‘Conservative"
4-percent hike on $20M budget

VOORHEESVILLE — The school board unanimously approved a $20 million budget proposal on Monday night, which is a 4-percent increase over this year’s $19 million plan.

The amount to be raised by property taxes, $13.7 million, is a 3.67-percent increase in the tax levy . Voters will have their say on May 16.
"It’s pretty bare bones," board member Kevin Kroencke told The Enterprise. With taxes going up, New Scotland’s town-wide property revaluation, and the recent allegations from state comptrollers of former administrator’s improper appropriations, "we are taking a very conservative and cautious approach to spending," Kroencke said.
"It’s important to show the voters fiscal conservatism," board member Tom McKenna told The Enterprise. His personal goal, he said, was to get the budget as close to contingency as possible.
When Superintendent Linda Langevin started the budget process, she announced to the board she was planning on being very conservative, because of the current environment, McKenna said. As the new chief administrator, Langevin was given free rein by the board and she "came out in spectacular fashion," McKenna said.
"Her objective was to craft a really tight budget," and continue to offer a sound education, board member James Coffin told The Enterprise.
"We didn’t have to strip away any programs," Coffin said.

The public budget workshops consisted of Langevin giving PowerPoint presentations of her proposed budget, one line item at a time, and board members asking a few questions along the way about some increases or decreases. A handful of residents also attended the sessions and asked questions as well. But the board members did not weigh in with major requests for changes and did not make many suggestions on where to add or subtract from Langevin’s proposal.

During the budget session there were not many recommendations or demands from the board about places to make cuts. Board President Joseph Pofit agreed with this observation, telling The Enterprise this week that there wasn't much room in the tight budget for the board to finagle expenses, and that the board was very satisfied with Langevin’s proposal.

All the board members this year carefully reviewed, each line item and asked questions, he said. Langevin; Assistant Superintendent for Business Sarita Winchell; and Gordon Durnford, who filled in for Winchell when she was briefly placed on leave during a state audit, made a very, very, very, tight budget, Pofit said.

It was clear during the budget sessions that Langevin had carefully examined every line item, Coffin told The Enterprise. "We literally saw every line item in the budget," he said about her budget presentation slides.

Department heads and building principals bring their budget requests to the business office where staff members then hash out each line item. The elected school board doesn’t see the budget until the public does, when the preliminary document is proposed by the administration. The board did, however, express its goals to Langevin early on, Kroencke said, at its annual retreat. The main goal, this year was a simple one, to keep the schools as strong as possible at minimal cost, Kroencke said.

Conservative approach

Kroencke said he is concerned about this year’s budget passing because of reassessment, and public opinion after the comptroller announced the discovery of misappropriated funds, but he’s not overly concerned, Kroencke said. He said he is optimistic that the community will realize how much the school has kept the cost contained.

With the uncertainty in state aid, because of Voorheesville’s wealthy community, the district has to anticipate receiving similar aid as last year, Coffin said.

Kroencke pointed out that two-thirds of the districts revenue used to come from the state; now one-third is funded by the state.

The Voorheesville School District could possibly get anywhere from $150,000 to $159,000 in aid, Pofit said. The local school board is in agreement if it were to receive any extra money beyond what it projected, it will use it to reduce the tax impact, and return dollars to the taxpayers, Pofit said. For now, the school remains conservative with is projections since the governor can still veto the proposal.

Looking ahead
"This was not the year to consider additional spending," or to experiment with new programs Coffin said.

But that is a focus and objective for next year, Coffin said; the board wants to, over the next school year, take a serious look at the education program and curriculum.

Pofit said Langevin’s expertise and experience in curriculum development is the main reason she was hired by the board. Everyone is eager and enthusiastic for the changes next year, Coffin said. He had hoped to start curriculum development within a year, but that had to be held up because the board was occupied dealing with the state audit, public relations, and the lawsuits against former administrators.

Auditing expense is increasing from $10,000 this year to $27,000 next year to fund state-mandated positions. The district has hired a claims auditor to review checks and warrants at a salary of $2,000. The board also this month hired Henry Binzer as an internal auditor at a annual contract payment not to exceed $15,000, and the board plans to hire a new annual external auditing firm soon but at the same rate as last year— $10,000.

Attorney’s fees for 2006-07 are seeing a budget increase of $25,000 to $51,000.

Langevin, Winchell, and Durnford all got the message to sharpen their pencils, Pofit said. This year is tough for everyone and it’s going to be tough next year, too, he said.
"If you’re going to make changes to the budget, it has to be done with a lot of thought," Coffin said. "We simply didn’t have the time to delve into it." The mentality now is to get through this year’s budget by keeping the educational program the same, and "let’s get the major problems behind us," Coffin said.

McKenna said one thing he would like to investigate in the future is offering full-day kindergarten, which he knows would be a huge expense for the district, but he would like to stay ahead of the eightball he said, as the state legislature is considering mandating it. It’s necessary in today’s two-parent working family society, McKenna said.

