The Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake School District held the first of three community budget forums on Thursday, Feb. 9, at the O’Rourke Middle School, as the district embarks on the journey to close a $2.2 million budget gap.
Superintendant Jim Schultz took questions from the audience and allowed public comment to anybody who wanted the opportunity. An audience ofabout 50 watched via an online feed and about 70 turned out in person. According to Schultz, about a third of the audience consisted of students in the district.
A total of eight strategies were listed on the district’s website, but by meeting time, that number went to nine after an afternoon meeting, according to Schultz. Among the strategies were achieving greater operating efficiencies, finding mandate relief, using retirement savings and staffing/program reductions.
This year’s budget was $57 million. The district is projecting about $55 million in revenue next year, including $2 million of fund balance use and the governor’s state aid increase of $938,000 (including $586,000 inbuilding aid).
While staff salaries account for a 1.1 percent increase in the budget, Schultz said that 83 teacher’s salaries remained the same this year. Whether there would be retroactive increases to those teachers once a budget is balanced remains to be seen. Those 83 positions account for about a third ofthe total faculty for the district.
BH-BL still has $1 million in reserves, which Schultz said is indicative of good past planning.
“We want to maintain the level of stability we’ve had. Historically, we’ve looked at funding from the state (and gone from there),” Schultz said.
One of the largest contributing factors to the cost increase ofthe preliminary budget is staff benefits, namely mandatory pensionc ontributions and health insurance. The increase is pegged at $1.2 million, a 10 percent change. Other areas that are contributing to the increase are debt service, staff salaries, BOCES services and maintenance and utilities.Together, these five areas account for 99 percent of the total $2.2 million preliminary budget increase.
Academic cuts are being considered, and there are also early indications that a few sports programs will change, specifically a $7,000 cost to add a third level of boys and girls lacrosse, which was not part of the preliminary budget.
During the public comment portion of the forum, Geoffrey Leggieri, a physical education teacher, and coach for the boys varsity tennis team andthe girls freshman soccer team took the opportunity to speak.
“Upcoming decisions that have to be made by the board will impact me from many perspectives…My fear is that as a community we will see these reductions on the upcoming tiered list of cuts…and not make the correlation that for each one of these cuts there are many things that are done behind the scenes by individual teachers that this district will lose,” he said.
Leggieri also mentioned cutbacks could impact events like thet hree-on-three middle school basketball tournament, which also raises items for the local food pantry every year.
Other items that are not included in the preliminary budget include a cost of $25,000 to replace a music lab that is 20 years old, response to intervention improvements, adding a summer curriculum time and allowing participation in the TEC-Smart program.
The district is examining raising the tax levy by between 2.3 and 2.7 percent, or the limit of the state’s new property tax cap. A higher taxhike could be made if 60 percent of the public votes in favor of it.
Schultz said if the community rejects the budget twice, a contingency plan would mean the loss of 18 staff positions.
The driving force behind which end of the threshold the tax levywill wind up on depends on the number of appeals to recent property assessments that come back to the town. If a good majority of those come back and are approved, the district will be on the hook for the difference, and will likely push the levy increase to the 2.7 percent mark.
The public will vote on the budget in May. Afterwards, in July,it is expected a new superintendent will be appointed as Schultz is leaving the district.
Forums will also be held on March 1 and March 21. Each will beheld at the middle school at 7:30 p.m. and will be accessible via the web. Formore information see bhbl.org.
If you were unable to attend the BH-BL Feb. 9 budget forum, please go to www.bhbl.org for a link toan online survey where you can answer the same input questions as were asked at the forum. There are also links to a copy of the forum slidesand a recording of the forum.
