Budget vote May 20, 2008

The school budget vote is Tuesday, May 20 at the MED Elementary School from 9 AM - 9 PM.

Here is a summary of the items that will be voted upon, along with my recommendations regarding voting choices:

1 - The 2008-2009 school (operating) budget is up 2.3% over the current year, with an increase in the tax levy of 4.1%. The board has done a good job in recognizing the effect of declining enrollment and reduced state aid, yet continuing to provide essential services. All the budget presentations emphasized cost containment.

I recommend voting "yes" for the budget, details of which are at http://www.chathamcentralschools.com/budget_files/powerpoint%20budget%20draft%204.pdf

For further information, the board is holding a public hearing on Tuesday, May 13 at 7 p.m. in the High School Library,

2 - The first of 4 propositions (Prop 1) is a recast of the defeated $35 million capital proposal. It totals $6,035,000 and contains only those items the board believes to be absolutely necessary to maintain the facilities and deal with critical health and safety issues. I agree with their assessment and there appear to be none of the "nice to have but not critical" items that many voters found objectionable in the defeated proposal. Due to the runoff of previous borrowings, the funds that would be borrowed for these projects would result in no additional taxes.

While it could be argued that if this money were not spent, taxes could actually be lowered, it would be very short-sighted not to appropriate this smaller amount to begin the process of dealing with our aging facilities.

I recommend voting "yes" for this proposition, details of which are at http://www.chathamcentralschools.com/budget_files/Facility%20Committee%20Recommended%20Concept.pdf

3 - Prop 2 asks for approval to establish a Capital Reserve Fund, into which funds may be put for future capital projects. The fund will be capped at $3.5 million and due to the timing of the vote, no money can be placed in the fund until the 2009-2010 year, and only if voters approve such placement. Since no money will go into this fund in 2008-2009, there will be no tax impact this year. This idea makes sense, and I recommend voting "yes" for Prop 2. http://www.chathamcentralschools.com/budgetpage.html

4 - Prop 3 shortens the term of all newly elected board members from 5 years (much too long) to 3 years (much more sensible). Vote "yes" on this.

5 - Prop 4 is a relatively routine item to replace aging school buses. Vote "yes" on this.

The board has done a good job of listening to and acting on the feedback from the community . These items deserve our support.

In addition, there is one school board seat being contested. The incumbent and 1 challenger. I don't have a recommendation for this.

Board of Education meeting March 11, 2008

The first budget proposal for the 2008-2009 school year was presented. It is the first draft of four that will be made as the Board considers its options.

Presentations were made by the Business Administrator regarding various components of the draft budget. It was quite clear that there was very heavy emphasis on controlling expenses, and there was recognition of the impact of declining enrollments. The Board, Superintendent, school principals and the administrators were all clearly focussed on providing services at acceptable cost levels.

The draft estimates the cost at approx. $26, 562, 000, which represents a 2.34% increase over the current year. However, due to an estimated decline in state aid of 4.73% (and this number will not be known with certainty until the state budget is approved), the property tax will have to increase by 5.0% to offset the decline in state aid.

A suggestion was made to consider hiring a second shift maintenance person, to deal with items that may previously have been contracted out and to attempt to keep up with needed maintenance. Second shift would allow work to be done without the students present. The cost of this was not included in the budget draft, but upon discussion, the Board asked for further information so that it could decide whether it made sense to have such a position. This idea does have merit.

On a lighter note, a presentation was made by Ms. Morgan, an MED teacher, and Elisabeth Grace, a social worker, asking the Board to permit the introduction of a therapy dog into the MED. Children who may, for example, have difficulty reading to adults seem to lose their inhibition if the listener is a dog. Ms. Grace has been doing this in the library quite successfully. The Board seemed receptive to the idea, although no decision was made a the meeting.

Revised Capital Budget Proposal 2-26-08

At yesterday's school board meeting, the Superintendent presented a revised facilities proposal to the board. It is a bare-bones, no frills, minimum to maintain the facilities. It appears to contain none of the items that many voters found objectionable in the recently defeated proposal (moving offices, new cafeteria, etc.). The total budget amount is $4.8 million.

However, it may have gone too far in the other direction. We do need to make sure our facilities are properly maintained and it's hard to make that judgement at this point.

