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3-01-2023 8:55pm
Proposed Westwood FY24 Overall Budget Summary is Online; Public Input Opportunities in March
Darlene Cancell
Editor
The Town of Westwood has announced that a Proposed FY24 Overall Budget Summary, which recommends increases of 4.2 percent related to municipal services and 4.5 percent for school services, is available online for viewing. The budget will be supported in large part by taxes, as is typical for many towns like Westwood. Taxes make up 81 percent of Westwood's revenue.
While it seems likely that all town departments are dealing with challenges of inflation and rising heating costs this year, the School Department has faced an especially challenging budget process.
Westwood Teachers Association (WTA) rejected a January contract offer by the School Committee, in part based on what it viewed as inadequate salary increases. School Committee extended a new offer in February to WTA. However, that offer increases teacher salaries at the expense of teacher jobs, cutting a number of them. The situation has given rise to high emotions among WTA members, who feel unfairly treated, underappreciated, and undervalued.
At School Committee’s meeting of February 9, 2023, teachers were described as “the foundational part of what makes this town so great” and resident Catherine Starsiak who is also a Westwood Public Schools teacher, urged the School Committee to "make the hard ask" for teachers' just compensation without the need for cutting staff.
School Committee and Superintendent Emily Parks have wrestled with a way to meet teacher requests for salary increases in a department budget facing constraints. The School Department’s budget is presented in cohesion with budget requests from all other town departments. The proposed FY 2024 budget represents a document prepared with the input and coordination of town department staff, Select Board, and the Finance and Warrant Commission (FinCom). Preparers of the proposed overall town budget may seek to stay overall within the bounds of Proposition 2 ½.
Passed in November 1980, Proposition 2 ½ limits the taxing capacity of a town to a 2.5 percent increase of the prior year’s levy limit. While an override or debt exclusion could allow for obtaining funds beyond the Proposition 2 ½ limit, residents recently approved a debt exclusion for constructing the new Hanlon-Deerfield School. The school debt service will begin in FY 2024, following the end of the town's payments on a 20-year bond for Westwood High School. It seems unlikely that residents will support a another override or debt exemption right now.
Committee member Maya Plotkin stated, “We know how much these teachers are worth, and in a real world, in a world that we all want to live in, we want to give them as much as we can. But we also have this bucket of money, and we need to make both things true, and this is the only way we can do that. And none of us are happy sitting up here.”
However, in a recent press release on February 23rd, Governor Maura Healey and Lieutenant Governor Kimberley Driscoll announced a proposed state budget that includes "historic investments in local aid, including fully funding the Student Opportunity Act." The administration's budget would provide relief for the unexpected 14 percent increase of out-of-district special education costs, which Superintendent Parks has cited as having a major impact on Westwood Public Schools. The proposed Healey-Driscoll budget would also support mental health services, transportation, and students who are low-income and English language learners.
If the proposed Healey-Driscoll budget is adopted, its investment could result in freeing up School Department and town resources, making it possible to reallocate additional funding to teacher salaries and positions and/or other areas.
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On Thursday, March 9, 2023, residents can comment on the School Department’s proposed budget at School Committee's in-person public hearing at 7:00 p.m. at the Westwood High School Little Theater.
Another opportunity to comment on the overall proposed budget comes on Tuesday, March 28, 2023 at 7:00 p.m. That's when the Finance and Warrant Commission (FinCom) holds a public hearing at Westwood's Main Library.
FinCom's earlier public hearing on March 1, 2023 covered proposed changes to Westwood's bylaws, which may also appear before voters at the upcoming Town Meeting.
Following the March 28th hearing, FinCom will issue final recommendations on the issues. Westwood residents will receive the book of warrant articles, with FinCom's recommendations, in advance of casting their votes at the annual Town Meeting.
Monday, May 1, 2023 is Westwood's annual Town Meeting. At that time, residents can vote to approve or reject the proposed articles, which may include both bylaw changes and finance/budget issues.
