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EXETER — A sparse turnout of only three taxpayers made for a brief public hearing Monday night on the fiscal year 2008-09 regional school district budget.
On March 11 the Exeter-West Greenwich School Committee approved a $31.7 million budget for the upcoming school year, $22.46 million of which will have to be generated through taxes. Monday’s meeting offered voters the opportunity to voice questions and concerns on both the budget and the $5.8 million bond for which the committee will seek public approval at the annual district financial meeting in April.
In anticipation that the bond will pass, the committee’s budget proposal includes a $2.3 million expenditure for bond repayments — a $482,083 increase over the current fiscal year.
The district’s 2007-08 budget included a $350,000 allocation for capital improvements, a line item Chairperson Susan DeSack said was omitted from this year’s proposal due to the bond, which would be repaid over a 20 year schedule.
Superintendent of Public Schools Dr. Thomas Geismar said the district secured a 56 percent reimbursement rate on the bond from the Rhode Island Board of Regents.
“Effectively this $5.8 million bond will cost the district $2.7 million,” he said.
The bond money would be used to replace the failing roof at the junior-senior high school and the buckling gym floor at Metcalf in addition to a number of fire code and operational systems upgrades at each of the district’s schools.
If approved, the Town of Exeter’s fiscal contribution would increase 2.67 percent to $10,754,046. West Greenwich taxpayers would face a heftier 5 percent increase, totaling a $11,706,367 contribution.
Overall, Exeter is responsible for nearly 48 percent of the tax burden and West Greenwich pays the other 52 percent. The amount each town pays is based on a formula that accounts for the number of students each town has within the regional school system.
When asked if the lack of a teacher contract would affect the budget, DeSack said there was room within the proposal to make adjustments for salary or benefit increases without changing the budget’s bottom line.
E-WG teachers have been without a contract since Aug. 31. Whether or not the district will have to pay retroactive salary and / or benefit raises once an agreement is reached with the union is a matter for those closed negotiations, she said.
While the committee’s budget is based upon the expectation that the district will collect $7,051,856 in state aid – exactly what it received last year – Geismar said E-WG schools received an excess of $123,964 in state aid for the 2007-08 school year. That unanticipated extra, he said, had not been worked into the current year’s budget and would be rolled over in the new fiscal year.
“We didn’t cut any programs for students. We didn’t add any, but we didn’t cut any,” Geismar said.
The annual district financial meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on April 21 in the high school auditorium.
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