Goshen Board of Finance: School Budget, R20 Debt Payment and Airboat Damage
07/23/2025
Present: Chairman Ned Bixler, Vice Chairman Bob Valentine, Scott Tillman, James Korner. Alternate Carl Contadini was seated for this meeting.
Chairman Bixler began the meeting by indicating that the agenda would be switched around with an initial discussion of the financial issues associated with the Region 20 debt. Before asking Superintendent Jeffrey Villar to make introductory comments, Bixler noted “nothing that's discussed here tonight will affect the mill rate because the Board of Finance has already adjusted the mill rate for this year. We expect to pay the Region 6 and Region 20 debts at some point. So nothing that gets decided will change the mill rate.”
Superintendent Villar noted that his urgency in addressing the meeting is that “we have $2.6 million in debts that we have to manage. We've attempted with our current funding to start to pay some of those bills, because obviously we have a new budget allocation, some cash flow.” While that cash flow is helpful, the Superintendent noted that “major vendors are demanding full payment.” He indicated that the most egregious example is the system’s transportation provider who is owed $600,000 and has indicated that without full payment they will not provide bus service for the new school year. “We were able to cut about $200,000 of payment, and now we're out of funds.” He also indicated that Kelly Services, which provides substitute teachers, is owed $300,000 and they plan to start charging interest.
At the previous meeting the idea of adopting a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) that could be signed by the four towns was presented, specifying that debts would be paid over a three-year period. Vice Chairman Valentine noted that “the Town of Goshen raised its fund balance specifically because they knew we had a $900,000 liability”. Chairman Bixler added “we are unanimous in rejecting the MOU and stand ready to pay our portion of approximately $900,000.”
There was then an extensive discussion of how the State helps with the transition of separate districts into a new Regional district as a precursor to requesting supplemental funding. Equally important, on July 31st the Superintendent was to meet with the State Education Commissioner and state officials to get clarification on how the Minimum Budget Requirement, requiring increasing school spending, would be impacted by one-time payments of past debts in the 2026 budget.
(Note: Given the potential impact of a lump sum debt payment on future Minimum Budget Requirements, a Special Meeting of the Board of Finance was subsequently held on August 6th, for the purposes of recommending approval of the Memorandum of Understanding. The Board of Selectmen also met to call a Special Town Meeting for the purpose of approving it.)
Finally, in response to a question from Vice Chair Valentine, the Superintendent noted that there are new expense controls in place and any expense greater than $2,500 needs to be approved by him directly.
In other business, it was reported that the condition of the hull of the airboat was worse than expected and in addition to the $10,100 to coat the hull, repairs to the aluminum bottom structure would cost an additional $4,000. A completely new hull for the 40-year old boat would cost $17,900. It was determined that it would be wiser to get a new hull rather than patch the existing one and Chair Bixler indicated the Board would need to determine how to fit that expense into the current budget. In addition, there was a brief discussion about the potential repairs to the rubber-tire backhoe and whether the Town needs that equipment, with no decision made at this meeting.
