Jesse Floyd
By Jesse A. Floyd, Belmont Voice staff
Town Meeting took a few minutes Monday night to remember Superintendent Peter Holland, leader of the Belmont Schools for 20 years, who died April 16.
Later in the evening, Town Meeting members passed a $66,885,704 school budget, bolstered by the passage of an $8.4 million Proposition 2 ½ override.
“Peter saw the schools as a resource for the whole community, a place for all the citizens of the town,” said Jeanne Widmer, chair of the school committee when Holland was hired in 1988.
Holland’s widow, Beatrice Holland, cited the proverb that when a student is ready, a teacher will appear.
“There was a readiness here [for change] when Peter showed up,” she said. “There were people who took his leadership and ran with it.”
The schools had a chance to evolve and change under Holland, and with him at the helm, many of those changes happened.
“There is much more ahead,” she said.
Previous Coverage
School Budget
The school budget increased 6.4% from $62.89 million to $66.89.
“On behalf of the school committee, I want to thank taxpayers and voters for supporting the schools with the override,” said School Committee Chair Meghan Moriarty during her presentation before the vote.
According to Moriarty, the override allows the schools to offer a level-services budget, maintaining art, music, athletics, and extracurricular clubs.
“I am so happy I’m presenting this budget and not the alternative,” she said.
Town Meeting members who spoke following the presentation focused on the decision to shift counseling services from the elementary schools to Chenery Upper Elementary.
Julie Crockett, a Precinct 5 member, urged the school department to reconsider the reorganization. She said the override was pitched as a level-service budget, and moving counselors away from the individual schools amounts to a cut.
“Be aware that these guidance counselors are the only counselors focused on general education students,” she said. “To avoid costs later, we need to focus on students today.”
Crockett was not alone in her concerns about the counselors being moved.
“When I saw the school committee and superintendent opted to shift a counselor rather than add a counselor…made me kind of worried,” said Mark Kagan of Precinct 8. “I hope you reconsider your decision and spend a bit more money to provide our kids with an adequate mental health budget.”
After discussion wrapped up, the school budget passed 207-4 with five abstentions.
Municipal budget
The municipal budget, also boosted by the override, is up 5.7% higher than in fiscal 2024, going from $152.83 million to $161.55 million, an increase of $8.72 million.
The budget, parsed into component pieces, passed with little discussion:
- General Government: $ 5,708,750
- Employee Benefits, Retirement Expenses: $ 9,873,396
- Employee Benefits, Other Reserves, including $31,793 pursuant to G.L. Ch. 40, section 13: $17,392,662
- Public Facilities: $7,573,801
- Public Safety: $14,482,995
- Belmont Public Schools: $ 66,885,704
- Vocational Education: $ 234,580
- Public Services: $ 9,753,750
- Human Services: $ 3,430,649
- Principal Debt and Interest: $ 15,511,944
The town transfers the following sums:
- Belmont Municipal Light Department (PILOT Payment): $ 650,000
- Undesignated Fund Balance (Free Cash): $ 2,559,636
- Parking Meters Receipts: $30,000
- Water Revenues for indirect costs of $246,442
- Sewer Revenues for indirect costs $273,783
- Perpetual Care Fund, Interest Earnings for Cemetery: $25,000
