MU School Committee Vote to Refrain from Joint Town Meeting

During the Mendon Upton Regional School Committee meeting tonight members voted to refrain from taking the school budget to a Joint Town Meeting should either town reject an override.

The Mendon Upton School District is looking at a possible 7 percent increase for the Fy15/16 school year. The two towns will likely have to seek an override to accommodate the $32 million budget proposal.

The district is facing an increase of approximately one million dollars from COLA, electricity, and transportation alone while at the same time losing regional transportation reimbursement funds from the State.

The district is also working hard to make up for huge cuts made to it’s staff several years ago and meeting the needs of their five year strategic plan.

Dr. Joseph Maruszczak wanted to make sure all members knew exactly why the Towns may have to face a Joint Town Meeting and went over the related statute.

According to Maruszczak if one town passed a school budget override and the other did not the School Committee would review and re-certify the budget then bring it back to the Towns. If  one of the two Towns did not agree with the re-certified budget the budget would then be presented for a vote at a Joint Town Meeting. The budget would either be approved or rejected by the majority of registered voters in attendance.  If the budget is approved at a Joint Town Meeting the town which did not pass the override could face financial hardship as they may not have the funds required to support the school budget and may be forced to make cuts in essential town departments.

Mendon Upton Superintendent Dr. Joseph Maruszczak said, “We are not in competition with Town resources, we are in this together, we are a partnership….I want to continue building bridges and having positive relationships with both towns and working together to solve issues.”

Maruszczak thought each member should state where they stood on the issue of a Joint Town Meeting.

Member Phil DeZutter said, “Nobody is trying to create a situation where one town or another has to destroy it’s own structure…I think the point is everybody is committed to collaborating. The question is what’s that process for resolution. How do we bring the two Towns together to make a decision.”

“I think we have been working in that direction. My own personal feeling is a Joint Meeting isn’t a solution,” said member Diane Duncan.

Member Chris Russo said, “If the override passes we don’t have to have this conversation. If it doesn’t pass it’s either the town service of one of the two Towns are going to get blown up or the school department is going to get decimated. There is no good answer.”

Mendon Selectman Richard Schofield said, “I think an override has a better chance to pass if the drama of a Joint Town Meeting is taken off the table.”

The Committee Chair called for a motion for a resolution for the Committee to refrain from taking the budget to a Joint Meeting.

Jay Byer than commented, “This is probably not my place to say so but you’re already making decisions on a budget when three of you may or may not be here. Your responsibilities now are as members of the school board.”

Russo said he wasn’t comfortable making this decision, “We still haven’t talked with people.”  DeZutter said, “We just can’t pull it off the table…I agree with you that a Joint Town Meeting doesn’t benefit anybody but you just can’t pull it off the table without an alternative proposal.”

“Why do we have to do it now. The Governors Budget isn’t even released yet…I’m not for a Joint Town Meeting, I know it’s detrimental. I just think it’s kind of early,” said Russo.

A vote was called.

Four members voted in favor of refraining from going forward with a Joint Town Meeting while members Russo and DeZutter abstained from the vote.