New access road rekindles school budget questions in Barrington
Resident asks why district planned budget cuts, but could easily afford new bus access road
A longtime Barrington resident who paid closed attention to the town's budget discussions this past spring, said he was very surprised when he saw construction crews recently break ground on the new bus access road at the high school.
The resident — he asked that his name not be used because he has a family member who is employed by the town — questioned how school officials could threaten to eliminate $30,000 for middle school sports after appropriations committee members decided not to recommend a $1.2 million increase in May, but then find more than $120,000 for the new access road just a few months later.
"They said they were going to have to cut all these programs," the resident said of school committee members.
School officials said there is an easy explanation — money for the bus and emergency vehicle access road was allocated from the school department's capital reserve account, while money for middle school sports and other academic programs (earlier identified for potential elimination) was part of the district's annual operating budget.
In the past, some taxpayers have questioned why money from the district's capital reserve account — often funded with surplus money from prior operating budgets — could not be used to pay for expenses in current operating budgets.
Barrington Superintendent of Schools Michael Messore offered a two-word answer: Structural deficits.
He said it was not a good budgeting decision to pay for a reoccurring expense, such as teachers' salaries and benefits, with money that may not be available from one year to the next. Doing so, he said, creates a structural deficit in future years' budgets.
Instead, the school department uses money from the capital reserve account to pay for one-time expenditures. In the past, officials have used capital reserve account money for school playground improvements, new parking lots and the removal of asbestos floor tiles from local elementary schools.
According to school committee meeting minutes, the new bus and emergency vehicle access road was on the list of health and safety projects since 2011, and will be eligible for housing aid reimbursement from the state.
The municipal government put the bus access road job out to bid as part of a larger road paving project. J.H. Lynch submitted the winning bid — the company is repaving 19 roads in town for a cost of $1.516 million; included in the overall price is $121,878.50 for the bus access road.
The school department will reimburse the town for that cost.
