After several weeks of reviewing municipal and school department budgets, the City Council has submitted six budget resolutions — one to the School Department and five to the Mayor — for consideration.
- Proposed Resolution for the schools regarding Understanding Our Differences funding, submitted by Councilors Noel, Humphrey, Kalis, Crossley, Lipof, Bowman, Leary, Danberg, Kelley, Albright, Krintzman, Greenberg, Gentile, Norton, Ryan, Wright, Markiewicz, Lucas, Grossman, Downs, and Oliver. This resolution requests the School Department to require the use all or part of the funds from the partial restoration of the Understanding Our Differences (UOD) line item to continue the UOD quality inclusion programming for Newton students.
NOTE: Interim Superintendent Kathy Smith submitted this response to the resolution. She said she appreciates the shared “commitment to inclusion and ensuring that all students are treated with dignity and respect,” and acknowledged “[T]the work championed by the Understanding Our Differences (UOD) program” that “is aligned with our district values of providing equitable school experiences for everyone every day.” Smith added that “the Newton Public Schools will sustain curriculum work currently in progress to support disability awareness … despite the budget shortfall and resulting reductions” and said that NPS will “explore other options for valuable supplemental experiences for our students that will enhance their understanding and awareness, including conversations with external vendors/service providers.”
- Proposed Resolution regarding School Transportation Management, submitted by Councilors Bowman, Humphrey, Kalis, Ryan, Noel, Downs, Krintzman, Albright, Danberg, Crossley, Greenberg, Leary, Kelley, Norton, Kalis, Lipof, Laredo, Wright, Baker, Grossman, and Markiewicz. This resolution requests the Mayor to fund a strategic transportation study of school transportation to address six goals:
- Analyze routes to identify opportunities to increase bus ridership and to better serve students,
- Improve the student/parent customer interface,
- Review fees and their impact on ridership,
- Create a plan to transition to electric school buses and vans,
- Analyze potential savings and improved service possibilities from in-sourcing including opportunities for bus storage in Newton, and
- Determine the best management structure for student transportation going forward, including budget responsibility
- Proposed Resolution requesting Free Cash Designation, submitted by Ward 4 Councilor Lenny Gentile. This resolution requests the Mayor to increase the free cash designated to support the FY2024 budget from $ 1.5 million to $ 2.1 million and use the additional funds to support the NPS budget.
- Proposed Resolution requesting information intended for personnel changes, submitted by Lucas, Oliver, Norton, Laredo, Wright, Baker, Malakie, and Markiewicz. This resolution requests supporting documentation to be submitted whenever there is a change in personnel from one year to the next identifying the positions, job descriptions, and an explanation for the change.
- Proposed Resolution requesting grandfather policy for Medicare Part B reimbursement, submitted by Ward 4 Councilor Lenny Gentile. This resolution requests the Mayor to provide enough funding to grandfather retirees currently receiving Medicare Part B reimbursement and identifying interest income as a possible funding source.
- Proposed Resolution establishing an unrestricted reserve fund, submitted by Ward 4 Council Lenny Gentile. This resolution requests the creation of an unrestricted reserve fund of $25 million to generate $750,000 annually to support the operating budgets. The funds would come from the following sources:
- $10,000,000 proposed for the Lincoln-Eliot building project,
- $7,800,000 from the property tax overlay account,
- $1,500,000 proposed for the Rainy Day Stabilization Fund, and
- $5,000,000 from unallocated FY 2022 Free Cash and any other source of cash the Mayor identifies.
