Voters to decide co-op budget

Friday, March 12, 2010

HOLLIS – Voters who attend the annual Hollis/Brookline Cooperative School District meeting on Wednesday will be asked to approve an operating budget of $18.45 million, recommended by the district’s Budget Committee, but not the School Board.

The difference of opinion is likely to spark debate: During the March public hearing, for example, officials stopped taking public comments at 11:30 p.m., more than four hours after the meeting had begun. But they invited the public to remain and listen as the board continued to talk.

At that meeting, the School Board proposed an $18.75 million budget to operate the district’s two schools and pay salaries and fringe benefits for 117 teachers and 83 support staff.

Budget Committee members rejected that number, pointing to an existing $750,000 unreserved fund balance in the current budget.

The Budget Committee has also suggested the School Board’s higher proposed budget would further increase the unreserved fund balance.

Steve Pucci, chairman of the Budget Committee, said he and colleagues on the committee are concerned that the School Board is budgeting for possible contingencies, raising the bottom line at taxpayer expense.

Pucci advocates appropriating funds based on actual spending and adding in the costs of salaries and benefits while maintaining as small a contingency as possible.

He said that philosophy reflects financial practices in private business and industry.

The meeting is set for 7 p.m. at Hollis/Brookline High School. The district, part of School Administrative Unit 41, includes Hollis/Brookline Middle School and Hollis/Brookline High School.

Hattie Bernstein can be reached at 673-3100, ext. 24, or hbernstein@cabinet.com.