At last night's Board of Education meeting, there was a sheet with answers to frequently asked questions about the Westport Central School budget handed out. You can download it here: School Budget FAQs with tax chart, May 2010
And here is the text:
Frequently Asked Questions Concerning the Budget
and the School Program
1. What is the budget voters are asked to approve?
The spending plan for 2010-2011 is $5,200,000. Each household/
taxpayer will receive a budget card which lists the budget by category.
The 2010-2011 budget represents a 2.45% (approximately $125,000)
increase in spending and a 4.45% increase in the tax levy. The
increase in the tax rate, based on current assessments is .575 cents
per one thousand dollars of assessed value. Currently, our tax rate is
$12.061 per one thousand. Based upon the current assessments the
tax rate for the 2010-2011 school year would be $12.575 per one
thousand. An ESTIMATED Change in Property Tax Bill chart is
attached.
2. What is the impact of non-resident students on the budget?
Westport Central School accepts non-resident students when the
enrollment will have no additional financial impact on the school. We
will not accept students when classes or programs are full. In the past,
our State Foundation Aid has increased because non-resident
applications to the school have risen. Based on this additional
enrollment, the District has realized an increase in state aid. The new
Foundation Aid model is a “share” or “foundational” approach,
wherein each student does indeed generate an allocation. This
approach is a result of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit which
yielded the decision that the state must provide fiscal support for each
student. This can be calculated by dividing Westport’s total
Foundation Aid by the number of students enrolled. This will give an
approximate amount of aid per student including the non-resident
students. When the Foundation Aid System is operating correctly,
there will be an increase of additional state aid generated by our
rising enrollment. The 2010-2011 foundation aid will be calculated
using the 2008-2009 data. Non-resident students have generated
significant aid in the past. Enrollment has remained constant over the
past several years, while acceptance is based on classroom availability
and size.
3. Where have the reductions occurred in this year’s proposed
budget?
We have made reductions in all areas of the budget with the exception
of BOCES services, health insurance, and retirement contributions.
The District has reduced the position of Superintendent of Schools to
one-half time. A retirement will reduce professional salaries. Supplies
and materials and plant operations have been reduced as well.
4. What costs have increased, year over year?
Our costs for BOCES services, mostly in special education, have
increased dramatically. Our contributions to health insurance and
state retirement funds have also increased.
5. What are unfunded mandates?
We currently have more than 145 unfunded or underfunded
requirements for schools. A listing of unfunded or underfunded
mandates is available. Graduation requirements have increased over
the years and not all requirements are funded. Students are required
to complete 22 credits of high school classes. There are new testing
requirements that have been phased in. Graduation requirements
change with each cohort of students.
6. Why have no positions been eliminated?
We have reduced the Superintendent’s position to half-time. We have
not cut any teaching positions, since doing so will have a direct impact
on program. The Board of Education has made the decision to keep the
program intact and to reduce areas of expenditure to ensure that the
education of the student body is not compromised. This year and next,
the school was awarded approximately $107,000 in ARRA (federal
stimulus) money. This money was used to keep our current
instructional staff in place.
7. What is the retirement incentive?
The BOE passed a one-time incentive for teachers to retire. This
incentive was limited to those eligible to retire under TRS (teacher
retirement system) rules this year. There were five faculty members
who qualified for this offer – one responded. There is an additional
program offered by the State for members of NYSUT with 25 years of
experience and who are 55 years of age. The window for this incentive
starts in June. All faculty members eligible for this program have
been informed.
8. What is a contingency budget?
A contingency budget is prepared and adopted by the school board when the
voters reject the board’s proposed budget. The contingency budget funds
only teachers’ salaries and those items the board determines to be ordinary
contingent expenses. Examples of ordinary contingent expenses include
legal obligations, expenditures, specifically authorized by statute and other
items necessary to the maintenance of a school district’s educational
program, the preservation of school property, and ensuring the health and
safety of students and staff. The Westport Central School District
contingency budget would be $5,078,356. This is $3750 higher than last
year’s budget.
9. Is a contingency budget automatic after voters reject a proposed
spending plan?
