The School Committee held the legally required public hearing on its omnibus budget request on Monday, March 10. The $12 million budget is by far the largest item in the town budget, but few if any members of the general public attended the hearing. Perhaps more residents watched the broadcast on HCTV.
The school budget, which went through four major drafts, totals $12,019,625, an increase of 1.05 percent over last year’s omnibus request.
Superintendent Joe Connelly attributed the small size of the overall increase to “the influence of zero-based budgeting,” by which every cost was judged against actual expected needs for next year, rather than against last year’s cost. He said the 2014/2015 budget is truly a level service budget, with 49 of the 116 line items in the budget funded at the same amount as last year, or less.
