Council Approves FY24 Operating Budget

By Adam Swift

The Town Council approved a $59,608,602 budget for Fiscal Year 2024 at a special meeting on Tuesday night.

The figure is $43,837 less than the amount presented to the Town Council by Town Manager Tony Marino, with the council approving a $43,837 cut in the group insurance line item.

The school department’s portion of the budget is just over $35 million, which includes many of the fixed costs such as insurance and employee benefits that were traditionally included in the municipal side of the budget until this year.

“This budget reflects a commitment to preserving our residents’ quality of life by providing and maintaining adequate financial resources necessary to sustain a sufficient level of educational and municipal services,” Marino said in his introductory budget message. “It also responds to changes in the economy, governmental and non-governmental organizations’ priorities, and other changes that may affect our financial well-being. It fulfills the core value of supporting education, public safety, and public works while balancing fiscal responsibility and fulfilling the Town Council’s financial goals.”

Winthrop saw a substantial increase in Chapter 70, school state aid funding, for FY24, according to Marino. Therefore, the town calculated the increase in the School Department funding that will allow the School Committee and School Superintendent to handle budgetary increases due to settled union contracts and negotiated salary increases, he stated.

In his budget statement, Marino said annual increases in health insurance, charges from Northeast and Essex Technical Schools, union contracts, building and vehicle insurance, and retirement and pension funding take up most of the town’s  2.5 percent tax increase per year.

“As a result, it is challenging to honor new staffing requests, new software and upgrades, and other new initiatives,” Marino stated. “Moving forward, we will look at each department and see if there are any reorganizations that we can put in place to maximize our current staffing levels.”

Town Council President James Letterie said the school budget is about $400,000 short of a level-services budget, in part because of the number of state mandates that need to be funded.

“A lot of it is mandates caused by a lot of different things, but there are certain mandates, even level service, they have to add x amount of positions,” said Letterie. “Another major increase, which it’s always been, is health insurance, which is roughly 6 percent, and that’s 6 percent of a big number.”

Letterie said one of the issues the town has historically faced is a lower level of new growth than many larger surrounding communities.

“We do look at new growth relatively conservatively,” he said. “People look, and you seem to see construction everywhere … and you look, and it’s the same $250,000 number (for new growth), which is relatively modest. I think it will probably come in a little higher, but then you have to look at the new growth and see what is offsetting that too, in terms of education, and you look at the vocational school and the increased cost … with the new school coming on line in three years, and that is going to be a debt service to us.”