Berne-Knox-Westerlo proposes same budget for revote; Three other school districts make changes to spending plans
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One of the four area school districts whose budgets were defeated is not making any changes and hoping the second time will be the charm.
Berne Knox Westerlo
Berne-Knox-Westerlo is keeping its proposed budget at $26.35 million. This contains a proposed tax levy increase of 5.09% tax increase, which is above the district’s tax cap of 4.35%. This requires a supermajority of 60% plus one vote to be approved. It fell short the first time around with almost 59%.
Superintendent Timothy Mundell said in an email that the board considered revising the budget, but decided to keep the budget the same for a June 18 revote. All current staffing and programs will be maintained.
“This is a student-based budget,” he said.
Mundell said the district faces rising costs because of contractual obligations and inflation. Overall spending is increasing by 2.77%.
Mundell worries about rural school districts losing state aid, he said. Gov. Kathy Hochul had originally proposed doing away with the “hold harmless” provision that guarantees that school districts receive no less aid than they received in the current year. The Foundation Aid formula takes into account a district’s property wealth and enrollment.
The Legislature did not go along with Hochul’s proposal but approved a study of the Foundation Aid formula to be submitted to her office by Dec. 1, according to Mundell.
He said he worries that is an aggressive timeline, which he believes means it won’t be a thorough study.
“Based on these actions, as a save harmless district that does not fit the Governor’s communicated understandings of save harmless districts’ reserve and fund balance resources, district wealth, and tax levy capacity, we are anticipating a significant, inequitable shift in NYS Foundation Aid funding, potentially leaving our district in a quagmire of financial problems. Our situation is not unique among the 300+ save harmless districts in the state,” he said in a statement.
Three other school districts are tweaking their budget.
Northville
Northville is also seeking approval for a revised $14.71 million budget.
Superintendent Sarah Chauncey said the district has reduced its spending by another $212,000 to get under the cap. The district’s cap is 3.68% and this proposal comes in just under the wire with a proposed 3.675% increase to the tax levy.
Among the cuts in this latest round is reducing use of teaching and custodial substitutes, not purchasing a pickup truck and cutting BOCES services, according to the budget presentation.
Northville’s state aid was flat at around $5.5 million, Chauncey said. The district receives the lowest amount of state aid compared with its neighbors. She said the district has kind of hit the “fiscal cliff.”
“We have been applying reserves and fund balance over time each year to bring us down to the cap, and we had to apply $815,000 this year to get us where we are right now,” she said.
She said the district the district’s long-term goal is to address the amount of state aid it is receiving.
“You don’t want these reserves and fund balance to be depleted,” she said.
Salem
The Salem Central School District has cut around $125,000 worth of expenses to reduce its budget to around $17.9 million.
Superintendent Julie Adams said in an email that the district was able to reduce the number of outside purchases and made adjustments to salary based upon staff that is leaving and the new hires that will be replacing them, likely at a lower salary. The district is also projecting to receive $76,000 in additional state aid based on the final state budget.
All these changes allowed Salem to cut the proposed tax levy to 2.9% said Adams, which is at the district’s cap, and maintain high-quality educational services.
Putnam
The small Washington County school district of Putnam had its budget defeated by one vote– 32 to 31. However, instead of holding a revote. They adopted a contingency budget of $2.92 million that kept the tax levy flat at $1.992 million.