Proposed cut to Lakeville school budget rejected

LAKEVILLE -- A proposal to reduce Lakeville’s financial contribution to the Freetown-Lakeville school district by more than a million dollars failed at the May 5 Select Board meeting but prompted some discussion about how schools are funded.

Select Board member Christopher Plonka proposed that the town’s contribution to the schools, now scheduled at nearly $20 million, be reduced by $1.3 million. He said that Lakeville’s portion of the current school budget increased by about 10 percent from the previous year.

Reducing the funding would lower the added funding to three percent, which he said was more in line with previous increases in the 2 to 5 percent range.

The money  the town would save could then bolster the municipal budget, he said.

Select Board member Lia Fabian said she didn’t agree with the amount of Plonka’s  proposed cut but she questioned why the district could not provide more of its own funding.

She said that the district could use money received through school choice payments and circuit breaker funds, which are provided by the state to offset special education costs.

“I’d like to see more of the district’s money being used instead of always coming to the town,’’ she said. The town, she noted, does not have “boatloads of money.’’

But other board members questioned whether the budget could be changed at this date and noted that the override vote had been proposed as fully funding the schools’ budget request and allowing the town to keep its current level of service.

Potentially changing this, Select Board member Paul Hunt said, could defeat the override. Voters will go the polls May 19 to decide whether to approve an override of Proposition 2 1/2, which  sets a ceiling for the total annual revenue raised from property taxes. Towns can’t raise taxes more than 2.5% over the previous year’s limit — which includes tax revenues from new developments — without approval from voters.

In the end, Plonka’s suggestion did not receive a second and so was not brought before the board for a vote.

Following the discussion, the board approved a municipal budget of $38 million budget . This figure will be next year’s town budget if voters reject an override at the May 19 special election.

The budget that will be in place if an override is passed is set to be finalized next week.

 A firefighter position and some road work are back in the Lakeville budget thanks to further financial cuts and added state aid.

An additional $88,000 in state aid and further financial trims allowed the select board to bring the firefighter position back into the budget at a cost of $71,000, Town Administrator Andrew Sukeforth said.

Other items returned to the budget included a half-year patrol officer salary at $31,000, 20 on call firefighter positions at $59,500 and active shooter training for the police department at $10,000.

Those moves reflected the board’s decision to prioritize public safety when adding items back to the budget.

The two boards also agreed to return $35,000 to the budget for roadway work and $9,000 for catch basin cleaning.

The two items work together, Finance Committee member Barbara Mancovsky said. Keeping catch basins clean helps reduce roadway damage, she said. “We’ve had a lot of flooding and I see a lot of flooded roads and that concerns me.’’

Mancovsky said she would like the town and schools to work together to survive the budget challenge.

“This isn’t us vs. them, this is us and us,’’ she said. “We’re a family.’’