Planning for the Andover town budget — which will be brought to voters at the Annual Town Meeting on May 4-5, 2015 — is underway. In an effort to keep parents informed about the status of the budget process and items on the table for budget consideration, the PTO will provide periodic updates on their website.
Traditionally, the town budget has been driven in large part by a small-but-vocal minority of Andover voters. We hope that keeping you informed on the budget status will help develop a channel where parent voices are heard by town officials, particularly as it relates to the school budget.
December 8th Triboard Meeting Update
At the December 8th Triboard meeting (a joint meeting of Andover Selectmen, Finance Committee, and School Committee), the Town Manager presented the items that comprise his proposed Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) for the FY2016 town budget. (Note: The CIP does not include any of the operational budget for town departments. Those are developed separately, and were not addressed at this Triboard meeting.)
The CIP presented includes $5,302,000 in school line items, which represents approximately 39% of the $13,616,000 total requested by the Town Manager in the CIP. $1,078,000 of school money is requested from General Fund Revenue (SCH-1, SCH-2, and SCH-3) and $4,224,000 from General Fund Borrowing (SCH-4, SCH-5, and SCH-6). There is an additional $421,034 requested in other items that directly impact schools (IT-1 and P&F-10).
The CIP items most immediately relevant to APS schools are:
• SCH-1, School Projects – All Schools: $435,000
• SCH-2, School Projects – By Building: 405,000
• SCH-3, Textbooks: $710,000
• SCH-4, AHS Track Replacement: $250,000
• SCH-5, Major School Projects: $455,000
• SCH-6, School Site Improvements (West Elementary): $3,519,000
• IT-1, Annual PC Leasing Program (Cable Fund): $291,034
• P&F-10, Office Space Feasibility Study – Shawsheen School: $130,000
• Also see notes below about funds requested for AHS library improvement design work, not currently included in the CIP.
Detail on these and all other FY2016 CIP requests can be found in this report from the Town Manager on the AndoverMA.gov website:
http://andoverma.gov/publish/reccip/cipone.pdf
Additional CIP information from the Town Manager is here:
http://andoverma.gov/publish/reccip/
Some of the items most immediately relevant to APS schools are detailed:
SCH-6, School Site Improvements
The biggest school item is SCH-6, which calls for $3,519,000 to support site improvements at West Middle School. This is part of a multi-year plan developed in early 2012 by Pare Corporation to “update all school sites to bring them up to current ADA compliance and to improve pedestrian safety and vehicle circulation.” (Similar work at West Middle was completed in 2013 and at Doherty in 2014.)
Triboard discussion around SCH-6 questioned the need to spend such a large amount of money on these improvements, and why the request for project planning funds coincides with funds to construct the project. Members of the Finance Committee and School Committee wondered if there were smaller and less expensive improvements that could be made with similar maintenance and safety results, and questioned if there was room to improve on the now four-year-old proposal.
Ed Ataide from Plant & Facilities explained that there is a lot of work that needs to be done at West Elementary, and that phasing the project is difficult because the infrastructure is so integrated the work cannot easily be broken apart. (For example, upgrading curbing & walkways without simultaneously correcting traffic issues or redoing pavement without addressing storm water management would not make financial sense.) Additionally, there are state-mandated “triggers,” which require code compliance upgrades in multiple areas once you hit a spending threshold, and the trigger seems likely in even a small-scale project at West El.
Mr. Ataide also explained that SCH-6 simultaneously requests money for both planning & construction at West El so that the project can be put out to bid prior to requiring capital allocation at the 2016 Town Meeting, allowing work to be conducted during summer 2016.
There was a general sense among the Triboard that the School Committee and Plant & Facilities departments should look at SCH-6 more carefully before finalizing a budget number request for the West El project.
SCH-4, AHS Track Replacement
There was no discussion at the Triboard meeting of SCH-4, a request of $250,000 to “fully resurface the existing running track with a new, rubberized athletic surface.” However, given the back-and-forth that took place in prior budget cycles regarding resurfacing the AHS tennis courts, this item may need to stay on the forefront with APS parents.
It was noted that the current track is in rough shape with irregular surfaces and broken edges creating potential safety issues. The track had only a 12 to 15 year life expectancy when it was installed 18 years ago.
IT-1, Annual PC Leasing Program (Cable Fund)
Although not specifically noted as a school budget item, IT-1 is a $291,034 request for leasing personal computers used by the schools. The computer leasing came up at the Triboard meeting, with one School Committee member suggesting Andover consider less expensive options than use of MacBooks ($200 Chromebooks, for example) in some scenarios. Additionally, the PC leases are currently funded out of town’s cable fund, though it is unclear if this is an acceptable long-term solution.
P&F-10, Office Space Feasibility Study – Shawsheen School
CIP item P&F-10 requests $130,000 in funds “to conduct a feasibility study to determine costs associated with converting (Shawsheen) into office space for Town and School use (e.g., School Administration, Municipal Services, IT, etc.), as well as archival storage for Town and School departments.”
Several comments at the Triboard meeting clarified that this funding request originated with the Town Manager. There has been no community discussion or other analysis of how this building should be used once it is decommissioned as a school. No other possible alternatives for the building have yet been considered, including no estimate of sale price tag.
Additionally, it was noted that a feasibility study for Shawsheen renovation was part of the Bancroft school building analysis (though with an eye to maintaining the building as a school rather converting to office space), and it proved cost prohibitive. It is unclear if anything has substantially changed since that previous study.
Other (non-CIP requested) School Item: AHS Library Space Planning
Warrant articles at the 2013 Town Meeting allocated funds for a feasibility study to improve the space at Andover High to accommodate the current population of students and updated learning models. The feasibility study identified ways reconfigure cafeteria, foyer and library spaces for better use, but no funding has yet been allocated toward final design work or construction.
A portion of the recommendations included approximately $1.7 million in modifications to the AHS library space. Reconfiguring the library offers the biggest “bang for the buck,” positively impacting the largest number of students for relatively moderate cost.
The $1.7 million does not include necessary design work to refine the design. In addition to vetting the earlier recommendations, it is possible additional design work could provide an even more cost-effective solution with a lower price tag. The additional design work is estimated to be about 10% of the construction cost, or $170,000.
At the Triboard meeting, members of the School Committee asked if there was an opportunity to fund this design work now out of existing budgets or as part of free cash. The Town Manager was not able to suggest a funding source for this design work, though the barriers to finding this money were unclear.
Ideally, additional consideration will go into this funding request in the near term. The hope is that by doing the additional AHS library design work now, the construction price tag can be refined to a point where funds can be requested at the 2015 Town Meeting, allowing construction to begin sooner rather than later.
Next Steps & Operational Budget
The Town Manager’s proposed CIP will likely go through a process of refinement in the next several weeks, before it is put to a vote by the Board of Selectmen in early January 2015. The CIP budget helps drive available funds for town and school operating budgets, though even after Selectman vote on the CIP it can change prior to Town Meeting and as operational budgets are evaluated.
Town departments are currently putting together their operational budgets. School Committee members and the Superintendent are meeting in workshop sessions to develop a preliminary operational budget that will be presented to the Town Manager in early January 2015.
After opportunity for additional iteration, the Town Manager will present an overall proposed town operational budget to the Selectmen in early February 2015. The School Superintendent will present the proposed school operational budget to the School Committee and then to the Selectmen and Finance Committee in early March 2015.