VOORHEESVILLE — The school district here continues to face a shortfall in the latest budget draft, for $24.8 million, presented at the March school board meeting.

The gap has increased since the February presentation; at the March meeting, the budget deficit was $255,000; in February, it was $206,000.

The increase reflects mandated services that were not in the February draft, including a $174,000 increase in Board of Cooperative Educational Services and English-as-a-new-language services. The March proposal also cuts a business-office secretary and teaching assistant position, saving the district about $90,000.

Superintendent Brian Hunt offered possible reductions that would save the district $147,000, which include: cutting two posts for people who are retiring — a computer teacher and a dean of students — and eliminating full-distance learning. This would leave the district with a $108,000 budget deficit.

“When you are in tough budget times, a way to reduce is to eliminate positions by attrition rather than having to lay people off,” Hunt said.

He then offered solutions to closing the gap.

He said it was possible to use more from the fund balance, or rainy-day account, than is allocated already — $300,000. Hunt pointed out that use of those saved funds has decreased significantly over the past five budget cycles. “If you are relying on $500,000 to $700,000 from your fund balance in your budget then you start the next year with a big deficit, that you have to fill with more fund balance,” he said. In 2012, the district took $700,000 from the fund balance.

Currently, the district has $1.2 million in its unreserved fund balance, but it will be taking $300,000 to $400,000 of that to create three reserves: a new repair reserve; an employee-retirement-system reserve, which includes all non-instructional staff such as custodians, food-service workers, and bus drivers; and a tax certiorari reserve to handle any appeals that may arise from Guilderland’s drop in its state-set equalization rate, which led to an increase in school taxes for Guilderland residents in the Voorheesville School District.

“The other option is an increase in the tax levy,” Hunt said.

The February proposal assumed a 2-percent raise in the tax levy; the levy limit can be raised to 2.78 percent, which would generate another $134,000 for the district.  

Hunt said that by not levying the maximum allowable limit, by 2021 the district will have left almost $6o0,000 on the table.

Hunt recommended a 2.5-percent increase in the tax levy, which would yield a additional $86,000 for the district. He also recommended keeping the fund balance that was to be used at $300,000.

That would leave a $22,000 budget gap.

The district initially expected to receive an additional $51,000 in state aid from what it received for the the 2017-18 school year, based on the governor’s proposal for state aid. Hunt said that he anticipates a modest further increase in state aid. Voorheesville typically covers about a quarter of its budget with state money.

At a forum on Thursday, March 22, at the Bach Branch of the Albany Public Library, Assemblywoman Patricia Fahy addressed education spending.

Fahy said that the Assembly is proposing a $1.5 billion increase in state aid to schools, and said that the Senate is proposing a similar increase; by comparison, Governor Andrew Cuomo is proposing a 3-percent, or $769 million, increase in state aid to schools.

Doreen Saia, the board’s president, said at the March board meeting that the school is receiving $29,000 from the state next year, and suggested taking $329,000 from the fund balance this year and putting back $29,000 when it is received from the state.

The board will hold a workshop before its April 9 meeting to finalize the proposed budget; it will then vote during the meeting whether or not to adopt it.

Capital project

Residents would vote May 15 on the proposed budget as well as a $7.7 million capital project — which was adopted by the board at the meeting.

The capital project includes, among other things:

— New boilers for both the elementary and secondary schools, estimated to cost $1,493,000;

— An expansion and renovation of two high school Earth-science labs, at an estimated cost of about $1,000,000;

— A renovation of the middle school technology lab, estimated at $1,000,000;

— A new roof on the older section of the elementary school, estimated to cost $511,000;

— New windows in the older section of the high school, estimated at $585,000; and

— An upgrade to the middle and high school fire-alarm system, estimated to cost $498,000.

Of that $7.7 million, 61 percent of the cost, about $4.7 million, would be covered by the state, leaving the district’s share of the project at $3 million, of which about $2 million will be paid for with capital reserves, leaving about $1 million that needs to be financed by bonds.

Trustees

On May 15, district voters will also elect two school board members. Vice President Cynthia Monaghan and Trustee Michael Canfora are up for re-election to the unpaid posts. Monaghan told The Enterprise that she is unsure if she will run again, and Canfora has picked up a petition from the district office.

Petitions must have 25 signatures, or 2 percent of the voters in the last election, whichever is higher. They are due back to the district office by April 16.

Monaghan was first elected in 2010; Canfora in 2015, he ran to fill Saia’s seat, who won a four-year term, aftering being appointed to the board in 2014.

Updated on March 26, 2018: Information on the creation of three new reserves was added.