LEWISTON — The economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was on the minds of some city councilors Monday as they heard a pitch for the school budget.

Councilor Lee Clement noted that officials face financial unknowns in crafting spending plans for fiscal year 2021.

“There is a tremendous competition for what tax dollars we have and right now there’s no assurance we will have what we’re counting on,” Clement said.

He added, “I’ve never seen anything like it. Nobody can give us any assurance of anything.”

He called the pandemic fallout “bleak” and “scary.”

He said the council has a “primary obligation to the public” in funding public safety departments such as fire and police.

“They are operating in facilities that are woefully inadequate,” Clement said.

He asked Public Schools Superintendent Todd Finn whether he could assure significant improvement in education over the next year if the School Committee’s budget were approved.

Finn said he could.

His presentation focused on the link between the School Committee’s budget and its goals.

“The present budget will fund a strategic plan to move Lewiston schools forward,” Finn said.

“This is not a pipe dream, it’s not sunshine and rainbows,” he said. “We can really get there. When we work together, we’re working for these kids to have a better life.”

Councilor Safiya Khalid said she had heard from constituents who were concerned about the long wait times for transportation at Connors Elementary School.

Money for two new buses, estimated at a total of $160,000, was cut from the budget last week.

A total of $1.4 million was cut to bring the budget down to a zero “additional local” increase to taxpayers.

Finn said funding for a third assistant principal at Connors, the largest elementary school in the state, would help administrators streamline a plan for busing.

The priorities of the proposed budget would help the district meet its goals by funding high-quality professional development, by bridging the equity and opportunity gap and by improving instruction through social and emotional learning, according to Finn’s presentation.

In response to questions from councilors, he said he expected an audit of the special education program and the creation of a new alternative education program at the Longley building to result in “significant” savings next year.

“I believe there are savings to be had and a better way to operate,” he said. The new program, Impact Academy, “will allow us to keep students here and not pay astronomical tuitions because we can’t serve them.”

The numbers:

• The draft budget stands at $89.6 million.
• The overall increase is $3.5 million, down from $4.9 million.
• Debt service and state-mandated minimum local share is $340,478.
• Contracted salary and benefit increases are $3 million.
• $3.8 million would be taken from surplus to balance the budget.
• Adding a special education program at the middle school would cost $630,000 but would save the district $1 million in out-placement tuition.