By Thane Grauel

WESTPORT — The Representative Town Meeting has passed the spending plans for the town and the Board of Education.

A final vote on the spending — $243,144,077 of it in all — came Tuesday night and was unanimous.

Votes on budgets for the town and some related agencies were held Monday.

The Board of Education budget — and then entire spending plan — was taken up Tuesday night.

Board of Education Chairwoman Lee Goldstein told the RTM that the final budget was several millions of dollars smaller than approved earlier by the Board of Finance.

“We are so proud of schools, of our students and our teachers, our faculty, our staff, of our families, and of Westport,” she said. “We’re proud to live and work in a town that values and prioritizes our schools and education the way that Westport does.”

“We’re also pleased tonight, in an unusual turn of events, to ask you to approve a lower number than the one put forth by the Board of Finance, and the ones approved by both committees,” she said. “The budget we’re going to ask you to approve tonight — it’s about $143,600,000— is about $3.7 million lower than our original budget.”

The budget, she said, represents an increase of 5.4 percent over the current fiscal year. Not considering health care costs, it would be more like 3 percent, she said.

The lower number came because the schools are switching over to a state-managed insurance system.

She thanked the administrators who negotiated with the employees, and the employees from seven bargaining units.

“Teachers, administrators, secretaries, custodians, paraprofessionals, maintainers and health aides who all agreed to make this switch,” Goldstein said.

The RTM voted unanimously to approve an appropriation for the schools of $151,736,102, which included debt service.

The RTM then voted on the entire spending package of $243,144,077. That vote was also unanimous.

What’s next?

On May 22, the Board of Finance is to set the tax rate for the next fiscal year, beginning July 1.

Thane Grauel grew up in Westport and has been a journalist in Fairfield County and beyond for 36 years. Reach him at editor@westportjournal.com. Learn more about us here.