Adams-Cheshire Budget Will Be Decided at Town Meeting
 The Selectmen opted not to add $340,000 to the budget to meet the Adams-Cheshire assessment voted Tuesday night. |
ADAMS, Mass. — The Selectmen declined on Wednesday night to increase the Adams-Cheshire Regional School District budget.
"We will leave it to town meeting to decide if we will go for a Proposition 2 1/2 override and personally I cannot and will not support that," Selectman Richard Blanchard said.
School Committee approved a $19.4 million budget Tuesday night that would request Adams to pay $5,143,382 instead of the $4.8 million the Selectmen had allocated in the total budget voted on March 18.
Adopting the school district's budget would exceed the town's levy limit and trigger an override. The override vote can still be motioned on the town meeting floor if someone proposes additions to the budget that are accepted.
The Selectmen reopened the town budget vote Wednesday night to accommodate Selectman Joseph Nowak's request to abstain from voting because of a conflict of interest.
Although there was talk of reopening the budget to provide more funds for the schools, the Selectmen voted to keep the budget as is on the warrant.
Blanchard and Jeffrey Snoonian voted to leave the budget unchanged and Chairman Arthur "Skip" Harrington voted to adopt the school district's preferred spending plan that would not eliminate 25 staff positions.
Selectman John Duval did not attend the meeting.
Harrington said he was "torn" and wished there was more middle ground to vote on, but ultimately felt the relationship between the towns and the school district and how to change budget restraints needed to be addressed.
"I am for the schools and I really want to see more of a statement," he said. "I think they deserve a lot more, and I wish we could do more."
Harrington said there must be change in the community or the school budget will face the same challenges next year.
"We have to do something moving forward to change things or we will be doing the same exact thing next year," he said. "We have to come together to the table as a community … it's not fair to the community to have the highest tax rate and the lowest per-pupil expenditures in the schools."
Harrington wished the Selectmen received the actual school budget sooner instead of on Wednesday night. And that many of the creative ideas to restructure the town's budget to support a higher amount toward had education came up earlier in the year.
Snoonian said he had to make the most responsible decision, however, he would like the superintendent to compose a letter to be sent to the state and local representatives that the Selectmen could endorse. The town needs to find a way to support the school, he said, and should advocate for the state to reimburse fully for transportation and to change the charter school funding formula. He added that the town has approximately $1 million in delinquent taxes that could have helped provide a better budget.
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"I think there was disappointment in us as a board, there was disappointment in the town in general with the school not feeling supported, and if you look at it, they aren't being supported," Snoonian said. "I will be thinking about it every day until the budget comes up next year."
Blanchard suggested inviting Berkshire Arts and Technology Public Charter School to discuss how their budget effects Adams-Cheshire.
"I think they are getting a bad rap on a lot of stuff that they do not deserve, and I think they should have an opportunity and a forum to defend themselves," he said.
The charter school is costing Adams-Cheshire some $700,000 this year.
In other business, the board:
• Set a special town meeting for April 30. Town Administrator Tony Mazzucco said the Massachusetts Department of Transportation requested this date so all easements can be approved for the Berkshire Scenic Railway, which MassDOT would like to advertise soon.
• Ratified new Building Commissioner Jeff Clemons to replace Don Fitzgerald, who took a new job in Lenox.
Clemons will start April 13 and will make $24.50 an hour.
Mazzucco said Fitzgerald helped in the selection process and stayed on the job while the town looked for a candidate.
"There are only a few people out there who are really qualified to do this job and Don sat through the interview process and helped us select a candidate who we thought was good for the community going forward," Mazzucco said.
• Voted to adjust the retiree health-care split in the budget from 75/25 to 70/30, which will become effected July 1.
• Approved the transfer of $27,000 from the reserve account to pay for Highway Department overtime and $3,000 to accommodate staff changes. They also transferred $3,892 to the Council on Aging so it could keep both vans running with an absent employee.
Tags: ACRSD, fiscal 2016, school budget,
