MONTAGUE — Gill-Montague Regional School District’s $1.3 million projected budget shortfall for fiscal year 2026 has been mitigated, and a revised preliminary budget was unanimously approved by the School Committee Tuesday night.

A combination of new information on state aid and local contributions helped Director of Business and Operations Joanne Blier refine the budget to mitigate the anticipated deficit, however, a request for new staff positions was removed and two to three personnel may potentially be cut.

“We tried to look at revenues first, and then we went to expenses. So there were some new positions that were requested that we did not add to the budget. Then we looked at some transportation costs, some tuition costs, insurance, some bigger numbers to see where we could pick a little bit,” Blier said about the FY26 preliminary budget revisions.

Blier told the School Committee that the general fund budget was balanced at nearly $24.92 million, compared to the $26.47 million that was presented earlier in January. However, Blier noted that despite not looking at staff cuts to balance the budget, two to three reductions are in the cards with this revised preliminary budget. It is currently unclear which positions those reductions will impact.

Gill Elementary School Librarian Ramona LaTronica spoke during public comment to urge the School Committee to not cut teaching positions as the budget is built.

“I believe that as the budget is discussed, we should be fighting for a budget our students deserve,” LaTronica said. “We should not be looking for what we can cut, as cutting positions will not help our students.”

The other cut made to the budget was the request for eight new staff positions, which was estimated to cost $540,000. This, on top of the reduction of existing staff equating to $200,000, means the instructional budget line for FY26 was reduced by 6% from $14.1 million to $13.3 million, and the community budget line that contained one of the new positions was reduced by 48% from $52,529 to $27,529.

Other expenses in the budget were minimally decreased, with an overall all funds budget decrease of 4% from the original proposal of $29.97 million to $28.9 million.

The revenue portion of the budget was reworked to include the minimal Chapter 70 state school aid increase of only $68,700, due to a 22-student foundation enrollment decline from 938 students to 916, equating to $75 in aid per student. However, state rural aid increased for Gill-Montague and increased town assessments helped bring in more revenue, Blier said.

Another revenue increase built into the budget came from the use of $500,000 in excess and deficiency money. Excess and deficiency is the balance, whether positive or negative, left in a district’s general fund at the end of a fiscal year. Additionally, another $200,000 from a regional transportation reimbursement fund will be reallocated, provided that there is a surplus in this line item at the end of FY25.

Gill increased assessment

One of the biggest revelations of the revised FY26 budget was a hefty increase to Gill’s town assessment due to enrollment of Gill K-12 students increasing from 79 pupils in FY25 to 93 pupils in FY26. Thus, the assessment for Gill is increasing by 12.74% for FY26, equating to a $217,968 change.

By comparison, Montague will have a 3.86% increased assessment, equating to $468,644, amid a drop in enrollment of Montague K-12 students from 667 in FY25 to 637 in FY26.

Typically, Gill has an average assessment increase of slightly above 3%.

“I looked at what we would have to reduce from this budget to get Gill’s assessment to 3%,” Blier explained. “Doesn’t seem like that big of a deal, but we would’ve cut $1.3 million out of the budget to get Gill to a 3% budget.”

Blier said that since Gill’s average assessment had been decreasing in prior fiscal years, like in FY22 when there was nearly a 4% decrease, she hopes the town was able to save funding during that time to accommodate for a possible major increase.

Blier mentioned she is worried Gill would not accept this 12.74% increase. School Committee member Carol Jacobs asked if Montague approves its portion of spending and Gill doesn’t, what would be the next step, to which Blier replied that this would result in a district meeting.

School Committee Chair Jane Oakes said this has happened before, and Blier said she believes the 2010 compact came as a result of a disagreement over assessment payments in Gill and Montague.

At the end of the meeting, the committee ultimately voted unanimously to approve the preliminary budget.

Going forward, members of the Montague and Gill selectboards and finance committees will meet with Superintendent Brian Beck and the School Committee regarding the budget on Feb. 5. The public hearing is scheduled for Feb. 11 and a final budget vote will be held on March 11.

A copy of the revised preliminary FY26 budget is available on the School Committee’s website under the Jan. 28 agenda at gmrsd.org/welcome-gmrsd/school-committee.

Erin-Leigh Hoffman can be reached at ehoffman@recorder.com or 413-930-4231.