Please understand that this is only the Superintendent's proposal to the board. The board can reject it or modify it any way they feel necessary. The proposal is shown below (click to enlarge).

Also, an assumption operating budget was presented for the 2008-2009 school year. This means it is based upon best estimates of state aid, increases in benefit costs, fuel costs, etc. but is otherwise business as usual (no changes to staffing, for example). It is the starting point for preparation of the actual budget, the first draft of which will be presented at the March 11 meeting.

There was no discussion of the issue that has been the subject of rumors the past few weeks regarding potential staffing changes.

Final Vote Resutls

Prop 1: Yes – 190; No – 1,016

Prop 2: Yes – 173; No – 1,024

VOTE RESULTS!!

The proposition 1 vote was 968 NO, 178 YES with about 50 absentee ballots yet to be counted.

Proposition 2 was 980 NO, 164 YES

We'll look forward to the board's revised proposal.

Thanks to all who helped bring about this result.

Editorial in today's Independent

The Independent has an editorial today opposing the budget proposals. Read it at http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19210750&BRD=248&PAG=461&dept_id=505345&rfi=6

Board presentation Jan. 15, 2008

The Board made its public presentation tonight. It was relatively sparsely attended, and no new points were addressed nor was any new information presented.

The page at the bottom of this post (click to enlarge) will be published as well as appear as a flyer in local newspapers this week. Please forward this blog link to anyone you think would be interested. Remember, the vote is this Tuesday, Jan. 22, noon - 9 PM at the MED Elementary School. The flyer is also shown below as text if you want to cut and paste and e-mail it.

You will have to vote on both proposals. Voting no on proposal 1 does not automatically cast a no vote on proposal 2. If you are against both, you must vote no to each individually.

EVERY VOTE WILL COUNT!! The Shenendehowa school district held a referendum in December. It passed by a vote of 1,549 yes votes to 1,526 no votes. 23 votes out of 3000+, so every vote can make a difference.

Here is the text of the flyer:

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To the residents of the Chatham Central Schools District regarding the

Chatham Central Schools $35 million facilities improvement proposals

Despite the best intentions of the Board of Education and the time spent on developing the proposals, this plan is not logical for the following reasons:

· School taxes, already at a level that is driving out residents, will increase over the 15 year term of the bond issue that will finance the proposals. This is in addition to the current school taxes we pay every year to operate the district, and to which we can expect annual increases as we have seen in the past. It is important to note that the proposal amounts do not include the interest on the bonds, which must be added to the annual school budget.

· The Board’s own projections show enrollments declining between 22% and 40% over the next 10 years. The high school graduating class of 2000 had 116 students. The current kindergarten has 75!! The proposals are too ambitious for what is needed and affordable at this time, and approval makes no sense in light of these trends.

· The Board says that the cost of the bond per year to an individual taxpayer will remain fixed. However, it ignores the fact that if a taxpayer’s assessment is increased, their taxes will increase also. As we all know, increased assessments are a fact of life and if assessments increase an average of 5% a year, the tax impact of these proposals on an average homeowner will have doubled by the time the bond is repaid.

· Tomorrow’s taxes = today’s taxes + increase due to bond issue + increases due to lower state aid as a result of lower enrollments + increases due to rise in property values + increases in school budget due to inflation.

There is no question that there are many improvements needed in our facilities and that money must be spent to accomplish them and provide for academic development, but this proposal goes far beyond that scope by including many “nice to have” but unnecessary items.

In light of declining enrollments and the financial hardships that will be faced, the Board must come back with a plan which is affordable and meets the essential and critical needs of the district.

For more information, visit www.chathamny.blogspot.com or e-mail chathamny@gmail.com .

The vote is Jan. 22, 2008 12 – 9 PM at the MED

Vote NO to $25 million – Proposition 1
Vote NO to $10 million – Proposition 2

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Update coming shortly

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More information coming soon

The vote counter has been reset to reflect the actual propositions to be voted on. You can vote on the left (see Dec. 1 post for a description of the 2 proposals or click here http://www.chathamcentralschools.com/district_office/CapProjectNewsletterApprovedConcD12.pdf ).

The final tally of the original vote (with just one proposition) was 10 yes, 68 no, 5 undecided.