05/13/2014

Council approves town, school budget proposals for 2014-15

The Town Council on May 12, 2014 approved a $34.2 million combined municipal budget for 2014-15.

Included in the approved budget is a $23.2 million spending plan for schools, subject to validation by voters on June 10.

The approved budget poses a tax rate of $16.80 for next year, an increase of 3.2 percent, or 52 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation.

Of the four budgets approved - town, school, county and Community Services - the school budget accounts for 49 cents of the 52-cent tax-rate increase. The $465,000 Community Services budget, up 4 percent from this year, accounts for 1 cent of the tax increase; the $1.1 million county assessment, up 4.5 percent over this year, accounts for 2 cents; and, the 9.2 million town budget, up 2.2 percent over this year, will add nothing to the tax rate.

While school budgets from past years have drawn passionate crowds to Town Hall, no one addressed the council at this year's budget hearing. "This has been a very different discussion than what has taken place in previous years," said Town Councilor Jim Walsh, chair of the council's finance committee.

Walsh and Councilor David Sherman both credited the school staff, administration and the School Board for basing this year's budget on the school's five-year strategic plan. "And I think the presentation components to us were much more focused and robust in terms of what it is the School Board is trying to accomplish, so my hat's off to them," Walsh said.

A highlight of the 2014-15 school budget is full-day kindergarten, a program piloted at Pond Cove school this year and something Walsh and Councilor Chair Jessica Sullivan called a real step forward for the town.

Sullivan agreed that the school-budget process has improved in recent years, but said she was concerned that the average tax-rate increase during the last 10-years, 2.55 percent for the town and 3.49 percent for the schools, will be difficult to sustain with the town's aging population. She and Walsh both said they would like to see a long-range financial plan, similar to the 10-year capital-improvement plan developed this year, for the town and the schools.

Budget summary and tax impact: [download]