GREENFIELD — City Council voted to approve the city’s $64.87 million fiscal year 2025 budget, a roughly 5% increase from the current $61.63 million budget, without any cuts Wednesday night.

The budget includes $23.7 million for the School Department budget, though some councilors and residents believe it to be too “top-heavy,” prioritizing funding for administrative positions over teaching and programming.

In her report to the council, Superintendent Christine DeBarge announced that Wednesday would mark her last report to the council prior to her departure from the position July 1. After councilors thanked DeBarge for her years of service to the school district, some questioned the spending priorities identified in the new school budget.

“Many councilors and a huge segment of the public feel that the school budget is being misappropriated and spent, to an extent, on administrators who are highly paid rather than the actual teachers and directly on student programs, such as the music department or other departments, football, sports, all of that. Do you agree with that sentiment at all?” At-Large Councilor Wahab Minhas asked DeBarge.

Similar concerns over administrative spending were raised by residents Linda Clark and Pamela Goodwin during the meeting’s public comment portion.

DeBarge responded that she does not “agree with that sentiment in any way,” and noted that the school budget, which marked a roughly 4% increase from its FY24 budget, created a number of new positions. This included some administrative roles such as the district’s new assistant director of pupil services, which DeBarge said the district needs to comply with state and federal regulations. The superintendent also explained to the council that new teachers must be observed and evaluated four times each year by an administrator, a time-consuming process that requires a full administrative staff.

“Everybody has different perspectives and beliefs about what should be in place or should not be in place,” DeBarge said. “I believe, being that we see the work that has to happen day-to-day and all of the requirements that exist in public education, that the teachers would not be teaching, the programs would not be running, if we didn’t have people who were overseeing those programs, providing the required steps.”

Despite concerns over administrative spending, the council still voted against a $6,260 cut to the school budget, which At-Large Councilor Michael Terounzo said intended to rectify the assistant superintendent salary line. Precinct 3 Councilor Michael Mastrototaro said he voted against the cut because he was confident it wouldn’t pass, but that he believes the school budget is “top-heavy” with nearly 20% of its funds allocated toward administrative positions.

“I knew it wasn’t going to pass and at that point, I was fighting a losing battle,” Mastrototaro said by phone on Thursday. “That school budget is unsustainable and we will revisit it down the road.”

Minhas echoed Mastrototaro’s remarks, adding that although City Council voted against the cuts this year, he will argue against significant administrative funding at next year’s meeting.

“The whole point of having that discussion was to convey the sentiment that funds are being misappropriated,” Minhas said by phone on Thursday. “This is just inappropriate.”

The council also voted against all other proposed cuts, including $10,000 from the $721,809 emergency dispatch budget. Precinct 8 Councilor Lora Wondolowski explained that the salary cut was proposed to accommodate for cuts to overtime pay expected after the hiring of an 11th full-time dispatcher.

Precinct 5 Councilor Marianne Bullock noted that although the budget also funded the hiring of three new police officers, the Police Department’s salary budget did not see overtime cuts. Terounzo responded to Bullock, noting that the Police Department did not expand its staff, but rather, filled three positions in an already under-staffed department.

Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at acammalleri@recorder.com or 413-930-4429.