In the presentation for the upcoming public hearings on its draft budget, the Shaker Regional school district will lay out some hard facts in a pie chart.
The biggest slice – around 80 percent – goes to salaries and benefits.
The district, which serves Belmont and Canterbury, is contractually obligated to fork over $151,573 more due to an increase in rates for the New Hampshire Retirement System, $143,638 extra for health insurance hikes, plus just over $100,000 more for transportation and union contracts in 2017-18.
Those items are the largest drivers of the 1.4 percent increase proposed for next year’s SAU 80 operating budget, which is $20,840,634. That’s $287,058 more than the current budget.
As it stands now, the yet-to-be-voted-on 2017-18 budget is projected to cause an increase in local education tax rates. In Canterbury, the tax rate is expected to rise 6.31 percent to $15.10 per $1,000 in assessed property value.
In Belmont, the tax rate is estimated to increase 6.92 percent to $16.62 per $1,000 in assessed property value.
When the Shaker Regional school board tested its draft proposal with its budget advisory committee Tuesday night, some committee members expressed concern.
Doug Russwick, who sits on the new, six-member committee to represent Canterbury, said he wanted to see lower numbers.
He said using part of a $7,000 proposed increase in supply costs to purchase water station filters and spending an additional $20,496 to replace the sound systems at Canterbury elementary and Belmont high schools was unnecessary.
“It’d be nice, but you don’t need it,” Russwick said. “I just can’t justify that.”
Budget advisory committee member Mark Mastenbrook wondered where all the unexpended funds went from the 2015-16 school year, when the SAU spent around $800,000 less than budgeted.
“I was thinking if you were that much under your budget, why is our budget increasing this year?”
School board member Gretta Olson-Wilder explained that unexpected costs or savings – such as tuition for out-of-school placements or contacted in-school services due to students with special needs that suddenly move into or out of the district – are often the challenge.
Those shifts can sometimes make an $80,000 difference either way, Olson-Wilder added.
“That’s a lot of fluctuation in a school budget,” she said.
School board members and new superintendent Michael Tursi welcomed those questions from Mastenbrook, and they will likely receive more in coming weeks.
To prepare for the school district’s deliberative session (in accordance with Senate Bill 2 rules for annual meetings, approved by voters in March), Shaker Regional school district will hold two public budget hearings.
The first will be held at Canterbury Elementary School at 6 p.m. on Monday, and the second will be at Belmont Middle School, also at 6 p.m., on Dec. 19.