Town officials have begun planning for the fiscal 2020 budget and there appears to be an early disagreement between the school budget and the Town Administrator budget.
WESTPORT — Town officials have begun planning for the fiscal 2020 budget and there appears to be an early disagreement between the school budget and the Town Administrator budget.
Town Administrator Timothy King has unveiled a report that details how revenues, state aid and other budgetary trends will make this upcoming fiscal year a difficult one.
At last Wednesday’s School Committee meeting, Business Manager Michelle Rapoza mentioned meeting with King recently and receiving his number, which represented a $535,850 increase over this current year.
She said that represents a 2.9 percent increase, which would not cover the contractually-obligated raises and step increases that have been promised to employees.
Rapoza said a 3.4 percent increase would be needed to cover those increases. She said that increase comes with a financial benefit in the form of a handful of new administrators who will not be getting a pay increase because they were recently hired. Macomber began this year with a new principal, the junior/senior high school also has a new principal and two new assistant principals. The district also has a new superintendent, who began in June.
Rapoza said those same administrators would be eligible for the slight wage increase in fiscal 2021, complicating matters for the financial planning
Rapoza said school authorities are trying to balance the needs of the district students with the financial issues of the town.
King, so far, has stressed this year will be a financially tight one.
"The FY 2020 municipal budget, as submitted, is a service maintenance budget. There are no net additional staff, no costly initiatives and no major changes. There will be a few changes in some of the FY20 municipal budgets,” King wrote in his most recent report. “Approximately 75 percent of the municipal and school Budgets are wages/salaries and benefits. Other costs such as debt service, heat, electricity and motor vehicle fuel are also essential for municipal and school operations. The limited revenue increases available to the town also serves as a major constraint on any new budget initiatives.”
He added that there are still many unknowns, but some of these unknowns will likely increase costs significantly, including “regional school budgets, health insurance and cherry sheet assessments.”
King also said that several departments have requested an additional position and he has rejected many of those requests.
“Revenue limitations prevent any except the previously approved Assistant Building Inspector from being included in the FY 2020 Municipal Budget,” King also wrote in his most recent report. “I am recommending a new position of Professional Assessor but I recommend not filling a clerical position that will become vacant.”
Selectmen Chairwoman Shana Shufelt further detailed some of these issues, adding that there is uncertainty as to whether the town will be able access certified free cash this year. She alluded to the issues within the treasurer’s department that led to unbalanced records. Town Meeting earlier this month appointed a consultant to help the department with issues, including balancing its books.
“The number in Tim’s draft reflects a sharing of new revenue between the town and the school. We take new revenue, subtract out the increase in regional schools and possibly some other item, then we divide it between the town in a split with something like 55 percent to the school budget and 45 percent to the Town,” Shufelt said.
“We will be revisiting all of the proposals as we work with the various departments. Because of the uncertainty with free cash, we have to assume we will not have any to balance the operating budget this year. It’s not a good idea to use free cash for that anyway but we did last year.”
Rapoza said that at the January 9 meeting, school principals will offer a detailed budget analysis of their respective building needs and programs
Rapoza mentioned she would continue to work on the numbers.