Schools chief unveils $68.2M budget
New Milford’s DiCorpo seeks $2.36M increase
NEW MILFORD — The superintendent’s budget includes a 3.58 percent increase over last year, or another $2.36 million, putting the school district’s budget for the 2022-23 fiscal year at $68.2 million.
Superintendent of Schools Alisha DiCorpo planned to present her budget at a series of budget hearings that began Tuesday and continue through next week.
The first hearing was to include budgets for grades K-5. Grades 6-12 will be discussed Wednesday at 7 p.m.. On Jan. 25, districtwide items will be discussed, also at 7 p.m. Each meeting will have public comment and will be streamed via Zoom.
A finalized budget proposal will be adopted by the board on Jan. 26 before heading to the Town Council.
In DiCorpo’s letter to the Board of Education accompanying the budget, she writes the new requests support the “specific needs and increases in costs in our special education budget as well as contracted services in the Department of Pupil, Personnel and Support Services” along with several other district
needs, like a “much needed copier agreement” and “additional hours of secretarial support for the primary schools.”
DiCorpo is proposing a 6 percent increase in professional services, which includes legal, technological, curriculum development, medical, and substitute services, and a 6.5 percent increase in other services include things like transportation and communications.
The proposed salary budget increased 2.4 percent, from $39.9 million to $40.9 million. However, DiCorpo’s salary showed a 4.6 percent decrease from $225,000 to $214,664.
Benefits were up 5.6 percent, from $10.8 million to $11.4 million. Specifically, the health insurance line item increased by 7.4 percent in this proposed budget, the most significant increase in this category.
A section titled “Capital other” was up 58 percent, but only represented an $8,380 increase.
DiCorpo would not respond to specific questions about the budget Monday, saying in deference to the Board of Education, she would have no comment until the board had hears and discusses it.
In the body of the budget proposal, DiCorpo writes, “Most importantly, this budget maintains class sizes to support small group and individualized instruction as we continue to navigate in person learning during the pandemic,” she writes. “As always, the District has worked hard to prioritize initiatives, find efficiencies, and reallocate resources in order to continue improving the quality of education we provide to students, while maintaining a fiscally conservative and responsible budget proposal.”