By MARK SARDELLA

WAKEFIELD —  The Town Council this week approved $2,163,315 to fund the FY 2023 Vocational Education budget, of which the lion’s share, $2,017,068, is for the Northeast Metro Tech, which is attended by 106 Wakefield students. The remainder, $146,247, is to fund the seven  students expected to attend Essex North Shore Agricultural & Technical School in Danvers next year.

According to Town Administrator Stephen P. Maio, Wakefield’s total assessment of $2,017,068 for Northeast Metro Tech includes an operational section of $1,866,041 and a bond payment on the new vocational school of $151,028. (The bond payment relates to the construction of a new school on Hemlock Road. In December of 2017, the Massachusetts School Building Authority accepted Northeast Metro Tech’s proposal to build a new $317.4 million-school and will reimburse the school for a significant percentage of the total project costs. On Jan. 25, 2022, voters in the district voted to approve the school building project.)

Northeast Metro Tech Finance Director Jay Picone joined Monday’s Town Council Meeting via Zoom to discuss next year’s budget, along with Principal Carla Scuzzarella and Wakefield’s representative on the Northeast School Committee, Britanny Carisella.

Picone said that Northeast Metropolitan Regional Vocational School’s total FY 2023 operating expense before debt service is projected to be $31,650,800, which is $1,789,784 (5.99 percent) over the FY22 total operating budget of $29,861,016. Including debt service, the total operating budget for the school is $33,513,000.

Picone listed the goals of the FY 2023 Northeast Metro Tech budget as follows:

• Minimize the financial impact to member communities, while being able to fund the principal and interest payment on the first round of bonding for the new school.

• Provide an adequate level of funding to support student learning and foster educational excellence.

• Allocate the additional funds provided by the Student Opportunity act to best meet student needs.

In terms of minimizing the assessments to member communities, Picone reported that Northeast Metro Tech is projected to receive $12,768,498 in Chapter 70 state aid for FY 2023. This amount is $1,573,385 higher than what was received in FY 2022.

Picone also anticipated a projected $1,000,000 in transportation revenue in FY 2022 that will be used to offset the FY 2023 budget.

“Additionally we intend to use $2,279,950 from our Excess and Deficiency funds to further reduce assessment costs,” Picone said. “In total, we plan to use $3,279,950 of other funds to reduce the member assessment. We intend to use a combination of these revenues to significantly offset increases in the operating budget.”

Picone listed a number of “fiscal challenges” facing Northeast Metro Tech in FY 2023.

Those include funding for regular contractual salary obligations, funding for new educators based on student needs and increased enrollment in key subjects, and funding for OPEB (estimated liability of $60 million).

Other challenges include funding increases in health insurance costs due to a projected 6.3 percent increase in GIC premiums and funds to tackle overcrowding in the current school building due to increased enrollment.

Northeast Metro Tech High School is a four year public regional vocational high school. The Northeast Metropolitan Regional Vocational School District is comprised of 12 communities North of Boston, including  Chelsea, Malden, Melrose, North Reading, Reading, Revere, Saugus, Stoneham, Wakefield, Winchester, Winthrop and Woburn.

The Northeast Metro Tech School District was formed in an agreement adopted by an overwhelming mandate of the voting populace of 12 Massachusetts communities in 1964. It was originally formed by an informal agreement to work toward a common goal – a regional vocational school offering a variety of vocational and technical courses, which no one of the 12 communities could have afforded on its own. The present school building was constructed in 1968.

This week’s Town Council vote to approve the FY 2023 Northeast Metro Tech budget was unanimous.