SAUGUS — During the FY27 budget hearing for the schools, School Committee member and Finance Subcommittee Chair Brian Doherty highlighted a change coming to the subcommittee.
“In the past, it’s been made up of two members from (the) School Committee, (Executive Director of Finance and Administration) Pola (Andrews), and (Superintendent of Schools) Mike (Hashem). This year I said let’s expand that,” Doherty said.
The new plan is to bring in more people, including parents.
“Again, I’m just the idiot who ran for School Committee and got elected. I work for all of you parents… I just want to do what’s right for the kids, and I want to help support the parents,” he said.
Doherty said the subcommittee is going to build a charter that can be looked at and that they are going to comb through the current budget to make sure the money is being adequately spent.
“If we can go back and say ‘Yes, we are,’ then I feel a lot more comfortable saying, ‘I need money.’ Right? I equate it to if your kid says, ‘I need money,’ you ask them, ‘For what?’ and then you ask them, ‘What did they do with their money before?’ You don’t just say ‘Yeah, here’s a thousand,'” he said.
Doherty noted that for him to speak comfortably on the budget he needs to dig into it himself.
“This year’s budget kind of plopped in our lap. We’re working through it. We’re trying our best. As an outsider and someone who works in finance I look at it like this: The raise is 7%, taxes can only go up 2 and a half. So there is no revenue in the town, but it’s like where does the money come from,” he said.
Doherty says his goal between now and next year when they have this discussion again is to figure that out.
“I think next year you’ll see different feedback from me and I’ll deep dive every single number on this budget,” he said.
