WESTFIELD – The School Committee will hold a public hearing on the proposed FY17 budget on Monday, April 25, 6:30 p.m. at the South Middle School auditorium.
“We will be presenting a level service budget,” said Superintendent of Westfield Public Schools Dr. Suzanne Scallion.
Scallion said that to run a level service program for next year, the district is currently about half a million off the mark. “That sounds like a lot of money,” she said, but in reality only represents less than 1% of the nearly $60 million budget.
Between now and the end of the year, Scallion said the district will shut down purchasing and sweep all of their accounts, to see if there is unspent money in any accounts with which to balance the books.
“Mother Nature was very good to us this year,” Scallion said, implying that the district may have some funds remaining in heating costs, for example.
After all of those expenses are adjusted, they will have an end of the year “real number,” she said.
Scallion said she believes they will land this year’s budget in a healthy way. She credited City Auditor Deborah Strycharz, who she called very strict, but very helpful, for her assistance. She said Ronald Rix, district director of business services and Strycharz “are an incredible team.”
Scallion also touted Pamela Kotarski, who handles related business support in addition to her role as transportation director, for all of her behind-the-scenes work on the budget. She said Kotarski does all of the reports and the Power Point presentation which will be shown at the hearing on Monday.
After the hearing, the School Committee is scheduled to vote on the FY17 budget on May 2. If it passes, it will go to the City Council on May 5.
“The timing is critical. We need to know the budget,” Scallion said.
The timing especially impacts new hires, according to Scallion. Last year, she said the budget was approved so late, that the candidate pool was very thin, and expensive. Candidates remaining in the summer months may be in the top of the salary range, and have been passed over by other districts. She said by hiring candidates with some experience but who are not at the top of the salary range, the district can save a lot of money over five years.
“We want to hire the best candidates out of a larger pool. We only hire once a year, and it’s a very narrow window. Everybody’s looking at the candidates,” Scallion explained.
“The Mayor is clearly a supporter of education, and that’s a good thing for the incoming superintendent,” Scallion said. In addition to approving the budget, she hopes that there will be some movement on the $3.6 million Strategic Technology Plan that was approved by the School Committee in February, and sent to the Mayor for consideration by the City Council.
