The Mohonasen Central School District Board of Education unanimously adopted the 2009-2010 budget of $42,383,693 on Monday, April 6, but those numbers aren’t set in stone.
It’s not a typical year in that usually we see an increase in state aid, and this year foundation aid, which is the base of state aid, is staying flat, said Adrienne Leon, spokeswoman for the Mohonasen Central School District.
`The biggest thing with [the budget] is that it’s not final. This is the proposal that they came up with to this point, and the board will make a final decision on the 20th.`
She said that when Gov. David Paterson proposed deep cuts in state funding for education in December, the district was looking at a potential deficit assessment of $1.5 million.
`That [money has] since been reinstated in the state budget because of the federal stimulus money,` said Leon.
The general fund budget increase from last year to this year is 1.068 percent. This translates to a dollar increase of $448,079.
`We’re always looking to prioritize and make sure we have the funds to sustain our academic programs,` said Denise Swezey, assistant superintendent for business for the district.
Swezey said that over the past three years, the district has worked very hard to become fiscally stable again.
`Three years ago we had virtually no fund balance and the district was in a position where all of our reserves were gone. We’ve worked very hard to sustain our programs and the standards that are set,` said Swezey.
She stated that this is the lowest budget increase and tax increase that the district has seen in the past 5 years.
There have not been any major staffing cuts or program changes, according to officials, but a lot of vacant positions will be unfilled for the time being.
`There are three administrative positions that are cut,` said Leon.
The human resources position, which has been vacant for a year, will not be filled, and other positions have been eliminated through attrition as well, including the central registrar’s position and the social studies academic administrator.
`There are a couple of decreases in the middle school,` said Leon. `They’re going to cut a few positions at Pinewood, but for a lot of those positions those people are going to be reallocated in other ways with some of the additions that are coming in.`
The adopted budget includes a proposal for the implementation of a full-day kindergarten program. Funding for the full-day kindergarten program would come partly from federal and state aid, and the new teachers who would be hired would be left out of the general budget. Leon said that because of enrollment decreases in the district, students won’t experience huge changes in class sizes.
Due to the fact that the district has not yet adopted the final budget, officials said that it is difficult to show the impact it will have on taxes, but according to the district’s Web site, other factors that affect taxes include assessed values of property in the town ` an increase in assessments will reduce the tax increase, while a decrease will do just the opposite. Other factors include a change in the equalization rate, which is set by the Office of Real Property Tax Service, and the appropriated fund balance.
`Your tax levy increase is not what your tax increase is going to be,` said Swezey. `The tax levy increase is simply the increase of what needs to be collected from last year to this year, and that number can also change if the school decides to give back more money to the appropriated fund balance.`
She said that is what happened last year. The appropriated fund base was increased from $200,000 to $300,000.
`The tax levy increase was less than we initially thought,` said Swezey.
She said that they won’t receive final information about this until May, and when they `close the final books in July,` they’ll know the type of financial situation they’re in.
If the school budget is defeated when it goes to vote Tuesday, May 19, the district has proposed a contingency budget of $42,304,966.
`We’re in good shape financially so we’re trying to keep it that way,` said Leon.
“