Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the School Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Westerly council and school committee weigh using reserves to cover capital as enrollment falls
Summary
In a Dec. 15 joint meeting, Westerly officials discussed using school fund balance for one-time capital to avoid tax increases amid an enrollment decline of 128 students; school administrators said staffing reductions (roughly 5—FTE) are likely and electric buses were removed from the capital request.
At a Dec. 15 joint meeting, the Westerly Town Council and the School Committee debated whether to tap the school system's surplus to pay one-time capital costs and avoid a larger operating request to taxpayers.
A town councilor who identified himself during the meeting as concerned about repeated operating increases urged the committee to use fund balance to cover a short list of capital needs for a single year rather than raise the operating ask. He said the community's school operating surplus has been recurring for years even as projected student enrollment fell by 128 students to 2,139 and suggested drawing down reserves to fund projects such as the Bradford School study and marina improvements.
School officials said the materials presented at the meeting were a projection, not a formal request. A school official for operations explained the budget process and said the administration plans to pare staff where enrollment declines and retirements allow, estimating reductions in the 5—to—10 FTE range before a final budget request goes to the town manager.
"If you take the operating and we start relying on our surplus to run things that we know we're going to have to do continuously every single year, it does become a dangerous place," the school committee chair said, arguing that one-time uses of fund balance can make sense but tapping reserves for recurring salary costs would create a structural deficit.
Committee members also clarified that electric buses had been discussed earlier in the process and then removed from the capital request; the committee's capital list now focuses on roofing and other traditional projects. One town councilor disputed a previously cited $10 million figure for an EV-bus charging solution, suggesting a lower-cost option for a middle-school location if the district ultimately pursues electric buses.
Officials on both sides said the goal is a fiscally responsible budget season: town members want transparency about budget transfers that move underspent dollars between line items, while school leaders said they will continue to present detailed answers about operating needs and one-time capital proposals as the process advances.
The meeting produced no formal vote on the district's operating request; members agreed to continue discussions as the administration refines staffing and capital proposals ahead of the formal budget submission to the town manager.
