Proposed Scarsdale School Budget to Comply With State Cap

Those who decry high Scarsdale school taxes may be appeased by the latest news from the Scarsdale Board of Education now indicating that the proposed school budget for 2012-13 will comply with the 2% New York State tax cap. However, the irony is that the 2% cap has now been adjusted to 2.99%.

According to the law, the 2% cap can be adjusted for the growth rate, increases in pension and retire payment above 2%, capital improvements and equipment purchases. Due to this change in the formula for the cap and the Board’s decision to utilize surplus funds and decrease reserves, the proposed budget now falls within the allowable increase.

The total proposed school budget for 2012-13 is now $141,634,884, representing a 2.30% increase over the 2011-12 budget. This will translate to a 2.89% increase in the tax levy and tax increases of 3.81% for Scarsdale residents and 2.64% for those in the Mamaroneck strip.

The first proposed budget was $1.2 million above the cap but this gap was eliminated when a change in the rules for the school’s tax cap calculation permitted Scarsdale to exempt $300,000 for the purchase of new school buses from the cap. In addition, the Board opted to add $500,000 in surplus funds to the 2012-13 budget,decrease the health insurance reserve by $300,000 and to reduce the reserve for electricity by $250,000.

For the past several years, the budget surplus has been growing, and the Board felt comfortable to begin spending it down.  After lengthy discussions the Board decided that a portion of the large surplus should be spent to fund next year’s budget and that the reserves for the health plan and electricity could be reduced. Discussing the surplus, Board President Jill Spieler said, “After careful review the Board decided that it would be in the District’s best interest to cut back on our planned year over year fund balance by $500,000 for 2012-13. The Board feels confident that we are still leaving ourselves with a responsible level of reserves in both designated and undesignated categories.” Board member Jonathan Lewis said we are “adequately reserved,” and Lew Leone said it was “time to be less conservative with our rainy day funds.” He cited decreasing enrollment and a flattening out of future expenses as reasons to reduce the amount held in surplus and reserve funds.

Since funding for capital improvement projects are not included in the cap, the Board discussed including funds for some needed improvements to the schools and decided to add $350,000 to the budget for these projects. Though they have not yet decided what will be done, here are some projects under consideration:

• Renovations of the high school auto shop to create a satellite cafeteria and work area for students to alleviate crowding in the cafeteria and provide space for group activities and learning.
• A new fitness center at the high school, which had been approved in 2008, but put off due to budget constraints
• Renovations of the serving area of the high school kitchen
• Bathroom renovations at the middle school
• Replacement of the seating in the high school auditorium
• Construction of a bathroom in Choice at the middle school
• Replacement of the kindergarten playground at Fox Meadow
• Replacement of the flywheel or curtain rigging on the middle school stage
• Regrading of Dean Field at SHS where the northwest corner of the field is often under water.

The Board will need to finalize their thinking on capitol projects by early March and submit proposed projects to the state for approval.

In addition, to the $350,000 for capitol improvements, the Board also designated $100,000 for a new Center for Innovation for the district. The center will develop models of instruction and explore how technology can transform learning. The funding will be used for speakers, site visits, and research to investigate how the schools can integrate new technologies into the educational system. As part of the process, the district will look into partnering with universities and corporations and will work with community members who are knowledgeable in the field. Findings will be published in an e-journal and shared both inside and outside the district.

In discussing the school budget, Superintendent Mike McGill restated his belief that Scarsdale taxpayers want a quality education and are willing to pay a reasonable amount to fund it. He feels that the proposed budget is the right budget for Scarsdale and he added, “My sense is that the large majority of people believe that is what we should be doing.”

Now that the budget no longer exceeds the cap, the community will not need to pass it by a 60% super majority vote in May. Budgets that comply with the state cap need only pass by a simple majority vote.