The Budget Committee came together on Jan. 3 to discuss what Chairman, Norm Martin, called their “final wrap-up night” before public hearings on the 2025 budget and the deliberative session.
“The current operating [school] budget is $67,533,361,” said Martin, with updated numbers after several cuts to paraprofessional spending from the school budget at their last December meeting.
Concerned about ending the session on a “positive note for the taxpayers of Hudson,” Vice Chairman, Bill Cole, proposed making a blanket reduction by cutting the numbers to $63,392,486. Last-minute contract negotiations with the Hudson Federation of Teachers and Teamsters unions brought the spending higher than many in the Committee wanted.
“I think that’s a positive statement to the voters, it takes us back to the amount this current fiscal year, so we will have managed to do some real level funding,” Cole argued. “I think it says the right message, I think it’s something we can all get on, I think it would benefit the taxpayers, the community, and I know it seems hard to understand, but it would benefit the school district.”
There was some support from members of the Budget Committee, including Shawn Murray, who felt that the School Board failed to make constructive suggestions on further cuts.
“I go through the budget and continually find money that is misallocated,” said Murray. “I’m ready to support my budget at the recommended level.”
There was concern that any budget without level spending might be voted down by the public, although School Board liaison, Gretchen Whiting, warned that the proposed cuts would not cover contractually approved salary increases.
“We can’t move forward with that,” said Whiting, referring to Cole’s new numbers. The town of Hudson is required to raises and benefits of any employees covered in the recent collective bargaining agreement with school unions.
Suggestions included eliminating some new positions with targeted line-item cuts, instead of a blanket cut. Some suggestions included calling in the NH Department of Education to look for cheaper ways to transport students with special needs, although the end goal of the discussion was to keep spending at the same level as last year.
“When the Selectmen did their budget, we told our people to come in at a zero increase and that anything extra was out of the budget that had to be reviewed,” said liaison, Dave Morin. “My only concern is the contracts, I would agree to cutting some of the money, but we know we’re already having problems getting employees as it is now, and we can’t afford to lose any more.”
He added that the town would be “in a world of hurt” if they couldn’t cover worker contracts, which were approved by Hudson voters last year.
The motion narrowly failed in a six-to-four vote over the concerns related to blanket reductions. A later proposal by Committee member, Shawn Jasper, to scale back funding of all new full-time teaching positions passed seven-to-three as a comprise, cutting the school budget to $66,451,923. All recommendations by the Budget Committee must be approved in a public vote at a later date.