School budget would beat spending cap

Baring further changes, Shelter Island voters will be asked to approve a budget in May that would raise spending by just 1.02 percent and result in a 1.96-percent increase in the tax levy, just below the state-mandated 2 percent tax cap.

Superintendent Michael Hynes announced the bottom line figures of his proposed budget at Monday’s School Board session. Members of the Board of Education and the public will get a chance to weigh in on the proposal at a special meeting the board has called for Monday, March 26 at 7 p.m.

The extra meeting was requested by an audience member. Dr. Hynes responded that he had intended to ask the board to set another meeting.

In Monday night’s last-of-three planned budget sessions, Dr. Hynes outlined a spending plan that would total $9.7 million, up from the current $9.6 million. The total proposed spending difference is $98,889.

Worries that Dr. Hynes expressed this winter about staying within the tax cap were relieved when he learned the district would be receiving $47,000 more in state aid than he had expected. In January, before Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a plan to give many districts more in state aid, Dr. Hynes expressed doubts about the challenge of remaining within the tax cap.

On Monday night, he pointed out that the difference between his proposal and the amount the district could spend if it raised the tax levy by the maximum allowable 2 percent would be only $26,497.

His proposed budget would cut spending on co-curricular activities by 15 percent and sports pro–grams by 7 percent, Dr. Hynes said.  Details about how those cuts might be made haven’t yet been decided and could evolve as the board and the public consider the proposal on March 26. The board is expected to adopt a final budget proposal at its regular April meeting.

The single planned staff cut in the proposed budget is a custodial position.

Dr. Hynes said that, at the extra budget workshop set for March 26, he would explain how the district would be affected if voters reject the budget when they go to the polls on May 15.

In numbers released Monday night, Dr. Hynes proposed only slight increases in spending for the School Board, central administration and auditing, legal and purchasing expenses.

He proposed an almost $90,000 cut in business administration made possible by eliminating the business manager’s position. When the last of three people to hold that position in less than a year left, Dr. Hynes said he’d handle the job himself.

Operations of the plant would be reduced from $910,279 in the current budget to $667,647 next year because several improvements planned for the 2012-13 school year were able to be scheduled and paid for from the current budget.

Prior to the March 26 meeting, Dr. Hynes has promised to make available to the public a full line-by-line budget proposal.