Brunswick’s school board advanced a $61.2 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year Wednesday night, after cutting nearly $2 million from the superintendent’s initial recommendations.
The board’s adopted budget brings the school’s portion of the tax impact down to 2.89%. Superintendent Phil Potenziano presented an early budget in February that would have raised the property tax rate by just over 5%.
The reductions were made possible in part because the schools’ health insurance and property and liability insurance premiums came in lower than expected. The board originally budgeted for a 15% hike in health insurance premiums, which are now expected to raise by just under 9%.
The new budget also eliminates eight positions instead of the seven initially proposed, which Potenziano said are a combination of “retirements, realignments, efficiencies and reduction in force.” He declined to say how many jobs would be affected.
The board also cut costs by passing on a few proposed projects this year, including eliminating plans to replace the library stacks at Brunswick Junior High School, purchase a new grounds truck and refurbish the field house bathrooms at the high school.
The most recent version of the school budget also cuts more than $191,000 in supplies and professional services, which includes classroom materials like books and technology and contracted services like consultants and sports referees. An additional $263,000 was saved through cutting the budget for projects and facilities maintenance.
The budget comes in at roughly $61.2 million in expenses. The town assessor has also estimated a 1% increase in the total town valuation, which has the effect of bringing down the tax rate.
“I’m glad that we’re able to achieve a lower tax impact; it has come at a cost,” Beth Bisson, school board chairperson, said Wednesday. “That is on top of reductions made over the last two years in response to the fiscal climate that we’re in and very clear signals from the Town Council about where they were hoping for us to end up. It is not sustainable for us to keep making reductions at this level annually.”
The board members approved the budget unanimously Wednesday, but it could still be tweaked.
The board will present its budget to the Town Council on Monday, and the council may make further changes. There is a public hearing on the combined municipal and school budgets and the accompanying capital improvement plan on April 27, then the council will adopt the budgets on May 11. The school portion of the budget will ultimately be up to voters to approve in a referendum in June.
Throughout the budget process, town councilors have pushed to keep the overall tax impact under 4%, taking into account school, municipal and county expenses.
With the recent reductions, Brunswick Town Manager Julia Henze presented an updated combined budget Thursday night with a 5.52% tax hike.