Crabtree: Charter school tuition holding up Saugus budget

SAUGUS – Town Manager Scott Crabtree announced at a Finance Committee meeting that Saugus would be paying more than $200,000 for charter school tuition for the 2014-2015 budget.But Crabtree said it was a number he was “still trying to verify.”?That?s more money taken out of the Saugus school system,” said Chairman Robert Palleschi at the meeting Wednesday, to which Crabtree nodded.?We don?t have access to the money that other communities have in their surplus,” offered Crabtree.With a more specific charter school number, Crabtree said the budget would need tweaking, and therefore the Finance Committee would probably not be able to vote to pass the budget by their meeting next week.Crabtree said he did not anticipate budget cuts since the town had not over-budgeted like it had in the past. “We?re going to see how things shake out as fixed costs finalized,” he said.?That?s the reason we can?t nail it down by the first Monday in May,” said Palleschi.Crabtree pointed out that in other years the town didn?t have an approved budget for Town Meeting before the last Monday in June.Palleschi asked Crabtree if he had any good news for the committee.Crabtree responded, through a tight smile, “There?s no money falling out of the sky this week.”