:13:05,470 S5: Um, okay. Uh, if that's the case, then I certainly want to honor that. Um, um, do you you don't know which committee. 00:13:16,529 S7: Dana, I think I put public comment on the agenda for Hamilton. 00:13:21,929 S5: Okay, absolutely. Totally fair. Um, I ask you to state your name. Um, and please spell your name so that your last name so that we get it correct for the record. Um, and I'd ask you to limit your comments to three minutes, please. 00:13:36,230 S14: Deb. Safford. Safford. Hamilton, 46 Maple Street. Um, thanks for allowing public comment. Uh, I want to just start by thanking the Select Board in Hamilton for actually engaging with the community on all these matters. I think it's been really great to have the citizens come and be able to hear from representatives, and I just want to publicly, in front of everyone, just acknowledge, acknowledge that the Hamilton boards have been really good about engaging with the community. So thank you for that. Um, contrary to that, it's always been disconcerting to me that the school committee allows us to speak, but literally does nothing about anything that's being brought up. And so I just wanted to ask, uh, with all the committees here, just an appeal that Finn can be the advocate for all the citizens in the communities that you represent, not advocates for projects, even if you're on those committees, but to really think fiscally responsibly About how to represent the citizens, how to be, you know, really make the best decisions, not just to cover up for a project that they want to do and give them a leg up. Um, and to the school committee, I would just say that I was grateful the last meeting that two members raise questions about future overrides, and I was at the last quintuple meeting, and there was a wonderful analysis that Dana did showing Miss Laura did showing, you know, the increases. And it was recommended at that point. Oh, yeah. I don't really recommend using, um, one time funds for operating expenses. And yet that's what we're doing. And so I think it would be really important to understand, you know, why that decision was made. And I think it's because what has been stated publicly is that we don't want to have an override at the same time as a debt exclusion for the new school, which is the project today. So the reality is, if we didn't have a school, we probably would be having an override, I think. And so we're deferring it. And I just think that the public needs to understand that, that in taking excess and deficiency and in taking, you know, things that are in surplus right now and applying it to operating expenses, that's an unsustainable solution long term. And there's there's a the and I think that even Trent or David or someone was saying that to Lenny. Uh, Vinnie. Sorry, um, that the odds of having an override in the future are very high. And I just think it's going to be an even bigger override, because if you remember the picture, it was like from here to here to here. So if we cover this up, then we've got this huge thing that's down the road. And so when people go to the polls and they vote for the debt override, thinking that we're all fiscally responsible and we've got everything in order, I think the truth of the matter is that we're covering up things with surplus funds this time. And there's like a tsunami that's coming. It's like an earthquake. But then the tsunami comes after a delay. And, you know, I'm not an expert. And I just booked a Vinny. As we were walking in, I was like, you know, I'd love to look at it, but I just think that philosophically and conceptually, I think I'm right on that. And I just would like to advocate that, that there'd be really, um, an understanding for the public of what's coming instead of just looking at this year. So thank you very much. 00:16:55,429 S5: Thank you. 00:16:59,830 S5: Um, so we sort of because I hadn't realized that that had been posted was sort of a little bit out of order. So we've only heard from Hamilton. I'm certainly fine to take it out of order. If anyone else has a public comment. Um, we can do that now. Um, unless people would prefer to speak after whichever town you have a specific comment, I'm going to leave that up to you. If there's people that want to make a public comment. Now, please approach the podium. 00:17:33,000 S5: Okay. Thank you. Um, next up, uh, one. 00:17:41,299 S15: All right. So, uh, for one of what we chose to do is just make some updates to the, uh, our presentation from, uh, back in November. Uh, obviously, we're a lot closer to the end of budget season here. Um, with about 4 to 6 weeks to go, we are now, uh, under an override. Uh, much like Joe mentioned for Hamilton. Uh, at the minimum, that's the goal, sort of at the outset of most years is to avoid that. We are now in the the part of the budget season where we're looking to, you know, further trim the budget and get us more under the levy limit. And, and when um, for us, the big focus there is going to be starting to look at comparable communities and, you know, compare and contrast the services we provide at the town level with similar sized or similar, uh, socioeconomic communities. Um, for us, you know, a couple of big things that are hanging over our budget this year is that we are in negotiations with three out of our four unions. Um, we haven't built in anything in the direct departmental budgets for that, but we have built in a reserve for settling those contracts for FY 26. Um, and then we just wanted to note that, you know, this budget only covers the operating budget. And when we tend to fund capital with free cash. Uh, and we believe that will be the case this year that we have, you know, sufficient free cash to cover any capital needs. Um, flipping the next page, just a couple of the major assumptions here. Uh, after the latest round of information from from Vinnie. Uh, you know, it looks like our net increase on the Hamilton Wyndham side is going to be about $712,000. Uh, with the increase to operating in a slight reduction in the, uh, the debt service. So that's about a 5.67% increase for the year. Um, we're looking at right now an estimate of a 3% increase for Essex Tech. Based on my conversations today, I think that's probably going to be light. We know we've got an extra two students, uh, as of October 1st. So, uh, you know, that will probably go up a little bit, but, um, you know, all things considered, it's, you know, maybe that's another 4 or $5000. So not material to the overall budget. Uh, we had a few items, our street lighting, our trash collection. Uh, we just needed to make some adjustments to right size. Our budget that was underfunded in prior years. That's an