“Our position as a School Committee is that it’s not over yet,’’ he said, calling Howard’s proposal just a step in the overall process.
Linskey said committee members hope that higher-than-anticipated state aid or other revenue could materialize in the coming weeks and boost the school budget. He said it also is possible that the Finance Committee, or Town Meeting, which convenes March 27, could favor allotting more money to the schools.
Linskey said there is a possibility that an override question could be put before voters to fund some or all of the difference between the School Committee’s and town manager’s figures.
“The process has to take some more steps,’’ he said.
Howard, the longtime former Malden mayor who assumed his Winchester job in January, said he did not regard the School Committee’s proposal as excessive. But he said the increase the committee seeks would not fit within the major goals he set for this year’s budget.
One of those goals is to reduce Winchester’s reliance on free cash in the budget, a step Howard called a sound fiscal practice. Noting that the town had applied $1.6 million in free cash to the current year’s budget, Howard said he lowered that amount to $930,000 this year, allowing the town to put more money into stabilization accounts.
He said the second key goal was to produced a budget that avoided an override of Proposition 2 1/2, the state law limiting the annual growth of property taxes.
Howard said the increase he is proposing for the schools still would allow the district to cover contracted pay increases for union employees and some additional costs related to state mandates governing special education and English language learner instruction.
Linskey said the School Committee developed its budget based on what the department’s leadership team identified as necessary to move the schools forward.
“Over the past couple of years since the most recent economic downturn hit us, the schools have worked cooperatively with the town to make due,’’ Linskey said.
