Lanesborough Selectmen Vote To Short Mount Greylock Budget Request

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
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School Committee members Richard Cohen and Carolyn Greene tried to convince the Board of Selectmen to fund the entire request.
LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The Board of Selectmen will not support Mount Greylock Regional School District's decision to add $42,100 back into the budget for late buses and team meetings.
 
The Selectmen voted to recommend an appropriation of $2,710,155, which is just short of $16,000 from the school's request. The assessment is $86,974, or 3.32 percent, over last year and is the figure Town Administrator Paul Sieloff built his budget around when presented at the public hearing.
 
The budget process started with Sieloff telling school officials that the town wanted a 1 percent increase, or $26,000. Mount Greylock administrators, however, said they needed $200,000, or 7.63 percent, increase in town assessment just to keep services level. 
 
The budget was pared back to a .86 percent overall increase, resulting in an assessment increase of $86,974, the figure presented at the public hearing. At that point, Sieloff had learned that the town's elementary school was cutting more than $150,000 out of its budget, so he agreed to use some of that to make up the difference between the two sides.
 
"We had cut it considerably in the weeks leading up to the public hearings," said Mount Greylock School Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Greene, who hoped to convince the Selectmen on Monday night to fund the entire request.
 
At the public hearings, Greene said a number of residents in both towns felt the school cut too much. At a subsequent meeting, two of five items that had been cut were voted back into the budget. Those were a late bus for sports and other extracurriculars the school offers and team meetings for the middle school teachers.
 
Those additions led to increases of $12,460 for the buses and $3,436 for the middle school team meetings from Lanesborough. That was approved the very same night Sieloff presented his proposed budget with the $86,974 figure to the Finance Committee.
 
"This is a budget that includes significant staff reductions and program reductions," said School Committee member Richard Cohen. "The after-school bus in question is not a new expense."
 
Greene said Mount Greylock is cutting the equivalent of five full-time employees — three teachers who will be fired and two positions will not be filled as previously planned — and three paraprofessionals. 
 
"The enrollment is going to go up and we need to be able to support education. Once you cut something, it is very hard to get it back," Greene said.
 
Because of a budget reduction of $4,500 made after the Lanesborough hearing, the debate centers around the late bus, according to a letter to the Selectmen from School Committee member Chris Dodig.
 
"I think most people in both communities believe the children deserve that after-school bus," wrote Dodig, which Greene read to the Selectmen.
 
However, the Selectmen believe the school doesn't need an increase in assessment to fund that bus. Selectman Henry "Hank" Sayers said when the budget was first presented to the towns, it was characterized as being sufficient to serve the students. Administrators said they could find community support to pay for the late bus and since then state aid projections have increased and the contract with the new superintendent came in less than expected, Sayers said.
 
"I believe you already have the money for the after-school bus and the meetings," Sayers said.
 
Greene said any leftover funds at the end of the year roll into the school's excess and deficiency line. Those areas where savings occur are often consumed by unexpected and unbudgeted expenses including those cited by Sayers as well as a $60,000 expense the school just learned about.
 
That account is used to lower the assessment to the two towns at the end of the year, she said. The increase in assessment will assure the bus is funded and the funds for it aren't consumed by another expense.
 
"We're not going to add it to the budget, but those expenses happen. ... If we come in with no cushion, we can't come back to the towns for more money," Greene said. "At the end of the day, that wiggle room is gone."
 
Sayers, however, responded that the town doesn't know if there is any abundance of money in the budget so there is no way to follow up on that. He added that there is some $213,000 in that E&D account. Greene said there should be $500,000 there, so the account is underfunded.
 
"We're asking for the money to ensure that we can provide that bus," Greene said.
 
The Selectmen decided to let the voters decide. They voiced desire to place both proposals on the floor but since the assessment is wrapped into the budget, they can't. So, the Selectmen approved the lower number and expect the school advocates to propose the higher one.
 
"I think it is easily settled on the floor because you do get two sides," Chairman John Goerlach said.
 
Sayers said, "the people are going to let us know if we are in line or they'll straighten us out."
 
At the town meeting floor, the money to fully fund the school budget could either come from taxes or free cash. Sieloff is proposing to use most of the town's $300,000 or so in certified free cash from previous budgets but there is still enough left to cover the $16,000 increase if needed.
 
"We can fully fund the school now with free cash. We have very little of it but we have at least $16,000," Sieloff said.

Tags: budget cuts,   fiscal 2016,   MGRHS,   school budget,   

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Berkshire Wind Power Cooperative Corporation Scholarships

LUDLOW, Mass. — For the third year, Berkshire Wind Power Cooperative Corporation (BWPCC) will award scholarships to students from Lanesborough and Hancock. 
 
The scholarship is open to seniors at Mount Greylock Regional High School and Charles H. McCann Technical School. BWPCC will select two students from the class of 2024 to receive $1,000 scholarships.
 
The scholarships will be awarded to qualifying seniors who are planning to attend either a two- or four-year college or trade school program. Seniors must be from either Hancock or Lanesborough to be considered for the scholarship. Special consideration will be given to students with financial need, but all students are encouraged to apply.
 
The BWPCC owns and operates the Berkshire Wind Power Project, a 12 turbine, 19.6-megawatt wind farm located on Brodie Mountain in Hancock and Lanesborough. The non-profit BWPCC consists of 16 municipal utilities located in Ashburnham, Boylston, Chicopee, Groton, Holden, Hull, Ipswich, Marblehead, Paxton, Peabody, Russell, Shrewsbury, Sterling, Templeton, Wakefield, and West Boylston, and their joint action agency, the Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company (MMWEC). 
 
To be considered, students must submit all required documents including a letter of recommendation from their school counselor and a letter detailing their educational and professional goals. Application and submission details will be shared with students via their school counselors. The deadline to apply is Friday, April 19.
 
 MMWEC is a not-for-profit, public corporation and political subdivision of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts created by an Act of the General Court in 1975 and authorized to issue tax-exempt debt to finance a wide range of energy facilities.  MMWEC provides a variety of power supply, financial, risk management and other services to the state's consumer-owned, municipal utilities. 
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