Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Millis committee reviews FY27 budget shifts, highlights Tri-County cost and athletic-fund issues
Summary
Superintendent Molany and senior staff accountant Shelene Vulpi outlined FY27 budget adjustments: Tri-County vocational tuition was cited at $18,485 plus a $7,472 debt assessment (totaling $25,957 per student) and the town assessment for Tri-County was reported as $1,116,151 (FY26 numbers based on 43 students); athletics and revolving-account rules were discussed as the committee realigns prior misallocated lines.
Millis school leaders presented a budget update March 24 that detailed per-student vocational costs and explained large year-to-year variances driven by reallocated salary lines and the end of a grant.
Superintendent Molany said Tri-County tuition for FY26 was $18,485 per student, plus a debt assessment of $7,472 — figures the presenters combined to a per-pupil cost of $25,957. Molany said the town’s overall assessment for Tri-County was $1,116,151 based on 43 students; the FY27 assessment will be calculated on 39 students. Molany explained the difference between regional vocational assessments (town responsibility as a member district) and county-run agricultural technical schools, which charge per-student tuition that the school budget covers.
Shelene Vulpi walked committee members through apparent budget swings and said some large percentage changes reflected reassigning staff salary lines to the correct program accounts and the expiration of a Student Opportunity Act (SSOA) grant that had covered staff costs. “What we did was reallocate,” she said, describing how positions previously coded to district salary lines were moved into their proper program or building accounts, and how the end of grant funding required the district to absorb those salaries into the operating budget.
Athletics and activity funding also drew discussion. Committee members were told the athletic revolving account collected about $116,000 in fees last year and officials’ costs were about $55,000; middle- and JV-level costs have historically drawn on the revolving account while varsity coaching salaries have been paid from the general fund. The committee was reminded there are legal limits on using revolving-account money to supplant general-fund expenditures.
Committee members requested clearer slide wording to explain that FY26 understatements reflected misallocated line items and that FY27 restores alignment to historical and correct accounting lines. Molany agreed to revise the presentation language to emphasize reallocation rather than implying new spending.
The committee did not adopt budget totals at the meeting; staff said they will bring clarified materials and continue discussions with finance committees and stakeholders.
