Great Barrington — The Berkshire Hills Regional School District’s Finance Subcommittee is continuing its deliberations on the district’s fiscal 2025 budget. The subcommittee has been meeting since early September to develop the district’s budget for the next fiscal year.
At its latest meeting on Tuesday, January 9, preliminary budgetary information was presented by school district Business Administrator Sharon Harrison. The budget for fiscal 2025 is still far from being completed and finalized, and the subcommittee still has several meetings remaining in the budgetary development process.
At the January 9 meeting, Harrison presented two different sets of proposed budgets: a budget that would keep all of the school district services at the same level as the current fiscal year (a “level service” budget) and a revised budget that includes various reductions.
According to Harrison, the proposed “level service” budget has been developed by including all of the salaries of the personnel currently in the fiscal 2024 operating budget, adding the salaries of personnel budgeted through grants, along with setting projections for currently unknown expenses including transportation and health insurance rate increases. The “level service” budget, as proposed for fiscal 2025, is $35.8 million, about a $2.28 million, or 6.81 percent, increase from the current fiscal year.
The biggest cost increase in the proposed “level service” budget is the school district salaries line item, which would increase from $18.6 million in this current fiscal year to $19.8 million in fiscal 2025, an estimated $1.25 million increase. The second highest cost increase in the “level service” budget is the benefits line item, which would increase from $7.14 million in this current fiscal year to $7.73 million in fiscal 2025, an estimated $581,225 increase.
At the January 9 meeting, Harrison also presented an alternative proposed budget with reductions in various line items. The alternative proposed budget with reductions, as presented by Harrison, is $35.3 million, a $1.83 million increase from this fiscal year.
In the proposed budget with reductions, the salary line item for fiscal 2025 is set at $19.4 million, a $793,703 increase from this fiscal year. The benefits line item in the same proposed budget for fiscal 2025 would be set for $7.73 million, a $581,225 increase from this fiscal year.
Harrison said that most of the reductions in the proposed alternative budget would be achieved through potential retirements, non-renewals of non-professional staff contracts, elimination of part-time positions, and reallocation of duties.
According to a schedule provided by the district, the next meeting of the Finance Subcommittee is on Thursday, January 25. Harrison is scheduled to provide revenue projections at the January 25 meeting after Gov. Maura Healey issues her proposed budget for the state. Harrison notes, however, that it is possible that Gov. Healey may not issue a proposed budget until the last week of February.
At the meeting on January 25, the subcommittee is scheduled to vote on dates for a budget presentation to the school committee, as well as a public hearing on the proposed budget.
As listed in a timeline issued by the school district, the proposed date for the subcommittee to present a completed fiscal 2025 budget to the full school committee is Thursday, February 8. The date for a public hearing for the fiscal 2025 budget, as currently proposed by the subcommittee, is Thursday, February 29.
