NEWINGTON - A $515,000 Board of Education surplus will not be calculated as part of the base budget, but as funding retained in a non-lapsing contingency account.

       That was Town Council Republican Majority’s summary of a budget deal made with the Board to formulate a total increase of 1.2 percent. The Council had already added its own $345,000-or 0.5 percent.

       But in last night’s special meeting-called by Council Democrats-Republicans and Board members gave different interpretations of what was actually agreed upon during negotiations. Members of the Board said that they had expected to hand the surplus back to the town to be transferred into the school operating budget.

       Leaving it in a contingency fund may cover recurring expenses such as teacher salary increases for one year, but there would be no guarantee of the money being there the following budget cycle, Board members said.

       Confusion arose shortly after the Council’s approval of the budget and the negotiated resolution. Democrats called a special meeting last week for clarification purposes.

       â€�"We had an agreement that it would be a straight declared surplus-back to the town, and then right back to us,” said Board member Jane Ancona-Siegel. â€�"That wasn’t the agreement that was passed that night. We’re just asking you to correct the mistake and move on.”

       But the intent had always been to leave the surplus out of the Board’s operating budget because the Republicans did not want the town to be on the hook for the difference in the event that the Board could not find the full $515,000, said Mayor Roy Zartarian.

       â€�"The Council adopted an innovative budget solution that addressed the concerns of the Town Council and the Board of Education,” Zartarian said. â€�"We did the best we could to reach a medium.”

       The Board knew that it could find the full amount and even offered to transfer it to the town during negotiations, said Superintendent of Schools Bill Collins after the meeting.

       On Wednesday night, the Board will go back to deliberations regarding potential cuts. Board members and Council Democrats have warned of the possibility of layoffs and the loss of programs.

       â€�"We need to move this district forward,” said Councilor Minority Leader Carol Anest. â€�"This is going to hurt us in future years.”

       Republicans pledged to keep taxes down, and followed that with a reduced Mill Rate in this year’s budget. Members of the Majority have pointed to property revaluations that will have more than half of home owners paying more in taxes automatically, as well as increasingly pessimistic state aid projections from Hartford’s own budget deliberations.

       â€�"We didn’t cut their [the Board of Education’s] budget,” said Majority Leader Beth Delbuono. â€�"We cut a proposed increase.”

       Among a $1.3 million proposed reduction in state aid, Governor Malloy is also looking to cut around $600,000 from Newington’s Education Cost Sharing, (ECS) formula.

       â€�"What’s going to happen in 2017-2018?” Anest said. â€�"The Board of Education is going to be in an even bigger bind, because they’re not going to have $515,000.”