Well, I have info sent out to various places to see how much of this is fact and what is not .Due to the fact that previous years budgets have been removed since Miller came ( we had them 6 years back prior to her coming) we have no way of tracing the truth and so we are searching other areas.
I find it hard to believe that a lunch program is costing us this kind of money.
Fact - If you do NOT pay you don't eat .
Fact - Low income students lunches and breakfasts are paid by the state .
Fact- In all previous positions at different schools this same scenario has paid out, with over spent budgets.
Fact - Templeton is still trying to recover from her and it won't be for years before they are actually bailed out. We were also warned to watch the budget when she came . These comment stands out the best .So lets look at them facts ::::
From: mark
To:
Cc:
, 'Joel Thompson'
, 'Mary Lang'
, 'Darren Elwell'
, 'Joseph Boyd'
, 'Town Coordinator'
Date: Sunday, April 28 2013 12:02 PM
Subject: Request for clarification & information about NRSD Finances
Dear Ruth Miller,
I am a new member on the Templeton
Advisory Board, and I am putting together some history, attempting to graph the
increase/decrease in the budget of NRSD over the past 10-15 years.
This information will assist the
Templeton Advisory Board in gaining an understanding of Narragansett School
District finances. We request the following information:
FY 2004 – School Dept. report in Annual Town Report is
incomplete. Missing information, including total expenditures,
Administration expense, Instruction expense etc. Is this info available?
FY 2012 – A large jump in debt service, $4.26 million, $2.5
million increase over the 2 years immediately prior, which were each about $1.7
million. Can you explain why? ( Miller was in charge this year)
FY 2013 budget submitted for annual report shows only
$630,343 for debt service principle. It shows nothing budgeted for
interest. Quite a drop from the previous year. Can you offer any
clarification or explanation? ( and this one )
Can you provide a record of NRSD E&D, Stabilization or
any other such funds available to the District? We would be especially
interested in seeing a history of these funds over the past 10-15 years.
Sincerely,
Mark Barrieau
Advisory Board Member( This was after her second year in Templeton)
( They were catching on. She left Templeton knowing this +seems our SC did not do again its due diligence)
Ruth Miller
Superintendent
NRSD
Templeton, MA
Re: Massachusetts Public Records Request
Dear Ms Miller:
This is a request under the Massachusetts Public Records Law (M. G. L. Chapter 66,
Section 10). I am requesting that I be provided a copy of the following records:
The FY 2013 NRSD Budget (itemized)and the proposed FY14 NRDS Budget itemized.
Also information on the proposed override money itemized where it will go.
I recognize that you may charge reasonable costs for copies, as well as for personnel
time needed to comply with this request. If you expect costs to exceed $10.00,
please provide a detailed fee estimate.
The Public Records Law requires you to provide me with a written response within
10 calendar days. If you cannot comply with my request, you are statutorily
required to provide an explanation in writing.
Sincerely,
Paul H. Cosentino, Sr
978-808-3386
POB 177
Templeton, MA 01468
YOU'LL LOVE THIS ONE DUE TO T WAS ALSO HER SECOND YEAR AT TEMPLETON AND YES THEY LOST TOWN SERVICES FOR A SUMMER WHICH RAN ON EMERGENCY ONLY. ANYTHING LOOK FAMILIAR YET?
Say Bye-Bye!!
New
developments at pre-town meeting last night -
The school
department held a meeting last night while Supt. Ruth Miller and John Columbus
attended pre-town. Supt. Ruth Miller and School Committee Chair John Columbus
insisted they had submitted different figures for the school budget article.
After a call to Town Coordinator Ritter, he explained the figures via
speakerphone and Advisory Board proceeded to follow through on
their recommendations. Ruth was insisting on a higher number that included
the override figure. The Advisory Board looked at her and said they would have
to cut $691,000 from town charges. NO WAY!!
A few
articles later, Selectman Wilder comes in from the emergency parent meeting. Was
the parent meeting a coincidence? No! The big revelation from selectman Wilder
was that the school department was going to pack town meeting and vote the town
budget down line item by line item so they could get the $691,000 shortfall/override
from town charges. They may be able to pull it off!
In a sick
weird way, I hope they succeed. Say bye-bye to the police department. Say
bye-bye to the highway department. Say bye-bye to the fire department. Say
bye-bye to the treasurer, the assessor, the accountant, the BOS office,
conservation, BOH, cemetery and recreation. Say BYE-BYE!
Instead of
town offices being CLOSED on Friday; town offices will be OPEN
ONE day per week. I will vote to ensure that that ONE DAY per
week opening will be on a rotating basis. Think of the money we'll
save on heating costs! It will take MONTHS to process a slimmer and
trimmer payroll, saving even more money!
Oh dear, your
house is burning down? Call the superintendent of schools and the chairman of
the school committee! Oh, your home was broken into? Call the superintendent of
schools and the chairman of the school committee! Oh, you can't get to work
because the roads are impassable and aren't plowed? Call
the superintendent of schools and the chairman of the school committee! Oh
dear, your child was bitten by a rabid animal? Call the superintendent of
schools and the chairman of the school committee! Oh dear, is that chest pain
you are experiencing? Start walking! I'd say "Call the superintendent of
schools and the chairman of the school committee! ", but those lines
are busy.
Build an
elementary school in Templeton? Say BYE-BYE!
