School Board: Cuts needed to lower tax levy

The school district is looking at a 2011-2012 expenditure budget of $9,972,646, a 4.45 percent increase from the current budget, as presented at the School Board’s Monday night budget workshop. That would translate to a 5.38 percent higher tax levy for the 2011-2012 school year unless significant cuts are made.

Board President Rebecca Mundy reminded the crowd that the budget is a “work in progress” and subject to change.

When asked in a phone interview whether the board has a goal for cuts, Ms. Mundy responded, “I’m sure there are people on the board who will say that they might want a 0 percent [levy] … I personally think maybe a two percent [levy] might be a reasonable middle ground, but we haven’t discussed that as a group.”

School Business Leader Sam Schneider explained that for each $86,000 chunk cut from the budget, the tax levy would drop 1 percentage point. In other words, the board would have to cut about $462,000 from the budget to keep the tax levy flat.

The largest of the expenses discussed Monday night was the operations and maintenance of the building, $919,904. School Business Leader Sam Schneider proposed adding approximately $230,000 to the maintenance contractual expenses line to complete upgrades to the school building, including improving the gym bleachers, refinishing the gym floor, repaving the parking lot, among other jobs.

The $230,000 would be offset by the $206,200 that is no longer in the “debt services” line after the school paid off its last installment of a 1991 bond, Mr. Schneider said, and $230,000 is a rough estimate of the average payment over the past 20 years.

That money would permit a head start on building improvements while bridging the gap between the end of this bond payment and the start of the next — if it is approved by the voters — rather than seeing an expenditure drop now and an even larger increase later if this proposed work is included in the bond. “I want to keep the overall budget as flat a possible” from year to year, he said.

The first payment for the proposed $3.045 million bond would be in June of 2013 and reflected in the 2012-2013 budget.

The workshops are being broadcast on Channel 22. Check the “Channel 22” tab of the town website to view broadcast times.

The next budget workshop is set for Monday, March 21, when the board will discuss and vote on the proposed bond referenda and establishing a capital reserve. The board needs to adopt a budget by April 11.

The items discussed during the board’s regular meeting that followed the budget workshop will appear in next week’s Reporter.