addition of about 21,000. Uh, the library budget overall is going up about 17,000, which is driven by just contractual obligations with the union that has settled, um, a small increase of about 7000 to our recreation share of the recreation budget. Uh, and probably like most people around the table, our big drivers are pension, health insurance and sort of general liability insurance. That's about $242,000 in increases. So those items there make up about 297,000 of what will be about a $440,000 increase overall, which includes a reserve for these contracts. All of our other budgets are level funded, and we're looking to trim those down further as we work towards the the end of the budget season here. But with 4 to 6 weeks to go, we feel like we're in pretty good shape here. Uh, the final page, um, you know, just gives a very high level overview of the Wenham budget. Um, you know, on the town side, as I mentioned, we're going up about 440,000, which represents a net increase of about 3.82%. Um, the Hamilton one m school budget up to 712, you know, about a 5.67%. And then the small increase for Essex Tech. Um, you know, comparing this to when we met, uh, you know, just a few weeks back in November, um, you know, we've come down between cuts at the Hamilton Wyndham school level and the town level. You know, the town budget's come down about 70,000. The school budgets come down about 537,000. So we're down over 600,000 since November. And that's what has allowed us to push below the levy limit for the FY 26 budget. Um, if we look at, you know, what makes up the revenue streams that offsets this, you know, this spending, uh, you know, you're looking at local receipts and state aid of about 3.5 million. Uh, you know, that's an increase of about 158,000 159,000. Uh, and then we've got some significant increases to our levy limit. We were, um, under the levy limit last year. We had some excess capacity, which frees us up, uh, for a little bit more growth this year. So you can see a, you know, growth of about 745,000 there. But for new growth, we've actually reduced what we think it will be for FY 26. Uh, We've captured a lot of building and new growth over the last few years, and we expect that to slow down. And then, you know, our debt exclusions are dropping. But, you know, at the same time, that means we're not spending that money. So it's sort of a wash. But overall, I think feeling pretty pretty good about where we're at and looking forward to trim this further over the next few weeks. 00:22:39,000 S5: Thank you. Do we have any board members that have any questions for for, uh, one of them? 00:22:50,069 S3: Okay. 00:22:51,299 S5: Thank you. Uh. 00:22:53,670 S16: I do have one question. 00:22:54,829 S5: Absolutely. Can you make sure you speak into the mic? 00:22:56,500 S16: Sorry for for the two fin coms. Has there been any effort to model what the potential per household or per dollar of current tax, the likely additional tax that there will be if if indeed the town votes to move forward on the new the new Cutler. And if there isn't. Can we make sure that we have have such a model and and such projections, even though I know they're not absolutely precise the provider range so that taxpayers and voters know exactly what what the impact will be on them personally. 00:23:35,599 S8: Yeah. Well, we are setting up that model awaiting on some final numbers from that, the architect or OPM in the state. And once those are finalized and we're comfortable with them, we'll move forward with, uh, releasing that model so that residents can understand the tax impact or potential tax impact. 00:23:57,970 S16: Do you anticipate that will be in time for the April vote. 00:24:02,970 S8: Time for the work. 00:24:04,170 S16: That that that will be in time for the April vote? Yeah. Okay. Great. 00:24:07,000 S8: Oh, yeah. We're talking probably a couple of weeks. 00:24:09,470 S16: Oh, terrific. Thank you. 00:24:11,170 S5: Yeah. Of course. 00:24:12,470 S17: Just just so people are aware, we're actually just waiting on the update in January. The MSBA updates the reimbursement percentage rate, so we're just waiting for that update. It's supposed to come out by Friday once we have that that nails down. Um, the numbers if you will. So we'll be able to put out some, um, numbers of the towns. Towns can work on, uh, what they need. And then we'll, we'll set up, um, tax calculators on the website so that people can, can dig into it a little more deeply. 00:24:40,700 S5: Sure. It looks like maybe both fin coms had something to say. 00:24:43,200 S9: Yeah, I just had a question. I don't know, uh, if you could confirm this, I don't think that the, uh, that the new school project will have an impact on the operating budget of 2026. Right? So this isn't a 2026 no expense that we have to consider as part of this budget. Right? 00:25:01,269 S6: I didn't hear what you said. Sorry. You want to answer that? 00:25:05,069 S9: I don't know if you could hear me, but basically I was just saying, I think that the, uh, the debt service or whatever we're talking about. Expenses related to the new elementary school project are not going to hit the citizens in 2026. Right. So that's a 2027 or later debt service or operating expense, is that correct? 00:25:22,829 S17: Probably 28 or 29. Okay. Right. Yeah. Not you're right. It's not in the 2026. It's not going to impact the 2026 budgets. 00:25:31,529 S7: So David, was your question. Are we projecting the tax impact for the new school? I couldn't quite hear you. 00:25:39,730 S16: Yes, yes. Sorry. It's okay if it wasn't clear. Yes. 00:25:42,099 S7: So I've mentioned this before, but, um, in Hamilton, we have published the tax impact of $150 million school for the last two years. It's out on the income website in Hamilton. And, um, those projections, um, remain accurate compared to the most recent project that's going to the town, um, for a vote. So with with published not only that school, but all the school capital and all the town capital translated it into a projected tax impact for a median home in Hamilton. So really, the obligation that we have on the incomes, I believe, is to give people the ability to look forward. Here are projects that are lined up, and here's what a likely cost should be, I think. I feel that's probably my primary obligation on the income, is to give the taxpayers information that they might not otherwise have. All right. And additionally, this school project was voted by the taxpayers in October of 22. The process that was followed, as well as potential costs. So as far back as October 22nd, we put out projections. In the last two years in Hamilton, we have projected the tax impact. So just to kind