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Date: 4/2/2015
LONGMEADOW – The School Committee, after much debate, unanimously voted to amend the fiscal year 2016 (FY16) school budget by reducing $38,962 from its natural gas fund to pay for half of a shortfall in the town budget. The total school budget is $35.3 million.
School Committee Chair Janet Robinson said Town Manager Stephen Crane presented a reduced school budget to the Select Board on March 16 and the committee was unaware those changes were presented.
“None of that was forthcoming even though it was requested in December,” she added. “It was requested at the Select Board’s Finance Committee when we presented it. So, we were under the impression that, ‘Okay, there’s no changes to be made.’”
Crane, however, told Reminder Publications he informed Thomas Mazza, assistant superintendent for Finance and Operations, Superintendent of Schools Marie Doyle, and Robinson of the reduction to the school budget.
“How they chose to inform the School Committee was not up to me,”?he added. “Evidently, they did not.”
Crane said he and Finance Director Paul Pasterczyk reviewed the town budget and determined that it was nearly $100,000 over the Proposition 2½ levy limit.
“We got up against the bone,” he noted.
In an email from Crane addressed to Robinson dated March 12, he stated, “the town approached the school department and asked that it share the pain and reduce its budget to cover 50 percent of the shortfall – a reasonable request considering that the town schools are more than 55 percent of the General Fund expenditures.”
He also told Reminder Publications the $100,000 shortfall estimate turned out to be slightly less and the town also reduced its budget by more than $40,000.
Crane said during the FY16 budget process, the lines of communication have been “open” between committees and boards.
“I’m grateful the School Committee has agreed to my request [and] I can understand their frustration during the debate,”?he added. “I hope we can continue the spirit of partnership that has been a hallmark of the budget process under my administration.”
Doyle said she was against changing the budget, but that ultimately it was the School Committee’s decision to make.
“I understand that the town may have fiscal responsibilities, but I do think they should have stuck with the budget that was approved [by the School Committee],” she added.
Robinson said if the budget had not been balanced during a committee meeting, it would have had to been balanced on the Town Meeting floor.
“I don’t appreciate this pushing us against the wall,” she added.
Mazza said the district’s natural gas contract expires in October and the amounts in the budget are based on the anticipated costs next year.
“We know that it’s going up,” he added. “We do have an increase included in those lines for the estimated increase, but we do not know how much that increase will be. So, that also would help not impact any staffing or programs or supplies that are budget, and then we can monitor it through the year.”
The district could request the town to pay for any exceeded costs of natural gas next year if there is a deficit in the budget, he noted.
School Committee member John Fitzgerald said the School Finance Subcommittee voted “to fight” the decrease to the budget.
“We all know that we’re going to be turning back to the town at the end of the budget year,” he added.
School Committee Vice Chair Michael Clark said “every year we’re cutting our utilities.” However, the district negotiated with the town during the FY16 budget process to have $710,000 of committee-prioritized funds placed in the budget.
“I think for the sake of entering Town Meeting without having a battle over $38,000, because it will come to that, we have to amend our budget,” he added.
Clark said taking funds from the district’s utilities could be a “double-edged sword” because of the unpredictable nature of natural gas costs.
He added that in previous years the school budget’s reductions have been at least $100,000.
“[The Select Board] needs to know that we’re doing this not to be good neighbors, but we’re doing this to kind of help the town,” he added. “They need to help us. We haven’t gone to them for Special Education overruns in years. We haven’t gone to them to bail us out in years.”
Robinson said the district would not cut teachers or programs. In fact, the budget calls for adding adjustment counselors.
Doyle said “by law” the School Committee should determine the district’s budget.
“[Next year,] it needs to be done appropriately that he approves our budget or he asks you to modify it before he presents his [budget],” she added.