Saugus School board learns lesson; Returned money from FY08 not available for FY09

SAUGUS-The phrase “no good deed goes unpunished” could ring true for the School Committee.The committee placed an article on the warrant for tonight’s special Town Meeting asking that the $268,000 it turned back to the town be used to pay off a book bond. But Finance Committee members said Wednesday that money is gone.Last spring, Town Meeting members rallied to help the School Department by agreeing to bond $300,000 for new textbooks. The School Department surprised itself, however, when it closed its books in July and discovered the unspent balance. The money was turned back to the town’s general fund with a note attached, suggesting it could be used to pay off the bond.Later, the committee decided to make the request a formal one by putting an article on the Town Meeting warrant. Committee member Rick Doucette said, unfortunately, he was told it was too late.”The (Finance) Committee informed us that the $268,000 was spent, there was no more money available to pay off the bond,” he said.What concerns the School Committee is now it will be faced with paying the $24,000 per year in interest on the bond.Town Moderator Robert Long said the money would not come from the School Department’s budget, but would instead count against net spending. Net School Spending is the amount of money a community is required to spend on its school district in order to qualify for state funding. Some School Department personnel, however, see that as money that would still otherwise be in their budget.School Committee member Wendy Reed asked her colleagues if they could submit a letter to Town Meeting members explaining why the article is important to them.”We gave back $268,000 in free cash,” she said. “The School Committee would prefer the bond be paid off so we don’t get charged back interest for the next 20 years.”Plus she added, it would free up bond capacity for the community to use for other things.The second article the committee submitted was a request for $80,000 for furniture for the schools, which the Finance Committee referred to the spring annual Town Meeting.”That way they could do a big capital improvement bond all at once,” Doucette said. “That makes sense.” o it for FY09