of round out that conversation, and I do believe before we go into the next town meeting, we'll do it yet again. And also to the earlier point, we're also taking a look at 2027. I think at the last select board meeting, Deb, you brought that point up and I committed to you that we will look at the operating budget in partnership with the school committee. We talked about it and we agreed that we would do that sitting here right now. Um, there may be an override next year, but I don't think it's going to be substantial. All right. I've already looked at it and we've got people looking at the budget. And believe me and believe me, there's no cover up going on. All right. The transparency that we've had in the last 2 or 3 years with the school department on the budget, both towns and engaging the taxpayers, is 2 or 3 ex what it's been prior. So I understand there's a lot of passion around this, but the taxpayers understand the tax impact that could come. All right. So I just wanted to clarify a couple of points. And I don't like being accused of covering anything up. Right. And no one here is covering anything up. Okay. Well I heard cover up. So can I just comment? Chance to speak. And I just wanted to clarify it. That's all. Yep. 00:28:53,769 S16: Can I comment back on that? Appreciate all that. I just to me a factual or a you just said the citizens all understand the tax implications. I don't doubt that we're way more transparent and the information is way more available, but I highly doubt the citizens understand it. That's on them. You can't make them understand it. 00:29:15,569 S7: But just so I. 00:29:16,930 S16: Claim that they understand it. I don't know that they do. 00:29:19,529 S7: Are you speaking for the town of Wenham or the town of Hamilton? 00:29:23,000 S16: Citizens in the world. But probably applies to Wenham and Hamilton. 00:29:27,230 S6: Okay. 00:29:31,599 S16: Are there any answers about that? 00:29:32,829 S5: I'm sorry David. Go ahead. 00:29:34,230 S16: I was just thanking him for that comprehensive answer. That's great. 00:29:38,029 S5: Um, okay. Anybody else have questions before we move on to the school? 00:29:46,400 S5: Okay. Um. All right, Benny, you're up. Yep. I'm just going to take him a second to get that up on the screen so that. 00:29:57,470 S8: I came in. 00:29:58,000 S6: I'm almost out of my water. 00:30:12,769 S17: End of. 00:30:13,099 S1: The. 00:30:13,200 S6: Hall. 00:30:13,769 S17: And look to your. 00:30:14,299 S6: Right. Yeah. 00:30:24,069 S16: Slip badly. Right to the. 00:30:25,700 S6: Right. 00:30:39,799 S18: So, yeah, that's what I thought I might have. Will get in a two, two two, two and a half grand. 00:30:47,299 S18: Prix Santa. 00:30:48,799 S6: Fe 2020. 00:30:55,900 S7: Well Vinnie's getting ready. The Hamilton Finicum does have a quorum. Myself, John and Chris Woolston is here. 00:31:03,430 S6: So? 00:31:04,069 S7: So we do have a we do have unofficial quorum. 00:31:06,670 S6: All right. 00:31:07,329 S5: All right. 00:31:07,769 S6: So apologize. 00:31:08,500 S5: For that. Hamilton. Call to order at seven. 00:31:12,029 S7: Call to order. 00:31:12,700 S5: Perfect. 00:31:13,299 S7: Thank you. 00:31:17,529 S1: Technical difficulties. 00:31:19,730 S6: Coming up. 00:31:30,029 S6: Yeah. 00:31:42,369 S6: John. 00:31:47,299 S18: Got his name. 00:31:50,700 S6: John. 00:31:59,400 S6: Mr. McGrath. 00:32:04,230 S6: What? 00:32:05,599 S7: Oh. I'm sorry. 00:32:06,329 S19: So I really appreciate you, um, pointing out this, um, estimate on the website. Um, and I know we're just waiting for Vinnie to get up, so I just wanted to, um, you know, point out some things on it is that it is definitely posted there. I don't know when this has been circulated, like to the public, such that individuals would be able to see it. Um, I know they can always go on to the website and find it. Um, there is a a huge range for a single home value on their right for a $798,000 home. It's 678 to 1569 for that one project, which is which is quite big, right? Right. 00:32:56,099 S7: And the reason for that is at that point in time. 00:33:01,900 S7: There were multiple sized options in the mix. There was a $46 million option for a Renault of Cutler. Yeah. And $151 million option for a new school. Right. What you'll see in April of 25 is $143 million option with one number, and that number is $1,569. 00:33:33,029 S19: For a home valued at $779. Right. Right. And so I think that that's excellent that we have that information. Okay. Um, I do think that the problem with using a median is that a median is used when there's a non-normal distribution, right. And so people aren't going to be able to look and estimate based upon any, you know, normal distribution calculator. So I think it would be really helpful if individuals were able to look and see the assessed value of their home specifically and what that estimate is for them, and that would just be additional feedback. And then I think that, um, you know, circulating this is is, you know, tremendously helpful. Um, because on the school committee I've been waiting for, for, you know, solid numbers. And this is, this is the first solid number that I've seen. So I do think that we. 00:34:26,869 S7: Actually published it in April of 2023. 00:34:31,130 S19: No, I hear you. Um, what's missing is that at the beginning of this year, an entire everything below the top estimate disappeared from from the range, right? So if I, if I publish a range and I estimate that I'm going to hit the middle of that, which would be the reasonable estimate if you see a range. Right. But what actually happened is we hit the top of it, and I'm not criticizing that at all. I'm just saying that that becomes a point of confusion, I think for sure, um, for the public. But I really appreciate this work being done and have it. I was able to pull it up here in 30s and see exactly what, what it looks like for that specific value of home. 00:35:12,230 S7: Yeah, I think just going from memory that in the notes on the right hand side, it does mention there are multiple options. 00:35:22,969 S19: Yeah. It says that the range represents a total of 14 potential scenarios. 00:35:27,530 S7: Correct. Okay. So I think it was well footnoted. And I invited people to come to the fin com if they had any interest whatsoever, but would be more than happy to publish, um, the sizes of the homes and the impact. More than happy to do that. 00:35:48,969 S19: Excellent. 