The School Committee is anticipating a 4 percent increase next year.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Rising costs from utility rates and contractual obligations for annual teacher raises will necessitate either a significant budget increase or cuts to educational services in the coming fiscal year.

 

Due to these factors, simply maintaining a level service budget would require an increase more than twice that of last year's increase, Assistant Superintendent for Business and Finance Kristin Behnke informed the School Committee on Wednesday.

 

On top of expenses budgeted last year, Behnke said the district anticipates entering the next school year with a $1.4 million hike in payroll from negotiated collective bargaining with local teachers unions.

 

"As a district, it's one of the challenges that we face every year," Behnke said of the pay increases, which have occurred at a rate of 2-3 percent annually for the past several years. "Starting with a 2.48 percent increase [this year] out of the gate just with the contractual obligations is a real difficulty for us as a school system."

 

Additionally, rate hikes in electricity and natural gas are expected to cost the district over half a million dollars more next year, according to current estimates.  

 

The district will also need to come up with another $370,000 to begin paying off a new fleet of buses purchased earlier this year, bringing the total increase from both utilities and buses to $925,000.

 

Last year's school department budget saw an increase of 1.78 percent, or about one million dollars. Given the additional costs from just these three factors alone, the district would require a 4.11 percent budget increase just to provide the same school system services as last year.

 

The district would then need to put forward a proposed budget of $58,849,399 to the City Council in order to avoid cuts to programs or staffing, an increase of $2.32 million over last year's city appropriation.

 

"That is a level service budget," Behnke said. "If you're going to take what we have today and you're going to pay for it again next year, that would be the budget."

 

Some adjustments to those figures will be made, after collective bargaining negotiations are completed, and various grant awards are confirmed and factored in.  Estimates of utility costs are also likely to see some fluctuation in the coming months.

 

"I just want to bring this to your attention now, as we begin the budget process," Behnke told the committee.

 

The process of budget consideration has begun earlier than usual this year, as the district continues to adapt to new stipulations in the city's revised charter requiring that the School Committee agree upon a proposed budget to put forth to the council by May 1 for the following fiscal year.

 

Superintendent Jason McCandless said he anticipates beginning the process of conferring with Mayor Daniel Bianchi on the budget early in January.  

 

For the first time, however, Pittsfield's mayor may no longer be the final word on how high the school budget can go, following the recent adoption of an obscure piece of 1980s state legislation that would allow the mayor's budget figure to be overrided, provided a majority of the School Committee and supermajority of the City Council vote in favor of raising it.