WESTBROOK – A round of proposed cuts and unexpected savings in health insurance costs has sliced almost $1 million from the initial Westbrook school budget proposed for fiscal year 2014-15, as the Westbrook School Committee is set to make the final decision this week.
Superintendent of Schools Marc Gousse said Tuesday that after proposing roughly $600,000 in cuts to the original $34.8 million budget, the administration also received news that some $400,000 would be saved in health insurance costs next year.
Gousse said the department had budgeted for about a 9 percent rate increase, which has been standard in recent years, but received news of the flat rate on April 1, which he called “extraordinary.” Gousse said that in 32 years of being involved in budgets, he has never seen a zero percent increase, which he was told was issued because there were no “catastrophic claims” among employees this year.
Identified cuts are coming mainly from new positions proposed for next year, as well as various technology maintenance costs, and the decision to hold off on an expansion of the department’s pre-kindergarten program.
“If the committee adopts the cuts as I’ve recommended, then we’ll bring the budget forward to the city with a less than 1 percent increase,” he said.
The insurance savings and proposed cuts would bring the final budget figure to $33,912,775. With total revenues at $17,293,863, the school department would be asking city property taxes to pick up the remaining $16,618,911, which is a $114,126, or 0.69 percent, increase from this year.
Gousse said that the budget presents few new positions except for those in the English Language Learner and Special Education departments, which have seen substantial growth. He added that the budget also preserves funds budgeted for new technology, including laptops for high school students.
“It meets our responsibility to our students, but at the same time I believe it meets our fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers,” he said. “I respectfully believe this is a reasonable request to the taxpayers, given all the things we are challenged with.”
The School Committee was scheduled to meet Wednesday night, after the American Journal’s deadline, to either approve the proposed cuts and continue with a first reading, or revisit items or propose further cuts with an additional meeting already scheduled for Thursday to provide for the extra time, if needed.
A second and final reading will be required before passing the budget on to the City Council, and is scheduled for Wednesday, April 16.
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