WESBROOK – The Westbrook City Council rejected the proposed 2014-15 school budget on Monday, amid clashes about failed plans to save money by consolidating services.

Following a presentation by school Superintendent Marc Gousse, which outlined the department’s $33.8 million budget, city councilors voted 4-2 to deny the spending plan. Their concerns centered on overall budget increases, even though the city’s property tax rate is slated to remain flat.

Voting to approve the budget were councilors Mike Sanphy and Gary Rairdon.

The majority of councilors said that a $1.6 million increase in next year’s school budget, which is being largely offset by an increase in school revenues, puts the department on a path that would be unsustainable in the years to come.

The council’s vote could jeopardize whether the school budget referendum could be held on Election Day, June 10.

Dean Flanigan, Westbrook schools’ director of operations, said the majority of budget increases next year are coming from increases in employee salaries and benefits, technology needs, and adding five new positions.

The positions include an English language learner (ELL) teacher at the high school, two ELL educational technicians at the high school and elementary level, and two special education educational technicians for elementary students.

Councilors Michael Foley, Victor Chau and John O’Hara were the most outspoken about the school budget.

“I can’t support it this time, and I won’t,” said O’Hara. “It is time for us as councilors to tell the School Department, ‘Enough is enough, you must make do with what you have.’”

“We need to send this budget back, and the School Committee needs to get back to work, because this is a lot of money to continue to spend year after year,” said Foley. “If we continue to spend at this pace, we’ll have a $40 million budget before we know it.”

School Committee Chairman Jim Violette, who was also a city councilor for eight years, said Monday that the five positions added next year are required by state law, based on the population of ELL and special education students.

According to school department figures, 13 percent of students in Westbrook are ELL, and 16 percent have special education needs.

“If we don’t hire them, the state can take away general purpose aid from us,” he said. “If you don’t want to support this budget, don’t. We’ll go back and do cuts, but this is a responsible budget.”

A major point of contention between the sides came during discussion of shared services, especially concerning the recent School Committee decision to break away from a consolidated human resources department with the city.

“Apparently it’s not working out with the HR department, and the schools need their own,” said Chau. “But the taxpayers need this to work out.”

The sides disagreed on what the human resources change would cost. The school department has included $95,000 in the budget for its own human resources director. The department’s portion of a shared human resources director is $108,000, according to Violette.

Violette said the change was made in order to save money.

“We’re saving the taxpayer money because we feel we can do it for $95,000 instead of $108,000,” he said.

He added that the city has also broken off shared services in the past, including custodial and technology services.

“I’ve been listening to you guys calling us bad guys for the last four years,” Violette said. “You’ve broken contracts with us because you believe you can do it cheaper.”

Violette said that when the city decided to outsource custodial services last year, the change cost the school department $50,000 in unemployment costs.

Last year, the school department broke off an agreement with the city for a shared finance department. According to Chau, the school department’s own finance department has been more expensive than the shared department between the two entities.

“We should be joining forces, saving money and helping kids’ education,” he said.

Gousse said Tuesday that he is working with city administration to find a solution to the human resources issue and keep the consolidated department, but he also said that the school department’s finance department is “financially sound” and has been vetted by state auditors.

Gousse added that he feels the budget is responsible.

“I think it’s important for the taxpayers to know that I’m proud of this budget,” he said. “I have worked very hard to move the district forward educationally while being thoughtful financially.”

He said he hopes the council “reconsiders” its action, and that any cuts made at this point would be “extremely painful. There is no fluff in this budget.”

Foley also asked the school administration to provide the budget information to the council prior to council meetings.

“For a number of years, the school department has time and time again provided us information the night of the meeting,” he said. “It’s my responsibility to be educated on what I’m voting on, and as far as I’m concerned I was not educated on the school department budget until now.”

“You only come in front of us at budget time, and do not include us in any of your discussions all year long,” said O’Hara. “When we try to include you, and bring you cost-saving measures, you enact it for a minimum amount of time and then say it can’t work. That is troubling to me.”

Lynda Adams, Westbrook’s city clerk, said Tuesday that the council’s decision on Monday threw off her plans to ready Westbrook’s June ballot. Adams said there was confusion following the vote on where the process needs to go.

“They said they’re not approving it (budget), but there was no direction as to what they wanted done,” she said.

Jerre Bryant, Westbrook city administrator, said Tuesday that the city’s Finance Committee must meet as soon as possible to decide on an acceptable budget number to give the School Committee. Then the School Committee must meet to approve the revised budget to send to the council. After the council gives its final approval, the budget is sent to a citywide referendum for a final vote.

Adams added that she had planned to order ballots for the June election on Tuesday, but now has to wait due to the budget holdup. On Monday, the council approved both a Stroudwater Street rezoning petition and Public Services facility referendum to appear on the ballot.

Adams said that state law requires absentee voting to begin 30 days prior to an election, and that mark is May 12. She said she is seeking guidance from the Maine Municipal Association on the timeline.

Rairdon, who was recently elected to his first term in November, and is perhaps the most removed from the process in prior years, said Monday that a partnership between a municipality and its school department “is like a marriage. Perhaps we need a marriage counselor.”