February 9, 2022 By Staff Writer
The Hingham Public School department could see a 1.43 percent increase in revenue to its 2023 fiscal year budget following a joint discussion meeting with the town’s select board, school committee and advisory committee Tuesday night.
The proposed $62.6 million budget, unanimously approved by the school committee at its Tuesday meeting, focuses heavily on funding favorable new positions, increasing energy and electric costs and adjusting to yearly general price increases.
Interim Superintendent Gary Maestas kicked off the department's budget discussion pre-emptively stating that the department, along with the school committee, worked diligently to develop a fiscally-responsible budget that works to best address the needs of its students.
Additionally, with the department well underway in its strategic plan development, Maestas said some of the budgetary items are in line with the department's upcoming plans.
“I think this year’s budget, just like most are, it’s challenging putting a budget together especially when you are trying to be cognizant of the needs of the town, especially after the bulk of COVID,” Maestas said. “We were really cognizant of building a budget that didn’t encompass things that wouldn’t be in the strategic plan moving forward.”
According to the department's business and support services director John Ferris, who helped develop the 2023 fiscal year budget, the department added 11 new full-time positions in its previous budget. As a result, the town should anticipate an overall increase in order to further fund those positions.
Likewise, this year’s proposed budget adds additional full-time positions to the department's fold. The department, ranking the importance of each hire, is requesting $80,000 to hire a data analysis lead; $40,900 to hire a human resources clerical support; $95,000 to hire a payroll and benefits manager; as well as several other positions.
In total, the proposed budget sees an $850,000 total in new hire requests.
According to Ferris, $54.4 million, roughly 87 percent of the proposed budget, is reflective of the department's personnel costs. This includes all of the department’s full-time and part-time employees as well as its provided instruction to its regular and special education students.
Other costs include adjusting to general price increases, an estimated 4.7 percent, to various building, material and contract expenses.
While the department has seen an increase in costs as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ferris said some of the total budgetary costs are offset by various grants -- a projected total offset of $4.5 million.
Additionally, Town Administrator Tom Mayo said, during his preliminary town budget presentation, the town anticipates an overall $2.5 million increase from the previous year citing a $165,000 increase in state-allocated funds; $983,115 in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds; and $475,000 in local receipts.
“I do see a path to a balanced budget without an override this year,” Mayo said. “When I say I see a path forward to a balanced budget, that is assuming some level of potential cuts, I mean cuts to the additional requests not cuts to the core services or even the level services.”
While the town plans to hold future meetings regarding the department’s proposed budget before it casts its vote, the select board unanimously voted to recommend approval of four school funding projects including rehabilitation of the high school’s tennis courts, the Plymouth River School windows project, a five-year lease for special education school transportation vehicles and additional funds to address pre-construction costs and to open up bids for the Foster Elementary School project.
According to Ferris, the tennis courts at the high school are not up to par and are in serious need of repair. Additionally, the department is in need of additional buses in order to meet transportation needs for special education students. The town is set to discuss the Foster Elementary School construction project later this year.
The full proposed budget is available on the department’s website. For more information, visit hinghamschools.org.