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Mount Greylock School Budget Cuts Criticized
By Stephen Dravis, iBerkshires Staff
01:19AM / Tuesday, March 17, 2015
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Interim Superintendent Gordon Noseworthy talks budget numbers at a public hearing of the Mount Greylock Regional School District fiscal 2016 spending plan in Lanesborough.
LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The Mount Greylock Regional School Committee on Monday took some flack over its proposed fiscal 2016 budget — mostly from residents who said the committee has cut too far.
 
The committee and administration laid out a proposed spending plan that raises the school's operating budget by .85 percent — an $88,586 bump on a budget of more than $10.4 million.
 
Given a number of fixed-cost increases, including a significant rise in health insurance costs, the miniscule increase comes only at a cost of several budget cuts. Among the cuts outlined on Monday: the loss of two full-time teachers, the non-hiring of two teachers cut last year in an effort to lower the assessments to taxpayers, the elimination of late buses and the loss of the school's digital media specialist.
 
Several residents at Lanesborough Elementary School spoke from the floor during the 90-minute hearing to object to the cuts, and two members of the seven-person regional School Committee said they, too, were unsure whether they could support the reductions, made to address the concerns of Lanesborough town officials.
 
"I think that in my opinion it is impossible for us year after year to continue to achieve excellence while trying to get by on a 1 percent increase," School Committee member Chris Dodig said. "Somewhere along the line, we're going to have to decide how important [excellence] is to the community.
 
"I have a great deal of respect for the Finance Committee, the Select Board and the town managers of both towns, but I don't think it's our job to take what they're offering and meet their requests."
 
Dodig suggested that it is instead the job of the School Committee to propose a budget that meets the school's needs and let the voters decide, a position that was seconded by Richard Cohen. Both Dodig and Cohen live in Lanesborough.
 
Dodig's remarks followed on the heels of a presentation by Interim Superintendent Gordon Noseworthy. Noseworthy explained that given the rising "fixed costs" (previously negotiated salary increases for union employees, health insurance, special education, etc.), a level-funded budget would have gone up by $909,932, an 8.7 percent increase.
 
The School Committee and administration, remembering last year's discussions with Lanesborough town officials, did not bring that 8.7 percent number to the towns but instead pitched hikes of 4.5 percent and, later, 2.6 percent, the last budget voted by the School Committee at its Feb. 24 meeting.
 
Since that meeting, the administration has managed to make more trims to bring the budget down to a .85 percent hike. But given the fact that the district already has used up reserve funds it spent the last couple of years to keep assessments down, the assessments to both member towns are projected to be higher than .85 percent.
 
Williamstown would be asked for 4.34 percent more money. Lanesborough would be asked for 3.32 percent more, which would add 23 cents per $1,000 of assessed value on a property tax bill according to Mount Greylock projections.
 
Dodig said the School Committee was trying to avoid a potential Proposition 2 1/2 override because it was worried about future votes on a school building project. But he had misgivings about that strategy.
 
"We're trading the educational product for the children we have now for a building project," he said. "I'm not comfortable with that."
 
But twice during Monday's hearing, it was mentioned that a renovation or rebuild at Mount Greylock would have a positive impact on the school's operational budget.
 
"Our long-term solution [to yearly budget crises] is a comprehensive renovation or a new building," School Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Greene said in response to a question from the floor. "[A building project] will reduce operating costs substantially to both towns."
 
District Business Manager Lynn Bassett made the same point during her presentation to the hearing.
 
"Every year, the building is getting older and older," she said. "Every year, we have to put more into it to keep it safe for the students."
 
Mount Greylock Chairwoman Carolyn Greene posited that the construction of a new middle and high school would have a positive effect on the district's bottom line.
Another long-term issue also reared its head on Monday: the perception that some town officials want to pull Lanesborough out of the two-town regional school district and send the town's middle and high school students to another district.
 
"That's the elephant in the room," P.J. Pannesco said from the floor. "Perhaps defunding [Mount Greylock] is a way to get people to say, 'The heck with it. We'll send our kids to Pittsfield or the lowest bidder."
 
Cohen argued that strategy could be short-sighted.
 
"If we sent our students to any of the other surrounding high schools, our tax base would be devastated," Cohen said. "Going from a Level 1 school ... to a lesser school, the value of residential property can go down 20 to 40 percent.
 
"[Funding the junior-senior high school] makes economic sense for our community."
 
It remains to be seen whether the .85 percent budget increase makes sense to town officials.
 
Lanesborough Town Administrator Paul Sieloff said the Board of Selectmen had not had a chance to discuss the budget increase, but the town is concerned that the cost of education is squeezing out other essential services.
 
"Let's ask the Mount Greylock people to keep working on their budget, and we will do our reasoning as well, and hopefully we'll come to a happy middle ground," Sieloff said.
 
At least one member of the Board of Selectmen was sold on the latest cost-cutting plan.
 
"I know how painful these cuts were because I sat in the same position a year ago," said Robert Ericson, a Lanesborough selectman and former member of the Mount Greylock School Committee. "I think they've done a great job.
 
"The reason we're trying to keep the tax rate down is people, when they age and retire and are on a limited income, we don't want them to lose their homes. We want people to be comfortable in this community. ... Unfortunately, we do have to raise taxes because costs keep going up.
 
"As far as I'm concerned, the town will meet [Mount Greylock's] effort, and we will come together on this."
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