that have been raised
April 16, 2007
I often receive by phone call, email, or in-person, requests to analyze some piece of information and provide 'what-if' analysis. In that spirit, I offer the following:
(1) What-if... the latest estimates for State Aid funding hold true?
Well, there are a couple of issues here. First of all, the State Legislature has passed an agreement to plan to hold the latest current Chapter 70 dollars steady through any further overall budget revisions. This does not address Regional Transportation or any other line items on the Cherry Sheet reports. The State has currently set $20,734,543 as the B-R Chpater 70 amount; an increase of nearly $300k. Also, while revising this number, the State has determined new amounts for Required School Spending for Bridgewater (now $15,032,252; an increase of about $143k) and Raynham (now $9,707,185; essentially the same). This base amount plus each Town's share of Transportation comprise the Required Amount stipulated on budget reports.
(1a) Now, combine this with the latest numbers from the Town of Bridgewater.
Bridgewater Board of Selectmen (referred to as Town Accountant's in Annual Report) stipulates $17,085,000. This roughly equates (my math) to a Raynham proportionate share at $10,907,603 and total $51,720,086 (1.4% increase over FY07). The Bridgewater Advisory Board has a budget line item of $18,003,685 for B-R. This is estimated to require a Raynham share of $11,444,838 and a total budget of $53,176,006 (4.3% increase over FY07). To reach the Bridgewater Board of Selectmen budget proposal will require a reduction of $4,271,903 from the current B-R budget proposal; the Advisory Board number would require a reduction of $2,815,983.
{Click on this link to see the budget spreadsheet and view calculations}
(2) What-if... Bridgewater-Raynham based all its insurance on a 75/25 split, just like Raynham, and moved employees from Blue Cross/Blue Shield Master Medical to Harvard Pilgrim HMO?
To be clear, this is just a hypothetical answer since any changes are subject to collective bargaining. However, the info for these calculations has been made available before in response to questions (from Bridgewater Advisory Board for example) on the complete insurance breakdown. {Click here to see the spreadsheet analysis.}
The quick math result is a reduction of $1,330,627 in total health insurance costs.
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