Gateway Regional Superintendent Dr. David Hopson, Committee Chairwoman Gretchen Eliason, and Vice-Chairwoman Anne- Marie Buikus (left to right) prepare to approve the district’s fiscal year 2014 operating budget at last night’s school committee meeting in Montgomery (Photo by Peter Francis)
MONTGOMERY – School committee members from all seven of the communities represented in the Gateway Regional School District voted to approve a new operating budget of almost $16.6 million Wednesday evening.
A small crowd of about fifteen milled into the Montgomery Town Hall for the 7:30 meeting, as Committee Chairwoman Gretchen Eliason brought the session to order.
At around the half hour mark, the new budget was brought to the floor for debate, at which time it was voted on by the committee, passing with 12 votes.
Of the five proposals that had been brought forth, three of which have been adopted by the committee over the past few months, budget version 5.0 that was approved last night is slimmer than version 1.0 by $379,533.
According to Gateway Superintendent of Schools Dr. David Hopson, the budget doesn’t skimp on the essentials needed to run a school district of just over 1,000 students.
“Being able to reduce (the budget), it’s a win-win for the district and the town,” said Hopson. “We haven’t reduced services, but we’ve reduced assessments to the town.”
Hopson did state one important aspect of the budget which was brought up by committee member Ron Damon earlier in the evening, a decrease in emergency and deficiancy funds by about $200,000, which may end up costing the towns more in the fiscal year 2016.
“I hope we don’t lose sight of why we have an E & D account,” said Damon. “It’s the only place we can go, other than to the towns, if we have a major financial problem, whether it be mold or anything else. If we have a problem, that’s what we have to fall back on.”
Damon said that decreasing the fund would not only leave less money to offset the next year’s budget, but would also put the district in a “dangerous situation.”
Eliason said that there is a limit to how much E & D money the district can hold at one time, and that by law, any extra money must be returned to the towns.
“With the way they redo E & D, we’d have to go back to the towns for a vote (to use it), not just to the school committee like it used to be,” Hopson said.
Many factors played into the timing of the new budget, including the state budget situation on Beacon Hill and a firmer number of students the district would have.
Last night’s vote came after the towns of Chester, Russell, and Worthington voted strongly against the previous budget proposal of approximately $16.8 million.
Forty residents showed up to voice their disproval at a September 23 meeting in Chester, a number which Town Administrator Tom McDonald said was a “big number for us”, spurred on by a disdain for the budget now known as “Version 4.0”, which had been approved at an August 21 school committee meeting following a series of ammendments.
“I do hope the three towns that didn’t vote for this budget appreciate the hard work Dr. Hopson and Stephanie (Fisk, Gateway business and finance officer) have done to lower the budget,” said Committee Member Ellen Hirtle. “We’re here for the kids… we can’t be thinking so much of the towns’ finances when thinking about our kids.”
According to the 33-page version 5.0 proposal, the seven towns serviced by the Gateway Regional District, would be required to foot $9.6 million, an increase of $65,013 or .68 percent from the fiscal year 2013 budget.
The amount owed by each town is based on their student population within the district as of March 1, 2013.
The now-approved budget also factors in funds received by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which is set to give approximately $6.2 million to the district, to be distributed in the form of Chapter 70 and transportation funding.
