Library, schools receive needed revenue influx
Published on April 9th, 2008
STONEHAM, MA - The town's Board of Selectmen unanimously endorsed an amended FY'09 budget on Tuesday night that accounts for an influx of $394,000 in state aid and new growth.
Despite the good news, School Committee veteran Marie Christie and Library employee Martha Buckley unsuccessfully implored the Selectmen to institute a trash fee next year, given the serious financial difficulties those two departments will still face in FY'09.
Last February, the Selectmen voted that the $170 trash fee would not be imposed next year, unless Stoneham's employee unions consented to joining the state's Group Insurance Commission (GIC) before May Town Meeting.
Town Administrator David Ragucci did propose that the library and school system be the primary benefactors of the unexpected windfall, with the two cash-starved departments standing to receive $300,000 of the revenues.
In particular, Ragucci proposed the money be split in the following ways:
• $100,000 for the library, bringing the departments FY'09 appropriation to $569,000;
• $200,000 for the school system, resulting in the restoration of several teaching posts slated for the chopping block;
o $80,000 for the unclassified budget in order to address several unspecified health insurance issues;
• $14,000 for the Finance Board's reserve fund, bringing the accounts FY'09 balance to just over $70,000.
According to the Town Administrator, he had opted last February to ignore the state aid figures included in Governor Deval Patrick's state budget, as those increases were linked to the passage of his doomed casino package.
“Since last February, there has been a legislative solution to the local aid [issue],” Ragucci explained. “They [Patrick and the state legislature] have agreed to hold cities and towns harmless. That means the $344,000 can be spent.”
In addition, Ragucci chose to level-fund new growth until he was absolutely confident that Stoneham would receive tax dollars from several pending developments in town - the $50,000 figure is linked to a land sale at the former Boston Regional Medical Center.
According to the Town Administrator, the $100,000 in additional library funding would spare the layoffs of two part-time workers and increase the number of hours the facility is open each week.
Under February's proposal, four part-time workers would be eliminated, all full-time positions would have reduced hours, and the library would likely be open for just over 20 hours each week.
Library Director Mary Todd, who has indicated that the facility needs $774,000 in order to maintain state certification and its current staffing and hours of operation, indicated that six full-time workers will still face a reduction in their work-week from 35 hours to 25.
“If we increased the budget by $100,000, Mary Todd and the library trustees feel confident that we could operate our library for 30 hours a week. We're presently operating at 51 hours per week,” Ragucci explained.
According to Schools' Supt. Dr. Les Olson, the School Committee has not formally voted on how to disperse the additional $200,000 in revenue.
However, the supt. suspected that the funding - coupled with other unspecified savings and reductions - will restore a number of teaching jobs. Even with the new money, the district still faces a $488,000 budget gap.
“This is definitely good news that there will be another $200,000,” said Olsen. “But it is still not close to what we need for a level-service budget. In February, I indicated to you that we're probably looking at laying off 28 staff members.”
“That number is either down to 14 staff members or two staff members and our entire athletic budget,” added the supt., who explained that 5.3 positions and 10 percent of all school supply line-items have already be slashed.
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