School officials in the hot seat

WINSTED — Superintendent of Schools Blaise Salerno and Board of Education Finance Director Ed Evanouskas were in the hot seat Monday night as the Board of Selectmen asked questions about the current year’s school budget, which is still projected to end the year in the red.

Town Manager Wayne Dove asked Evanouskas for his latest assessment of the school system’s overspend, which Evanouskas said stands at approximately $64,000 by his accounting. Evanouskas noted that Winsted Finance Director Henry Centrella sees the deficit at $10,000 more, but that the two officials agree on the vast majority of the accounting.

“Henry is doing his analysis and I am doing my analysis,� Evanouskas said. “We’re using two different techniques. We understand where our differences are.�

Town Manager Wayne Dove noted that the state has required Winsted’s municipal budget to give $73,854 to the school system to make up for a reduction in transportation grant money this year. He pressed Evanouskas on the actual overspend number, asking if the $64,449 shortfall accounted for the transfer of money from the town. Evanouskas said it did, meaning the total overspend amounted to $138,303.

Republican Selectman Kenneth Fracasso said he expects the final overspend number to be $300,000 or more greater than Evanouskas said, and that school officials have done “a lousy job� with their budget. Fracasso asked Dove if he had any confidence that the school budget will be administered correctly next year.

“I’m not a politician, so I’m not going to answer that,� the town manager replied.

Town resident and active Republican Marsha Sterling, who has called for the resignation of Superintendent Salerno, said she believes the school-budget overage will be closer to $900,000 at the end of the year. On Tuesday night, Republicans on the Board of Education announced they had drafted a letter calling for Salerno’s removal, but no action was taken.

Dove said municipal accounts other than payroll have been frozen for the remainder of the fiscal year to save enough money to cover any remaining school budget overage. He and several selectmen expressed frustration that the projected overspend has fluctuated significantly in recent weeks and that the Board of Education has not provided adequate oversight. Dove also indicated he believes the town’s seventh and eighth grades need to be transferred to the semi-private Gilbert School in order to save money next year.

School board members James DiVita, a Democrat, and Dr. Richard Dutton, unaffiliated, were at Monday night’s meeting and noted the school board has already voted down a plan to move the seventh and eighth grades to Gilbert. Dutton also said there is no clear agreement among school board members about the proposal.

Expressing further frustration at the lack of agreement, Dove asked for enhanced communication between town boards. The Board of Selectmen agreed to call for an education “summit� including selectmen, school board members and members of the Gilbert trust to discuss potential solutions to the school system’s fiscal problems. A date is expected to be scheduled by the end of the month.

In the meantime, the board asked Evanouskas and Salerno to attend another special meeting on Monday, June 14, at 6 p.m., to again review the current budget and provide the latest projection for the end of the year.

Despite his frustration, Dove expressed optimism and gratitude that the 2010-11 budget was passed by voters on the first try this year.

“Certainly the number one achievement has been the passage of the proposed budget,� he said. “I’d like to say to the taxpayers of this town we certainly appreciate your support and faith, and we will live up to that.�

“I have been working quite hard with the superintendents of schools to determine a way forward with the educational system, and we are making progress,� Dove added. “We are working on a one-year implementation plan for a solution.