Exact Amount Of Burlington School Overspending Remains A Mystery

BURLINGTON, MA -- When Burlington public Schools Superintendent Eric Conti first reported to the school committee last month that the department had overspent its budget by $1.7 million for the year ended June 30. A week later, the number had been whittled down to $880,000 when school officials went before the Burlington Ways & Means Committee in preparation of asking town meeting to cover the deficit when it meets in September. But at Monday night's Board of Selectmen meeting, the town administrator said school officials still don't know the exact figure.

"I understand that number is changing. There hasn't been a determination on what that [final] number is," Town Administrator John D. Petrin told selectmen. "If the town doesn't fund that amount, we'll be open to other situations of businesses being able to take us to court for not paying our bills."

School officials were not present for Monday night's meeting. Petrin said the town auditor is working with the school finance department to finalize the amount the school department overspent its budget.

Selectmen need to approve the inclusion of a article for the town meeting scheduled for September. Town Meeting will be asked in September to either raise taxes or take money from the town's stabilization fundthat would cover as much as $1.7 million in overspending by the school department for the year ended June 30.

Separately, at least 15 town meeting members have signed on to a separate warrant article calling for a complete audit of the Burlington Public School System that would cover operating expenses, revolving accounts, capital expenditures and any other financial accounts for the two fiscal years ended June 30, 2018 and June 30, 2017.

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, 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."

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