NEW SCOTLAND — The Voorheesville Central School District’s initial budget conversation was light on numbers. 

“Sometimes when you present a number, it gets fixated on and it comes up meeting after meeting,” Interim business official Lissa Jilek, a retired business administrator from the Catskill Central School District who replaced the recently deceased James Southard, told the board at its January meeting. “So right now we’re just going to talk in broad terms as to where we are in the budget process, what we’re working on, what our expectations [are], and by February, we will have your preliminary budget.”

Voorheesville has started the last three budget seasons without a gap, an unusual accomplishment so early in the process. 

Jilek did note that the district will ask voters in May to approve the purchase of two 72-passenger diesel-fueled school buses and one large electric school bus. Also on the ballot this May is Rob Sampson, the school board vice president.

Voorheesville’ budget for this year was $34.5 million — but really was $30.1 million because the spending plan included a one-time, already-accounted-for $3 million capital project outlay. The budget passed with ease in a 668-to-199 vote. 

The three municipalities in the school district had tax rates of:

— Berne: $36.08 per $1,000 of assessed value;

— Guilderland: $18.26 per $1,000 of assessed value; and 

— New Scotland: $21.39 per $1,000 of assessed value. 

But once the equalization rate was applied, each town’s taxpayer had a rate of about $15 per $1,000 of assessed value.

In discussing the tax cap, Jilek highlighted Voorheesville’s growth factor — 1.0175 — which is one of a number of figures used to come up with the cap, stating, “That’s a tremendous rate of growth.”

Property tax levy growth for New York’s school districts will remain capped at 2 percent for the fourth year in a row, according to data released on Jan. 15 by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. The tax cap, which first applied to local governments (excluding New York City) and school districts in 2012, limits annual tax levy increases to the lesser of the rate of inflation or 2 percent with certain exceptions.

Factors that influence the growth rate include changes in local population due to birth rates, migration, or urbanization. And housing, new residential projects or housing developments, for example, can lead to an influx of families, increasing student numbers.

“You know, you live in this community. Your community is growing,” Jilek said. “Many rural districts do not see that rate of growth. That will only benefit the [tax cap] calculation.”

This year, Voorheesville’s $21 million property-tax levy is $1 under the state-set limit. 

 Jilek then moved to Foundation Aid and some of the recent recommendations made by the Rockefeller Institute regarding the state funding. 

Foundation Aid is New York state’s primary mechanism for funding public school districts with the aim of ensuring every student has access to a sound basic education. It was introduced during the 2007–08 budget cycle, and was designed to be a more equitable way of funding by taking into account a school district’s needs, ability to raise revenue locally, and student demographics.

Jilek noted that total Foundation Aid statewide started at $13.6 billion and was now up to $24.9 billion, which she described as “a big chunk out of the state budget,” and which “the governor is a little hesitant to provide additional funds past.”

Voorheesville received about $5.8 million in Foundation Aid this year. 

Among the Rockefeller Institute recommendations highlighted by Jilek were:

— The elimination of a guaranteed minimum payment of $500 per student;

— Reduce the use of “save” or “hold” harmless funding. 

Save or hold harmless funding refers to a state education policy that guarantees school districts receive at least the same amount of funding as they did in the previous year, even if the funding formula would calculate a lower amount due to factors like declining enrollment. While the governor favored this last year, she has since back-pedaled on that stance; and

— Reduce allocations to school districts with large reserves. 

This recommendation would require districts that retain more than 10 percent of their budget as a year-end balance to apply the excess as an offset to hold-harmless allocations, per Jilek’s presentation.

“I asked the superintendent to please look at our fund balance policy and our reserve policy and just make sure that we are following our policies and they are up to date,” Jilek told the board. “I have a strong suspicion that this bullet will come to fruition. I’ve heard many discussions at my level, the business officials level, that [Governor Kathy Hochul is] looking at fund balances. So we need to be prepared.”

This year, Voorheesville has a restricted fund balance — meaning the money is legally subject to certain restrictions or commitments — of $7.75 million, while its unrestricted fund balance is about $1.38 million, or about 4 percent of the total budget, according to the district itself.