School System CFO: Vernon has a New Way of Doing Business

With new bus and insurance contracts in place and a multi-tiered plan to consolidate operations in full swing, the beginning of a new fiscal year also signifies the start of a new era in cost-cutting initiatives, the school system's chief financial officer said.

"Over the past eight months, I have utilized my background and experience in public health, public safety and public finance and administration to make needed changes to our school district's business operations," Director    of Business and Finance Michael Purcaro said on Friday, the last business day of the 2011-12 fiscal year.

And today, the first business day of the 2012-13 fiscal year, Purcaro said it is a good day to come to work.

"Throughout the budgeting cycle we were effective at offsetting budget cuts and expenses through aggressive cost savings and control measures," he said.

Here is an overview of several new programs and contracts that are defining  a new way of doing business, Purcaro said.

• Risk management - Purcaro doubles as the town's emergency management director and he has used his expertise to implement a new program in which every custodian, maintainer and cafeteria worker will be trained in first aid. Staff members will also receive training on ergonomics, Purcaro said.

"We want to address a safer work environment. The first part of that is educating the staff and empowering the staff to be safer," he said.

Purcaro said the program will inevitably save "thousands" in workers' compensation by cutting down on injuries. Attendance should also improve, he said.

Each maintainer will also be equipped with a ground fault interruptor cord to prevent accidental shocks, a $10 investment per worker, he said.

• Payroll - Right now, the school system is on a paper-based system that puts it "way behind the curve," Purcaro said, and he has to physically sign every time card, purchase order, accounts payable and receivable voucher and so forth.

Starting this week, the school system will embark on a four-to-eight-week pilot program at the central office complex that equips employees with identification badges with bar codes and gives them authorization to process orders and other documents. The program will then be rolled out in all the schools, Purcaro said. Bids are in to take over the system and a permanent vendor could be chosen by July 12, Purcaro said.

• Lighting -  A major summer project endorsed by the Board of Education in April will replace every existing light bulb in every building with fluorescent LED technology utilizing an interest-free loan from the Connecticut Light & Power Energy Fund.

"It's a program that will show a positive revenue stream in our utility bills per month while paying down the loan," Purcaro said.

He used Center Road School as an example. The total cost for bulb replacement is $34,350 and the monthly payment for the 36-month loan is $954. Purcaro said the energy savings is projected to be $1,456 per month, putting the school system in the black to the tune of $511 per month in the program at the school.  

Purcaro said after the loan is paid off, the school system could be saving as much as $110,000 a year on energy costs for all buildings.

• Boiler replacement at the central office complex - The subject has come up at several school board meetings. The bottom line? One has failed and the other is, according to Purcaro, "past its useful life," and dates back to when "Stayin' Alive," was a hit song.

Before it dies, with funds designated for the 2012 fiscal year not used for the program, Purcaro is writing a request for proposal package that aims to secure a cost-neutral maintenance contract after purchase. He said the central office building may even be eligible for natural gas conversion.

"We want to use it as a test case for every building in the system," Purcaro said.

• Transportation - First Student recently won a contract over 11 other bidders and three finalists on a Capital Region Education Council RFP with Manchester, Somers, Ellington and Vernon.

It carries a projected savings of $177,883 on Vernon's share of $781,000, Purcaro said. 

In Vernon's case, it is a retention, but Purcaro said it is anything but business as usual. The contract went from less than 10 pages to 32 and extra clauses "for accountability and and the ensure the health and safety of our students" are included, Purcaro said.

The contract outlines fines of between $50 and $150 for violations of punctuality, working security cameras and GPS units.

Electronic routing will also be made available to parents for the 2012-13 school year, Purcaro said.

• Health insurance - At first glance, the $5 million-plus the school system spends on health insurance-related accounts can make one gasp. But the new contract with Connecticare has a projected savings of $190,000, Purcaro said. Employees have a choice of a health savings account plan or a POS plan. The savings could increase if more employees go with the HSA, Purcaro said.

• Copying - Purcaro said the new name badges with the bar codes can also be used in a new "cloud system" for making copies. He said it can be implemented as part of the new IT consolidation along with a new mailroom system. The new systems will have "complete tracking," Purcaro said. 

"What is best for students is what guides my decisions," he said.

Two unanticipated costs heading into the new fiscal year are an estimated $30,000 to take care of hanging branches near athletic fields left over from last October's snowstorm and magnet school tuition, Purcaro said.

Tuition is budgeted at $450,000 - an increase of $50,000 - but the anticipated cost is $480,000, Purcaro said.

The tree work is eligible for reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency at a rate of 75 percent, Purcaro said.


Purcaro said the savings add up to much more than the $120,000 taken out of the $48 million education budget by Mayor George Apel.

The Board of Education will likely finish the year ahead to the tune of between $40,000 and $60,000, he said. Purcaro said the school board will ask that it be returned and placed into the capital non-recurring account so the climate control system at Rockville High School can be repaired.

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