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Teacher, taking time off, helps the bottom line

NORTH CANAAN — Budget proposals from the selectmen and school boards are due to be presented to the Board of Finance next week. Both are getting careful scrutiny, right down to the wire.

The selectmen’s budget has not been finalized. First Selectman Douglas Humes said earlier this week the board was still working on getting it down to a zero increase.

At the school, declining enrollment has made it easy on some fronts to find big savings, such as cutting back one school bus.

The education budget was at a 0.99 percent increase last month when board members got the word that a jump in the regional education budget was going to force them to work even harder at trimming their own expenses.

Their plan coming into a workshop Monday night was that, if a teacher who was considering taking an unpaid year off had decided not to, they would cut the newest teacher on the faculty.

But they arrived to discover a revised budget with a decrease from this year’s budget of 0.25 percent.

Another teacher had asked to take a leave. Principal Rosemary Keilty declined to name the teacher until the board has a chance to vote on the leave at its regular meeting, March 12. But it amounts to a savings of $48,000, plus health benefits.

The Board of Education will present its proposal to the Board of Finance March 18 at 7 p.m. at Town Hall. The Board of Selectmen will do the same March 19 at 7 p.m.

The budget process will continue on April 8 when the finance board is expected to discuss it at its regular meeting at 7:30 p.m.

The public hearing is set for April 29 at 7 p.m.

The Board of Finance meets again on May 13 at 7:30 p.m., when its members are expected to vote on a budget recommendation to be sent to a Town Meeting vote. That meeting is set for May 19 at 7:30 p.m.

Lakeville Journal

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