Override Funds

About the 2019 Override
 

In the lead-up to Fiscal Year 2020, City of Melrose finances were strained in the face of increased demands on the School Department budget and insufficient growth in state education aid to match the costs of increasing student enrollment that was being experienced in Melrose at the time. There was a need for additional teachers, specialists, supplies and classroom space but there was insufficient funding to meet that need without negatively impacting other City departments. 

This was because the City could not simply raise taxes to fill the gap. Because of a state law titled Proposition 2 ½, the amount of revenue the City of Melrose is allowed to collect from taxpayers is capped. When this state law was passed, it included a mechanism to allow residents to vote to “override” the cap if they found that it was in their city/town’s best interest. The amount of an override is permanently added to the allowable amount that a city/town can raise in taxes going forward. 

In April 2019, after many months of discussion and debate, the voters of Melrose approved a general override in the amount of $5,180,000 which went into effect on July 1, 2019, the beginning of Fiscal Year 2020. This vote allowed the City to have enough money to fund the schools without cutting other City departments’ budgets. The new money raised in FY20 went to support the School Department budget and City budgets that pay for costs associated with the schools.

In September 2019, the School Department reported on the actual impact of the override funding https://www.cityofmelrose.org/home/news/melrose-schools-deploy-override-funds-student-success. A detailed budget report highlighting the uses of the override funds (http://melrosecityma.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=4&ID=9473&MeetingID=3789) was presented at the September 24, 2019 School Committee Meeting (link to https://vimeo.com/362277612). 

5.18 Million Override funds continue to fund the following positions and costs for Melrose Public Schools annually:

  • $250,000 annually to replace the annual revenue from the Beebe School rental to the SEEM Collaborative at the conclusion of their rental agreement.
  • $750,000 annually to fill the funding gap caused by the School Department’s structural deficit. 
  • $425,000 annually for instructional supplies and materials. 
  • $1,850,000 annually to fund raises and other provisions of the teachers’ current contract that was settled in FY20.
  • $438,156.50 annually to pay the cost of insurance and benefits for school employees carried in the City’s annual operating budget.
  • $1,466,843.50 annually funds 28.5 school staff starting in FY2020.

All the recurring revenues raised through the override, with the exception of the insurance and benefits amount that is accounted for the City’s annual operating budget, have been added to the School Department’s annual operating budget and have been spent every year in accordance with the School Department priorities and approved by the School Committee. Throughout the intervening years, and especially during the pandemic, the School Department had the flexibility to meet the needs of students in their allocation of these and other available financial resources.