NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — A "runaway train" of health insurance premiums and rising costs have pushed the McCann Technical School budget up nearly 3 percent for fiscal 2017.

The Northern Berkshire Vocational School Committee last week approved a spending plan of $9.09 million, some $243,430 over this year.

"It's probably one of the most difficult budgets we've looked at in the last 20 years,"

"The fixed costs just keep going up every single year," said School Committee member Daniel Maloney Jr. "There is a lot of cutting and things that had to be shifted around ... there's not a lot of wiggle room."

Superintendent James Brosnan said the net increase is about 2.75 percent, but would have easily been 5 percent if savings hadn't been found.

Describing the budget as one of the "most difficult" in the last 20 years, Maloney said state aid and municipal minimums have not kept pace with costs. That increase put the budget in hole some $27,000 "right off the bat."

He credited Brosnan with "right sizing" the budget over the years and keeping a firm eye on costs. The vocational school district has also been able to keep capital spending down by doing a lot of the maintenance and improvements in house or through grants.

"If I need to carve a $100,000 out of this budget what would you do?" Maloney asked. "We put some things off we should be doing ... in 2016 you can't be behind, you have to be ahead."

He thought the district could absorb an increase on the order of $70,000 to $100,000 because it has nine member towns to spread the hike across.

"The biggest driver is health insurance," said Brosnan. "It's a runaway train."
 
 Insurance overall is up $165,000 for fiscal 2017. At this point in the budget season, it's too late to find a cheaper plan. This coming year's line item will be a placeholder until the district can find better insurance for its employees. It's currently paying about $1 million for active employees and another half-million for retirees.

He's also trying to move some staff salaries to grants but doesn't want to discourage teachers from taking advantage of educational opportunities that mean an increase in salaries.

"We have a young staff and we want them to continue their education and that moves them into the other column," Brosnan said.

Smaller reductions were found in utilities, grounds and equipment maintenance, the School Committee, superintendent's and principal's offices, instructional technology and substitutes. The last payment for the gymnasium floor, $98,000, will be paid this year.

The salary line item is up about $60,000, with smaller increases in paraprofessional services, guidance and employee benefits. Business and finance is up, reflecting another employee brought on to deal with insurance issues, but at the same time contracted services were halved by bringing payroll back in house.

Taking a hit is the cafeteria, which is down "precipitously" in revenue. Brosnan estimated 50 to 60 percent of students were bringing their lunch because of changing lifestyles and mandated food offerings.

"If we were a business, we would be closed," he said.

Total assessment to the nine member towns is $3,392,200. The state formula is based in part on proportional enrollment and equalized valuations.

North Adams will see an assessment of $993,015, up almost 10 percent over this year; Wiliiamstown is up about $30,000, at $239,108, and Lanesborough is up more than $50,000 at $269,896.

Maloney said the school district has done its best to keep costs down and absorb or put off needed items.

"This year we're going to ask them for a little bit of money to be able to do things we need to do," he said.

McCann Budget for Fiscal 2017 by iBerkshires.com

• Most Read

• Most Comments

• All News

• Blogroll

• Photos