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WRIGHT TWP. &mdash; Crestwood School Board has scheduled a special meeting today at 6 p.m. to vote a second time on the 2020-21 budget. A posting on the district website notes the meeting will be held in person in the secondary campus auditorium.
				The budget was passed during a virtual meeting last Thursday, but the live stream video cut out before the vote was held, prompting Solicitor Jack Dean to recommend a special meeting so the vote could be taken again.
				The board has made big swings on the tax-hike issue all year. In January it voted on a preliminary budget with a 4.81% increase, but Business Manager Peter Bard said at the time the goal was to reduce or eliminate that hike by the time a final budget was approved. The early vote was necessary under state law because the proposed increase exceeded a state limit, which for Crestwood this year is 3.2%. Exceeding the limit requires either voter approval in the primary election or getting state approval for limited exceptions.
				In order to apply for the exceptions, a district must pass a preliminary budget very early in the year. If a board votes to stay within the index, a preliminary budget doesn&rsquo;t have to be passed until May. Bard said voting early for the budget gave the board more options.
				When May came the board voted on a &ldquo;preliminary final&rdquo; budget with no tax increase. But at public budget meetings later and at a June 10 finance committee meeting talk of a tax increase resurfaced. Both Bard and Superintendent Robert Mehalick apologized for presenting only one option for the proposed final budget, and suggested the board consider two other choices for the final budget vote: one with a 2.5% increase and one with a 3.2% increase.
				They noted the district probably could get through 2020-21 without a tax increase and without cutting programs or laying off employees, but that a large balloon debt payment the following year could cause problems, leading to a single year tax increase of more than 6% or to some cuts.
				At Thursday&rsquo;s meeting, Costello first had the board vote on a no tax-hike budget, but the vote failed. He suspended the meeting to go into a work session with board members debating, sometimes heatedly, the need for an increase. The meeting was resumed with intent to vote on a budget with a 2.5% increase. Costello, Anna Bibla, Maureen McGovern and Randy Swank voted against the tax hike, but it passed 5-4.
				In an emailed statement after the meeting , Costello later ripped into the board members who voted for the hike, accusing them of failing to be transparent and having a &ldquo;hidden agenda.&rdquo;
				Finance Committee Chair James Brogna rebutted the claim via email, noting Costello was on the board when decisions that ended up costing the district were made. He cited the appointment of a superintendent later removed &mdash; along with the district operations manager &mdash; after problems were discovered with a bus contractor and driver clearances.
				Brogna mentioned the public budget meetings and the June 10 finance committee meeting, saying Mehalick and Bard &ldquo;clearly demonstrated&rdquo; the district has made cuts and savings, including the decision not to fill the assistant superintendent post.
				Brogna cited the &ldquo;unknowns&rdquo; in preparing to bring students back while the pandemic may still be a risk this fall, and argued &ldquo;this financial situation created by previously dismissed district superintendent, left a negligible fund balance. Debt was restructured this year to save money and next year we are facing a balloon payment of $2.4 million, all while knowing there will be increased costs in every area (not controlled by the district nor the board) such as retirement pensions.&rdquo;
				&ldquo;I am equally concerned about those not able to afford taxes,&rdquo; Brogna wrote, concluding the tax hike was unfortunately necessary.
				&ldquo;Given the poor long-term planning up to this point, debt, safety concerns for the students, and lack of fund balance, there was no real other choice.&rdquo;

Crestwood schedules special meeting for second budget vote