By James Lomuscio
Members of Westport’s Board of Finance tonight advised the Board of Education to keep its 2012-13 operating budget as flat as possible and to seeks consolidations wherever possible with the town government to cut costs.
The finance board and several members of the Representative Town Meeting had been invited to the meeting to get a clearer picture of expenses the school board will face over the next five years. The general consensus was that the quality of instruction and the maintenance of facilities not be sacrificed with fiscal belt tightening.
The preliminary budget discussions came on the heels of enrollment projections that student population would drop over the next five years by between 200 and 300 from the current 5,700.
The finance board also remained to hear a five-year capital forecast given by Assistant Superintendent of Business Nancy Harris. The forecast shows approximately $10 million in projects over that time period.
“Keep your operating budget as close to flat as possible,” advised Avi Kaner, Republican finance board member who is expected to take over as chair at his board’s meeting on Wednesday.
He added that he and board member Helen Garten, a Democrat and current chair, would lead an effort to push for consolidation wherever possible between the school board and the town government to make sure services are not duplicated.
Garten noted that consolidation of town and school services would require “a cultural change,” one in which the savings “might at first not seem significant,” but will continue to grow over time.
“Eventually you get a generation of people who think it’s natural to work together,” she said.
In addition to purchasing, payroll and information technology, finance board members spoke of consolidating human resources, relegating it to the schools.
“I think that the benefit for an HR consolidation is the fact that we lead in contract negotiations, and we could put that on the town side,” said Donald O’Day, school board chairman.
At the meeting’s opening, O’Day was unanimously re-elected school board chairman for the fourth time. Jim Marpe was re-elected vice chairman, and Elaine Whitney was unanimously voted board secretary, replacing Faith Taylor, who did not seek re-election to the board in November.
Kaner stressed that consolidation was needed in light of the town’s unfunded OPEB (other post employment benefits) liabilities that best estimates show are about $77 million over 30 years.
“How much of that belongs to the Board of Education?” Kaner asked. “Right now, we don’t know.”
He said the matter would become clearer since the town is in the process of hiring a new actuarial firm. The previous firm had erred, not including more than 400 school board employees in its OPEB estimates.
Finance board member Tom Lasersohn also stressed the school board seek ferret out savings in the current economic downturn he dubbed “the new reality.” He too cautioned that any savings not jeopardize instructional quality and building maintenance.
“All of us want to protect those two areas,” Lasersohn said.
The school board’s commitment to maintenance was evidenced by their final vote of the evening. Members unanimously approved $152,000 for the Coleytown Middle School roof re-coating project expected to extend the life of the roof by 10 years.
“In the face of this new reality, you have to be as lean and as mean as possible while keeping this jewel shining,” said newly elected finance board member Michael Rea .“Keep your operating budget as close to flat as possible. So, good luck to you.”
