Unchanged School and Town Budgets Head to Voters for April 28 Referendums

By Rebecca Carnes

Despite some pressure by two Legislative Council members to reduce the Board of Education budget by $239,000 at the April 1 council meeting, the 2015-16 budget of $71,587,946 passed unanimously and will be sent to voters intact for a town referendum vote on April 28.

Most council members agreed that the school budget – representing a 0.34 percent increase - was thorough and much more well-presented than in past years. They then praised school Superintendent Dr. Joseph Erardi for his presentation of a quality budget.

“As everyone has said, this is a good budget year and the (school) budget was delivered concisely,” said councilman Dan Honan.

Some members praised the Board of Finance for previously finding about $700,000 in cuts to the BOE budget that were non-educational cuts and would not affect student learning. Some other members suggested the Board of Education should have made these cuts prior to the BOF review.

Bob Merola and Phil Carroll expressed concerns that the MBR should be considered and the school budget should not be allowed to “inflate,” pressing for a cut this year. Councilman Ryan Knapp said there should be a zero increase this year due to student enrollment dropping.

Dr. Erardi said any further cuts to the school budget would affect the quality of education in town.

“We’ve made the adjustments we think appropriate,” he said to the council. “We’ve gone around the edge and there’s absolutely nothing left (to cut).”

George Ferguson called the town budget a “forthright” and “smooth” budget and he reiterated it is a “good budget year” all around. The budgets represent a net reduction in taxation of 0.71 percent.

The total total budget of $111,730,513, representing a 0.6 percent spending increase over the current year, passed unanimously and will head to a town referendum on April 28.

Image Credit: Rebecca Carnes

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