Residents, teachers weigh in on BSD budget

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/02/2016 (3902 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If Wednesday night’s public consultation is an indication, Brandon School Division trustees have a bit more leeway in their decisions during next week’s budget deliberations.

About 80 people filled the Meadows School gym for the consultation.

After board finance committee chair Kevan Sumner supplied a primer on the division’s fiscal status, about six people added their two cents to the budgeting process.

Last week, trustees learned the proposed 2016-17 operating budget includes $97.1 million in spending, a 4.4 per cent increase over 2015-16, before any of the 25 requested additions are added on.

“Within the last 10 years we’ve added the equivalent of a Rolling River (school division) or a Southwest Horizon (school division) within the Brandon School Division,” said Sumner, illustrating the inflationary pressures confronting the board.

For a home assessed at $251,325, that means an estimated tax increase of $57.47 (3.6 per cent).On top of that, for each $1 million in approved budget requests, the tax increase would climb by slightly more than one per cent. If $3 million in requests were approved, annual taxes would rise by $106.74 (6.8 per cent).

That’s money Robert Smith is willing to see spent.

Smith, who identified himself as a local property owner and then told the room he was board chair of the Pine Creek School Division 25 years ago,advised trustees he would support an additional $9 per month in taxes if the increase benefits students.

“Thekids deserve all theopportunities you should afford them,” Smith said to a round of applause.

“Thecost is short-term pain for long-term gain,” trustee Pat Bowslaugh said after thanking Smith for his comment.

No one spoke in favour of budget cuts.

“One or two days of coffee a month iswhat we’re talking. Can I afford six dollars more a month in my school taxes?Absolutely,” Smith said after the meeting.

Full-day, every-daykindergarten also got the thumbs-up from parent group representatives from both King George and Valleyview Centennial schools.

Trustee George Buri requested that full-day programming be extended to both schools, costing an estimated $228,600 in the budget.

The new school promised for Brandon’s south end came up in one of several questions asked by Brandon Teachers’ Association president Alison Johnston.

Johnston asked if the board was preparing for thepotential that a change in government could derail the new school.

“The numbers are clear,data says we need a new school,” board chair Mark Sefton said in response. “We have every confidence that now it’s been announced, it will go ahead.”

Sefton described the meeting as amicable, but was careful to put the night in perspective.

“I don’tthink tonight was the totality of the feedback. Some people, lets be honest, don’t like coming to a microphone in a public space,” he said.

BSD Supt. Donna Michaels and trustees Jim Murray and Glen Kruck didn’t attend the meeting.

Mayor Rick Chrest, Brandon Chamber of Commerce president Jordan Ludwig and Brandon West Progressive Conservative MLA Reg Helwer all attended but didn’t speak.

Last year, trustees approved 26 of 38 proposals that were tabled, adding $1.8 million to the budget.

On Feb. 16, trustees will gather for an all-day budget meeting at the school board office, where all budget requests will be debated.

The public can make presentations on the budget at a special board meeting set for 7 p.m. on Feb. 29. The budget is expected to be approved on March 7.

» tbateman@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @tombatemann