There’s a surplus?

Plan for the worst, hope for the best: It’s what most area boards and financial departments have been doing with their budgets this year. Cutting, carving out savings wherever they can and not stopping until there is no more they believe they can do.This approach has stood Region One Business Manager Sam Herrick in good stead. Rather than having to come back to the Region One school board with bad news, Herrick was able to come back with some very good news about additional savings, as reported in last week’s Lakeville Journal by Patrick Sullivan.Herrick told the regional school board at their Sept. 12 meeting that he could report a surplus of $282,350. This came primarily out of the budgets of Housatonic Valley Regional High School and the Pupil Services department, which includes special education funding. Just in case anyone decides to do the math, there was also a loss of $23,602 in the Regional Schools Services Center, or Central Office, which diminished the gains.Still, being able to give credits to the Region One town school boards must have felt pretty good for Herrick. The individual towns have struggled during the recession to continue programs while meeting tight budgets. The refund from Region One will mean something to those elementary school boards. While Herrick is able to announce this most years, it is not something to be taken for granted in these tough fiscal times.Even better is the fact that part of the surplus happened because a state grant kicked in for Pupil Services. And here we thought that state money had all but dried up.Kudos to Herrick, and to those who tightened their belts at the high school and Pupil Services, for not only keeping to their budgets and managing those budgets intelligently, but also for doing better than projected.