Braintree Facing Potential School Budget Cuts Amid Pandemic

BRAINTREE, MA — The School Committee will have to look at potential cuts to the school budget brought on by the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

Committee Member George Kokoros, chairs the school's finance and operations subcommittee. He told the School Committee Monday that he met with town Finance Director Edward Spellman and Nicole Taub, Mayor Charles Kokoros' chief of staff, to discuss Braintree's overall financial health.

"To say that it was sobering would be an understatement," George Kokoros said.

Currently, the school budget sits at $73.2 million, but George Kokoros said town departments were instructed to present level service budgets that account for contractual pay raises and then cut the budget by 10 percent. He estimated cuts will require finding $7.6 million in savings.

The budget cuts were a result of revenue shortfalls brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, George Kokoros said. Specifically, the town lost money from a lack of hotel, meal and excise taxes, as well as other one-time revenues.

"I wish I could give the committee better news, but as we all know, the situation economically has been difficult," George Kokoros said.

Mayor Charles Kokoros said the town did receive about $3.6 million in federal COVID-19 relief from President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion stimulus package, but that share won't be enough to address many of the town's financial issues brought on by the pandemic.

"It's a very difficult time," Charles Kokoros said. "The coronavirus has created a continuous loss of revenue. There were a number of things we tried to do to save as much as we could. The revenue sources we are typically used to were not there for us."

During the current fiscal year, one way the town tried to save money was by reducing hours for around 60 of Braintree's clerical employees, Charles Kokoros said. The mayor said the town will add money back into the budget as additional revenue comes in.

The School Committee's finance and operations subcommittee will meet again Thursday night to work on the school budget. George Kokoros said a budget will be presented to the mayor by the end of April.