There are a few different ways Barrington’s budget can be amended.

1. Taxpayers can submit proposed amendments of less than $50,000 a month before the financial town referendum.

2. Taxpayers can submit proposed amendments of more than $50,000 a month before the FTR, but they need to also collect 2,856 signatures from registered Barrington voters. 

3. The Barrington Town Council and the Barrington School Committee can submit proposed amendments to the budget, following a majority vote. The two boards do not have the same signature requirement for amendments that exceed $50,000. 

During the budget hearing on Wednesday, April 15, Barrington resident Jacob Brier asked officials if the school committee could put forth an amendment to alter the municipal budget, and if the town council had the power to file an amendment to alter the school department budget. 

Assistant town solicitor Peter Skwirz said yes, those the boards can propose budget amendments that would impact budgets other than their own. 

Later in the meeting, Barrington resident Neile Hartman questioned why those elected bodies would have the power to file amendments for other budgets without facing the 2,856-signature requirement saddled on regular taxpayers. 

School committee amendment

At their meeting on Thursday night, April 16, members of the Barrington School Committee voted unanimously to file a proposed amendment for the school budget. 

The committee is proposing the addition of $278,100 back into the school budget increase.

This year’s school budget is $67,545,120. The Barrington School Committee initially filed a budget request that included a 5.91% increase, that would push the total proposed school budget to $71,539,603. 

On April 8, members of the Barrington Committee on Appropriations shared their plan to reduce the school budget increase by $556,000. That dropped the increase to 5.09%.

After listening to residents call for further reductions at the April 8 meeting, the COA voted to drop the budget increase by an additional $278,100 or .5%. 

The final COA recommendation calls for a 4.68% increase to the school budget, a total school budget of $70,705,504. (That is an increase of $3,160,384 over the existing school budget.) 

Barrington School Committee Chairman TJ Peck led the discussion on Thursday night about the proposed budget amendment. He initially offered the idea of proposing a $400,000 increase to the school budget increase. He also said he could vote for no change to the COA recommendation or for a $834,000 increase, which reflects the total amount of money reduced by COA. 

Frazier Bell said he did not think the schools needed the $834,000 back into the budget. 

“My gut says go with $300,000, not $278,000,” Bell said. 

Liz Singh agreed on the $300,000 figure. Peck turned to Tim McNamara and asked him what number he supported — $278,000 or $300,000. McNamara said that if the school committee is able to communicate why they are recommending the $278,000, that would make sense. 

Barrington Schools Interim Superintendent Bob Mitchell said it seemed like the COA had rationale behind its decision to make its initial reduction to the budget increase. He said the last half-percent reduction came out of nowhere. 

In the end, committee members voted 4-0 to file the proposed amendment to the budget, calling for an additional $278,100 back into the school budget increase. If approved by voters, the school budget increase would be $3,438,484.