Montville — Town and school officials remain hundreds of thousands of dollars apart as they hammer out the final 2018-19 Board of Education budget.

In a tense meeting Tuesday, the Finance Committee pushed for a school budget of $37.2 million, at least $700,000 less than the $37.9 million proposed by school officials. As of Friday, town officials said they were awaiting better state estimates of the town's minimum budget requirement, which administrators tentatively pegged at $37.5 million.

Administrators warned a reduction in proposed spending could force the district to slash staff and programs. But committee members argued the school district had a history of using operating budget funds to cover capital projects and has come up with ways to avoid steep layoffs in the past.

Committee Chairman Wills Pike said he and other town officials were committed to covering a $430,000 capital plan for the school district, arguing they want school officials to focus on educating children, not fixing parking lots or buying buses. But the committee could not square the school board's proposed budget with the town's financial situation.

"I'm a strong advocate of education, but there are things that need to be done in Montville that have been put on hold for many years," Pike said. "I'm not saying they're all going to get done this year. But this committee has worked really creatively and hard to look at everybody's budget."

At the heart of the divide is whether the current year's baseline budget — a benchmark helping officials decide next year's potential increase — is $37.6 million or $36.6 million. Pike and committee members Tom McNally and Joe Jaskiewicz argue it's the lower figure, while school officials say it's the higher number.

Administrators and school board members reminded the committee that midyear state budget cuts forced the school board to shave the 2017-18 budget to $36.6 million. They explained — in December and repeatedly this week — that they made the $1 million midyear adjustment by deferring payments for several expenses the district typically purchases months in advance of the next school year, things like workers' compensation and liability insurance that cannot go unpurchased in 2018-19.

"If you say you're at $36.6 million, we're cutting a lot of staff," acting Superintendent Laurie Pallin said. "That was never, ever a viable budget number for us. We made that cut in good faith with the town because we thought it was the right thing to do because we could defer those payments — never thinking that it was because now, you're going to think we can do without that money. Because we can't."

Pallin and Business Manager Kathy Lamoureux said they appreciated the town committing to capital projects, including $153,000 annually to lease several buses the next five years. But they said it was unfortunate the minimum budget requirement would help determine the final budget figure, especially since the state bumped up its Education Cost Sharing funding by more than $1.6 million and the district faced increased costs due to contractual raises.

Pallin noted the school board this year incentivized early retirement and shaved hundreds of thousands of dollars from a previous budget proposal by not replacing six retirees. Difficult cuts to things like middle school sports and field trips have helped the district maintain solid staff and programs over the years, administrators said.

Pike on Friday said he didn't want to commit to a budget that was precisely at the minimum budget requirement estimate. He added, "We certainly will not violate state requirements."

Mayor Ron McDaniel in April proposed a $60.5 million total town budget, which would increase the town's tax rate by 2.23 mills. The budget called for no new staff but $1.42 million in capital improvements for several road and drainage repairs, and equipment and vehicle replacement.

McDaniel has said the Town Council potentially could reduce that tax rate hike by using some money from a recently received overdue tax payment. He also said increased Education Cost Sharing funding — $12.6 million instead of an initially budgeted $11.1 million — could help the town "keep education where it needs to be."

Town officials initially said they'd meet Wednesday, May 23, to finalize the overall town budget. Pike said that could be delayed until the following week after the Finance Committee completes its school budget review.

b.kail@theday.com