ORANGE — Teachers and parents gathered in Town Hall this week to show their support for the schools, as funding for education became the hot topic at the Finance Committee’s Fiscal Year 2019 budget meeting.
At the meeting, community members expressed their concerns about a proposed classroom consolidation that would reduce a section in each grade-level from kindergarten to second grade at Fisher Hill.
Superintendent Tari Thomas said that could possibly increase class sizes to 21 to 25 students, up from 18 to 23, in each classroom.
Due to a large increase in health insurance, transportation costs, special education needs and more, Orange Elementary proposed a 6.75 increase from the town for next year. According to Thomas, the committee proposed a 24 percent increase for special education needs in the budget.
“We have some really complex special education needs,” she said.
Robert Stack, chairman of the Finance Committee, said after a rough estimate of the town’s budget, Orange will allocate about 57 to 58 percent of the total budget for education.
“We have to develop a budget that will provide services to the community, maintain stability and the town workforce, provide a sense of fiscal responsibility and stability to town government, while also providing funds for education,” he said.
Though the Mahar Regional School Committee has not set its final budget for next year, Thomas presented preliminary numbers to the Finance Committee. She said the committee’s assessment for Mahar’s budget proposes an 8.33 percent increase from the town — a total of $350,689.
According to Stack, the town’s new growth for Fiscal Year 2019 is projected at $67,000. He said Orange does not anticipate an increase in new development and business growth in 2019, but urges against increasing taxes, stating the community cannot afford it.
“We have to do this considering our taxpayers. We have to do this without overwhelming those we serve,” said Stack.
To increase revenues for the schools’ budget, Karen Perkins of Orange suggested to the committee the possibility of charging students for sports programs at Mahar or charging for preschool at Fisher Hill. She said it would not solve the problem, but it would be something.
“I just wanted to say, as a parent there are options. I would urge you guys to make this budget happen,” she said. “These are the kids that are going to grow up and they are going to take this town over — this is where they learn.”
During the highway, parks and cemeteries departments presentation to the committee, Colin Killay, superintendent of the three departments, said the parks in Orange need serious work to bring the areas up to where they previously were. Despite a $10,000 donation from the upcoming Hulu show “Castle Rock,” for the purpose of renovating Riverfront Park and Memorial Park, the department needs another $10,000 to $12,000 to finish the project.
Kenneth Wysk, superintendent of the Water Department told the committee there would only be a couple changes in the budget from last year’s requests, including wages and salaries. Wysk also said the age of the current underground piping in the town is an issue and is required by the state to be replaced. But, he said, the state is not giving the town a time frame of when to have the project completed.
“It is a general rule of thumb for me to be anticipating a million dollars a mile for water pipe replacement,” said Wysk. “Looking at the 36 miles of piping that we have, roughly 20 miles of it is in need of replacement.”
Stack asked for the Water Department to share documentation from the state requiring the replacement and outlining the standards.
Jessica Magelaner, director of the Wheeler Memorial Library, also attended the meeting to present the library’s budget. A discussion on library funding mentioned Gov. Charlie Baker’s proposed budget cuts to state libraries. Stack said for Orange, the change would be minimum — around a few hundred dollars.
The budgets proposed to the Finance Committee are subject to change for each department, said Stack.
“With the numbers floating out there right now, we are going to have a tough time,” he said. “We are trying to find the balance on this budget, basically trying to stretch the dollar … hoping it doesn’t rip in two. Unfortunately, we are at the point where it is starting to tear, and we need to be prepared for that.”
The Finance Committee plans to finalize the town’s budget by the annual meeting on June 18.