Elwood Staff Presents 2011-12 Budget Proposal

In all the years that he’s worked on budgets, Elwood Superintendent Peter Scordo said Monday that “this year tops them all” in terms of the economic challenges the district faces.  The bright spot, he said, is that the district doesn’t have to deal with the issue of a tax levy cap until 2012-13.

William Pastore, Assistant Superintendent of Business, presented preliminary budget numbers at the Feb. 3 Board of Education meeting.

While essentially maintaining the same programs and staffing as the previous year, the new budget of $55,633,473 represents an increase of $4,526,393, or 8.86%. This number reflects a 10.68% decrease in state aid over last year. Click here to see the draft budget and the Power Point presentation given at the meeting. 

A Big Jump in Retirement Contributions and Teachers’ Salaries
A large part of the increase can be attributed to a rise in the contributions to the Employee Retirement System and Teacher Retirement Systems totalling $873,640. Since these contributions are mandated by the state, this number cannot be revised.

Salaries are slated to increase due to collective bargaining agreements dating back to early 2009. The district will also lose $789,885 in federal stimulus funding which will end June 30, 2011. One piece of good news: the district will receive an additional $418,753 through the Education Jobs Fund, a new grant awarded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). The money, which can be spent in either or both of the 2010-11 and 2011-12 school years, can only be used for employee compensation and benefits, including the hiring of former and new employees.

The appropriation for health insurance will increase by $281,656. Pastore said that the average increase in rates for the New York State Health Insurance Plan is 12.7%.

Transportation Costs on the Rise
Budgeted expenditures for transportation are increasing by $258,681 or 9.24% due primarily to the additional vans needed for private, parochial, and out of district placements. Trustee Andrew Kaplan asked if the district would be allowed to join other districts to get bids on transportation services.  Pastore said that if the district did consolidate with others, there would definitely be some economies of scale, and explained that a county-wide exploratory meeting had been held over the summer to discuss the issue. Only two districts – Elwood and Brentwood – had attended the meeting.

Kaplan asked if a letter could be sent to Elwood’s surrounding districts to determine the level of interest in sharing transportation costs. Trustee Dan Ciccone suggested that it might be more manageable to share services only on separate runs, such as to Kellenberg High School, but questioned whether it would be possible to pull single routes out of the overall transportation contract. Scordo said he would seek legal counsel to see whether that would be possible.

No Change to the Fund Balance
The fund balance will remain at $800,000.  Scordo noted that, because of careful planning on Pastore’s part to include the actual health care costs of each employee, the budget is “almost to the penny.” He said the fund balance was put there as a matter of transparency.  “A knee-jerk reaction would be to pull it out,” he said. “But I think that would be irresponsible.”

A resident questioned the current amount of monies being held in reserve. Pastore said it was “around $1.5 million.”  He noted that the district had recently been notified by the state of a prior period adjustment of approximately a million dollars concerning state aid in building projects, but that the money is paid only when it’s available. Ciccone noted that the most a district can hold in reserve is 4% of the total budget.

Waiting for Final Numbers
There are still a number of costs which need to be finalized, including:  refinements in fifth grade and high school staffing as well as the cost of instructional and non-instructional equipment and supplies; the BOCES 2011-2012 contract, which is expected in mid-February; final numbers on general insurance and Worker’s Compensation; and possible recommendations from the Facilities Committee once a building condition survey is completed and reviewed.

A contingent budget increase this year would be limited to 1.92%

March Budget Workshops
The special education budget will be discussed at the next budget workshop on March 3 at 7:30 p.m. A fourth budget workshop will be held Saturday, March 26 at 9 a.m. Both meetings will take place in the Elwood Middle School library.