00:35:52,599 S5: Okay. All right. Vinnie, it looks like we're ready for you. 00:35:55,829 S6: Okay. 00:35:58,570 S20: Thanks, everyone, for joining us tonight. We're here to review the superintendent's updated tentative FY 26 budget recommendation. Uh, just like to thank Eric, the school committee and the entire leadership team for their help during the budget process. It's about a four month process that we start, uh, the end of October. And although the final budget is voted on by the school committee in the first week in February, it doesn't entirely end there. There's a lot of groundwork after that leading up to town meeting. So just thank them for their work so far and everything they're going to do leading up to town meeting. 00:36:33,969 S5: Vinnie I'm sorry, can I try? I'm just going to. Can everyone hear him? Do we need to, um. Is there any way to turn the podium mic up a little bit? Thank you. 00:36:42,400 S13: Can you just move the mic closer to you? 00:36:45,070 S6: Oh, yeah. 00:36:50,769 S6: All right. Now, can you hear me? 00:36:53,869 S20: Testing. 00:36:58,070 S6: Of course. 00:36:58,500 S20: No. 00:37:03,329 S6: Doubt. 00:37:04,869 S19: Good evening. 00:37:06,099 S5: There you go. That's pretty good. 00:37:07,130 S6: Okay. Very good. 00:37:08,329 S7: Stay close to it. 00:37:09,300 S6: Don't worry. Thank you. 00:37:12,570 S20: Okay. So, as for those of you here on November 20th, when we had our first quintuple board meeting, the school district presented in FY 26 budget that came in at just under $50 million. This represents an increase year over year of 3.3 million, or roughly 7.12%. Uh, that is our gross operating and debt service. Uh, what that ultimately translated into for the net town assessments was an increase to Hamilton of just over 2 million or 8.25%, and an increase to one M of 1.3 million, or roughly 10%. 00:37:53,599 S20: But since November 20th, we've taken many deeper dives into the budget process, looking at both our revenues and our expenditures in terms of our revenues since November 20th, that original preliminary budget, we presented our offsets in revenues, again, excluding any assessments came in at around 9.4 million. Tonight, our updated tentative budget is 9.6 million, an increase of approximately $200,000. That comes from three main areas our special ed, special education, tuition in our transportation reimbursement, and our premiums on our debt. So for our special education, tuition in this really is a benefit to both communities. This is a student that doesn't reside in Hamilton or Wenham. They reside in a different community, whether it's Peabody, Gloucester or Ipswich. It's beneficial to both of us because usually a public school district would charge a lower tuition than a private out of school district, and at the same time the receiving district, Hamilton Wenham receives the additional revenue source without incurring any additional expenses. To place this student in our building, we do not have to hire any new staff. There was no new teachers or no new ESPs. It really was just a pure $40,000 increase to our offsets in terms of our transportation reimbursement. The school district files an end of year report with the state. This year, I will admit we were a little late on our filing. We did not file it till the end of the end of November early December. It goes through a verification process. Once that's complete, I take those updated numbers and project out our transportation reimbursement. What our end of year report translated into was an increase of $86,000. When you compare our preliminary budget to our to tonight's updated tentative. In December, the district issued a short term note for the construction of the turf field and a few various other older projects across the district. The preliminary budget I estimated premium that would we would receive on the debt issuance. When December finally came and we issued the debt, it did come in $68,000 more than what I anticipated. So again, comparing our preliminary budget to the updated tentative, it is an increase of just under $200,000 or 2.05% for our revenues. So tonight, overall, when you look at our revenues, including our operating in debt, and again, excluding any assessments for FY 26, we have offsets and in revenues totaling 9.6 million, which represents an increase of 216,000, or 2.3%. 00:40:46,829 S20: In terms of our expenses from November 20th until today. A lot has changed. Again, the preliminary budget was set at just under $5,050 million. Tonight it is coming in at 48.5. That is a reduction of approximately 1.4 million. Some things that we looked at, as always is salary reductions. We. We took a deeper dive and reviewed our entire staff list, tried to make reductions and lower, bring people in at lower salaries. Ultimately combine this came in with a reduction of $200,000 to our gross operating budget. About two weeks ago, I met with NFP, our insurance brokers, after discussions with them in our run rate within our health insurance program. I was confident that we could lower the estimated increase for our health insurance premiums that ultimately resulted in a decrease of 105,000. We also have a reduction of 110,000 for various reductions in cuts across the district. This might be a $1,000 reduction to one account, or a 5000 reduction, $5,000 reduction to supplies and materials contracted services. We really just combed through the entire budget to try to find savings and reductions anywhere we could. In addition, two weeks ago, I did receive an updated out of district tuitions projection from our Director of Student Services that updated projection for FY 26. Had one less student that we anticipate going out of district next year. That ultimately resulted in a reduction of $80,000, again, in an attempt to find savings and reductions anywhere we could. We lowered our teacher professional development pool. Historically, and within the preliminary budget, we budget $250 per FTE per teacher for our updated tentative budget. We did lower that amount to 150 per FTE. That ultimately resulted in a reduction of $18,000. And last on this sheet, in addition to our added reduction in out of district tuitions, we also had a reduction to our outer district transportation of approximately 14,000. So, combined with our out of district tuitions and our out of district transportations, comparing our preliminary to tonight's updated is a reduction of 94,000. 