School, Town Officials Tussle Over How To Pay For Capital Improvements

Town and school officials met Monday night to discuss the schools budget — in particular, the $400,000 budget decrease sought by the Council. School officials say they can reduce that number by $115,000 without cutting into programs. Town officials argue schools could reduce their expenditures at least another $100,000 by paying for their capital improvements out of their fund balance.

When it comes budget time, the two panels bow to different gods. The Town Council wants to keep the tax rate low; the School Committee wants to uphold the integrity of the schools. With taxpayer-approved bond expenditures increasing the amount of budget money needed to pay debt service next fiscal year, as well as some contracted salary and benefits increases for school and town employees, both sides have little or no room for growth. (which begins July 1, 2012).

"We still want to work with you to get some of the numbers down," said Council President Michael Isaacs early on at the meeting at Swift Community Center. "I understand that you obviously want to have a fund balance," he said. Still, he questioned the fund's size. Right now, the schools have $1.2 million in unrestricted money in their fund balance.

For School Commitee Chairwoman Deidre Gifford, that fund promises to bring some consistency to their budget process. The fund, as she envisioned it, would cover cyclical costs of computer replacement, new roofs and boilers.

"If we can develop a capital fund that we can tap so that we have a predictable way to fund those expenses as they come up ... " she said. "But we’re not there yet. We’re just starting."

"No one’s quarreling with the idea of having a reserve," countered Isaacs, but then he said there's another way to look at a reserve. "We have a surplus ... But that’s less tax money we could have collected that year."

He continued, "Maybe this is a year to draw on those."

For Gifford and others on the School Commitee, though, to deplete a newly established capital improvement fund would be to invite the sort of situation that happened with Cole Middle School, where fixes would cost as much as a new building.

The two sides will meet separately Tuesday night — the Council again at Swift and the School Committee at Cole Middle School — and the budget is on both panels' agendas. Residents are welcome to attend either session.