Moderator: Some Think RTM May Reject Ed Budget

Some members of the Representative Town Meeting think the RTM may reject the education budget, Moderator Karen Armour said, so the RTM will vote on education, capital and town operations budgets separately in May.

"I have been led to believe that there is a possibility of a majority of people [on the RTM] voting against the education budget," Armour said Tuesday.

The RTM hasn't voted separately on budgets for about a decade, Armour said, because it didn't seem worthwhile when it always passed the budgets with wide margins.

Armour said several people—including some RTM members—told her there could well be a majority in opposition to the education budget, which the Board of Education decided to increase by 5.26 percent for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

Known unknowns

It's too early in the process to say for certain whether or not there's a majority on the RTM that actually opposes the budget now, Armour said, since the budget the RTM will receive from the Board of Finance hasn't been formed yet.

The Board of Finance takes up the education, town and capital projects budgets in mid-March before passing its versions of those budgets and passing them on to the RTM.

"Until that's done, I wouldn't expect people [on the RTM] to have firmly made up their minds," she said.

Straws in the wind

Bruce Orr, chairman of the RTM Finance and Budget Committee, told the Board of Education at a recent meeting that his panel was expecting a budget increase of roughly 3 percent. The board later voted on an increase of 5.26 percent.

The teacher's contract passed the RTM with a wide margin at its last meeting, but there was more opposition to it than usual, Armour said. "There were some people who were very unhappy."

"I have no idea who or how many or if, in fact, that would materialize," she said. Nevertheless, she added, "The tide has turned a bit in the last couple of years."

To be prepared

The RTM Rules Committee, which Armour chairs, has decided to split up the votes on the budget, scheduled for the legislative body's meeting on May 14.

Armour said she's asking Town Attorney Wayne Fox to make sure what the town would be required or allowed to do if the education budget is rejected. The Board of Education may be able to propose another budget, she said, and then the Board of Finance and RTM might pass it before the state's July 1 deadline for town budgets.

If no budget is passed, the budget of the previous year remains in effect, and the tax rate is set on that basis, Armour said. She wants to find out from Fox what that might mean for labor union contracts, contracts to buy heating oil and other town obligations, she said.

"We can't predict the future," she said. "I'm just trying to be prepared."