00:43:16,269 S20: But without a doubt, the largest change to our expenses to avoid an override had to do with a recommendation that came out of our Capital Finance Committee and was ultimately approved by the full committee within the tentative budget on January 2nd. This recommendation took a look at our operating budget. Within that budget we presented on the 20th. Majority of it consisted of operating expenses, but however, there was capital expenditures within there that were directly funded from our end. Otherwise known for you guys as your free cash. The recommendation was to reduce our capital expenditures and divert that 1.1 million to lower the assessments, or ultimately, the tax burden from the community. Just so everyone hears it, this does make our end offset for FY 26 at $2 million in total. We already had about $800,000 dedicated to reducing the assessment. Again, this makes it about 2 million. If you look at that, compared to our overall gross budget, it is 4.5% of our entire higher budget. This will be something that we have to deal with in FY 27 through the next year. Uh, myself, Eric and the entire leadership team will be going through every single department and every single staff member to try to find anything we can do to help us in FY 27. But for right now, it is lowering our overall assessment by 1.1 million. So ultimately, when you add everything together based on these new numbers, our total operating and debt as a gross figure for FY 26 is 48.5 million, which year over year is an increase of 1.9 million, or 4.08%. Uh, included in the presentation and in the printout I did I do have a summary of all changes to our expenditures plus, plus or -$10,000. You can see at the bottom right corner it does, uh, total that $1.9 million increase year over year. In addition, I do have a summary of all staffing changes. As you can see, looking at this, whenever we add a position somewhere, we always try to offset it somewhere else. So our year over year increase on FTEs we try to stay level. You can really attribute this one point sorry, this 0.88 increase to a new student that moved in district. And their IEP required a 1 to 1 aide. So really that additional 1.0 year over year can be attributed to those needed services. 00:46:08,869 S20: So what does that mean for our tentative. For our updated tentative assessment, when you include everything in and outside the levy limit for Hamilton, it is equating to a $972,000 increase or just under 4%. And for Wenham, it is 712,000 or roughly 5.67%. 00:46:29,769 S20: That concludes the presentation. I can take any questions or comments. 00:46:36,900 S21: On page eight. Could you address operations and maintenance as to what's in there for the Cutler and Winter schools this fiscal year that's coming up, and also address whether that those numbers were affected by the assumption that we'd go forward with the new school project. 00:46:58,429 S20: Yeah. Would that be, uh, slide eight or the other presentation? 00:47:01,599 S6: Yeah. 00:47:01,900 S21: Mark eight. 00:47:02,500 S6: Yeah. Slide eight. Hold on. 00:47:10,070 S20: So your question is under the operations and maintenance, what is included for the Cutler Elementary School? 00:47:16,699 S21: What's in there for Cutler or what's in there for Winthrop and how the numbers that are in there, uh, were affected by the anticipation of the new school. 00:47:26,829 S20: These numbers are not affected by the anticipation of the new school. The new school wouldn't be online for for many years from now. So this budget for Cutler is exactly what it would be this year. The new school does not affect it. What's included in those numbers is things like custodian salaries, supplies and materials for the custodians, our paper product, all of our utilities to run the building and just preventative maintenance, electrical costs, plumbing costs to keep the building functional. 00:47:59,469 S21: So there's nothing that would have been deferred in terms of a project type of thing, because you're expecting to have a school in a few years. 00:48:06,570 S20: That is correct. We did not defer or add in anything related to the. 00:48:11,469 S6: New. 00:48:12,230 S20: The construction of the new school. That school will have to be operational for next year. 00:48:18,670 S20: Is that sufficiently answer your question. 00:48:28,469 S5: Rosie. Go ahead. 00:48:29,699 S22: Hi, Vinnie. Rosie Kennedy from the Hamilton Select Board. Have a question again about operations and maintenance. Can you tell us? I mean, custodian supplies. Um, you know, your budget is 3.5 million, so I'm sure there's more in there than that. And specifically, I'm wondering about the boilers that broke down and the roof on the high school. Where is your expectation in replacing those items? 00:48:59,900 S20: Yep. So that 3.5 million isn't just supplies, it's salaries as well. Uh, that does cover the 20 custodians we have on duty. So it is more than just the custodial supplies. Right. I'm sorry, what was the second half of your question? 00:49:14,530 S22: So, um, when you talk about operations and maintenance, does the Replacement of boilers and the replacement of the high school roof. Are those included in this budget in total? 00:49:28,269 S20: It is not included in this budget. We plan on replacing those boilers this year, so that would. 00:49:33,900 S6: Be. 00:49:34,630 S20: In 25, not incorporated in our 26 budget, but an item like that would either fall under operations and maintenance or our capital and fixed assets. It depends on the total price of the project. I believe the threshold off the top of my head is 150,000. If it's over 150, it falls to the capital assets, okay. 00:49:55,500 S22: And those will be taken care of on the in the one time end. Um, free quote unquote free cash from the from the high school, from the school district budget. Right. 00:50:08,699 S20: Specifically, are you talking about the boilers at the high school? 00:50:11,469 S22: Well, I'm talking about the boilers and I'm talking about the roof. I'm just wondering where those, critical repairs and replacements are in this budget. So that's, I guess, what I'm asking. 00:50:25,829 S20: So the high school roof will probably cost upwards of anywhere to 3 to 5 million. That is not included in our operating budget. We would have to issue some sort of debt exclusion or for that in the future, so that any replacement of the roof is not included here. The only thing that would be included in terms of the roof is just minor repairs to leaks, and. 00:50:49,869 S6: Right. 00:50:50,300 S20: Items like that. The full replacement is not in this budget. 00:50:54,030 S22: Okay. So that's something that's being deferred for replacement. Is is that correct? 