Volume 19, Number 41
Serving Durham, Middlefield and Rockfall
www.TownTimes.com
Friday, Februar y 20, 2015
2.96 percent budget increase proposed By Mark Dionne Town Times
On Feb. 11, Superintendent of Schools Kathryn Veronesi presented the administration’s proposed 2015-16 budget to the Board of Education. The topic of declining enrollment surfaced several times during the presentation. “We’re losing students at a rapid rate,” Veronesi said, pointing to a projected 35 percent drop in enrollment from 2008 to 2025. According to Veronesi and BOE member Bob Fulton, who chairs the Building Utilization Committee, See Budget / Page 4
Dogs back home after harrowing three-day jaunt By Charles Kreutzkamp Town Times
“Homeward Bound Extreme” is how Durham resident Kerri King described the incredible journey of her two dogs, Carl and Lincoln, who lost their way for three days in extreme cold before making it safely home. At noon on Friday, Jan. 30, King saw dog tracks heading off into the woods, toward Guilford, apparently following what her husband thinks may have been a See Dogs / Page 6
Carl, left, and Lincoln endured freezing temperatures, raging winds, and beating snow during a three-day journey that ended with them safe again at home. | Kerri King / Submitted
Snow drifts outside Coginchaug Regional High School show the amount of snow the district has dealt with this winter. | Mark Dionne / Town Times
Snow removal exhausts school funds By Mark Dionne Town Times
Although the winter started off mildly enough, the repeated snowfall of the past month has proven to be deeper than the funds allocated for snow removal in Regional School District 13’s 2014-15 budget. The school district is responsible for clearing snow from all the school parking lots and walks, as well as Pickett Lane in Durham. With deep snow and many flat roofs, the district also often removes snow from the roofs of school buildings and portables. The 2014-15 budget dedicated $50,000 to snow removal. As district Business Manager Ron Melnik told the Board of Education at its Feb. 11 meeting, that budget line looked healthy in January, but has since been depleted. “We’ve had five snow days so far and none of them have been small,” Melnik told the
BOE. “We also had a very icy day.” Once it started snowing without warming up, the district worked to clear some roofs, including the occasionally leaky one at Brewster School. “We are going to over-expend this account, I’m sure,” Melnik said. The district does not stop plowing and shoveling once it goes over budget, but has to
budget the funds from a different line. The expense for snow removal is variable and this will be the third consecutive year snowfall has exhausted that budget line. In 2013-14, the district spent approximately $77,000. In 2012-13, about $88,000 was needed for snow removal, but one year before the district spent about $21,000, or less than one quarter the amount.
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