February 01, 2009

Dear Parents and Community Members,

We are once again into our budget planning for the upcoming school year. For next year, we are striving to keep maintain programs while cutting costs to address the anticipated decrease in state aid.

At the December Board of Education meeting, I presented the following as budget goals for the 2009-2010 school year:

•  Provide the information voters need about the proposed budget so they can make an informed decision;
  
•  Identify ways to reduce the budget-to-budget increase in response to economic conditions and anticipated reduction in state aid;
  
•  Investigate possible PILOT projects with local developers as a possible means of moderating tax increases for homeowners.

At the January 27th Board of Education meeting, we discussed some possible ways of cutting costs (see presentation on website). The budget conversation will be continued at the Board of Education Meeting on February 9th, which is being held at 8:00 p.m. in the Middle School Cafeteria. I encourage you to attend and to share your thoughts as we move forward in the budget development process.

Sincerely,

Lois C. Colletta