PLEASE ATTEND TOWN MEETING!
APRIL 6th, 7:30 pm, at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School
At Town Meeting on April 6th, a motion will be made to postpone the vote on Article 4 (the budget article) until May. If this motion passes, residents at Town Meeting will finish the remaining articles on the warrant, and Town Meeting will then reconvene in May on Article 4 only.
The extra time will allow for more concrete budget numbers from:
- state aid (see below)
- federal stimulus money, and
- teacher contract negotiations
On April 6, there will not be enough information available for voters to make fully-informed decisions about next year’s town and school budgets. Delaying the discussion and decision-making on the budget will allow town and school administrators time to adjust their budget allocations in light of more concrete revenue figures. Furthermore, this delay will give the parties more time to complete collective bargaining. Without this information, it will be impossible to adopt a budget that reflects the real financial situation. Delaying the vote on the budget until Town Meeting reconvenes in May will ensure that we have fulfilled our responsibility as voters to make informed choices for the future of our community.
Check the Support Sudbury website frequently for updates on state aid and the stimulus money!
State Aid: Why is it important to wait for more concrete budget numbers?
Right now, the only state budget information available is the “Governor’s budget.” The Governor’s budget must now go to the House and Senate for approval, and then back to the Governor for his signature. The budget will be revised throughout this process, but by late April, we should have the House budget, which will provide much more reliable state aid projections than we have now. At Town Meeting in May, residents will be able to vote on a budget that contains more concrete revenue figures.
If the town votes a budget on April 6th, and then Sudbury receives more state aid after the vote, the town and schools cannot use that money to save jobs. The non-override budget that is in the Town Warrant contains a revenue projection for state aid. Once that budget is voted at Town Meeting, the town and schools can only spend the amount of money projected in revenues. If Sudbury subsequently receives more state aid than anticipated, state law prevents the town and schools from allocating that money to expenses (jobs, operating expenses, benefits, etc...). Conversely, if state aid comes in lower than expected, the budget will exceed the revenue projections, and the town budget will not be balanced.
Stimulus Money:
The amount of money that SPS and LS will receive from the federal stimulus package has not been confirmed, and the rules for the use of the funds are still in flux.