by Thaddeus Flint
The Berlin School District’s Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Stephen Young, presented his rollover budget for the 2014-2015 school year at Tuesday’s Board meeting and the outlook he painted was somewhat bleak.
“It doesn’t look good,” conceded Dr. Young.
[private]The first drafts of BCS budgets never look good, but, with a projected deficit of $545,456, this one did look even more less-good than most.
The rollover budget is, however, just one of the first steps in budget preparation.
“This budget is not going to be the budget,” explained Dr. Young. Rollover budgets use the numbers from the current year’s budget updated only with known changes in revenues and expenditures. This includes contractual increases in salaries and pension cost increases. It does not include any academic program additions, reorganization or increases in staff or increases in operations costs, like utility increases. The rollover budget also continues all academic programs, extracurricular activities and all sports programs as they are now.
With those numbers, the 2014-2015 rollover budget is calculated to be $18,368,545. This is $506,597 more (2.84%) than the 2013-2014 budget of $17,861,948. The problem is that projected revenue is estimated to be $17,823,089. This wouldn’t have even covered the 2013-2014 budget never mind next year’s. Revenue is actually projected to fall by $38,859 from last year’s number.
With those numbers, it’s no wonder why Board President Frank Zwack said, “I want to encourage parents and taxpayers to write our Assembly and Senate,” in his President’s report. There is actually still time before the final State budget comes out. Perhaps the Legislature can still be inspired to adequately fund New York State schools. “We really aren’t getting what we should be getting,” said Zwack. “We are going to be in dire straits.”
According to Dr. Young’s presentation, “The proposed Governor’s budget provided Berlin Central School District with a decrease of in total aid of $90,045.”
It used to be that when aid fell, taxes went up. You still have to keep the school open. But in the past few years that is no longer the case. Governor Cuomo’s 2011 2% tax cap law was created to curb huge tax increases. “The property tax cap would give much needed relief to New York taxpayers and encourage local governments and school districts to consolidate services and make the most of their resources,” says the Governor’s website.
The Tax Cap
Unfortunately for school districts, the tax cap is tied to the inflation rate. The inflation rate decreased this year, which reduced the amount of property taxes schools will be able to raise for the 2014-15 school year to 1.46%.
The maximum allowable tax cap increase for the Berlin District will be 1.997% for 2014-2015. This would raise revenues by only $172,681.
The District could try and override the 1.997% amount, but it would have to go to the voters and would need 60% voting in favor of the increase. That plurality would be tough to get since Governor Cuomo has proposed a property tax freeze which would offer rebates to taxpayers of municipalities that cap property tax increases at or below 2%.
The New York State School Boards Association (NYSSBA) is adamant that the Governor’s proposed property tax freeze would be disastrous for school districts across the State. “Put simply, the tax freeze would have a chilling effect on educational opportunities for children, particularly if those children live in low-wealth districts,” said NYSSBA Executive Director Timothy G. Kremer.
The largest portion of expenditures in the budget comes from salaries and benefits. In 2013-2014 this was budgeted at $13,976,168. For next year, the number is $14,496,087. This amounts to an increase of 3.72% or $519,919. As most of these expenses are contractual, there isn’t much the District can do to offset a deficit with those numbers.
Other large expenditures would include the purchase of a facilities maintenance truck, a $100,000 project to renovate the auditorium at the Middle School/ High School and the purchase of two 66 passenger school buses. The $100,000 project and the bus purchase were both voted on and passed with all in favor, with the exception of Board Member Gina Goodermote who was absent, and will be added as propositions to the budget ballot in May. The $100,000 project, depending on how it’s packaged and presented to the State Education Department, could be aidable for up to 74% of costs.
The high cost of heating and electricity will also have to be figured into next year’s budget. The District’s Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds, Cyril Grant, has been giving monthly updates to the Board on how the recent increases in fuel and electrical costs have been playing havoc with his budgets.
“I had hoped for a much better result this past month for the electricity bill,” said Grant, “but unfortunately the rates did not go down greatly.” From a previous high bill of $26,000 in January, February only fell to $24,000.
“For our 2012-2013 school year, all year long, we spent $110,000. So far this year we spent $108,000, and we still have four months to go.”
“Were taking a huge hit from utilities,” agreed Dr. Young. “We are going to have to increase that budget.” In the coming weeks the administrators in the District plan to “look at every single line item,” said Dr. Young. The shortfall must somehow be minimized.
“We’ve got tough decisions to make,” said Zwack.
Valedictorian And Salutatorian Named
Dr. Catherine Allain, the Principal of the High School, had some better news, at least for the senior class. “There are 100 days to go until graduation,” she said. The Valedictorian and Salutatorian have been selected. Alessa D’Alessio will be Valedictorian, and Cullen O’Brien will be Salutatorian for the Class of 2014.
Masterminds
The JV Masterminds team has also made it to the national championships. These will be held in New Orleans, Chicago and Washington, DC, this May. Dr. Allain said that the District is currently looking into the feasibility of having the team travel to one of these destinations to take part. They could participate online if they had to, “But we want them to go,” said Dr. Allain.
The Music Man
The night started off with three students from the Berlin Dramateers performing pieces from the upcoming musical, The Music Man, which will be performed on April 4 and 5. “You don’t want to miss it,” said Dr. Young.[/private]