Portland City Council’s finance committee got its first look at the revised Portland school budget Thursday and members said they appreciated the school board’s effort to reinstate some positions that had been cut in the original without increasing the tax hit.

“I appreciate the school finance committee’s work on this,” said Councilor Anna Trevorrow of the budget.

The school board finance committee members voted on Monday to reincorporate 17 positions to the original $161 million budget, including classroom staff and positions to support high-needs students and create curriculum.

City Council members asked about the district’s long-term strategic plan and for more information on the budget. City Councilor Kate Sykes said she would like to know more about the district’s changes to its annual budget over the years.

“I’m a little unsatisfied with the amount of documentation that I have to assess the budget over a fairly long period of time,” she said. “I just want to make sure we’re being as efficient and fair as possible.”

Sykes also asked the district how it plans to retain its classroom educators. Superintendent Ryan Scallon noted that the district understands that pay for education technicians is not competitive and that the district is beginning negotiations with the education technicians union.

The council will vote on the amended $162.3 million budget in late May before sending it to voters in June.

The latest iteration of the school’s budget calls for a spending cut of almost $1 million from this year’s $163 million spending plan and would still require the elimination of about a dozen positions.

Superintendent Ryan Scallon had presented a $161 million budget to the group last week that would have cut 30 positions.

But the school board’s finance committee amended the budget Monday, restoring 17 positions at a cost of $1.3 million. However, the district plans to use reserves and cost savings to maintain Scallon’s proposed 6.85% increase in the school portion of the tax rate.

A 6.85% increase would add $191.25 in property taxes on a $375,000 home.

Both the school and the city are facing a challenging budget year. Both have lost significant amounts of federal COVID-19 relief funds and, like taxpayers, are facing rising costs because of inflation.

Portland’s overall property tax rate is the average of the municipal and school tax rates. The city and school board set their budgets and resulting tax rates, both of which must be approved by the City Council. The school budget also is sent to voters for approval.

This budget year, property owners saw a 5.9% tax increase, the average of the city’s 6.1% tax increase and the school district’s 5.7% tax increase.

In addition to discussing the school budget, city and school finance committee members chewed over the 2022-23 financial audit of the schools and city, which found that the schools do not have satisfactory systems for inputting financial information or tracking financial transactions. The issues were also on the prior year’s report and the school district said that over the course of this school year, they have fixed or are in the process of fixing all of those issues.

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