No. Should the voters defeat the budget, the District has the option of
offering a revised budget to voters for a revote, or immediately adopting
a contingency budget. Districts are only allowed one budget revote to be
held on the third Tuesday in June. If the budget fails a second time,
then the Board of Education must adopt a contingency budget before
July 1st. In the case of a contingency budget, districts are constrained
in two ways – determination of ordinary contingency budget
appropriations and the statutory caps. Ordinary contingency expenses
are defined as the expenditures absolutely necessary to operate and
maintain schools (except for those items over which the statutes
themselves either provide mandates for or give discretion to the board).
10. If we go to a contingency budget, what will that mean?
We will need to cut program by about $121,000. The BOE will need to
consider all aspects of the program at that point.
Additional Contingency Budget Information
A. What legal obligations are considered ordinary contingent expenses?
• Debt service (both principal and interest payments).
• Judgments from courts and orders of the commissioner of education and
other administrative bodies or officers.
• Social Security and retirement obligations as well as other payroll taxes
and assessments.
• Pre-existing contractual obligations, including collective bargaining
agreements under the Taylor Law.
• Payments made to a former superintendent in settlement of claims
arising from a contract.
B. What ordinary contingent expenditures are specifically authorized
by statute?
• Teachers’ salaries.
• Interschool athletics, field trips and other extracurricular activities.
• Transportation within the state-mandated mileage limitations.
• Transportation to and from school under the mileage limitations last
approved by the voters if more generous than the minimum mileage
limitations required under state law.
• Transportation related to interschool athletics, field trips, and
extracurricular activities.
• The cost of providing transportation in a child safety zone.
• Expenses for cafeteria or restaurant services.
• Textbooks.
• Expenses in connection with membership in the New York State School
Boards Association, Inc.
• Convention and conference expenses.
• Admission of nonresident pupils upon payment of tuition in accordance
with Part 174 of the commissioner’s regulations.
• Under limited circumstances: youth bureaus, recreation and youth service
projects, and other youth programs.
• The district’s share of BOCES services.
• Health and welfare services.
• Grants in aid received from either the state or federal government, other
gifts, and insurance proceeds not involving the expenditure of local
money.
• Kindergarten, nursery, and night schools.
• Pre-kindergarten, if the board chooses to offer a pre-kindergarten
program.
• Accident insurance for students.
• In-service training for teachers.
• Eye safety devices.
• Library books and other instructional materials associated with a library.
• Energy performance contracts entered into by either a school district or a
BOCES.
C. What are some examples of necessary items deemed to constitute
ordinary contingent expenses?
• Necessary travel expenses of board members and employees on official
business.
• Amounts needed to pay for necessary legal services.
• “Teacher supplies” but not “student supplies”.
• Employment of security guards to ensure “safety of students and staff”.
• Salaries for necessary non-teaching employees.
• Utilities, including fuel, water, light, power, and telephone.
• Use of school buildings for teachers’ meetings and parent-teacher
association meetings with school-connected purposes. However, this does
not include programs of entertainment or of a social nature.
• Emergency repairs of school plant.
• Maintenance of necessary, sanitary facilities.
• Necessary expenditures for complying with the commissioner’s regulation
pertaining to such items as fire alarm systems and fire escapes.
• Rental of temporary classroom facilities with approval of the
commissioner, in the case of an unforeseeable emergency.
• Required civil defense equipment.
• Certain expenses, such as for emergency repairs, or to equip a classroom
or classrooms where it is essential to house additional students. This
does not include equipment.
• Materials used in classes by students where uniformity is essential to the
program or to preserve health and safety.
• Newspapers and periodical subscriptions for libraries and classroom use
where essential for instruction or to preserve continuity of sets.
• Expenditures necessary to advise district voters concerning school
matters.
• Preliminary plans and specifications needed to submit propositions to
voters.
• Options on land where the price of land is nominal.
D. What are some examples of expenditures that do not constitute
ordinary contingent expenses?
• New equipment.
• Public use of school buildings and grounds, except where there is no cost
to the district but a district may charge a fee that meets or exceeds its
actual costs.
• Nonessential maintenance.
• Capital expenditures, except in an emergency.
• Consultant services to review district operations and make
recommendations necessary for the creation of the budget.
To see the tax chart showing estimated effects on property taxes, download the PDF.
