EAST PROVIDENCE — According to figures released by the East Providence School District Thursday morning, Sept. 24, the cost of deconsolidating the Human Resources Department is far less than the $600,000 being bandied about by members of the City Council, and in fact will actually save the school side nearly $30,000.

The document prepared by the offices of Superintendent Kim Mercer and Deputy Finance Director Linda Dykeman posits the entire cost of the current HR setup as $419,195. With the changes suggested by Superintendent Mercer and approved by the School Committee total operating cost of running HR for the entire city would only rise to $454,695 or just an added cost of $35,500.

However, the positions specific to the schools under deconsolidation of Human Resources amount to only $180,488, and it is important to note most of those positions already exist, including that of the recently hired Schools HR Manager Cheryl Silvia. Ms. Silvia was brought on board to replace Donna Moschetti, who resigned from the post earlier this year. Ms. Silvia will earn a salary of $72,118, up exactly $10,000 from what Ms. Moschetti was being paid ($62,118) when she left the district.

In addition, two current employees who handled both school and city concerns while working in the consolidated HR division will now deal with school matters only. Those employees earn a combined total of $82,870.

The only new position expected to be created from the separation is that of a part-time junior accountant to assist Ms. Dykeman, a position costing $25,500.

In the current Fiscal Year 2014-15, the schools and city evenly split the cost of operating the HR, each side paying $209,597.50.

Some confusion was created when Ms. Dykeman presented the draft Fiscal Year 15-16 school budget in early September. At that time, Ms. Dykeman said the costs of operating a dedicated HR Department for schools would come from money allocated in the generic line item called "Administrative Support." The FY15-16 school budget has $550,000 earmarked for that item.

Under consolidation, the School District's share of paying for Human Resources came from the Administrative Support item. It will continue to be that way under the new separation plan, however that $550,000 accounts for a much broader use of ancillary assistance throughout the department, not solely for HR.

The words produced by three members of the City Council the last few days created a sudden storm over the matter. In separate press releases first from Council President Tommy Rose then followed by a dual announcement from Helder Cunha and Tracy Capobianco , each trumpeted the $600,000 number as reason to state their opposition to the HR split.

Tim Conley, a former member of the School Committee and current Ward 4 rep on the Council, came out in opposition to Mr. Rose's initial release and in support of deconsolidating the HR Department.