Kroencke said he would have liked to have incorporated more money for the humanities program, offering more art classes and bringing back a gifted-and-talented program at the high school. But this year was more about maintaining and staying within limited resources, he said.

Changes

While the budget has remained similar to last year’s, Langevin pointed out a few additions, including one new reading teacher for the elementary school, funding for tutors for at-risk middle-school and high-school students, and the expansion of the athletic director’s position to encompass the management of aquatics through the summer.

There have been some cuts from last year, too.

McKenna said he was disappointed that one additional bus purchase was cut. Two years ago, the board implemented a 5-year plan to replace buses incrementally. This budget year, three were to be purchased, but, with support from transportation director Michael Goyer, the bus proposition will only call for two buses. McKenna said he was assured that the school's student transportation will not be inhibited by one less bus.

Cuts were made across the board in equipment within various section of the budget, operations, maintenance and teaching.

At the elementary school, teaching equipment spending was reduced from $12,000 to $5,300 for 2006-07. High-school teaching equipment went from $20,000 down to $11,155.
"People like new things," Pofit said. Equipment is an easy target in a budget, and the administration did a great job of weeding out unnecessary items, and discussing with the staff what could really wait a year or two, he said.

In total Voorheesville will spend $53,040 less on equipment in the next year, Winchell said.
"We have tried to maintain the status quo while minimizing the expense and cost to the tax-payer," McKenna said.

Increases

Board members and the administration have emphasized that about 95 percent of the district’s budget increases for the 2006-07 year are costs that the board has no control over at this juncture.

According to a budget analysis by Winchell, 18 percent of the budget increases are energy costs — a $139,680 increase.

Energy Education, was hired last year to help manage Voorheesville’s energy consumption, by turning off lights, monitoring heating fixtures, and using less power. The board has not yet seen the benefit of this program at the elementary school, Pofit said.

Energy Education is a $41,000 budgeted expense for next year. while the school had anticipated reaping savings in heating and electricity cost beyond the energy-management fees, those line items are also requiring a substantial increase for next year.

Electricity at the elementary school is going from $40,000 to $59,000. The high-school electricity cost is increasing from $188,600 to $203,000. Gas at the elementary school was budgeted at $45,600 this year and anticipated to cost $60,000 next year. The high-school’s gas cost is going from $133,750 to $156,600.

Pofit said the board has notified Energy Education that it is not satisfied with the results, so the firm is going to continue to analyze and implement energy cost reductions.

Fuel for buses is up from $80,600 to $108,630.

Then, 77.3 percent of the budget increase is due to salary and fringe benefits, contractual obligations made through the collective bargaining process with teachers, administrators, and all the other employees, Winchell said.

While the board can’t adjust employee benefits now, the board is the authority that approves and negotiates the contract to begin with. The next series of negotiations are already on the minds of board members.

We need to provide for our employees, many of whom live within the district, Kroencke said.
Both Coffin and McKenna said they stand by the collective bargaining contracts they approved for employees. The "raises are fair and reasonable," McKenna said.
"It was an equitable settlement," Coffin said, adding that for the next round of negotiations, "Nothing is off the table."

The public sector has to deal with the same things the private sector is facing, such as increasing costs for prescription drug plans and other health benefits and retirement.

The union representatives understand that it’s the 21st Century and the pressure the board is feeling, Coffin said.

Currently, Voorheesville employees pay 10 percent of their insurance costs.

Greg Davies, who owns an auto repair shop in the village, asked the board during a budget session if it was going to start reducing expenses by having the employees pay more into their heath-insurance premiums.
Langevin said, "Come next negotiation, everyone knows that will be the first thing to be discussed."
Union representatives are hearing loud and clear that the public doesn’t want to pay for such large percentages of the high cost of health insurance said Pofit. "It’s getting loud and louder as the cost of benefits goes up."

A health committee has been formed where administrators and elected officials are making a collective effort to solve the cost of health insurance, McKenna said.

We’ve got to find creative ways, Pofit said.

One new initiative is that prescription costs were self-insured for this year, and the district is already seeing those savings, Winchell said.

In case of defeat
"The vote [by the public] is really relevant because included in this budget is technology," Langevin said. If the budget does not pass, then Voorheesville will go to a contingency budget with a state cap. The 4-percent increase would be the same amount in dollars, but the school would have less control over how the money is allocated.

Under a capped budget, the school is not allowed to purchase new technology and some new equipment.

Pofit said 73.3 percent of the budget increase is due to increases in salaries and benefits, but adding debt service which the board has to pay, brings the amount up to 86 percent of the budget increase; and tacking on fuel and energy costs, rates which are also out of the board’s control leaves only about 5 percent of the budget to be finagled by the board, Pofit said.

Resident Tom Mensching, said at a budget session that, with 4-percent annual increases, the budget doubles every 10 years; it just keeps going up, he said. He questioned if some day the Voorheesville schools will have to consider merging with a larger district. He’s afraid he’ll have to move in a few years at the current rate, he said.

Pofit said that this year’s budget is very fair, and the 4-precent increase matches the rate of inflation.