Schools' override is dividing town

Erford Fowler's bad dreams these days are about sewage. More precisely, they are about Newburyport's sewer treatment plant, a facility that, he said, is on its last legs.

"We have been doctoring it and doctoring it and at some point it has to be replaced," said Fowler, 69, a city councilor for the past 14 years.

"I feel uncomfortable," he added, "because I don't think the public absolutely knows the depth of what is going on in the city."

It's what he doesn't know about the city's finances that worries Fowler, who said he opposes a proposed $1.58 million Proposition 2 1/2 override to fund the city's schools until Newburyport's financial picture is clear.

As supporters and opponents argue their case for or against a tax hike, all residents await the mayor's blueprint for how the cash-strapped city should spend its money in the next year. Mayor John Moak's proposed FY 2008 budget is due May 7. The special election on the Proposition 2 1/2 override is slated for May 22.

Already, Moak has warned city councilors that Newburyport "very likely" will have to ask voters for a separate tax hike, specifically a debt exclusion, to pay for the repair or replacement of a number of items. In an April 1 memo Moak wrote to councilor Fowler and to council president Thomas O'Brien, Moak spelled out eight areas that are "highest priority" for attention in the next year, describing each as an "immediate need," including: a new firetruck estimated at $450,000; sidewalk repair and replacement citywide for approximately $300,000; some $500,000 worth of road repair not covered by state reimbursement; and roughly $625,000 in repair work to the city's schools, which would include making them handicapped-accessible.

Moak's letter did not state when he might seek a tax increase, but said he would refine his list after he presented his proposed budget next month. In an interview, Moak said he was not ready to pin down when another tax hike might be needed, but that overall, the city's finances are so tight, he has asked each of his department heads to prepare budgets at the same level as last year.

"We have no additional money to work with beyond what we had last year, so it's difficult to keep up with the cost of living," said Moak, 59, who also chairs the School Committee.

Moak, who supports the proposed tax hike to fund the schools, said he saw how his own children, now grown, benefited from such programs as foreign languages when they attended Newburyport schools. Superintendent Kevin Lyons eliminated foreign languages in the city's middle school in his proposed new budget, but said that $250,000 of the proposed $1.58 million override would be spent on restoring and improving the program.

Lyons has said the new tax money would also be used to upgrade the district's aging technology, and to restore 18.5 teaching positions, including some that had been eliminated in his proposed new budget.

With fewer than six weeks until the vote on the schools' tax hike, citizen groups have formed on both sides of the issue.

Mark Wright, 42, a School Committee member and father of three children who attend the city's schools, supports the tax hike but knows his group faces some tough odds. Roughly 75 percent of voters in Newburyport do not have children in the school system, he said.

"I have the concerns seniors have for rising taxes and that's very real for many people," he said.

"But seniors have benefited in the past with the education that was provided to them and they have demonstrated in the past they are willing to invest in the schools," Wright added. "The question is, 'Is this the right time and are we making the right case for that?' "

To that, Brenda Reffett answers a resounding no.

Reffett, 49, is a former city councilor and the mother of two sons who have attended the city's schools.

"I personally am not opposed to an override in theory, but the work that has been done to date is not enough," said Reffett, who is organizing a group to campaign against the override.

Reffett said the School Department has failed to provide a detailed and thorough accounting of its budget. She would like to see the department present a "zero-based budget," where it starts at zero, then adds the programs that are necessities, such as state-mandated special education costs, and then adds the items that are not mandates.

"Many of us who have been involved in the budget processes in the city have a different view of what is extra, and what is necessary," Reffett said. "It's not a matter of not wanting to spend the money. I just don't want to write a blank check."

Kay Lazar can be reached at klazar@globe.com.