Finance Committee Chairwoman K. Elaine Neely, right, conducts Wednesday's meeting.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Finance Committee on Wednesday finished its review of the relevant warrant articles for May's annual town meeting and heard an update from the chairman of the Mount Greylock Regional School Committee about the district's funding request for fiscal 2016.

 

Carolyn Greene appeared before the Fin Comm to explain why Mount Greylock's assessments to its member towns is slightly higher than the figures previously considered by Lanesbourough's and Williamstown's finance committees and the public.

 

After the second of two public hearings on the budget, she said, the School Committee decided to hold off on approving the FY16 spending plan.

 

"We had some members of the committee who thought the budget was cut too much," she said.

 

The committee asked the administration to come back with five potential items to add back into the budget, and on March 23, it added two pieces, which raised the total budget by $42,100, to be split proportionately between Lanesborough and Williamstown.

 

"That brings our budget to a 1.25 percent increase over last year," Greene said. "The increase in the assessment is 4.9 percent to Williamstown."

 

Williamstown voters will be asked on May 19 to approve an assessment of $4,957,055 to the junior-senior high school, up from $4,725,539 in FY15.

 

Although Town Manager Peter Fohlin assured the Fin Comm that the $231,516 was manageable, given the town's unused levy capacity, Greene emphasized that the district was asking for a higher contribution than originally planned by Williamstown or Lanesborough, for which Mount Greylock could face an override vote to support the budget.

 

In early February, before the Mount Greylock Committee developed its budget, Fohlin's FY16 budget proposal included a "placeholder" line for the district calling for a 2.5 percent increase in the town's contribution to the regional school.

 

Had Mount Greylock's assessment been in line with the the increases in other town cost centers — like the K-6 Williamstown Elementary School — the regional district would have asked the town for $4.8 million, or $113,000 less than actual assessment (a difference of 2.3 percent).

 

The other funding request before the Fin Comm on Wednesday evening came from the Williamstown Youth Center, one of a few non-profits that annually receives a contribution from the town.

 

This year, voters will be asked to raise and appropriate $72,030 for the youth center — 2.5 percent more than last year's contribution.

 

WYC Director David Rempell discussed the center's operation and positive impact on the town.

 

As expected, the center has seen a significant increase in participation since its 2012 move from an out-of-date facility on Cole Avenue to its new facility on the elementary school grounds.

 

And that increase continues, Rempell said.

 

"Our after-school program is up 20 to 25 percent from last year," he said. "In March, we averaged 73 kids per day. Last year, it was 58."

 

Rempell described the after-school program as the center's "signature program," but the facility also is a hub for various athletics and arts programs for children in Grade 1 and above. And thanks to a partnership with the Williamstown Community Preschool, the WYC is home to an after-school program fro kindergarten-aged children.

 

The proximity to the elementary school also allows the youth center to operate a before-school program, allowing families to drop off children at 7 a.m., 90 minutes before the doors open at the school.

 

Mount Greylock Regional School Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Greene explains the changes in the school budget to the Finance Committee.

"We feed them breakfast, they finish their homework, they read, they play in the gym," Rempell said. "I wish I'd had a program like this when my kids were young."

 

As for the after-school program, Rempell said the center is an asset to the town.

 

"There's been a whole lot of research coming out recently that points to a direct correlation between children attending quality after-school programs ... [and] academic achievement, resistance to alcohol and drugs, etc.," he said.

 

Rempell shared details from the WYC's $379,000 budget, most of which is funded by program fees, which the center's board works to keep as affordable as possible. The town's contribution — if approved — would account for about 19 percent of the center's anticipated FY16 income.

 

To demonstrate the center's commitment to low fees, Rempell noted that the WYC charges $650 for a year's worth of after-school tuition, which works out to less than $4 per day for children to attend every day. And there is a half-tuition option for families who just need the program one or two days per week.

 

The center and its board also is committed to making scholarships available for families who need them. The center recently began reaching out directly to teachers at WES to find children who might benefit from the after-school program.

 

"The youth center is now going out of its way to get children into our programs who might not normally come in the door," he said. "Whether parents didn't feel comfortable asking for financial help or whether it just wasn't on the parents' radar, we knew we were missing kids."

 

The WYC was the last of the cost centers — mostly town departments — to come before the Fin Comm over the last two months.

 

Having discussed the details behind the budget already, the committee breezed through the warrant articles on Wednesday night, unanimously recommending approval for all at the May 19 annual town meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m. at Williamstown Elementary School.

 

The annual town election will be held one week prior, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on May 12 at WES.