The School Committee is expecting a budget of about $74 million for next year.
CHICOPEE – No layoffs are expected and services would mostly continue as they are next year, despite a loss of some state and federal assistance, as city officials finalize fiscal 2012 budgets.
Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette and Stephen N. Nembirkow, school finance manager, said they are finalizing the city’s approximately $155 million budget for FY2012, which begins in July.
The City Council is expected to get a look at the first draft this week, and the School Committee is expected to debate and vote on the proposed budget June 15, they said.
“It is pretty much steady as she goes,” Bissonnette said. “There should be no layoffs and I don’t foresee cutbacks in services.”
Some vacant positions may continue to remain unfilled and Bissonnette said he may offer an early retirement package to some to save money.
Nembirkow said the school’s approximately $74 million budget should keep all employees and avoid charging students fees for sports or busing.
“It means we are able to survive another year with no layoffs and no reductions in services,” he said.
State assistance to the city dropped by $700,000 this year. It has also decreased funding for the Quinn Bill, which supplements the pay of police officers, to $21,000. The state was originally supposed to pay half of the $950,000 for the officers, but the bill was never fully funded, Bissonnette said.
The state is expected to give Chicopee about $10 million in unrestricted assistance to help fund city services such as police, fire and trash collection. The schools should received $55 million in state assistance, according to the state Department of Revenue.
About $26 million of the revenue for the city comes from residential real estate taxes, while the remaining comes from commercial taxes, fees and state assistance, Bissonnette said.
The schools lost about $1.8 million in federal stimulus assistance this year, but gained an increase of about $1.8 million in state assistance, so the School Committee has the same amount of money to work with, Nembirkow said.
The committee does plan to use about $1.5 million from its about $3 million savings to pay for things such as modest raises for staff, which are currently being negotiated. Some cost savings in other areas will allow the schools to start replacing some of the Chicopee High School computers, which are about seven years old, he said.
Once the budget is finalized it will be posted on the city's website.