You’ll hear people suggesting that the override vote was a reflection of people’s perception of what the schools are doing. I can tell you that Westport punches high above its weight every single day.”

Thomas Aubin

We tend to say, ‘Well, we don’t have the funds to do it, so why even (prepare a report)?’ That’s all the more reason to do it, to understand where you are.”

Karen Raus

They (the public) need to understand the issues the town is now faced with, without having additional property tax revenue.”

Gary Carreiro

A $3 million override that would have boosted school and municipal budgets failed at the polls less than a month ago. And while yearly budget deliberations don’t usually start until the fall, Westport officials are starting early as they face what several termed a termed a worsening fiscal crisis that could come to a head this coming year.

Finance committee members last week agreed to task chairwoman Karen Raus with organizing an informal workshop with town and school officials, so they can meet together to help get a sense of where they stand fiscally, and where they see themselves headed in the coming years. She hopes to hold it over the next several weeks.

“There’s potential that there’ll be, who knows, layoffs at some point down the road,” Raus said at last week’s fincom meeting. “The town really needs to come up with a plan and start thinking how it’s going to address (the coming fiscal year) as it’s approaching very quickly.”

The Tuesday, July 25 vote was called as Westport faces a growing fiscal hole brought on by rising expenses, lower state aid and other factors.

Though they had planned on and stumped for the override for more than a year before the recent vote, residents voted 1,664 to 1,098 to reject the measure, which this year would have injected $1 million in additional property tax revenue into the school and town budgets. Similar funding increases would have been proposed at Town Meeting over the next two years.

On Monday, school superintendent Thomas Aubin said all options are on the table for the town’s schools, including staff reductions, fewer programs and other cuts that he believes will impact students one way or another. While he said he’s frustrated that the vote went the way it did, he’s not surprised:

“It’s tough to plan anything around an override in a community where we are now 2-for-20 in override votes since 1994,” he said. “So no, I’m not surprised.”

What surprises him, he said, is the perception from some in the community that the district is bloated and wasteful. That is not the case, he said:

“One of the things that disturbs me is that you’ll hear people suggesting that the override vote was a reflection of people’s perception of what the schools are doing,” he said. “I find that insulting ... I can tell you that Westport punches high above its weight every single day.”

When cuts come — and they will, he said — they’ll likely be direct cuts to services, as he said the district’s administrative division is over-taxed as it is, and 83 percent of the budget every year is locked into salaries and benefits for teachers and other staff. The department’s budget requests have been cut by $1.4 million over the past three years, he said. And with only a small percentage of the budget available to find areas to cut, he said, talk will inevitably turn to more programmatic discussions.

“Any new programming that we’ve even thought about is on the by and by,” he said. “We were exploring an early education program here ... The ‘Start Em Young’ program, probably, we will not be able to afford next year, and that has served hundreds of kids successfully. And there’s a whole host of other things that we want to do but we’re not going to be able to do.”

“We’ve got shortages custodially, administratively, and we’re just trying to get by now, whereas that money would have been helpful.”

Town talks

Balancing the books on the town side won’t likely be any easier, fincom members said — Westport is already in a hole as free cash that augmented both school and town budgets this current year likely will not be available this coming year.

Last week, members said all other options need to be put on the table, including possible fee increases which admittedly will be a drop in the bucket, several said.

“It’s not the problem solver,” Raus said. “The problem solver’s going to be expense reduction.”

Treasurer Susan Brayton told the committee that she’s been trying to find savings and gains wherever possible, including moving town money around in various interest-bearing accounts to try to bring in greater returns — “I have been moving money around, trying to get the best rates possible, whenever I can (and) wherever I can,” she said.

Member Lawrence Holsworth suggested going to the state and speaking with Westport’s representative and senator about how the town can get more state aid. Rural towns like Westport are “short-changed, frankly,” and that needs to stop, he said.

“What can we be doing more of, to get more back from the state?” he asked. “I’m not sure how we fit into the state’s processes.”

Concurrently, Raus, said, the town needs to come up with serious long-term plans, including a five-year capital improvement plan. Though Westport’s capital improvement committee is required under by-laws to supply the finance committee with a five-year plan every year, “I have requested it for a number of years and I would really like to see that this year,” she said. “Any fiscally responsible $50 million entity has financial planning.”

“We tend to say, ‘Well, we don’t have the funds to do it, so why even (prepare a report)?’ That’s all the more reason to do it, to understand where you are.”

Apart from talking about the coming fiscal year, she said, the issue of long-term planning will also be broached at the upcoming, informal, meeting. And while such a meeting could be conducted remotely via Zoom and given the numbers of various board members involved would not require public notice, committee members said, it will likely be held in public and in person.

“I actually think that for transparency, it should be a public meeting,” member Hugh Morton said. “I think it’s important. They (the public) need to understand the issues the town is now faced with, without having additional property tax revenue.”

“The public has said ‘No,’” added Gary Carreiro. “I think we really need to be in person. I think you get more out of the conversation when you are face to face.”