We cannot support five, six percent year after year.”

Town manager James Hartnett, on the school department’s proposed 5.7 percent budget increase

Westport Community Schools will receive slightly more than $22 million this coming year, if a budget plan sent off to the finance committee last Monday evening by the Westport Select Board is approved as is.

The proposed budget — $22,081,007 — is about $1 million less than school officials asked for, but more than $1 million more than the department received for the current fiscal year. In total, it represents a roughly 5.7 percent increase over the current year, Westport Town Administrator James Hartnett said — higher than the yearly recommended increase mentioned in a five-year plan recently drafted by Hartnett and select board chairman Richard Brewer.

“When we looked at the five year plan, we kind of determined that for budgeting purposes, we should be looking at 3.5 percent (increases) per year in our budgets. We cannot support five, six percent year after year,” Hartnett said.

Also discussed in the five year plan is a move to gradually reduce free cash as a yearly funding mechanism for the schools, and this year Hartnett recommends giving the district $400,000 in free cash, $100,000 less than the current year.

If things continue as they are now over the next several years, he said, the schools would get $300,000 from free cash next year and the town would “get them down to zero in a few years.”

Building inspector, project manager

On the town budget side, select board members agreed to add two unfunded positions into the budget, noting that they could be taken out again, or adjusted, as the finance committee reviews the budget proposal and also at Town Meeting.

At issue are the a $60,000 local building inspector and $120,000 engineer/project manager position. Hartnett said Westport needs both, and he prioritized those two out of a list of nine positions across town government that are currently unfilled.

“I would like to see a local building inspector hired,” Hartnett said, adding that he believes a project manager is also necessary.

“With the sewer and water project (see page 1), whether it gets constructed this year or not ... we need somebody to champion that project. The Route 77 roundabout, Gifford Road traffic light, Drift Road bridge, Hix Bridge Landing ... there’s a number of projects here in town that need more oversight than they’re currently getting.”

Other unfilled positions this year include a building clerk, two highway department staff members, one fire department position, the police School Resource Officer (SRO), a human resources/assistant town administrator, and one cemetery position.

While acknowledging that the town is short staffed, select board member Shana Shufelt cast the lone vote against adding the two positions into the recommended budget plan:

“I don’t think that we should be adding full time positions right now,” she said. “I do think those positions are necessary (but) I’m worried about not funding a school resource officer. When we took that resource officer out of the schools, there was an outcry. I worry a lot about adding a project manager and not having an SRO.”

But Hartnett said he has been told by police chief Christopher Dunn that the department should be able to fill that position this coming year, unless they lose an officer or officers to injury, military duty, or the like.

“Right now he feels that he can at least fill that position” this coming year, the chief said.