Utility bills threaten Saugus School Department budget

SAUGUS – If you think your utility bills are a budget buster, you should check out the School Department’s tab.Finance Director Richard Weeks said the School Department budgeted $1.3 million for heat, electricity and telephone services this year, but it’s on track to a $26,000 shortfall. The cost, he said, is rapidly escalating – not because of overuse, but because of increases from the suppliers.Weeks said natural gas prices have gone up 11 percent since this time last year while electricity has crept up 19 percent and heating oil has increased 67 percent. Between this fiscal year and last, Weeks said the only favorable bill they have is for telephone service because the department has been eligible for rebates.”My preliminary showing is these bills have been very consistent for three months,” Weeks said.What concerns Weeks more than finishing out this year in a negative is how the department will handle the increase next year.”National Grid has already sent us a very personal letter telling us they anticipate another 14 percent to 19 percent increase over the next fiscal year,” he said.Weeks said he’s budgeted a straight 15 percent increase for Fiscal Year 2009, which puts the department on the low end of a probable increase.School Committee member Rick Doucette called likely increases “hyper inflation” and a big root problem for the department. Doucette said when there is a 67 percent increase in one area of a budget that at best sees a 2.5 percent increase in funding, the math is not going to be in your favor.”Something is going to break,” he said. “I did the quick math. A $68,000 increase in our electric bill – that’s a teacher and a half.”Doucette said non-negotiable expenses, such as utility bills, have a serious impact on the budget.”We have to leave the lights on so the kids can do their work,” he added.Weeks is not overly concerned regarding this year’s probable shortfall though, only because the department looks to end the year favorably in at least one department. He said he had budgeted $3.5 million in anticipated expenditures for Special Education transportation and tuitions and but there looks to be a definite savings in both areas.He said those funds could then be redistributed to cover utility shortfalls.