Town Boards Begin Discussion of Budget

Carol_Savage-5

Tonight, Thursday, 1/23, 6:30-7:30 PM the School Committee will be holding a public hearing: Public Hearing: Budget-Revised at the Winchester High School - Room LG1 (B118). It should also be broadcast on WinCAM: https://wincam.org/schedule/education/ (There is a zoom link on the town calendar, but it looks like the zoom link may only for in case of inclement weather?) Town Calendar Link: https://winchester.us/Calendar.aspx?EID=11295
The Livestream of this hearing should be at this link: Click on the Education Live Stream: https://wincam.org/watch/

Rich_Rohan-2

"The School Committee has approved the $70 million fiscal year 2026 preliminary level services budget, but made clear there is still much work to be done."

https://www.winchester.us/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/4957?fileID=14767

William_Band-5

How should the Town grapple with an estimated $3.5 million deficit for the next fiscal year, and beyond? On February 10, the Select Board received another look at the Town Manager's FY26 budget. Numbers are still preliminary,
The Select Board plans to reconvene the State of the Town Committee after the FY26 budget process ends to talk about a potential budget override. Is this the best way to proceed?

Source: Daily Times Chronicle
https://homenewshere.com/daily_times_chronicle/news/winchester/article_151facd4-e8a2-11ef-aee0-b7e1a204b28c.html

Rich_Rohan-2

The Town Manager's budget is set to be released tomorrow (Friday) so stay tuned.

Jack_LeMenager-6

The Finance Committee received the FY26 budget from the Town Manager and Select Board on Feb. 14. They will begin their arduous work on Thursday, Feb. 20 at 7:30 PM in the Waterfield Room.

Rich_Rohan-2

The Town Manager's FY2026 budget including a section on Education is now available online at : https://www.winchester.us/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/260

Carol_Savage-5

I would encourage Town Meeting Members to watch the Select Board's 2/10/25 meeting presentation and discussion of the Town Manager's budget and thoughts on the projected deficit (see Link below), beginning at 1:51 and ending at 1:49. The Town Manager's budget shows a FY26 deficit of $3,583,771, and the three year projection also showed the operating budget deficit growth by FY28 to a range of $6.4M (Best case) - $13.7M (Conservative)

The two big drivers of the FY26 budget are:

an unexpected increase of 18.92% for health insurance costs for active employees, and
a 5.83% increase in the school budget (School Committee refers to this request as a "Preliminary Level Services Budget," which does not include literacy curriculum or other incremental $ which may be part of the SC's final budget request submitted after conducting additional public outreach ahead of a vote on a School Committee “FY26 Recommended Budget” on March 13th)

As has also been mentioned, these figures are preliminary and may change between now and Town Meeting as state revenue and other data is updated and staff tries to reduce health insurance expense.
This budget is now submitted to the Finance Committee, which will analyze it and bring a recommended budget to Town Meeting.

Click here to watch the video, which should start at 1:51: [https://youtu.be/u5gnx-_sIsk?si=kiHeielRessQtCXQ&t=6683]
Note: You can watch the meeting at a faster speed by clicking on the "Gear" symbol at the bottom of the YouTube video and adjust the playback speed.

Carol_Savage-5

School Committee Budget Development timeline (Per the 2/13/25 School Committee meeting:)
Remaining meetings:

Tentative
WPS Budget Subcommittee meetings:

Wed, Feb 26 at 3:30 pm
Wed, March 5 at 3:30 pm
Wed, March 12 at 3:30 pm

Other SC budget meetings:

2/13 - School Committee Meeting FY26 Budget Progress Update
2/27 - School Committee Presentation of FY26 Budget Book (invitation to Town Finance Committee to attend)
3/13 - School Committee votes to approve School Committee Recommended FY26 Budget

Rich_Rohan-2

Upcoming Finance Committee Meetings

Tonight (2/20/2025) in Waterfield Room
https://winchester.us/Calendar.aspx?EID=11376

Tuesday (2/25/2025)
Town Manager presentation of budget to Finance Committee.

Rich_Rohan-2

The Town Manager's Fiscal Plan for fiscal year 2016 can be found on the Town's website at https://www.winchester.us/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/260

Carol_Savage-5

This year’s plan by the School Committee to create two separate budget requests on two different timelines for FY26 is not standard practice. For anyone new to Town Meeting, the budget planning process for the town of Winchester is outlined in the Town Charter - which explains how the School Committee holds a public hearing on its budget and submits it to the Town Manager, who then prepares and submits a town-wide budget to the Finance Committee. The full process is spelled out at this link to the Town Charter:
[https://ecode360.com/42156800]

Town Finance Committees are guided by state law, and are appointed volunteers who provide financial advice to Town Meeting. The Finance committee reviews the Town Manager’s budget and prepares a recommended budget for Town Meeting’s consideration. Each step of the Charter’s budget process has a purpose.

