Board draws a line in the sand for school budget
Published on February 17th, 1999
STONEHAM, MA - The Board of Selectmen and Town Administrator Jeffrey Nutting appear poised to make a stand in the fiscal year 2000 budgetary process.
The School Committee, which had reviewed its Draft 1 budget of $17.52 million last month, is likely to approve a budget request of $17.78 million at its February 25 meeting after adding several staff members to its list of needs.
Nutting explained to the Board of Selectmen on Tuesday night that this move is just further distancing the schools from what the town can afford.
"In this budget," he said of town-wide proposal, "there is no reduction in staff, but we've cut (nearly) everybody's budget by $200 here and $300 there. The issue is how do you get the numbers to come together."
Nutting said that he has budgeted the School Department at a figure of $17.47 million, over $600,000 more than last year's Town Meeting appropriation but well short of the schools' proposed budget.
Selectman Cosmo Ciccarello said that it is time for the School Department to face reality.
"You can't come to the well too many times," he explained. "We've given them their fair share every year. They've got to spend the money appropriately."
This message was echoed several times at the meeting.
"At some point we've got to say, 'No, this is all we can afford,'" Nutting explained.
The problems with the budget have grown each year due not only to the escalating cost of education in Massachusetts, but the lack of state aid to help towns and cities pay for those costs. This inequity has forced towns like Stoneham to rely heavily on the local tax base, a source of revenue which is kept at a minimal increase each year by Proposition 2 1/2.
Added to the frustration of the selectmen at their budgetary meeting was the news that if the School Department refuses to cover some of the cost for busing, an article could be presented to town meeting asking that funding be found in other areas of the municipal budget.
Board Chairman Albert Conti said, "Last year we gave it (emergency money to fund busing), but I think it was clear to everyone that we wouldn't support it again and I still feel that way."
Conti added that the town and the School Committee, in lieu of busing, should address the sidewalk concerns that have been raised by parents. If money were spent to add and improve sidewalks, he offered, the demand for busing may be reduced.
Nutting said that the cost of putting buses on the roads (about $70,000) could be gained by taking money out of the capitol improvements budget, if the issue ever arises.
"If people want to vote and say 'We can do without the upkeep of the schools and the police and fire stations this year,' there's your money," Nutting said.
In the end, the town administrator continued, the Board of Selectmen will have to forward a number to the Finance Committee for their review. Instead of getting caught up in the individual needs of the School Department, he said, the selectmen should instead focus on the lump sum.
"It's really a money issue not a busing issue," Nutting said. "I don't think we should be stampeded.
According to Selectman John Biggio, the School Department's request of a 5.5 percent increase looks justified to the naked eye, but when one considers that the town footed the bill for busing and capitol improvements this past year, the increase is even greater. The absorption of this money into the present school budget, Biggio explained, is a deceiving problem.
Of the annual request of increases on the part of the schools, Ciccarello said, "We'll never catch up. The more we give them, the more we'll have to give them the net time. We're always behind the eight ball."
In other business, Ciccarello and Selectman Patrick Jordan voiced their displeasure over the hiring practices of the town administrator.
Nutting, who has posted positions in advertisements at a step 1 salary, has hired several employees at higher steps and higher salaries. Of particular note to Ciccarello was the hiring of Fire Chief Lawrence Lamey at a salary of over $72,000 when the advertised salary was around $60,000, the hiring of Director of Community Development Steve Sadwick at a step seven (out of eight steps) salary at a cost of over $62,000, and the hiring of Health Inspector Lou-Ann Clement at a step seven salary in excess of $38,000.
"That's not right," Ciccarello said of the hirings. "It's bad policy."
Ciccarello said that Nutting should either post higher salaries in advertisements or higher people at a lower step.
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