Plainfield
The budget, which is 5.4 percent above this year, was approved, 88-24, and three-year contracts for teachers and support staff passed by similar margins. The other two approved appropriations were $50,000 for the special education and tuition expendable trust fund and $30,000 to resurface two more school floors with an epoxy urethane flooring.
Ground water seeps up through the floors because a membrane was not placed under the concrete when the school was built, but school officials said the epoxy urethane they have used for other floors has corrected the problem of water and odor in the carpeted rooms.
Board member Raymond Webb said the plan is to do two floors a year and with Saturday’s approval, they will have completed 50 percent of the floors.
The budget was explained by outgoing board member Chris Forman, who is not seeking re-election. He said the roughly $350,000 net increase represents a combination of increases in retirement, special education tuition and employee benefits, all of which the board does not control, along with increasing hours for some staff and the purchase of laptops for all students in grades six through eight.
Offsetting some of the increase were almost $119,000 in reductions.
The teachers’ contract for 25 staff members will cost $40,700 in the first year and provide annual pay increases of between 2 and 5.6 percent the next three years. Teachers will also pay 6 percent toward health insurance in the second and third year for single plans and 8 percent for family plans, an increase of 1 percent for each plan.
“Both sides gave a little and we came together with a reasonable plan both sides found acceptable,” said board member Katherine Whybrow.
Also approved by voice vote was the last article instructing the moderator to appoint an advisory-only committee of six residents to advise the School Board on the budget.
The projected school tax rate of $1.81 per $1,000 of assessed valuation with Saturday’s approvals would add $452 in school taxes on a home assessed at $250,000.
The three-hour meeting, including an hour for lunch, drew 110 voters, or just below 7 percent of the town’s 1,629 registered voters.
Town and school meeting continues Tuesday with Australian balloting for the election of school and town officers from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the elementary school, though there are no contested races.
The annual town meeting is Saturday beginning at 10 a.m. in the elementary school.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
