Published on April 22, 2020

updated 04/27/2020

The School Board will present a $28.5 million proposed school budget for fiscal 2020-2021 to the Town Council Finance Committee at 6 p.m. Monday, April 27, 2020 (note time change).

The budget is the same adopted by the board April 14 [news article], except for an additional use of undesignated funds to reduce the potential tax impact.

At a special meeting April 21, board members re-adopted the budget after John Quartararo, town finance director, explained that $300,000 in undesignated funds, approved for use as school revenue for the current fiscal year, was not recorded in the accounting system. "In effect the school side had $300,000 more than was necessary to support the budget for the current fiscal year," he said. The error also meant that the effective school tax rate for this year was $14.52, not $14.30 as reported on tax bills.

The overall fiscal 2019-20 tax-rate of $19.68 for school, town and county services was correct, with the $4.31 effectively going for town services rather than the $4.54 reported on tax bills.

School Board members on April 21 agreed to apply the $300,000 to tax relief, bringing the projected rate to $15.12 for school services next year. Compared to a $14.52 rate for this year, the budget would increase tax bills by 4.1 percent, rather than the 6.67 percent anticipated when the budget was adopted by the board April 14.

The April 27 workshop will be held via Zoom videoconferencing. Information for joining the meeting will be published with the agenda (meetings calendar)