00:51:01,369 S20: We are waiting for MSBA. They accepted us into their program to replace the roof. So we're going through their entire process which will probably take another year. So we're not deferring it. We're trying to work with the state to Receive some offsetting funding to replace it. 00:51:19,469 S22: Okay. So I, I'm just I will say that I'm concerned about the condition of the infrastructure when these leaks are allowed to go on and on. And, um. Um, I was privy to some information that a high school student texted his mother saying that this classroom is leaking like crazy. I worry about the, um, physical impact in terms of mold degradation to the actual building itself. And so I'm just I'm just concerned that in this ginormous 3.5 million operations and maintenance, that there's there's nothing in there to to address that critical need. And yet here we are looking at another enormous, um, potential debt exclusion. So I'm just wondering how the school plans to how the schools plan to deal with these critical issues that are current and necessary. Now, how do we do that. 00:52:35,829 S20: With funding from the community? We will we cannot include it in our operating budget as that would cause over a 13% increase. We will be putting forth approval to take debt for that. So it has been a concern. That is why we've submitted to the MSBA for, I believe, the past three years to get accepted to replace the roof. We have been trying to do it, but we have been trying to do first some of those expenses to the state level instead of the entire community and taxpayers funding it. 00:53:12,000 S17: Can I jump in on this for a second? Just, just Rosie is, I think, talking about. There were a couple of points last year where we had some really heavy water infiltration at the high school, and specifically two classrooms that I remember that were pretty, pretty heavy. Um, we do budget money for those types of repairs through the years. So even, you know, go back five years ago, we were repairing leaks in both the high school, middle school roof, the roof. It's a constant thing with with our roofs. Uh, last year alone, I think we put about $40,000 into repairs across the roofs at the middle and high school, um, in anticipation of trying to get into the MSBA program. And in November, we were accepted into MSBA program. Uh, it kicked off for us on January 2nd. And then over the next four months, we worked with the MSBA to figure out, um, costs along the way, including what they may reimburse, uh, as part of the project. So if you, you know, you're looking at a $3 million roof, we're hoping to get anywhere from 30 to 50% from the state to offset the total cost, to reduce the cost of the taxpayers. 00:54:21,570 S22: And so, um, I also feel compelled to bring up the issue of, um, and money that could have been spent on the new school last year, but was instead dedicated to the athletic fields program. And, um, it seems like that money, in my opinion, should have been used toward a roof so that it doesn't further degrade the infrastructure in our high school. And we don't have, um, a ginormous new school project in our high school staring us in the face. So I'm I'm concerned about that. I'm concerned about priorities. I'm concerned about, putting money away for, for and budgeting and being really careful about every taxpayer dime that comes into the school district. 00:55:18,969 S17: I can appreciate that. 00:55:20,030 S6: Thank you. 00:55:20,699 S10: And as you say. 00:55:21,570 S23: That, excuse me. I think it's really important to realize that when we're talking about an operating budget here and you're talking about capital projects in the school committee is really, really limited on what we could do and how we could spend our money based on, um, the regional agreement. Right. And where that sort of threshold lies. I think the other thing that's really that you're sort of hinting at, that, I think is a really a great time to bring up right now is that, you know, these schools continue to get older. These schools continue to sort of fall apart and have these general maintenance issues year after year after year after year. Um, there's a lot more eyes on these projects now with this, you know, with this, this possibility of a new school coming in, right, and saying, okay, well, why is it? Are these schools sort of having all these issues. These schools have always had these issues. No one's really noticed because we've done a great job in House of actually keeping them maintained year after year after year. However, we all own homes. We all know things go wrong, right? Same things. We just, you know, scale up and that's, you know, what's going on all around our district. Excuse me. So at some point we have to realize, like, when does it make the most sense to be fiscally prudent? We're all sitting in this room to actually try and figure out what makes the most sense for our both of our communities to say, does it make the most sense to be paying 100% of the cost right now? Or can we get into this program where the state is going to reimburse us? So we're paying 50 $0.60 on the dollar to replace a roof, right? So that's when we say we're trying to enter into this MSBA program. That's what we're doing. So we could actually make the best financial decision for these communities to replace that roof. So we're actually paying sort of pennies on the dollar. Right. So it's not that we're that we're deferring anything. It's you're actually trying to make the best decision, you know, financially to take care of the overwhelming number of things that go on simultaneously. 00:57:11,800 S22: Well, you know, the reality is this is life, right? And we have to make choices about where our finances go and the fact that the end money was used toward the athletic fields instead of the high school roof doesn't reflect a prudent financial decision when we know the damage that comes from constantly leaking classrooms. Right. We we we know this. And so, um, that's why I bring this up. 00:57:50,969 S7: If I could add an additional comment, um, the, um, Eric mentioned the, uh, MSBA and the state, as you all know, the new school proposal includes um reimbursement from the state, and that generally is conceptualized in a reimbursement rate. All right. Um, currently, that rate on the new school is in the um, 50% range for eligible costs as the state builds their rate. How much do they want to give to each community? And every community is different. They come out and they do a very healthy. And David and Eric, you can help me with this. They come out and do a very healthy assessment of the state of the district and, and how we, um, operate before they would commit any money. The most recent, um, reimbursement rate that the state has given us included 1.7%. 00:59:01,329 S7: enhancement due to the good maintenance practices in the district. So let me just play that back again. The state. Who are experts in doing this stuff? Assessed Hamilton Wenham School District and their maintenance program. They gave us an extra 1.76% dollars, which equates to $1.6 million extra money because we maintain our schools at a certain level. Now, maybe some communities in school districts get 3% and some. 00:59:40,469 S23: Get caps at. 00:59:41,199 S6: Two. 00:59:41,500 S17: Caps two. 00:59:42,000 S23: Yeah, cap is two. So we got 1.76 out of a possible 2%. 