Mont Vernon school plan unchanged

Thursday, February 18, 2010

MONT VERNON – Despite more than two hours of sometimes spirited, sometimes heated debate Thursday night among residents and school officials at a public hearing, no changes were made to the proposed $4.54 million Mont Vernon School District budget or any warrant articles.

The public hearing on the budget for the district, which covers just the Mont Vernon Village School, drew about 20 voters to the school.

The School Board unanimously supported the budget, which represents an increase of almost $90,000, or 2.02 percent, over the current budget. If it passes at School District Meeting on March 12, it would add 56 cents per thousand to the school portion of residents’ property tax bills, which equates to a rise of $168 in the annual tax bill for a home assessed at $300,000.

Voters can discuss the articles and will vote on them at the School District Meeting on Friday, March 12, at the Village School.

The hearing also featured the introduction of a petition article that asks voters to adopt the so-called SB2 form of balloting, an option that roughly 73 state districts have adopted since the system was created in 1995.

Sponsored by Tom and Norma McKinney and Jan Miller, the article requires a three-fifths majority, or at least 60 percent of the vote, to pass.

The only warrant article the board voted not to support was Article 6, which proposes the creation of a trust fund to help the district pay contractual tuition costs to Amherst for Mont Vernon children who attend Amherst Middle School. Chairman Leo White and members Kim Roberge and Trevor Girard voted against backing the article.

The board voted unanimously to support Article 4, which asks voters whether to discontinue the district’s $60,000 land capital reserve fund and move the money into the general fund, and Article 5, which asks for up to $30,000 be appropriated the district’s property maintenance fund.

On Article 3, which asks voters for $46,500 to give the school’s seven paraprofessionals the option of choosing two-person or family health insurance plans, the board voted 3-2 to support it, with Girard and Roberge opposed.

Tom McKinney explained the details of SB2 with a half-hour slide show, answering questions and taking comments from other residents and some board members.

If voters adopt SB2, it would change from the “traditional” School District Meeting structure to one where officials would hold a public hearing on the proposed articles, then convene a deliberative session where voters could choose to amend the articles.

Voting on all the articles would then take place as part of a town election rather than at a School District Meeting.

When Roberge asked McKinney why he chose to submit the petition for just the school district and not for the town side, McKinney said he feels that selectmen keep a tighter lid on their budgets.

“I think they do a better job controlling costs than does the school board,” McKinney said, adding that while he respects the board’s efforts to come up with lean budgets, increases are often too large.

Dean Shalhoup can be reached at 673-3100 Ext. 31 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.