The borough board of education spent a work session last month discussing what the district can do about its $1,567,574 deficit, including the option to raise taxes.
The deficit is due to a more than $600,000 increase in salaries and an increase in health benefits of more than $1.8 million, along with uncertainty about state aid under new Gov. Mikie Sherrill and the cost of full-day kindergarten.
School districts in the state are only permitted to increase local taxes by 2% each year, unless voters approve a higher percentage. The state legislature has recently allowed districts to skirt the 2% cap if they are deemed by the state to be under adequacy; they must go above the cap to become adequate.
That means the district has expanded its cap to the maximum allowable, 6.45%. But because the budget won’t be finalized for several months, it’s unclear what the board will do. It did not make a decision at its work session.
As for state aid, Michael Catalano, board secretary and business administrator, said the district expects a cut of about $100,000. Vice President Linda Hochgertel said it makes sense for the district to build the budget around a possible loss of about $200,00, so it won’t be blindsided if the cut is that high.
“If your budget is based on, we’re going to lose $100,000, we’re not going to have to scramble,” Hochgertel explained. “So if we lose $100,000, we’re right there. The best-case scenario is that we gain, and that some of the things we cut out, we can put back in.”
The 6.45% tax cap will raise more than $2.7 million, while hiking taxes by 2% would raise about $844,000. A 4.5% increase would result in $1.9 million.
Superintendent Chuck Klaus laid out the cost for teacher salaries and School Resource Officers (SROs). Each teacher position costs about $100,00, or 0.23% tax increase. Each SRO officer costs $30,000, or 0.07%.
“So if the board says, ‘Chuck, if we go from 2.5% to 3.5%, what does that buy me?” Klaus noted, “that buys you four teachers … That’s how we’re going to try and weigh this out, so when we have these discussions, we talk cuts and not cuts, keeps and not keeps. We can kind of gauge what that means …
“That’s how we’re trying to frame this.”
Chromebooks for students cost $364,000, or a tax increase of 0.86%, while professional development for teachers is $174,550, or 0.41%. Hochgertel said items the district could possibly cut are middle-school sports – which cost $74,500 or 0.18% – or what she called redundant sports, while keeping freshman sports and possibly increasing the activities fee.
“(If) we had to cut redundant sports, we’re not hurting our kids,” Hochgertel pointed out. “I personally would hold on to freshman sports … I think it’s so incredible. I think freshman sports helps these kids transition from eighth grade to the culture that’s here. There is this great camaraderie that happens, there’s beautiful things that happen in freshman sports.
“I would say raise the activities fee,” she added. “A lot of these families are coming from youth sports where they’re spending more money than what they do for the high school.”
The district has recently worked to complete new auditoriums for both the middle and high schools, which board member Stephanie Benecchi argued should be financed by charging a usage fee at market rate.
“I think the new auditoriums offer a lot of value to the region, frankly, and so where we’re talking about non-school groups wanting to use those nice, new spaces,” she emphasized, “it (usage fee) should be commensurate with what they would pay on the open market, because that’s a resource that our students have access to, but that our community authorizes for our students. It should be leveraged to offset the tax burden where it can be.”
Board member Jessica Drass agreed with Benecchi.
“We are putting so much investment on so many levels into these updates and the new facilities and things like that, that by really charging more of a market rate for outside organizations to come in and utilize, it’s protecting that investment and even kind of providing an insurance on the community,” Drass related.
“The town is entrusting us with their money to make these enhancements, and to really go with … what other organizations, other facilities are charging.”
Benecchi said the board’s finance committee has discussed what can be done to insure school property from potential damages.
Klaus indicated that the board will continue budget discussions in the coming months and community feedback is welcome. But he acknowledged cuts will have to be made.
“The SROs are a really good example,” he said. “We were making cuts … and the community said you missed that one and so we fixed it. I’d like to know before we miss it again this year …
“There’s going to be pain; no one’s getting out of this unscathed.”
Will the school board decide to change the grade requirement for extracurriculars? Find the story on page…
