School District To Return

Money To The Town

By Jeff White

Every little bit helps, says Superintendent of Schools John R. Reed, who announced Tuesday night that the school district would be able to return approximately $110,000 to the town.

The project to replace the roof on Middle Gate School is one source for the financial gain. Dr Reed said that because of lower-than-estimated bidding and not having to use the project’s contingency fund, the school’s new roof came to $80,351 less than what was budgeted.

The school district has also received a check for $22,964. The school board has dealt with insurance from a mutual company that has been bought out. The company has gone through a process of looking at the number of shares that the district has accumulated for the past 20 years and assessed the fair market value for those shares.

A further $6,400 will come from the State Department of Education as a result of the calculation error in the amount of aid Newtown was slated to get for special education programs.

Much of this money will appear on the town’s books as miscellaneous revenue, Dr Reed said, stating that he had just sent the check over to the town’s Finance Director Ben Spragg.

The superintendent is not under the illusion that these funds will put a significant dent this year’s proposed budget, but commented that in a year in which finances are tight, it is always nice to find some funding on which the town hadn’t planned. 

“If you add it up, at least it’s a little piece of good news,” he said.