PEABODY — For the first time in recent memory, the School Department is expected to close this fiscal year in the red.
Business Manager Dave Keniston estimates a budget shortfall of $202,000 for the fiscal year, which ended June 30. The final number could fluctuate because not all the accounts have been closed.
"It's the first time I've seen it happen," said Beverley Anne Griffin Dunne, who has been on the School Committee for eight years.
Keniston also said he has "never had this problem before" and had no immediate answer on how the district would resolve the issue. The two most likely options would be to ask the City Council to pass a supplemental appropriation to cover the balance, or simply to find the money somewhere in the current year's budget.
Mayor Michael Bonfanti is squarely in the latter camp.
"I don't usually do supplemental budgets," he said yesterday in an interview. "When (the superintendent) comes to me and presents it, my first comment will be, 'Look in the operations budget and see what you can do.'"
Interim Superintendent Herb Levine, who began work July 18, seemed unaware of the expected shortfall when it was brought up yesterday.
"We're still working on closing out the fiscal year. By law, we have to be at zero," Levine said. "Hopefully, (the balance) won't have to come out of this year's budget."
The expected shortfall stems from several unexpected expenses and revenue losses.
One problem was a $230,000 shortfall in the transportation budget, after a drop of 42 percent in the number of full-paying bus passengers last year. The falloff was largely an economic response after the School Committee raised bus fees from $100 to $300 before the start of the last school year.
In addition, a mercury spill from a broken barometer in the high school cost $52,000 in cleanup; a boiler broke at Higgins Middle School, prompting a $34,000 fix; and there were increases in the cost of oil and electricity, Keniston said.
Further, the city spent more than $100,000 on overtime and contractors to clear rooftops after a series of devastating storms dumped piles of snow last winter. The city had hoped for federal funds to help carry the load, but the government kicked in only $3,000, Keniston said.
"It's really very frustrating because our budget is so tight, so to-the-penny, that when you have an extra expense like that, there's no room," Dunne said. "People say we're not budgeting correctly, but neither was anyone else. We don't have the luxury of reserve funds."
Peabody schools weren't alone in facing extraordinary snow-removal costs. Hamilton-Wenham Regional School District closed for a week over the winter when the building inspector deemed the schools unsafe because of the huge piles of snow. The school district spent $200,000 more than expected on snow removal but was able to come in on budget this year after receiving $50,000 in insurance compensation and by using $150,000 from a reserve fund, Interim Superintendent Peter Gray said.
"Because we're a regional school district, we are able to retain money each year that we don't use," Gray said yesterday. "That is set aside for emergencies."
The city of Peabody also dipped into reserve funds to cover costs of removing all that snow. Snow removal cost the city about $1.1 million last winter, or about $441,000 more than what was budgeted. Dunne thinks the city should have dipped into reserves to help the schools.
"I am very disappointed in the mayor," Dunne said. "He is chair of the School Committee, and he knows how difficult this is. I think he should have stepped up."
Bonfanti said comparing the city and schools is like comparing "apples and grapes," and left it at that, saying he didn't want to get into a verbal sparring match with the School Committee.
The mayor did make it clear that he expects the shortfall to be made up in the current budget. He also downplayed the severity of the problem.
"Our budget is $80 million, and when all is said and done, when you have plus-or-minus a couple hundred thousand dollars, that's very minor," he said. "If I have $100, we're talking about what? Two cents?"
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