Back before the coronavirus hit, the School Building Committee was planning to ask voters at a Special Town Meeting in March for up to $2.08 million to partially offset items it had to cut from the school project. Now it plans to ask for less than half of that amount at a stripped-down Annual Town Meeting now scheduled for June 13. However, depending on economic conditions, the SBC will almost certainly seek more additional funding at a Special Town Meeting in the fall.

The SBC settled on a list of cuts in February after construction bids totaled $3.5 million more than the project’s budget. The hope then was that $1.5 million in free cash that was originally recommended for a new public safety radio system could be used to restore the first two “buckets” of items the SBC prioritized. But now, with all the financial uncertainty brought on by the pandemic, the SBC was unsure about how much to ask for in this new environment.

After meeting with the Finance Committee, the SBC voted on May 13 to make a two-part funding request totaling $828,945. The first question will ask for $628,945 for seven items. If approved, they’ll then ask for the other $200,000 to pay for furniture, fixtures and equipment (FF&E).

The first appropriation would fund the following items:

• Restore the glass wall between the K-4 Science area and hallway ($26,666)
• Interior lite and built-in bench at K-4 Art Room ($11,291)
• Sun shades on the building’s exterior ($285,709)
• A new auditorium divider ($279,400)
• Concrete pavement in front of Reed/Brooks ($9,435)
• A concrete walkway up to the main entrance ($13,799)
• Concrete on the CASE (special education) driveway ($2,645)

The “first priority” list identified in February mostly matches these seven items but does not include $451,000 for FF&E, which includes crucial technology hardware and systems as well as some furniture. If approved, the second $200,000 request would restore some of that.

After reviewing the town’s budget situation, the Finance Committee this week recommended that the SBC “think of an outer limit of about $840,000 in free cash” that could be available for the school project, FinCom Chair Andy Payne said at the SBC meeting. Current estimates show a town budget deficit of about $800,000 over two fiscal years due to a drop in state and federal revue and added expenses from the pandemic. In a bit of good news, the mild winter resulted in savings on snow removal that can be applied to offset this year’s shortfall.

Payne emphasized that the FinCom was not recommending spending $840,000 from free cash on the school — rather, it’s the maximum amount that the board felt comfortable making available for discussion and voting.

Other sources that could be tapped include some of the stabilization fund, which currently stands at $2.2 million, or deferring some or all of the town’s planned $550,000 contribution to its OPEB (other post-employment benefits) fund. OPEB covers non-pension costs for retired town employees such as healthcare premiums. Dipping into the stabilization fund would require a two-thirds majority of votes at Town Meeting.

Given the uncertainty of getting voter approval for more money now or in the fall, SBC member Peter Sugar suggested using part of the construction contingency fund for some of the trimmed items instead. “We don’t know what people’s financial situation is,” he said. “I don’t want to have animosity build up in this town for this project, even from a minority. I think that would be a mistake.”

But others didn’t support that idea. If the contingency fund runs dry later on, “we’ll have to go back to the town [anyway] and tell them they have no choice” but to appropriate more money, SBC member Tim Christenfeld said.

“I’m concerned about eating into our contingency too much even before we’ve technically broken ground,” Selectman Jennifer Glass said. “Let’s put the information before the town so the town can make the best-informed choice about how the project will unfold.”

Some SBC members worried that residents would not be receptive to another “ask” in the fall and that the June request should therefore be larger. But the FinCom encouraged the SBC to keep their request lower for now and defer seeking money for items that don’t need to be committed to at this early stage of the project.

“I’m not trying to discourage you from coming back in the fall,” FinCom member Jim Hutchinson said. “It’s obvious to me that some of the FF&E is needed in this project, but it also doesn’t need to be decided right now.”

“If the SBC is heading down a path of a phased-request approach, I would encourage the SBC to share as much visibility as possible into these future requests with the FinCom and ultimately the residents,” Payne said.

Asking for less than the full amount suggested by the FinCom now might be more politically palatable. “I’m not sure we would get support for [all of] the $840,000. My sense is more like $500,000 to $600,000,” School Committee member Tara Mitchell said.

“My sense is that the more we ask for, the thinner the support might be,” agreed FinCom member Gina Halsted.

Town Meeting plans

The current plan is to hold the June 13 Town Meeting outdoors under a large tent and lawn seating in the central ballfield on the school campus. This location provides easy access to electricity from the portable classrooms and the temporarily paved areas offer better footing than the grass in Codman Field, which was also considered as a site.

The Town Meeting will feature an expanded consent calendar of financial items that can be voted on in a bloc (though residents have the right to “hold out” any items for separate discussion and voting). There will also be separate votes for the school funding question and a Water Commission capital request. The commission voted in January to seek another $250,000 to replace aging equipment in the town’s water system.

If the Town Meeting still can’t happen on June 13 for public health reasons, the town (and the Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School district) will open the new fiscal year on July 1 using monthly budgets based on 1/12 of their fiscal 2020 budgets for as long as necessary.