METHUEN — The city's schools will be unable to pay bills after Tuesday and could face legal action by the state if the City Council fails to approve a new school budget by then, Mayor William Manzi is warning.

In a memo to councilors and School Committee members, Manzi said his chief of staff, Matthew Kraunelis, was told by state Department of Revenue attorney Kathleen Colleary "that without a City Council approval of the School Department budget, the Methuen School Department will have no legal ability to pay any bills after June 30.

"On that basis, the city auditor will be forced to reject any School Department requisitions for payment, including payroll, after June 30," Manzi said. "Attorney Colleary also informed us that under such conditions Methuen would be in jeopardy of violating the Prompt Payment of Wages law, and also subject to court action by the Attorney General of the Commonwealth to compel payment of the net school spending amount."

Tuesday, the council unanimously rejected the school budget, pegged at $57.6 million.

Councilors were scheduled to meet at 9 this morning to vote on the municipal budget and also could take up the school budget again. The council cannot modify the school budget, only approve or disapprove the bottom line.

Councilors said the proposed school budget hurts the rank and file while giving too much money to administrators.

"The budget we got from the School Committee is horrible as far as the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer," Councilor Joseph Leone said that night.

School Superintendent Jeanne Whitten, who is asking teachers to forgo raises next year, has proposed raises for two administrators — James Giuca, principal of Tenney Grammar School and Judy Scannell, principal of Timony Grammar School.

Whitten said both deserve raises because they are taking on added responsibilities in the next school year.

"I just think that's the right thing to do," she said during an interview in her office. "They're taking on larger jobs."

Giuca will become principal of Methuen High School, while Scannell will become principal of both Timony and Tenney.

Giuca now earns $101,775 and Scannell $98,562, according to documents provided by Whitten's office. Their raises have yet to be negotiated.

Whitten said, however, that all other administrators in the School Department, including herself, will see their wages frozen next year.

She also said the administrative staff will be smaller next year because she is not filling certain jobs that have become vacant due to retirement or other reasons. The Comprehensive and Marsh grammar schools, for example, will each have three administrators instead of four, and the high school will lose at least two administrators, Whitten said.

"They work long hours," Whitten said of administrators, and "they get no extra pay for those long hours and they have all taken a wage freeze and they're going to be doing more work than they have done this year."

Whitten has attempted, so far unsuccessfully, to persuade the unions representing teachers, nurses and secretaries to give up or delay contractual raises they are slated to receive.

If wages are frozen, there will be no layoffs, she has said.

Thirteen program assistants and 10 custodians are now slated to be laid off, and officials also plan to cut 14 assistant athletic coaches who work part time and receive stipends, Whitten said.

An earlier version of the school budget called for four physical education teachers to be laid off, but the proposed budget doesn't include any teacher layoffs, Whitten said.

"We have prepared a very responsible budget that meets all the academic needs of all of our students," she said. "The most important thing is what happens in the classroom."

On Monday, Manzi, Whitten and two School Committee members will meet with teachers union President Donna Gogas, Manzi said.

"I have not given up on that hope that Unit A (the teachers union) will make the right decision and take, if not a full wage freeze, a partial," Whitten said.

The school budget also needs the approval of the School Committee, which is set to meet Monday night to vote on it.

In the interview with The Eagle-Tribune, Whitten also made a point of responding to comments posted by readers on the newspaper's Web site about her car, a Mercedes-Benz CLS.

"The blogs have said that the School Committee has leased my vehicle for me," she said. "That lovely car that I like ... is purchased, owned and paid for by me."

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