WESTBROOK – After releasing an initial proposed budget of $34.8 million for fiscal year 2014-15, the Westbrook school administration will look to trim roughly $600,000 before sending the budget to the City Council – but trimming could still leave the budget with a $1.9 million increase from this year.

On Monday, Superintendent of Schools Marc Gousse said that the proposed budget, following a theme from the last few years, was difficult to roll out without knowing the department’s state revenues.

Gousse said after receiving more information last week, the department is projecting an increase of about $734,000 in state subsidy. However, he added that while the subsidy is projected to increase, current legislation could be changed, or Gov. Paul LePage could issue curtailments.

“I’m a little nervous given what we’ve seen in the last two years,” he said. “This is the first year we have not seen a curtailment, but the year isn’t over.”

The department’s total projected revenues for 2014-15 are $17,293,863. With a total budget goal of $34,293,791, the school department would be asking city property taxes to shoulder the remaining $16,999,928, which is a $495,143, or 3 percent, increase from this year.

Gousse said the process is a constant push and pull between providing for the needs of Westbrook students while not asking Westbrook taxpayers to accept a higher burden.

“I don’t feel comfortable bringing forward any request greater than 3 percent,” he said. “We can’t break the back of the community.”

In this year’s budget, as well as for fiscal year 2012-13, the city’s portion of the budget sat at $16,504,784.

“The last two years, the community has supported us in a big way,” Gousse said. “But, we have seen some increases.”

Gousse said major areas of the budget seeing increases this year include the English language learner population, staff health insurance costs, technology spending that includes $400,000 in new laptops, and two new school buses.

However, with the department’s initial rollout of a $34.8 million budget, the $599,672 revenue gap must be addressed.

“Now, the work begins,” said Gousse, on finding ways to trim the budget in the weeks leading up to bringing the budget to the City Council on April 28.

Gousse defended his reasoning behind unveiling a budget that was higher than projected revenues.

“My job as superintendent is to bring forward a budget that reflects the needs of the learners,” he said. “But at the same time, I have a fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers to say, ‘What can we afford?’”

He said that based upon a priority list, he and Dean Flanigan, the school department’s director of operations, will make recommendations to the finance committee in order to “pare down” the proposed budget. The cuts would most likely come from new positions proposed under the initial $34.8 million budget.

On Wednesday, after the American Journal’s deadline, the School Committee’s finance committee was scheduled to hold a public hearing on next year’s budget. On April 2, the finance committee will conduct a budget revisit, and on April 9 will have the first reading toward budget adoption.