Thank you to the Advisory Board for a job well
done!
My opinions…supported by FACTS ! ! !
Julie Farrell
Yes, the town of Templeton lost their emergency services and were only on duty if one was called in. Many people lost their weekly incomes as well,this is no joke it actually happened.Kids also suffered with no pool that summer as well.
WE HAVE AN UPDATE WITH NEWS JUST IN FROM TEMPLETON 6/21/17
When the school committee would do nothing about her the answer was they
never had a budget explained so good!
Has the E+D fund gone dry yet or do the balances have room to wiggle?
Here they use the E+D fund to back fill any hole in the budget and call it
a level funded budget.
This year it took 400k from the E+D to do the trick/balancing act to get
it done.
Next year will be a struggle for us and this approach of kick the can has
a obtuse way of working for the S.C.
I think when I started with my advise it was BUDGET BUDGET BUDGET.
They can play games and hide funds all the while they know the outcome will
hurt. Then they pull the wildcard out and ask for a over ride to pay a shortfall they knew about earlier .
This is Miller textbook work and rest assured what is still hidden are more
problems before it all comes out.
Find out what the E+D fund balances were for the last 4 years and see if
the budget has eaten it all up.
When they want to use it, it just means they can’t figure a way to fund what
they want to keep.
They will never say the new office costs were to blame or the salaries but
they get funded.
Are the lunch funds reimbursed by a grant of some type?
When a administrator over spend a budget or a department head does the same
it is illegal and a violation of Mass General Laws.
The superintendent is the department head and has the responsibility for
budget and funds or lack of and use.
Now that you have a idea of what is going wrong the actual budget can shed
light on how she manipulated the amounts to get to this point.
Did you ever get a copy of the budget?
Request another one to compare to your copy and see if the shell game happened
after the SC Budget committee approved it.
They are most likely taking Miller for her word and like in the beginning
thinks she’s doing a great job it’s not her fault.
It’s
a bunch of hooey. They are as wrong as her and can’t cross her now as
it will make them look bad and those who they wouldn’t listen to look
good. You should look good and were correct all along. Dig the facts up
and have that info when you ask questions.
Use
the FOIA request and don’t take no for an answer. If the “E+D” excess
and deficiency fund is depleted and unable to support the budget ask
why they were counting on it to help. It sounds like the next year was
going to help cover up the mismanagement issues till DOR picked up on
it. She didn’t have to deal with the DOR here
as the audits and annual filings were not done for years. We just
completed the 4 years of Audits last month and are in shock with the
management report we were given. Laws and procedures all points thought
of were in trouble and it will be years before our town can
look up and say it’s fixed.
Hope this helped.
Dave
I have given you alot to think about here , but more to come when I hear from the others. Now I hear were losing Mr H. It seems it just gets worst by the day .
NORTHFIELD — Though Pioneer Valley Regional School District’s school
lunch deficit has been climbing for years, it’s not the only problem the
district is facing. An overspent general fund is also hanging over the
administrators’ heads.
According to documents produced by
Superintendent Ruth Miller for the School Committee, the general fund
deficit at the end of last fiscal year was $86,517.
Miller said
the news came as a bit of a surprise while talking to Terry Williams of
the Department of Revenue in April about the district’s school lunch
fund deficit, which was $210,544 at the end of last fiscal year and has
continued to grow.
“He said ‘Well, Ruth, it’s not just the food
account that’s in deficit,’” Miller said. Williams sent Miller several
years of reports outlining leftover money or deficits in the budget,
with dismal figures.
The documents showed how Pioneer’s general
fund budget, plagued by as many as eight overspent accounts a year, went
from having $136,461 left over after fiscal year 2012, to $68,347 after
FY13 and to a mere $296 after FY14. Beginning in FY15, the general fund
budget went into the red for the first time, leaving the district with a
deficit of $165,711.
Miller took over as superintendent from Dayle Doiron before the
2015-2016 school year, making the FY16 budget the first she was
involved in arranging. With a positive general fund budget after last
fiscal year, the deficit was reduced to $86,517.
“In that first
year, we were able to cut the deficit down, but we’re still in
significant trouble from a financial perspective,” Miller explained
during a School Committee meeting last month.
“We reduced all
deficits except for food lunch,” she later told The Recorder. “We’re
actually in a better spot, even though it doesn’t feel that way,”
The fund for capital projects was also overspent by $85,000 in FY15, but Miller said it’s since been paid off.
Miller
hopes at the end of the current fiscal year to have enough left in the
general fund to pay off the $86,517. With the four towns having already
approved next year’s budget, money has not been set aside for the debts,
though Miller hopes the budget subcommittee will meet to discuss how to
possibly reallocate funds.
Meanwhile, Assistant Superintendent
Gail Healy, who is also the district’s food service director, is working
to reconfigure the school lunch system to make it more financially
sustainable. However, her ideas thus far — which have involved cooking
all meals at Pioneer and transporting them to the four elementary
schools — have faced criticism from residents during School Committee
meetings, so no plan has been enacted.
“At the end of FY17, we’re
still going to have that school lunch deficit,” Miller said during last
month’s School Committee meeting. “The (Department of Revenue) says to
reallocate funds, but we don’t have any … One of the reasons we have to
lay teachers off is we don’t have a handle on the money.”
Getting a handle on the budget, Miller continued, will require “a longer conversation and a bigger plan.”
