The August meeting of the Hudson Budget Committee saw School Board Chair, Maureen Dionne, answer questions related to school spending, including those related to the Challenge Day held two years ago, something Budget Chair Bill Cole wanted to know more about following input from residents.
“Challenge Day was held in September of 2022. It was an event held at Alvirne High School for grades nine and ten. An outside organization that was brought in held a number of activities held over the course of four days that really helped foster team building and a positive community experience for those new students at Alvirne,” explained Dionne. “The total cost was $19,100.54 and it was paid for by the Alvirne Trustees, that was not a budgetary line item.”
Cole emphasized his belief that the funding source of any school event was irrelevant to the Budget Committee.
“If there’s a dollar in the town of Hudson, whether it’s collected or spent, it comes under the Committee,” he said. “Whether it comes from the Trustees or the state or federal government, this Committee doesn’t care. I heard it came from the Trustees, as far as I’m concerned, that’s potentially public funds.”
Normally, funding from the Alvirne Trustees is classified as “unanticipated revenue” that must be approved by the School Board.
Dionne claimed parents were sent information about the company holding the event and that parent participation was welcomed. Parents were also allowed to opt out of the event.
“Are you able to identify the group that ran it?” asked member, Bob Wherry.
Dionne did not have the name of the company in her notes, although she promised to send that name to the Committee. Challenge Day events are often run under a non-profit organization of the Challenge Day name. Alvirne did not have a similar event in 2023.
Budget Clerk, Kevin Walsh, took charge of a subcommittee tasked with overseeing a $7.75 million exaction payout from Target as part of the agreement related to the construction of that company’s Logistics Center at the site of the old Green Meadow Golf Club.
“What the subcommittee is going to do is to understand the process and the authority to receive the funds, how they’re going to be received, and what the plans are to expend those funds,” Walsh explained.
He wanted to maintain accountability in seeing how those funds might be spent by the town while getting an idea of what the Target project would look like while keeping an eye on reports from the Fire Department regarding public safety at the upcoming complex.
“We don’t know, and I think it’s fair to say nobody knows how that money is going to come in,” said Walsh.
At least part of the payout from Target for “public safety” is supposed to go to the Fire Department. The Budget Committee hoped to find out whether that money might go towards new equipment, maintenance, training, or some combination of those.
“It’s pretty safe to say that this is going to get really messy if we don’t get a handle on it,” Cole warned, encouraging the Budget Committee to scrutinize the money. “The first thing we need to identify is how this money is being accepted.”
