Webutuck budget 3.41-percent decrease

WEBUTUCK — The North East Central School District will be presenting for voter approval on May 18 a budget totaling approximately $19.71 million, which represents a 3.41-percent decrease from the 2009-10 budget.

But, facing a proposed 14-percent (approximately $792,000) decrease in state aid, as well as increased costs associated with teacher retirements and health coverage, that still means the tax levy would increase by an estimated 2.67 percent.

If the Board of Education (BOE) was to copy this year’s exact program and convert it to 2010-11 dollars, it would equal approximately a 15-percent tax levy increase, Superintendent Lee Bordick explained.

Cuts had to be made to get to the current budget proposal, and the most talked about have been  22 staff position reductions ranging from cutting hours to eliminating  positions completely.

Bordick and the BOE have explained that the majority of the cuts were based on declining student enrollment numbers, finding savings in upcoming retirements and offering incentives to other staff members to retire early, as well as adjustments made after evaluating the effect of the Amenia Elementary School building closing.

Bordick said that despite the reductions, Webutuck’s core educational program has been preserved. The 22 staff reductions saved the district approximately $675,000.

Other significant cuts include reducing the conference and travel budget lines by half, saving $15,000, as well as cutting the equipment, materials and supplies line by 15 percent, resulting in a $250,000 savings.

The transportation system was reconfigured, saving $175,000, and the district decided to utilize some of its on-campus staff to fulfill requirements previously out-sourced to BOCES (Board of Cooperative Educational Services), saving nearly $210,000. Field trips reductions saved another $20,000, and the closing of the Millerton Elementary School building, which currently only houses pre-kindergarten, would save $40,000.

The proposed 2010-11 budget is roughly $445,000 less than last year’s adopted budget of approximately $20.48 million.

Separate from the budget vote will be an additional proposition to purchase one 30-passenger school bus and two passenger minivans at a maximum estimated cost of $80,000.

The budget vote will be held on Tuesday, May 18, from noon to 9 p.m. in the Webutuck High School library located on Haight Road of Route 22, on the border of Amenia and the town of North East.