By Jolene FarleyThe Hills-Beaver Creek school board didn’t vote on $117,750 in proposed cuts for the district next year at a Monday meeting.The issue was tabled pending a meeting of the finance committee to clarify which cuts or fee increases are permanent and which are temporary. "How do we know what’s more permanent rather than year to year?" board member Gary Esselink asked.Board member Ann Boeve agreed that determining changes that are short-term versus long-term is important. The $117,750 in cuts or fee increases is in response to a projected $150,000 budget shortfall for next year.Requisitions and computer spending are areas that can only be cut short term, according to Deragisch. Office staff is another area that will have an eventual increase. Some cuts or fee increases will be permanent, but some are merely band-aids, according to Deragisch.The finance committee meeting is set for Wednesday, May 19.In other board business:oDeragisch informed the board that health insurance premiums for the district increased 2 percent for next year. He was notified of the increase at a recent insurance meeting. "This is the meeting you drive up there sweating blood droplets," Deragisch said.The district participates in an insurance pool. The pool spreads risk and costs over all the schools that participate so if the district has a high claim year, premiums don’t skyrocket."There could be a year that that pool is going to save us," Deragisch said. oDeragisch asked the board to allow retiring teachers eligible for severance pay to rollover their money into a Variable Employee Benefit Account. The five or six eligible employees could draw from their VEBA accounts tax free for medical and dental expenses not covered by insurance.This is good for the district, because matching payroll taxes don’t have to be paid on the severance amount, according to Deragisch. oThe board voted to discontinue sharing a speech therapist with the Ellsworth district and to reduce speech therapist Jil Vaughn to halftime. Deragisch said he received notice from Ellsworth that they needed a speech therapist for more than halftime. The H-BC district can add more time to a position but cannot reduce a position after June 30.Vaughn will maintain her place on the seniority list when another position opens up.
