AUBURN – School Board Chair Kathy Constantine seemed almost surprised to hear praise coming city councilor lips Monday night.

Constantine, School Superintendent Barbara Eretzian and the rest of the Auburn School Committee gave the City Council a first look at their 2004 budget Monday night. The budget calls for a $232,000 overall increase in spending for the coming year, compared to the current year’s $29 million budget.

Last year’s municipal budget hearings ended with the councilors approving the school department’s budget, but with some strings attached. The School Committee was to report back on how that money was going to be spent. Councilors wanted the schools to justify the number of administrators, the costs per student and outline a concrete plan for dealing with state budget shortfalls.

Councilors all but promised that this year’s budget would be different, thanks to some $620,000 in cuts the School Committee has already made.

Councilor Joe DeFilipp, a frequent critic of the School Committee, had nothing but praise Monday night.

“It appears that you worked very hard to get to this point, and frankly, I appreciate your effort,” DeFilipp said. “I know it was hard work.”

Constantine wanted to know just what that work was worth. The city is just beginning its budget process, and Constantine wanted to know how safe the school district’s budget would be from other city budget woes.

“What I want to know is, what happens next if you run into a problem?” she said. “If there is some sort of a problem, would the council come back to us and say ‘We’ve changed our minds?”

“It would have to be a catastrophe of such drastic proportions you’d have to know it,” DeFilipp said.

Councilor Kelly Matzen agreed.

“There is a remote chance that we could come back to the School Committee and ask for more cuts,” Matzen said. “The other side could happen, too. We could find more money and be back here discussing how to spend it. But I wouldn’t set aside a date to talk about either one.”

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