Unexpected expenses in 2010 Pupil Services budget draw scrutiny

FALLS VILLAGE — Region One has gone over budget on tuition for outplacements and transportation, to the tune of $23,000, according to a report by Business Manager Sam Herrick to the Region One Board of Education on Monday, Jan. 3.

Discussion of the item was overwhelmed at the meeting by consideration of attorney Jeffrey C. Pingpank’s report on the resignations of the two top administrators at Housatonic Valley Regional High School last August.

But during public comment at the regular monthly board meeting, Tom Scott, a member of the Planning and Zoning Commission in Falls Village, drew an unflattering comparison between his commission and the regional board, saying his board would have taken more notice of this type of large financial overrun.

The Pupil Services department is managed by Carl Gross. Until 2009, the head of the department was Theresa Terry, who retired in spring of that year.

In a subsequent phone interview, Herrick explained that Pupil Services (which includes special education and is one of the three component parts of the Region One budget, along with the high school and the Central Office) had gone about $197,000 over budget for outplacement tuition and transportation for special needs students.

However, the Pupil Services salary and employee benefits lines were overbudgeted, bringing the deficit down to about $23,000.

Herrick said the high school’s budget contains about $193,000 in unexpended funds, and the $23,000 will come from different line items in that budget.

Pupil Services has been the most unpredictable part of the Region One budget in recent years, with an average increase of 6.32 percent yearly since the 2004-05 budget. Net expenditures in 2004-05 were $3,832,252; in the current budget, Pupil Services accounts for $5,284,321.

By contrast, the high school’s costs have risen 3.18 percent over the same period. The high school budget in 2004-05 was $6,893,535; the current budget is $8,210,426.

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