Faced with decreasing funding and increasing costs, Wareham officials have been put to the task of stretching out their money, but there could be some relief in the near future.

Business Manager Michael MacMillan reviewed the operating budget for last year at a meeting of the School Committee Wednesday, and among expenditures discussed was the cost of healthcare.

He said that after seeing a sharp increase in the cost of healthcare, that number could come down because the Town of Wareham is expected to change providers in the near future. It is not clear if it would be an actual drop in costs, though, or if the cost would be less than if they stayed with the current plan.

Under the current self-insurance plan, the town and employees pay premiums into a trust fund. All health claims are paid out of the trust fund, with insurance companies involved only in claims processing. Unlike a traditional insurance plan, the town saves money if claims cost less than expected. The town contributes 75% of the money in the fund, while the town employees contribute 25%.

“Health insurance is the biggest part of our aid [from the town],” said MacMillan.

MacMillan said that a “healthcare holiday” in 2012 brought down the overall cost of health insurance, which led to increased costs in the 2012-13 and 2013-14 school years.

In 2012, the Town of Wareham transferred $1.2 million in free cash to the town's employee healthcare trust fund.  During the holiday, town employees did not have to pay into trust fund.

“We had to make up the difference,” he said.

His report said the total health and dental costs for active and retired employees was $6,604,106 in 2012-13, and though he did not have the total for last year, he said healthcare has gone up “hundreds of thousands, if not millions” in recent years.

In July, Selectmen voted to switch over to Mayflower Municipal Health Group. That switch, said MacMillan, should lower costs and allow the School Department to use those funds elsewhere.

“Being part of a bigger group will help to lower costs,” said MacMillan, adding that the expected decrease in health insurance and other factors should allow total school spending to be lower this year than it was last year.

The net budget for 2013-14 was $33,043,345, and for the 2012-13 year, it was $33,328, 357. It was $30,126,705 in 2011-12, and did not exceed $31 million in the previous two years.

MacMillan and the committee discussed several other aspects of last year’s budget, including the fact that the School Department received approximately $1.2 million less in grants and revolving funds.  Revolving funds let a city or town raise money from a certain service without using those revenues to support that particular service.

Superintendent Dr. Kimberly Shaver-Hood said that because of the lack of extra funding, some positions, such as reading specialists, have been cut, and certain learning materials have not been able to be provided.

“It has impacts district-wide,” said Shaver-Hood.

MacMillan said that inflation and cost of living increases have also affected the schools.

Committee member Rhonda Veugen added that state funding has only gone up $174,000 over the course of the last five years.

“The state does not make up for the increases and everything else that are happening in the Commonwealth,” said Veugen.

Committee Chair Cliff Sylvia said he planned to take the numbers in MacMillan’s report and bring them to a joint meeting of the town’s Finance Committee and Selectmen.

“There are a lot of numbers in this report—Mr. MacMillan did an admirable job in trying to clear this up for the board,” Sylvia said.