00:59:46,170 S7: Okay. So we're in the up. We're in the 85% range something like that. So I just you know add that to the conversation. So you know when I, when I when I go through some of the schools. 00:00:00,130 S1: I kind of feel bad that they're not better than they are, but the experts gave us 1.7 out of 2% kicker, which is a 1.6 million due to maintenance. So just adding that to the conversation as well. 00:00:23,699 S2: Quick question relative to capital and fixed asset improvements, that's still operating expense, right? It's not capital. It's improvements to capital items. You mentioned there's no capital in the program. 00:00:34,429 S3: Oh fixing the roof versus replacing the roof. 00:00:37,369 S2: Okay. So I know you had 950,000 there on November 20th. Now you have zero. Is there something you guys removed that you might need. And there's a concern here, potentially a breakage on that line item is that some. 00:00:50,729 S4: Of that 900,000 was a $500,000 transfer to capital stabilization. So it didn't we didn't really lose anything with that. That's part of the reason we use the end, because it's tough to ask for that much money and at the same time use it to put into savings. That just seems unethical in my opinion. 00:01:12,400 S2: But yeah. Agreed. Is that typically $1 million line you carry a year over year over year or that category capital? 00:01:20,969 S4: In the past few years it has been. Yes. Yeah. 00:01:23,400 S2: And next year it's zero. 00:01:25,000 S4: Just for FY 26 it'll be zero. Yes okay. 00:01:34,000 S5: I just want oh I'm sorry. Oh go ahead. Um, one of the things that impacted the budget and, and will impact it for the next three years at least, is that our electricity rates went up 40%. And maybe, Eric, you'd like to comment on the study that that National Grid is financing to see where we can actually make energy savings through strategic investments, Distance, possibly also with subsidies and rebates and so forth. 00:02:04,269 S6: Particularly care. 00:02:05,569 S7: Yeah. We're currently reached out to National Grid with the help of Mr. Frankel, uh, to try to get some opportunities to connect with, uh, a mass saves program, basically for public buildings to try to figure out ways to enhance opportunities to save energy, save electricity, get away from fossil fuels, those types of things. We also work with Vicky Mazzoni, who I think most people are familiar with here, who works, uh, really hard to find ways for us to, you know, make improvements within the school. Like all the lights in this cafeteria were a grant that Vicky wrote. Uh, charging station to high school is a charging station that will be installed down here at the Bücker, uh, opportunities for solar. Either. You know, if we if we build a new school, there's an opportunity to put massive amounts of solar there. There's also opportunity to put, uh, solar on the high school. Bool. One of the things the MSBA does now with their, um, what they call AARP programs, which is for roofs and windows and things like that. Uh, not only do they reimburse for part of the project cost, they also reimburse for the full amount of being solar ready, uh, which is a new incentive this year that that they've put into place. So we're looking at those, those opportunities to try to figure out, um, kind of the best approaches, if you will, the dilemma you run into with anything related to, uh, solar or anything that needs to be connected to the grid. You get caught in a long bottleneck. We've been in we've been in a holding pattern for, uh, solar at the middle school. We were going to put a solar canopy up in the middle school parking lot, and that has been a little over two years in the making of waiting and waiting. And, uh, in talking to the group that does those types of installations, they are calculating out that if we replace the roof and put solar on the high school roof, we could get even more energy savings by not only being able to put a bigger array on the roof, kind of that unused surface, but also building in a storage system, battery storage system. Um, so we're we're trying to weigh all those options out to try to figure out the best approaches. I mean, none of these buildings are running at any more than 50 or 60% efficiency. We've tried to retrofit over the years, with the help from Vicky, um, to get retrofit money to change out lighting to digital. Digital lighting changed, uh, different types of switching and try to get some automation. We got our automation program at the middle high school, uh, from a grant that Vicky had gotten that helped us to, uh, better control some of the things that were occurring, both with the heat and electricity throughout the, um, the school year. So there's a lot going on behind the scenes. Uh, Curtis Whiteman, who is our new director of. I don't think he can be new anymore, but he started late summer, and, uh, he has been really just working with everybody he can find to try and figure out ways to save energy, to save on cost. To look at, even though the way we do transitions to from a, say, a fossil fuel to electric, what's that cost? Many of our schools are not outfitted with enough power to be able to run some of these larger scale things, like boilers. You put three electric boilers in the high school, and you got to call National Grid and buy yourself a transformer replacement and upgrade, because there's not enough power coming in the building. These this was never planned for 50 years ago, 40 years ago. So, um, those types of things are really part of the equation as we look at it. We're trying to get help from outside sources. Some of those solar installations. Really, the cost gets covered by the vendor in trade for revenues coming off of those, um, those solar panels or solar canopies and things like that. So it's an interesting factor that you really have to keep an eye on because ultimately we want to save money. And as Dave said, I think our, our, our energy costs on average have gone up 40%, both for natural gas and for electricity for the school district. 00:06:03,930 S5: And you might also want to comment on the EPA grant and the electronic buses, because that could stabilize and even reduce our busing costs, transportation costs, and also serve as, as as storage, energy storage. 