BOE mulls contingency budget cuts

PINE PLAINS — Despite the fact that the Board of Education’s budget would need to be voted down twice by district taxpayers before a contingency budget would be mandated, the board spent the majority of its April 14 budget workshop trying to anticipate where it would come up with the cuts needed to reach that level (roughly $26.4 million).

A contingency budget this year, as calculated according to the Customer Price Index (CPI), would  be  a zero percent budget-to-budget increase. That’s a difficult hurdle for school boards across the state to approach, especially given significant decreases in state aid.

The Pine Plains Central School District is affected most seriously out of all Dutchess County school districts by Governor David Paterson’s executive budget proposal, being hit with a $1.2 million (or roughly 16 percent) cut in state aid. The state has not officially adopted a budget yet, however, and it’s unknown whether those numbers will change.

Board President Helene McQuade said that the state looks at property values and the average income of property owners within the district when calculating the amount of state aid.

“They think we’re not taking enough in taxes,� she explained, adding that Pine Plains had one of the lowest tax rates in the county for the past few years, and she felt now the district was being punished for it.

Board Vice-President Bruce Kimball added that he felt there were faults to the formulas used by the state to calculate aid, saying that a number of part-time residents had recently changed their permanent addresses to the area, giving the impression, on paper, that school district taxpayers are wealthier than they actually are.

At the previous Board of Education meeting on April 7, district Superintendent Linda Kaumeyer presented the board with a budget 3.65 percent higher than this current year’s. The estimated tax levy increase was not revealed for that budget.

During the budget workshop, the board managed to get the budget down to a 1.68 percent budget-to-budget increase, cutting an additional $520,360 out of the budget by utilizing announced staff retirements. Kaumeyer explained that the impact of not replacing some of those teachers could be absorbed based on projected district enrollment.

A 1.68 percent increase would translate to an estimated 7.86 percent tax levy increase, she said.

As McQuade pointed out, due to decreased state aid even a contingency budget (at a zero percent budget-to-budget increase) would result in a 6.5 percent tax levy increase. Kaumeyer added that where other school districts might be keeping tax levy increases low this year by using significant money from their fund balances, Pine Plains has worked hard over the years to keep taxes low and its fund balance around the minimum required four percent. The board discussed using between $800,000 and $1 million from its fund balance this year to offset taxes.

Kaumeyer and administrators had presented to the board a list of gap-closing strategies along with the associated savings estimates. What the board went to task on during its budget workshop was which of those lines they would cut if they were required to go to a contingency budget.

Under contingency a school district is legally prohibited from purchasing equipment and transferring money to capital funds for construction and repair projects. That alone would save the district $210,000, but that still left approximately $232,000 in cuts.

“None of [the contingency cuts] are palatable,� acknowledged McQuade, and it was clear from the tone of the meeting that none of the options were reductions the board wanted to make. Among the options were cuts to the librarian staff, drama and art electives, field trips, increasingly significant reductions to the athletic program, late bus availability and other elective courses and extracurricular activities.

At several points during the workshop audience member Todd Bowen took issue with the cuts that the board was mulling over, arguing that cuts could and should be made from administrative areas rather than areas that directly effect the students.

“You have to make some hard decisions, but there are other positions that can absolutely be cut without our children losing out,� he said, specifically questioning the necessity of an assistant superintendent for curriculum, instruction and pupil personnel, separate principals for the middle school and high school, both the athletic director and the athletic secretary, the director of instructional technology and a full-time typist position in the attendance office.

“I think you need to make bigger decisions,� he said, “and I don’t believe [the cuts] should be at the bottom, where it affects kids. The only way to help the people of this town is to cut from the top, not the bottom.�

The second time Bowen brought up the issue, Kaumeyer took a lengthy aside to go through each position and why she felt it was needed. She added that if there were people working for the district who had nothing to do all day, the board would have taken action and eliminated the position previously.

“It’s bureaucracy at it’s worst,� Bowen maintained after the meeting. “It always comes down to cutting things from the kids.�

The board discussed its options for reaching a contingency budget at length, and eventually worked out the numbers for a contingency budget, although the plan included taking the modified sports program, which costs approximately $56,000 to run, and proposing it to taxpayers on a separate ballot at the May 18 elections. Kaumeyer said she wasn’t sure whether that was legally possible, and she would look into it.

The superintendent also reminded the board that it didn’t need to come to a firm conclusion on a contingency budget right away. The board would first present a budget to voters on May 18.

That budget is currently  up 1.68 percent with a nearly 8 percent tax levy increase, although the board has yet to officially adopt any budget proposal to present to voters. The board was expected to take action at the April 20 meeting, held after this issue’s deadline.

If that budget were voted down, the board would have an opportunity to revise its proposal and present a second budget for voter consideration. That vote would take place a few weeks into June, Assistant Superintendent of Business and Finance Michael Goldbeck reported. Only if that second budget were rejected by voters would a contingency budget be mandated by law.

Pine Plains adopted a contingency budget for the 2008-09 school year, although contingency was calculated to be a much higher 3.65 percent budget-to-budget increase during that year.

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