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Town manager outlines FY26 budget; council discusses funding for school deficit reduction plan
Summary
Coventry’s town manager presented highlights of the proposed FY26 budget, including staffing additions, capital projects and a funding plan tied to the school department’s deficit-reduction effort; council members asked for a written corrective-action plan before budget adoption.
Town Manager Perillo presented the highlights of the proposed fiscal year 2026 budget and answered council questions about school deficit funding, capital projects and staffing additions.
Perillo said the proposed budget would increase the town’s general property tax levy by 2.69%, citing an increase from $81,513,326 to $83,708,001.25 in the levy figure included in his presentation. He said the tax rate itself had not yet been set and that additional adjustments would be made as valuation and new-construction information arrives.
The manager described personnel additions proposed in the operating budget (including Public Works hires and a deputy finance director), various capital items (solar array on the old landfill, a new sewer line for the high school, playground upgrades, and investments in parks and senior programming) and a proposed capital improvement budget of a little over $400,000.
On the school deficit: Perillo told the council the town plans to fund part of a multi-year deficit reduction plan. He listed the town’s contribution outside maintenance of effort as $472,000, alongside a local maintenance-of-effort line of $1,235,622 (the manager said the school department requested that maintenance-of-effort figure). He also said the school had projected roughly $900,000 in savings from a recent health-care RFP and had other reserve funds the superintendent expected to apply to the deficit. Members of the council and the manager repeatedly referred to a total school deficit figure of $5.8 million discussed previously by the school department; several council members said they wanted a corrective-action document that explains how the school and town arrived at the $5.8 million figure and how each party will meet its share of the plan.
Council direction and next steps: Several council members asked that a written corrective-action plan or letter formalizing the deficit-reduction steps be prepared and presented to both the council and the school committee before final budget approval. Manager Perillo said the town could prepare a document and bring it to the next meeting; council members said that if the audit for fiscal 2024 changes the numbers, they would revisit the plan.
Procedural timeline: Perillo listed the council’s provisional budget vote for April 8 and multiple public hearings scheduled during the budget season; the council discussed scheduling for finance-committee review of outstanding budget questions.
What was not decided: The town has not yet set a tax rate; Perillo said that work is ongoing and will be finalized after additional valuation data is obtained. The council did not take a final budget vote at the meeting.
