Board approves $63.1M operating budget for public hearing, trust-fund warrants and returning attorney fees

The Contoocook Valley School District board voted Dec. 18 to send a proposed FY27 operating budget to public hearing and to present several warrant-article options to voters. Finance staff presented an operating budget of $63,100,834 that the administration characterized as a 1.38% increase, incorporating critical-shortage stipends, a new transportation contract (about $220,000), capital items (boilers and roofing projects totaling $668,000) and the second year of the CVA contract.

Budget & Property recommended a set of warrant articles totaling $975,000 to place funds into trust accounts: $925,000 (split into two building-capital warrants), $25,000 for an equipment expendable trust and $25,000 for an energy expendable trust. The board approved placing those warrants on the presentation packet for voters to consider in March.

In a separate motion, the board approved returning $666,228 in attorney-fee reimbursements to reduce next year’s tax assessment. Administrators and board members discussed how such returned amounts are treated as part of the unreserved fund balance and noted the timing constraints: the refund is processed for the upcoming tax cycle rather than the current year.

Board members asked for conservative estimates of fund-balance availability and considered retaining $750,000 from fund balance as an offset for next year. The board scheduled a public hearing on the proposed budget for Jan. 6 at 7 p.m. at the SAU office and the deliberative session in February prior to the March final vote.

The board’s vote to send the budget to public hearing and the approved trust-fund warrant articles do not finalize spending; they place the budget and warrant items before voters for deliberation in the established timetable.