News

Residents urge more money for Beverly schools

By Paul Leighton
Staff writer
Published: June 24, 2008

BEVERLY — Residents pleaded with city councilors last night to help a school system that closed an elementary school last week but could face even more cuts before the summer is over.

In the last public hearing before next year's budget becomes final, 12 out of 16 speakers urged the City Council to approve the transfer of $680,000 to the schools. If the council does not approve the money, the city faces the prospect of cutting programs or even closing another school.

"This has been totally chaotic, and we're all feeling it," Butman Street resident Andrea Freedman said. "This just cannot happen again."

The City Council will not make its decision until Thursday, when it approves the budget for the new fiscal year that starts July 1. Councilors did not speak about the issue last night, preferring to let the public have its say.

But some councilors have said they're worried about giving the schools the extra $680,000 this year to keep the five remaining elementary schools open, only to have to close a school next year and force students to switch schools two years in a row.

East Lothrop Street resident William Kyrouz said the city should approve the money and give itself another year to work on its budget problems, with the help of the many residents who have organized around the issue leading up to last month's Proposition 21/2 override election.

"As someone who bought a house here a year ago, this has been a very bitter bill to swallow," Kyrouz said of the school budget crisis. "I urge you to vote for the school budget as passed by the School Committee (which included the $680,000) to avoid something even worse."

But the leader of the anti-override group Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility, Elliott Margolis, said the June 3 election, in which voters overwhelmingly rejected a $2.5 million override for the schools, sent a message that officials need to manage with the money they have.

"Remember," Margolis told councilors, "Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility will be watching."

Residents also spoke at a separate public hearing about the $100-per-year fee to have their trash collected. Mayor Bill Scanlon has said the extra $680,000 is available for the schools in part because the city has collected more than anticipated in the trash fee. Some residents, including Margolis, urged the council to eliminate or reduce the fee.

"If you have enough money in the budget for the schools, use it, but you cannot and should not use the trash fee money," Margolis said. "You should return it to the public in the form of a reduced trash fee."

But others urged the council to keep the trash fee. Karen Gallagher said she was opposed to the fee when it was first established, but now believes the city needs the money.

"Beverly cannot afford to cut anything else," she said. "It all comes down to this question — more bucks or more services?"