Carmel board debates cuts to clerical and float-nurse positions, approves transfers and studies

At its June 18 meeting, the Carmel Central School District Board of Education devoted substantial time to budget and staffing issues, including clerical position cuts, the elimination of two district float nurses, budget transfers and a planned capital project.

Barbara Faranda, representing the Carmel Office Staff Association, told trustees her unit experienced roughly a 10% staffing reduction and said overtime lines were cut to zero; she urged the board to create a separate overtime budget line for clerical claims and questioned why breakage from administrative departures wasn—t used to restore nursing or clerical roles.

Trustees debated the decision to eliminate two float nurses during the budget process. Administration said contracting with an agency has covered many absences — "we have used the contract at least a dozen times since we got the contract," the interim superintendent said — but trustees expressed concern about relying on agency staff for building coverage during high-demand days and warned the fiscal effect needs close monitoring. The budget narrative presented earlier projected about $200,000 in savings from eliminating the two float positions, a figure trustees asked to have continuously monitored against agency expenses.

On finance items, the board approved multiple budget transfers including an authorization of general-fund transfers totaling $2,122,762 and additional transfers of $1,515,379 to reconcile spending across codes and move bus-lease accounting to debt-service lines in accordance with auditor guidance. Trustees discussed why BOCES bills sometimes post to different cost codes than originally anticipated and why some field-trip allocations remained unspent in elementary schools (example amounts cited: Matthew Patterson ~$1,400; Kent Primary ~$800; Kent Elementary ~$700; GFMS ~$6,000; CHS ~$10,000).

The board held extended discussion on an RFP to appoint a fiscal adviser. Administration recommended continuing with an incumbent firm that had served the district for many years, but trustees raised concerns that past advice on borrowing (to preserve capital exclusions and increase the tax cap) had encouraged replacement borrowing that may not match long-term needs. Trustees asked administration to expand or reissue the RFP to include full financial-planning services (5-, 10-year projections) and to solicit firms who had not responded to the current bond-focused brief.

Separately, the board approved an INF Associates contract (through Putnam Northern Westchester BOCES) for a bus-electrification impact study estimated to cost the district about $18,000, to help the district assess the feasibility of meeting state electrification mandates and to support grant applications.

Several salary and managerial confidential items were tabled for July 9; the board asked administration for clearer fee estimates and historical hours for fiscal-adviser work before proceeding with appointments.

The meeting produced a set of approvals and some deferred votes: budget transfers and the INF Associates study were approved; the fiscal-adviser appointment was postponed pending additional RFP work.