In a rare bit of good financial news, the schools announced that they will return more than $104,000 in unused warrant article funds to the town, School Superintendent Tom Jefferson told the School Committee last week. The money was left over after the schools completed a number of recent maintenance projects under budget, he said.
For example, at the June 2005 Special Town Meeting, residents voted $140,000 to repair the Bromfield School building, and $34,000 to fix Bromfield heating and ventilation systems. The repairs are done, and $50,000 is left from the building repairs, while $17,399 remains from the heating system fix. These funds came from the town’s stabilization fund, and the excess money will be returned to the fund, Jefferson told the board.
Two elementary school projects and some Bromfield House repairs have also come in under budget. The town voted $40,000 to repaint and fix windows at Bromfield House, which is used for the superintendent and Community Education offices. Because this work was done by prisoners, it cost the town only $16,767, leaving $23,233 to be turned back to the town. Also, putting down new blacktop at the elementary school came in $11,982 under budget, and $1,810 is left from $25,000 voted for fixing the kindergarten wing’s bathrooms. All these funds had been raised and appropriated, so the unused money will be returned to the town, and will show up as “free cash” at the end of the current fiscal year in July.
