The Public School System expects to be in line with their utility budget unlike last year, according to Derek Sasamoto, PSS finance and budget director.<\/p>\n
In a Board of Education meeting Tuesday, Sasamoto presented updates on the system\u2019s budget for the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. as well as information assessing utility expenditures throughout the past fiscal year.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnless we do something really crazy with our utility usage, we are going to be in line with the budget, unlike last year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In his report, which reflects July\u2019s billings, PSS has a remaining utility budget of $384,000 for the last two months of the fiscal year.<\/p>\n
According to Sasamoto, their CUC budget is $2.3 million and so far expenses are at $1.915 million.<\/p>\n
He said CUC is PSS\u2019 biggest variable cost and emphasized the actions being taken to address this, as well assessment of usage among PSS schools and locations.<\/p>\n
PSS is averaging about $183,000 in utility costs, which is \u201cquite in line with budget\u201d according to Sasamoto.<\/p>\n
Adding about $20,000 in average water costs, \u201cevery month we\u2019re looking at about $200,000 a month in utility charges,\u201d Sasamoto said.<\/p>\n
June showed peak charges with $217,000 in costs\u2014outside of the monthly budget\u2014according to Sasamoto, with low charge during July, a summer month.<\/p>\n
He highlighted January\u2019s costs of $125,000\u2014a reduction of 41 percent in average monthly costs.<\/p>\n
He stressed that usage behaviors \u201creally do dictate\u201d costs and can result in a lot of savings. <\/p>\n
\u201cLooking at January, that was a full operation month, and we did well, so we are going to really encourage the schools to monitor their behavior in terms of utility usage,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He called the 41-percent reduction \u201camazing\u201d and that if PSS schools make this a trend, they can save over $100,000 a month over the fiscal year.<\/p>\n
\u201c[That is] $1.2 million back into PSS\u2019 operational account,\u201d he said, and stressed how savings could be used at their own discretion for school infrastructure, supplies, and personnel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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