$800,000 separates school, town budgets
Published on February 18th, 1998
STONEHAM, MA - The Board of Selectmen's review of Town Administrator Jeffrey Nutting's 1999 fiscal year $41 million budget neared completion Tuesday night with the School Department and the Department of Public Works making their pitches for requested moneys. With no final information yet received from the School Department, Nutting has proposed a budget of $16.4 million calling that figure his "best guess estimate" based on the minimum requirements under the state's Education Reform Act. In School Supt. Dr. Ellen Bueschel's address to the Selectmen, Tuesday night, she advised that the School Department will not officially adopt a budget until next month. However, she stated that the total figure likely to be requested by the School Committee will be $17.2 million. She conceded that "we're a long way apart from $16.4 million," but added that the difference was not unusual at this point in the budget preparation proceedings of any given year.
Bueschel stated that the major difference in the two numbers concern staffing requirements, since the town is dealing with "major enrollment increases." She advised that, due to the size of this year's fifth grade class, which will enter Middle School in the fall, an additional team of teachers at the Middle School will be required. This team would be made up of four teachers. In addition, Bueschel stated "there is no back reduction," in that the class sizes behind the fifth grade do not drop off significantly from this large number. The new state Time and Learning requirements at the high school also call for four additional teachers. If the $800,000 difference between the two budgets wasn't great enough, there was no mention in the school budget of costs associated with the imminent move of South School students while that
school is being rebuilt, which is expected to start in late summer. Selectmen Chairman Albert Conti called the School Department's number "a big nut to crack," stating that "we have to work together for the benefit of the kids as well as the community at large." For the Department of Public Works, Nutting is requesting a total budget of approximately $2.8 million, citing that the "bottom line is not changing significantly in the expense portion" from last year. One of the two major areas of this budget include the sidewalk reconstruction project in town, for which $100,000 has been budgeted, as it has been for the past few years. According to DPW Director Robert Grover, the program started with reconstruction to sidewalks around the public schools as well as to those in the downtown area. With those areas completed, Grover stated that this year's focus will be on Central Street, from Common
Street to William Street and on Spring Street, from Washington Street to Green Street. The proj-ect calls for concrete sidewalks and granite curbing. According to Grover, he has received many favorable comments from residents regarding the improvements. The second major area of inter-est discussed was the money earmarked for public shade tree planting and maintenance. Nutting is requesting $40,000 for contract work done on trees next year, $8,000 for tree planting and an additional $8,600 transfer of
funds currently in a fuel reserve account for the Tree Department. As always, this topic generated much discussion regarding the loss and replacement of public shade trees in town. Selectman Cosmo Ciccarello questioned Nutting on hiring full-time employees for a tree department in lieu of contracting so much of the work out.
He stated that during the winter months, when tree work is minimal, these employees could take on other duties, such as snow removal. Nutting contended that this option would ultimately be more
costly to the town with expenses incurred in the form of employee benefits, workman compensa-tion, insurance and equipment maintenance and repair. Conti stated that it was important to keep in mind the financial position of the town in the early '90s when layoffs were required. He stated that if additional people were hired in this current state of growth for the town, they may need to be laid off in a down-turn. He referred contracting work out as "providing a cushion," to avoid that unfortunate situation. The DPW budget also includes an additional $15,000 in snow removal. This "essentially balanced budget," as Nutting called it, will now go to the Finance and Advisory Board for their review. Nutting is still awaiting, however, more definitive numbers for Education Reform money, local aid, and local receipts. The Board of Selectmen will then vote on the final version.
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