Now that Salem officials have agreed to consolidate the financial functions of the school district and the city, the question is: Will it work?
Flaring tempers at a joint meeting of the City Council and School Committee late last week indicate that there is some tension between the two boards, whose members traded blame over who bears more responsibility for a multimillion-dollar midyear deficit for the Salem public schools.
Consolidation was required under special legislation signed by Governor Deval Patrick last week to allow the school district to borrow up to $1 million, or spread their deficit over seven years and pay it off in chunks.
Without that ability to borrow, the district would have had to lay off about 30 teachers as part of about 60 total job cuts.
Now, other job cuts still may occur but no class will lose a teacher.
Much of the culpability for the shortfall has been placed on former school business manager and one-time city finance director Bruce M. Guy. Guy, who has not responded to repeated requests for an interview, has been accused by the city's auditing firm of paying old bills out of this year's budget.
A lengthy financial audit released last week is expected to provide more answers, but Salem officials earlier this week still were waiting for a "manager's letter" to summarize how things went wrong.
Finance director/auditor Richard Viscay Jr. said he expected that letter to arrive sometime to day or tomorrow.
The waiting has been hard on the Salem community and public officials, as was evident during the joint meeting last Thursday to consider the consolidation.
That night, School Committee member James M. Fleming called the City Council on the carpet for "whacking $500,000 out of our budget" a few years ago and then asking the district to absorb hundreds of thousands of dollars in other costs. That lost money, Fleming said, is part of the problem now.
Earlier in the meeting, councilors Joan B. Lovely and Matthew A. Veno had questioned what they described as a lack of oversight at the school district, considering that the council had decided in March 2006 to send a "no confidence" vote about Guy to the School Committee. At the time, Guy was being questioned for his role in a major shortfall in city finances.
Still, Guy retained his post as school business manager until this past September, when his three-year contract expired and was not renewed by the School Committee.
"There were clearly some failures in oversight on the school side, and I have to say that I am deeply disappointed that Mr. Guy maintained his employment at the School Department as long as he did," Veno said Thursday night. "That was a serious problem and I think we all understand that now with 20/20 hindsight."
At the end of the night, both boards voted to combine financial functions.
The consolidation made some officials wary.
The idea had been brought before the council and the School Committee a few months ago and met with resistance.
"I am very uneasy with what has been put before me," said School Committee member Janet Crane, who supported a suggestion by Lovely that the city hire a budget analyst.
Fleming said he wanted to know who would be reporting to whom under the consolidated structure.
"Is Mr. Danizio reporting to Mr. Viscay? Is Mr. Viscay reporting to Mr. Danizio?" Fleming asked of Viscay and current school business manager John Danizio. "We haven't seen those implications."
Mayor Kim Driscoll tried to ease tension at the meeting.
"I know this has been a very fast-moving issue, and I appreciate everyone's willingness and cooperation," Driscoll said, later adding in a rising voice: "Folks, we are not accepting legislation to some pandemic of things . . . that are going to be done under the cover of darkness.
"This is a good night, this is a feel-good moment . . . that's why all these people are here. We'll figure it out."
Speaking a few days after the meeting, Councilor Lovely said she's optimistic about consolidation.
"I certainly think it has the ability to work," she said when reached by phone Monday.
"There's no problem with another layer of oversight, especially now that we've had this [school budget deficit] issue come before us because this issue was totally preventable. So if we now have to have two layers of oversight, all the better."
Erin Ailworth can be reached at eailworth@globe.com
