EAST PROVIDENCE — New Schools Supt. Mario Cirillo presented an $82.6 million budget request for fiscal year 2009 to the School Committee on Tuesday night. It represents a 12.8 percent, or $9.38 million, increase over this year’s $73.2 million spending plan.

The city used $42.3 million of its collected property taxes to pay for this year’s school budget. The requested property tax allocation for the next fiscal year, which begins Nov.1, is $51.7 million. That means East Providence’s contribution to the schools would be 22 percent higher if the City Council approves the budget as is.

Yet a local ordinance mandates the city can’t raise the tax levy more than 3.5 percent annually. The council can, however, exceed the cap with a super majority vote.

“You could fill the high school auditorium or the Dunkin’ Donuts Center [with supporters of this budget request] and you’re not going to get the council’s approval,” committee member Stephen DeCastro said after the presentation. “That’s the reality.”

He was the only member not to support the plan. The rest of the board — including chairwoman Mildred Morris, who said immediately after the vote, “What else am I going to do?” — approved its first passage. A second passage at the committee’s Sept. 9 meeting, or a later gathering, is necessary before it is forwarded to City Manager Richard Brown and the council.

“The budget I am presenting is with deep chagrin,” Cirillo said in his opening statements. He also said he didn’t prepare it. Former Supt. Jacqueline Forbes and former interim finance director William Capron, both of whom left earlier this month, put it together. “I do not support it in its present state; it is simply a reflection of where we are and what the district needs to operate, from the most basic of perspectives.”

He said the information should not be used to “cast stones.” Instead, it should put everyone on the same page so “we can tackle our challenges in a spirit of cooperation and with the goal of solving these daunting challenges.”

The School Department had a deficit from former Supt. Taras J. Herbowy’s reign that it is still paying off. There is about $1 million remaining. The district also had $3.27 million of scheduled cuts for this year’s spending that “didn’t materialize,” Cirillo said. He said the department’s actual costs are $76.51 million and not the council-approved $73.24 million.

So before the School Department can deal with next year’s expenses, it is $4.27 million in the red. Human Resources director Lonnie Barham said there are unpaid bills dating to four months ago.

The proposed budget asks to pay off the deficit and uses the actual expenditures amount, $76.51 million, from this year as its base. It requests a $1.83 million increase in costs and all three — the base, deficit and increase — total the $82.6 million proposal.

The budget does not include any salary increases for the teachers or anyone else. The district began new contract negotiations with the local teachers union this month, however ground rules have been the only issues discussed so far.

It also does not permit the district to complete any “badly needed improvements” to the school buildings, such as getting them in compliance with new state fire codes and paying for a new heating system for Hennessey Elementary School, the superintendent explained.

The proposal is also “bare bones,” meaning it will “barely meet the minimum expectations of the parents and citizens of East Providence” as well as the district’s contract, legal and regulatory obligations, Cirillo said.

“Never did I think I would give this speech two weeks into the job,” he said.

Health insurance is projected to increase $2.1 million, or 23 percent. Special-education tuition is projected to rise $2.5 million, or 47 percent; pension costs may be up $500,000, or 8.5 percent; and utilities, a $200,000 increase, or 13 percent.

It also includes a 100-percent increase in legal fees, DeCastro pointed out Tuesday night. The $350,000 amount, up from $175,000 this year, was increased in anticipation of more work for the school lawyer, Cirillo said. He said the lawyer would assist in contract negotiations, if vendors sue the district for nonpayment and any other court actions that may be necessary.

“In other words, it’s not going to be a typical school year and it would be fiscally irresponsible not to budget more,” member Anthony Carcieri said after DeCastro asked for more information regarding the increase in legal costs.

“You can put any number down, but the City Council is not going to give us [this budget,]” DeCastro said.

Carcieri countered, “This is the reality. These are the numbers… We have a huge problem and it’s real. It’s not imagined, pending or anticipated. It’s here. He [Cirillo] has unearthed and uncovered everything. Let’s support him.”

apina@projo.com