Wayne committee adds school consultant warrant item, shifts Lad Rec Center costs into town budget

The Town of Wayne’s budget committee and select board met April 14 at the Lead Recreation Center and approved several revisions to the town’s draft budget, including a motion to add a separate warrant article that would ask voters to appropriate $25,000 for a consultant to advise on Wayne Elementary School.

The change, moved and seconded during a joint discussion of general administration and consulting services, reflects members’ desire to give voters a discrete choice on school consulting rather than hiding the cost inside a bundled administrative line. “I’d like to make a motion that we add a line … consulting services and under that line put … school consultant,” a committee member proposed during the meeting; the motion carried with the select board and budget committee recommending the separate warrant article.

Why it matters: placing the school consultant on the warrant as its own article lets voters approve or reject the expense directly and improves transparency, proponents said. Opponents had argued for…