HAMPSTEAD — The school district budget is starting to look like a moving target, according to two School Board members.
The proposed $22.3 million school budget for fiscal 2010 swelled by an extra $100,000 this week because the superintendent's office overlooked a long-standing teacher benefit and failed to reflect that sum in the teacher salary summaries.
School Board Vice Chairwoman Natalie Gallo said she received a "ninth-hour e-mail" late Tuesday afternoon from the assistant superintendent's office, alerting the panel that the budget had been revised upward by $118,294.
The extra money was due to a $100 longevity payout to veteran teachers for every year they have served in the Hampstead schools. The benefit has to be paid, she said, because it's a contractual obligation.
But the error is a big deal, Gallo said. The cost to run the public schools next year will increase by more than $400,000 over last year's number. That bottom line could go even higher next week, when Pinkerton Academy announces tuition fees for Hampstead high school students.
"For this to have happened is not good at all, and for many reasons," Gallo said. "We have a lot of people who have gone into foreclosure, a lot of people who have lost their jobs, and a lot of couples who are both retired and are finding out their secured 401(k)s are not so secure."
School Board Chairman Sarah Finne said the error occurred when the assistant superintendent and business manager forgot to roll over the line item from the previous year. Finne was particularly upset about the mistake because it was not a new benefit.
"I'm not happy to find out there's $100,000 — and a little bit more than that," she said, which now will have to be added to the budget. "It's not covered by a warrant article; it's a current contract obligation and has to be paid out in fiscal year 2010," she said.
Based on this latest information, Gallo and Finne said the board will take another look at school spending, with an eye toward cutting the budget in areas that would not compromise the students' education.
Assistant Superintendent Winfried Feneberg said the error was specific to Hampstead, and school officials in the district's other towns should not expect to receive similar news from the administration.
