Blue Hills Regional Request for Stabilization Fund Moves Forward Despite Opposition

A stabilization fund for Blue Hills Regional Technical School aimed at long-term capital projects will move forward next fiscal year despite pushback from officials in Braintree.

The Braintree Town Council, heeding the advice of Town Auditor Eric Kinsherf, argued that allowing such a fund means less financial control for the town, an issue brought to the forefront last year when Kinsherf discovered surplus funds sitting in Blue Hills accounts that were then sent back to the school's nine member towns before being re-distributed to Blue Hills.

Milton is one of those member communities. It approved Blue Hill's request for the fund during Town Meeting earlier this month and also set aside $842,454 for the school for fiscal year 2014, up $52,179 from the current year. Forty-nine Milton students have enrolled in the school next year.

Germano Silveira, Braintree's representative to the District School Committee, said that the creation of the fund will allow Blue Hills to better prepare for and execute capital projects.

He also noted that in future years if the school requested money to be added to the fund that action would require approval from member towns. Disbursement of money from the fund also requires a two-thirds vote of the school committee.

Seven of the nine towns so far have approved the school's annual budget, Silveira said, which means the assessments will take effect.

Along with Braintree, Norwood, Randolph and Holbrook rejected the stabilization fund. Silveira said Blue Hills has encountered some resistance in other towns, mostly in the form of confusion, but that they have voted in favor once the benefits were explained.

With six favorable votes on the fund, it will be put in place for the year starting July 1. The school did not request it be funded yet, but may return to the towns in the future for stabilization funding.

Correction: Braintree was not the only town to reject the fund, as noted above.