UPDATE: 02.10.10 – 6:39pm – We heard today that the reduction being sought may have been changed from $700,000 to only $240,000. We are seeking confirmation on that.

The Warrant for the Special Town Meeting to take place on February 22nd arrived in the mail last Friday and the budget recommended by the Warrant Committee is $700,000 below the FY10 budget voted by Town Meeting in May 2009. The Warrant Committee seeks a $700k reduction for two reasons:

• They anticipate a $240,000 cut in FY10 state aid (This is currently pending legislative approval which is likely)
• They believe there will be additional cuts in state aid going forward and believe it prudent to transfer $460,000 from departmental appropriations to the reserve fund. They recommend this course because, “budget cuts become much more difficult and have a much more profound impact on services the later that they occur in the year. It makes more sense to reduce spending now when those spending cuts can be spread over a longer period of time.”

The reduction to each department is in proportion to their percentage of the overall budget. Hence, the School department will incur the highest reduction of $440,528 from their current appropriation of $32,976,036, as theirs is the  largest department budget. That amount is approximately 62% of the overall $700K reduction. Under this recommendation the appropriation for the Police Department will be reduced $78,070, the Fire Department by $59,875 and Public Works by $54,968.

At the 1/26 meeting of the School Committee Superintendent Gormley reviewed reviewed the staff cuts that level funding would impose. (You can find a post about that meeting here.) Level funding assumed a budget of $32.9 million. The budget the Warrant Committee is recommending $32,535,508. The schools will need to reduce the budget plan presented on 1/26 by another $440,528.

The School Committee next meets on 2/9.

There are three other articles in the warrant: the Temple Shalom zoning overlay article, an article on blasting permits and an article to fund the wind turbine. Milton residents should have received a copy of the warrant in the mail. You can find the full text of the warrant online here.