$11 million slated for Shelter Island School budget

If you’re a Shelter Island taxpayer, it’s likely you’ll see an additional $17.24 per $100,000  of valuation added to your bill to support a school budget of $11 million for 2016-17 adopted by the Board of Education.

That amount could change slightly once assessors determine new valuations and new properties that have been added or some that may have been taken off the rolls since last year.

For the first time since the state imposed a tax levy cap on budgets in 2011, the district’s proposal would go beyond it. To stay within the 0.12 percent limit, the district would have to restrict spending to just $11,330 over last year, not including debt service for renovation and construction bonds which is excluded from the tax cap.

The levy is the amount of money that must be collected from taxpayers to support the budget. Other money to support the budget comes from state and federal aid, interest and other income sources.

The Board opted to increase the contribution to the budget from its fund balance so that $350,000, rather than the originally planned $275,000, will go to offset spending.

Two Hay Beach residents, Fred Buonocore and Robert Fredericks raised issues at Monday night’s Board of Education meeting about the district’s indebtedness, money being spent for a full-time Pre-K program for 4-year-olds and what they calculated as a $50,000 per pupil cost.

They arrived at that figure by dividing $11 million by the number of students in the school. But in working out an apples-to-apples comparison among various school districts, there are costs that are discounted because they are unique to a specific district as ferry costs are to Shelter Islanders.

Mr. Buonocore and Mr. Fredericks objected to adding a full-day Pre-K program, arguing that in a year when the district is faced with a tight budget and is piercing the tax cap, it shouldn’t be allocating any money to the program.

Academic Administrator Jennifer Rylott said there are only four students signed up for the program, but she speculated it would increase now that the district plans a full-day, instead of half-day program.

Part of the decision to expand the program to a full day was based on an effort to bring students back to the Island who have attended Pre-kindergarten classes elsewhere because a full-day program didn’t exist here, Board Vice President Linda Eklund said.

If students start on Shelter Island, they are more likely to continue their education here, she said. If they start in other districts, they may remain in those districts and that costs Shelter Island money to transport them, she said.

If more students are educated here, the per-student costs are lower, Ms. Eklund said.

In addition, Superintendent Leonard Skuggevik said statistics show the cost of the Pre-K program saves money that might have to be spent later for special education services and for students learning English.

As for questions about indebtedness, the district has to pay $99,500 on the principal for the new bond voters approved in 2014; $120,000 for building renovations that were carried out in 2012; and $60,000 for a bond for a new generator.

“It just seems we’re in serious debt,” Mr. Fredericks said.

The $120,000 renovations cost is spending to remove asbestos in the building, renovate the elementary wing and put in new roofing and windows.

The $99,500 figure kicks in for the first time since voters approved the $1.6 million bond in 2014 and payments, ranging from $99,500 to$140,000, will be made through 2030.

For years, building repairs were delayed, Ms. Eklund said. “If you don’t maintain your home, at some point, you’re going to have a massive bill and that’s what happened here,” she added.

A formal budget hearing will be held at 6 p.m. Monday, May 9, and voters go to the polls between noon and 9 p.m., Tuesday, May 17. A supermajority of 60 percent in favor of the budget is required when a school district opts to pierce the tax levy cap.

Should the budget proposal fail to win supermajority support, the board can present a new proposal. If the budget is rejected on a second vote, the state dictates what must be cut from the budget.