School money or town money? In Cumberland, $373,383 still up in air

CUMBERLAND - Without harming their relationship with the town, School Committee members are trying to figure out how to take back the $373,383 promised to Town Council members when the town's budget was set last June.

At the same time, Mayor Daniel McKee is telling The Breeze he's not worried. Nothing has changed as far as he's concerned.

Not acknowledging any dispute over the funds, he said, "I'm managing the budget the way it was passed."

In a lengthy memo to School Committee Chairman Donald Costa this week, school board member Ryan Pearson is asking that the Nov. 12 agenda include a discussion about this issue.

Among other things, he's seeking written legal opinions from both the school's attorney, Joseph Rotella, and the town solicitor, Thomas Hefner.

He's also wondering if the two elected boards can find the language that makes the transfer legal or if they'll be explaining it all to a judge.

Said Pearson, "I feel it is important to receive formal written legal opinions to be placed on the record to guide members into making a final decision on whatever action the School Committee may eventually take."

Hefner told The Breeze he has no interest in weighing in with a legal opinion and suggests the school board rely on the advice of their own attorney.

At issue here is $373,383 in funds the school department has accumulated in recent years. The question is whether it should be credited to the town's operating budget, as the superintendent agreed to on June 1, or remain with the School Department surplus funds, as the Department of Education seems to imply in a June 30 memo about funding issues directed at all school districts.

If it remains under school control, taxpayers may be making up the difference when the tax rate is set next April.

The current fiscal year tug-of-war over the funds comes as the town readies accounting statements that will show it closing the books on the previous fiscal year, 2008-09, about $800,000 in the red while the school board ends the year about $200,000 to the good. Numbers are still subject to an audit due later in December.

Looking at this year, the School Committee had adopted a budget that balances by relying on $720,165 of its own surplus funds, while the town adopted a budget that balances only with the school department's $373,000 and another $538,099 in town surplus funds.

Superintendent Donna Morelle, who brokered the deal that school board members now want to sever, says she wants a face-to-face meeting with the Town Council.

"I was really uncomfortable with what occurred," she told school board members last week.

She said the memo from the Rhode Island Department of Education that arrived about four weeks after she agreed to transfer school funds to the town "probably would have driven us to a different conclusion."

Morelle said she worries the school board's relationship with the Town Council could be jeopardized.

"As a School Department and a committee, a tremendous effort went into developing a very, very healthy working relationship and I wouldn't want this issue to compromise our future relationship," she said.

Pearson raises the question in his memo of whether the transfer qualifies as "educational purposes," a finding that might make the transfer legal in the eyes of state officials.

Pearson said, too, that he believes the town and school share the same interests "and we must find a way to continue building the working relationship with both the Town Council and the mayor. It cannot be emphasized enough that this is one town ultimately living within one fixed amount of funds and we all must share the tough decisions that will ultimately result in all departments and the town as a whole running a balanced and responsible budget."