00:06:21,769 S7: So the EPA has given a grant to the district for the opportunity to transition to electric buses. We don't own buses. We don't have buses, we don't have bus drivers. We basically contract out for all of those services. This grant will allow us to pass through the monies, uh, in, in kind of a bidding contract to say if you're bidding on busing our kids, this is our expectation to use electric buses so that transition will take place over time. Again, some of the problems you run into, uh, with, uh, electric buses is where you put them. Where do you charge them? And there are several companies around that will do it. It's again another pipeline thing. How long you have to wait? You're just not sure. Buses take about 16 months to get from the day you order, so, um, it won't happen right away. But those are all just different things that we're looking at that we're trying to pursue, uh, from the school district side. 00:07:17,329 S5: But it's like 5 or 7 million. 5 million? 5 million in subsidies. So it's not insignificant. 00:07:26,769 S2: What's great is that those subsidies, will they be there in future years, do you think, or is there a risk of losing them if you didn't move or are they? I assume it's government. 00:07:35,899 S5: It's enough to pay for about half of the capital cost of the bus, and then the rest of it is financed and and you have to bundle in the, the infrastructure. But there's people that package it up that finance it and, and deliver you. It's virtually a turnkey kind of operation. So. 00:07:54,699 S1: David, is that a is that an actual proposal that's in and presented to the school department? I'm just trying to. Catch up to the conversation. 00:08:04,670 S5: So the the question. 00:08:07,029 S7: The the big news if you will. I just received it Monday from the EPA is the final award to say yes, we're willing to award uh, the district, uh, just under it's like $4.87 million to to purchase buses. There is no leasing involved. It's just an outright purchase of buses they run about. I think they run about $350,000 each. Um, so basically we'd pass that money through to pick a bus company. Whoever bid on our contract, part of that deal would be these are the buses that you need to use. They would be responsible for developing the infrastructure. Um, as part of as part of that grant. There there are there's a company there are a couple of companies that do it that kind of get operations up and running, if you will, set up the locations and the charging stations and things like that. And I know Vicki and the H.W. Cat crew have been involved deeply in that too, around the town. So there's a lot there's a lot going on. It's really trying to figure out ways to take advantage of it for the communities. Yeah. 00:09:09,600 S8: Eric, could I just ask, how many buses do we lease a year? 00:09:14,070 S7: 14 plus two. Two buses for special ed. And then we we pay, uh, over $1 million in out of district transportation costs above and beyond that. So those aren't buses. Those are generally small vans. You may see them going around taking a kid to a private location. 00:09:30,600 S5: And the weakness up to now is it's all single source bid that we never get. We've never been getting competitive bids. So this is an opportunity to create, in effect, competition, which should help us with that. 00:09:43,269 S7: Part of the bidding process with buses has always been this, this, um, growth of the local bus company is being bought up by a national company, Beacon bus. Uh, Beacon Transportation. Excuse me? They bought up most of the local small bus companies, kept them in their subsidiary names, and then they specifically look towards areas and say, okay, you're going to bid on Ipswich, you're going to bid on Hamilton, you're going to bid on. So, so you get one bid and it makes it tough when the state says, you got to have a bidding process and you got to do this and you only get one bid, there's really no direction else to go in this. We believe this electric bus program will create a little bit of a competitive programming here, which will be helpful in the long run. We just are still trying to figure out what the long term costs would be to us. We're still going to pay something because you have you have to have a driver, you have insurance, you have training. All those things are still part of the equation. This grant literally covers the buses and some of the infrastructure and has, you know, has us looking to, um, kind of sub sources to help us to do that. 00:10:52,330 S9: That's cool. 00:10:57,000 S8: Okay. Anybody else have anything? 00:11:03,700 S10: All right. 00:11:05,299 S8: Thank you. Vinnie. 00:11:06,299 S6: Yeah. 00:11:06,529 S4: No problem. 00:11:15,570 S10: Yeah. 00:11:16,399 S8: Uh, is there any, um. I mean, our our agenda item is budget discussion. Is there any, um, discussion questions, anything that people want to bring up at this point? 00:11:32,929 S11: Dana? Yeah. Yeah. Gary from Windham Selectboard, I'd just like to thank. You know, the three big entities here that, uh, once again, we started off with some big questions at the beginning of the year and through a great cooperation in the interchange, I think we're down to a very good position on the budgets. So thank you to all the staffs and to the committees. 00:11:56,370 S8: I yeah, I'd like to reiterate, it's been a um, been a good transparent process with a lot of discussion. Um. Much appreciated. 00:12:10,629 S8: Anybody else? 00:12:13,370 S10: All right. 00:12:15,100 S8: Um. All right. It looks like we're ready. I know each each board will have to do their own, uh, adjourning. Um, we can just start over there if you guys are ready. 00:12:28,700 S1: Yeah. The Hamilton. I'd like to get a motion to adjourn the Hamilton women meeting at. 00:12:34,200 S12: So moved. 00:12:35,200 S1: So moved. 00:12:36,399 S12: Second, second. 00:12:37,269 S1: And everyone in favor? Aye, aye. We're done. 00:12:42,570 S2: I move that the Hamilton Select Board adjourn. Second. All in favor? 00:12:47,970 S12: Aye. 00:12:49,429 S8: Adjourn Write to them. 00:12:52,730 S13: Could I have a motion to adjourn? 00:12:54,529 S12: So moved. Second. 00:12:56,669 S13: All in favor? 00:12:57,600 S12: Aye. 00:12:58,669 S13: Adjourned. 00:13:00,929 S14: Looking for a motion to adjourn the Wenham Finance Committee. 741. Move to adjourn. Looking for a second? Thank you. All in favor? Aye. 00:13:10,929 S8: All right. School committee. 00:13:11,769 S14: We're close. Thanks. 00:13:13,769 S8: Do we have a motion to adjourn? 00:13:16,070 S3: I move. Uh, school committee adjourned at 741. 00:13:20,070 S8: Second by Amy Burger. All those in favor? 00:13:25,769 S8: That is three in favor. Aye. Four in favor. All right. And and five. And it is unanimous of the members present. And we are adjourned at 741. 741. Thank you all. 00:13:37,000 S12: Thank you.