Burlington Faces Tough Choices To Pay For School Deficit

BURLINGTON, MA -- An August 8 memo from Burlington Town Accountant Paul Sagarino to the Burlington Town Meeting members and the ways and means committee lays out options for covering a deficit the Burlington Public School System disclosed last month. In a nutshell, town meeting will need to decide whether to raise taxes or take as much as 20% of the town's stabilization fund to pay the deficit.

While the total amount of overspending by the district is up for debate -- it was initially reported as $1.7 million to the school committee last month but dropped to $880,000 at a Ways & Means Committee meeting Wednesday night -- town meeting will need to find a way to cover the school system's overspending. If town meeting takes no action, Sagarino warned, "vendors would take us to court where would incur legal fees, and lose the case, likely resulting in a court judgment...This scenario could potentially affect our bond rating and impact future borrowing costs."

The town's stabilization fund acts as the equivalent of a rainy day fund and had about $8.8 million in it at the close of the fiscal year on June 30. Town meeting could opt to pay for the deficit from that fund to avoid raising taxes, Sagarino wrote. The option "also provides for opportunities for the school department to replenish the stabilization fund in a more deliberate and organized manner over time," he wrote. But the $1.7 million would eat up more than 19% of the fund; even the lower, $880,000 number would amount to 10% of the fund.

The town could also raise taxes to cover the deficit, Sagarino said. While the school district has not yet given a final figure to the town, a $1.68 million deficit could be covered with a 1.5% tax increase. Town meeting could offset that tax increase by cutting the school system's 2018-19 budget, which was set earlier this year. Cuts could present problems, Sagarino warned.

"Considering the timing of Town Meeting right after the start of school year I would suspect that cuts would have a major impact. If the cuts included layoffs, we would also need to consider the impact on other budgets such as Unemployment," he wrote.

At a School Committee meeting last month, Superintendent Eric Conti disclosed the deficit which, at the time, included $594,000 in special education transportation, $220,000 for stipends, $290,000 for elementary school tutors and $400,000 for maintenance contracts.

But by the time school officials met with Way & Means on Wednesday night, Conti said the deficit was actually $880,000 lower than originally reported. He said the school department was still trying to finalize its tabulation, and attributed the inaccurate, original $1.7 million number to several factors, including duplicate purchase orders.

Subscribe to Burlington Patch for more local news and real-time alerts.

Patch file photo of Burlington School Superintendent Eric Conti.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).