Waltham Approves New Budget; May Not Include Full School Costs
City Councilor Kathleen McMenimen said the budget does not include an accurate picture of education costs.
Waltham City Councilors have approved the fiscal 2013 budget, but with a stiff cut in the school district’s budget.
They gave the approval amidst questions on whether the full costs of education are included in the budget.
Councilors, during their Tuesday, May 29 meeting, gave their final approval to the $146,364,981 budget, and an additional $66,699,448 for the school district. In total, the city budget is $214,333,397.
Before giving final approval, the Finance Committee approved cutting $249,573 from the school department’s overall budget total. Finance Committee Chairman Thomas Curtin proposed the cut saying it was unfair to ask Waltham taxpayers to pay for special education programs upfront when some previous funds were carried over to the new budget.
Also, City Councilor Kathleen McMenimen called the school budget into question saying it did not include the full costs of education in Waltham. McMenimen believes the budget is not a true reflection of the actual costs of education. In a lengthy explanation, McMenimen said approximately $28 million in health care and pension costs as well as $31 million in costs related to new schools built in 2000, are not included in the budget.
McMenimen said she had hoped for an explanation on the issue from the School Committee but had had not yet received one.
“That’s a lot of money, but it is not reflected in that budget. So, as far as I am concerned, the budget process is broken,” McMenimen said.
With the budget approval, but with a cut, the School Committee must figure out how to implement the cut, which it could discuss during it’s Wednesday, June 6 meeting at Waltham High School. City Councilor Daniel Romard said he hopes the cut does not impact students.
“I really, really hope they look at it hard and not in the classrooms,” Romard said.
Also, the council approved several other relatively minor cuts totaling $334,330, before giving final approval.
EDITOR'S NOTE: A previous version of this story incorrectely reported the the budget totals for the entire city budget. It has been corrected.
Tim Hill
9:26 am on Thursday, May 31, 2012
Ryan,
Regarding the issue of health care and pension, I always assumed that these costs were included in the "Contributory & Non-Cont Retirement" and "Hospital & Medical Insurance & OME" line items on the city budget which fall under the "Auditor" department. Together they account for about 24% of the entire city budget (in 2012). Is it your sense that Counselor McMenimen is saying that the school's health and insurance are not included in this number, or that she believes the cost should fall under the "Schools" category?
Ryan Grannan-Doll
12:13 pm on Thursday, May 31, 2012
Good question. I will attempt to answer, but bear in my mind, reporting budgets can be a tall task.
Kathy was very clear that she believes the aforementioned costs were not reflected in the school district's budget. From my viewing of her words, it's not clear to me whether they are included in the overall city budget (which encompasses the school budget), however, I think your interpretation makes sense.
David King
7:30 pm on Saturday, June 2, 2012
Budget wise, the School Health Care costs are in the auditor's budget because the auditor pays the bills. The budget isn't a financial report, it's an allocation of funds to who pays them out. If you want a financial report that includes the full cost of the schools, go to the Mass Dept of Educations web site.