Below is an extract of the Finance Committee section of the process:.

(a) Public Hearing. The finance committee shall, forthwith upon receipt of the proposed budget, provide for the publication in a local newspaper of a notice stating the date, time and place, not less than five nor more than fourteen days following such publication, when a public hearing shall be held by the finance committee on the proposed budget.

(b) Finance Committee Meetings. The finance committee shall consider in public meetings the detailed expenditures for each town agency proposed by the town manager, and may confer with representatives of any such agency in connection with such considerations. The finance committee may require the town manager or any other town agency to provide such additional information as it deems necessary or desirable in furtherance of its responsibility.

(c) Presentation to the Town Meeting. The finance committee shall file a report of its recommendations with the town clerk in sufficient time to be distributed to each town meeting member at least seven days before the action on the budget article is to begin. The budget to be acted upon by the town meeting shall be the budget as proposed by the finance committee.

Brian_Vernaglia-4

Carol_Savage-5

This is more them putting into words what had been standard practice for as long as they have been submitting budgets. As you well know, knowledge about what would be needed in Sep was never accurate enough in Jan and significant revisions to the budget after submission have happened every single year as far back as I can remember. Kudos to them for laying out a process to get input, review, and revise the budget.

Carol_Savage-5

Brian_Vernaglia-4 Of course, there have always been assumptions made in the school budget submission because some key drivers are still estimates in Jan/Feb for external variables (like enrollment, state aid and Special Ed tuitions, etc), but reasonable estimates for those things are typically made and asterisked and then adjustments to those assumptions tweaked as more data becomes available -- but that's not the same as creating a second budget on a later timeline that may include incremental program proposals. Maybe I misunderstood and this second revised SC budget will include only tweaks to external budget drivers, but I'm not getting that sense? I am a longtime advocate for public education who has never not supported an education override and I do certainly appreciate the planning challenges. However, we all benefit from mutual collaboration & open/respectful communication that engenders trust across SB/Town Manager, SC & Fin Com. Our charter process is designed to encourage that, so that a vetted budget comes to Town Meeting. Most towns that I'm aware of follow such a process and start their school budget planning in the summer and submit final number forward in February, which then comes by way of their Finance Committees to Spring Town Meeting, subject to tweaks in state aid, etc. Like many towns, Winchester has serious fiscal issues on the horizon in both the municipal and education departments, and town leaders are already discussing that an override will be needed sometime soon, so respectful collaboration will be key for all town boards and committees this year and next, so there is broad agreement on what is put forward.

Brian_Vernaglia-4

Carol_Savage-5

I'm thrilled that what you describe seems to be what is taking place, notably "Mutual collaboration & open/respectful communication that engenders trust across SB/Town Manager, SC & Fin Com." The SC have held weekly budget subcommittee meetings (there is another one tomorrow I think) open to the public and updated the full committee every other week. The SB has discussed the budget numerous times in open session. There have been joint meetings with FC, SC, SB, TM, and CPC representatives. I suspect that the FC school budget "working group" has been meeting too. I believe this is what good governance looks like!

Carol_Savage-5

Is there a School Committee meeting this Thursday night? I believe they revised their target date to vote their Recommended budget from March 13th to the 20th, but I don't see it posted yet?

Maura_Sullivan-1

Carol_Savage-5 Yes 4:15 pm on Thursday: https://www.winchester.us/Calendar.aspx?EID=11475&month=3&year=2025&day=20&calType=0.

Maura_Sullivan-1

I feel like there has been increased communication about the school budget this year with many opportunities to learn about what the school team is thinking as they go through the process. From the budget summit and public hearing in January, to the voted budget in February, to the transmittal of the budget by the Town Manager to the Finance Committee, to the continuing discussions at the SC table (both before the full committee as well as the school committee budget subcommittee), I feel like I am informed.

Now the school budget is with the Finance Committee who will review it, including any updates that may come this month. The fact that the School Committee has provided for a more formal update in March this year does not seem like it should be a problem as it will provide the Finance Committee with more accurate information based on changes that naturally occur over the course of the school year (e.g., retirements, contract changes, etc.).

Carol_Savage-5

Maura_Sullivan-1 Thanks, I saw it was posted this morning.

Maura_Sullivan-1

Dr. Hackett just noted this link during the school committee budget subcommittee meeting: https://www.winchesterps.org/operations. Lots of information.

Rich_Rohan-2

School Committee to meet this afternoon remotely (4:15) to consider additional request of ~$1.3M a portion of which is designated for piloting studies of literacy programs.