The discussion was cordial, as everyone in the room understand the pressures facing the city right now, yet we were not able to construct “lower budget options”. The resounding theme of the conversation circled around the budget issues as a symptom of greater economic and social issues that are plaguing the district and the city. Without addressing those issues the school leaders and City administrative leaders were not able to get to mechanical budget reform.
The City Manager suggested that the School leaders attend the Wednesday May 20th, 2015 City Council Budget meeting to discuss further. This meeting is scheduled to start at 5:30 PM. Since this is on the eve of RSU#13 budget hearing and vote, it also meets the intent of informing the public of the tax impacts, the budget hearing, and encouraging attendance. It additionally allows the school and the City to have much needed dialogue about the pressures, in an appropriate format.
Due to the expediency of the meeting, it is important to apply some structure. This is a meeting of the Rockland City Council, which has been duly noticed. We will update the public and press regarding the topic. We will not invite, or allow, the entirety of the School Board to participate due to public meeting law. School Board members that are not district selected officers can attend the meeting in the public. Since this is a meeting of the Rockland City Councilors, the Mayor will handle decorum and public participation according to standard rules.
The Mayor has been informed about this change earlier today. He supports and understands this last minute change of direction. It is clear that the City will need additional budget deliberation meetings anyway. This meeting simply displaces discussion for the Capital Improvement Plan to another day.
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