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HomeMy Public PortalAbout04-22-2014 Final MINUTES ESSM mtg 04152014_201404231146370092Watertown Town Council Meeting of the Education and School Systems Matters Tuesday, April 15, 2014 Present: Councilor Dushku (Chair), Councilor Woodland (Vice -Chair), Councilor Palomba (Secretary), Town Council President Sideris, Councilor Piccirilli, Councilor Falkoff, School Committee Member Liz Yusem, Kate Coyne, Issac Van Wesep, Marie Schick, Ellen Cross, Candace Miller, Sarah Ryan, Alyson Morales, Alice Holt, and Charlie Beitrose from the TAB. Councilor Dushku introduced the elected officials, welcomed the members of the community, and reviewed the agenda for the meeting. Financial and Administrative Vehicles for Public/Private Partnerships Councilor Dushku summarized the discussion on this topic from the previous meeting and reiterated his hope that steps could be taken in the very near future to establish a public/private partnership vehicle to support the schools. Councilor Palomba distributed a draft outline for the creation of a Watertown Corporate Education Committee (WCES). Key points from the discussion that followed included: 1) Most corporation/businesses are interested in making contributions that are targeted for a specific project/program and not for general use. 2) It is doubtful that the Town and School administration or the Council and School Committee presidents can participate as members of a committee created to generate corporate contributions to support public education. 3) There are existing community -based organizations (Watertown Education Foundation, Watertown Community Foundation and the Friends of Watertown Music) that solicit financial support from businesses and/or raise funds through appeals and events. 4) It would require significant time and energy to establish a WCEC-like organization. Consideration should be given to the possibility of operating such an organization under an existing foundation. 5) It was noted that the level of donation hoped to be raised from large corporation doing business in Watertown was much higher than the amounts raised by existing foundations focused on education. However it was also noted that large corporate donations are often given only after corporation has made smaller (and escalating) donations. 6) Efforts should be made to bring representatives for existing foundations and interested parties together to discuss the WCEC and related ideas. 7) Generally, a good first approach towards such public/private partnerships should include some early engagement without any 'strings attached'. A survey should be prepared to gauge the philanthropic preferences of the corporate community in Watertown and thereby assessing the types of contributions that the various actors would prefer. 8) Financial donations to the Town for specific purposes occur regularly. There is no need to establish special administrative or fiscal procedures to accept corporate donations to support the school department. -2 - Councilor Woodland made the following motion: The ESSM Committee recommends that the Town Council send the draft of the WCEC to the Town Council Attorney for review and comments. Councilor Palomba seconded the motion and it was passed 3 - 0. Progress Report on the School Department Budget Councilor Dushku provided an update of the present situation by explaining that there were ongoing discussions taking place between members of the Town and School administration since the FY15 school budget was submitted to the Town Manager last week. Earlier the same evening of this meeting, the Town Manager had formally requested that the presentation of the proposed FY15 Town Budget take place on Tuesday, April 29 rather than on Tuesday, April 22 as previously planned. The Town Council approved his request. No member of the school administration or committee was present (Ms. Yusem arrived late) to add further details on the progress. Speaking to the magnitude of the requested budget increase, Councilor Dushku presented three sources of additional funding for the School Department based on suggestions made in the Watertown Strong School's Working Document of March 24, 2014. These were a local real estate transfer tax (RETT), increased parking meter fees, and optional line for additional and voluntary tax payment on real estate tax bills. Key points from the discussion that followed included: 1) Residents who are moving out of Watertown and are selling their homes would be taxed at a percentage of the sale price. The local RETT would be deposited into a revolving fund for use by the School Department. The Town of Brookline is considering this initiative. The counties use this tax already in all of Massachusetts. In Barnstable County, they charge a higher rate than others. 2) According to state law, parking fees are to be used to pay for the costs related to the operation and maintenance of parking facilities. If a town's or city's cost of are lower than the parking fees collected, the town supplements the costs. If parking fees were increased to cover the costs, the funds used to supplement those costs could be reallocated for other uses in the budget. 3) There are examples of local governments including a check off box on quarterly real estate bills that allow the owner (resident or business) to a) make a contribution to a scholarship fund or b) pay a higher real estate tax which would be included in the municipality's income and therefore available for any use. Examples in Waltham and Needham were mentioned by Council President Sideris and Councilor Dushku, respectively. Councilor Woodland made the following motion: The ESSM recommends to the Town Council that they request the Town Manager to investigate and report back on the use of the following ideas as potential sources of new funds for the school department: (a) a real estate transfer tax on property sales, (b) increases in parking meter fees, (c) a space for voluntary 'write-in' amounts on real estate tax bills Councilor Palomba seconded the motion and it passed 3 - 0. Councilor Dushku introduced the topic of using the "tax assessment overly" as a source of funding for the school department. President Sideris explained that this has been done twice in the past by the Town Council. The Council approved $500,000 each time to support technology improvements for the School Department. It was noted that the use of the overlay should be considered for one-time spending needs, for example, purchase of a new curriculum or purchase of textbooks. The discussion of the overlay was briefly expanded to consider time -limited (1 - 3 years) uses, a portion of the Town's unreserved fund balance (free cash) and the Town Council's reserved fund as well as a reduction in the CIP funding allocation to support additional funding for the School Department. Progress on the School District Infrastructure Study Councilor Dushku noted that a discussion of this topic should be delayed. After recently receiving the approval of the Town Council, the School Department has submitted a Statement of Interest to the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA). If the Town is invited to take the next step in the process by the MSBA, it will be necessary to conduct a comprehensive study of all School Department buildings beyond the preliminary study already conducted. The committee agreed that we would return to this topic at a later date. Councilor Palomba made a motion to adjourn, it was seconded by Councilor Woodland and passed 3 - 0. Minutes prepared by Councilor Palomba.