School district presents revised 2014-15 budget

Millbrook Central School District Superintendent of Schools Philip D. D’Angelo Jr. presented his revised 2014-15 draft budget, which was followed by a general question-and-answer discussion period on Monday, March 24.The budget that was put forth at the March 17 Board of Education (BOE) meeting proposed the tax levy to rise by approximately 3.21 percent over last year. At that introductory meeting, it was suggested the BOE reconvene in a week’s time after they’d had the opportunity to more thoroughly review the contents of that initial budget draft. During that week, the initial draft budget was modified so the figures unveiled at the 24th budget workshop meeting lowered the increase of the tax levy to 2.77 percent over last year.Before further discussion on the draft budget at hand commenced, BOE President Thomas Hurley explained that if the BOE were to accept and present the current draft budget with its 2.77 percent increase over last year, there could be three possible scenarios regarding passage of a school budget.On May 19 the school budget could pass with a super majority of 60 percent of those voting and the budget would be accepted. If this doesn’t occur the BOE has two choices:Another school vote could happen on June 16 with either a revised budget or the same suggested budget as previously voted on or the BOE could immediately put in place a contingency budget with no further voting. A contingency budget would imply that the 2014-15 budget must not exceed what was spent in the 2013-14 budget.After Hurley presented the above he initiated conversation on the budget with a question:“Do we feel what’s in our budget is right for our children?”General discussion ensued, with much talk on the specifics of what the budget covered. For example, costs regarding AP courses with re-certification of teachers and other programs that have been highly successful and effective recently, such as Project Lead the Way. More information about this may be found at the school’s website: www.millbrookcsd.org.Tax Cap LawThere has been talk about the relatively new New York state 2 percent tax cap law. That 2 percent that’s been spoken about so much is in fact only a small part of the so-called “Tax Cap Law.” In reality, it’s one part of an eight-step formula that determines the maximum allowable tax levy the school district can pass with a simple majority of 51 percent.For school districts, the tax levy limit is the highest allowable tax levy before exemptions. Before exemptions? What’s that, some ask?By law, each school district’s tax levy is determined by a complex, eight-step formula that was developed by the state. The formula takes into consideration a number of variables, including:• Growth in the local tax base (if any) • Exemptions• The previous year’s tax levy• Current and coming years’ PILOTs (Payment In Lieu Of Taxes). • The rate of inflation or 2 percent (whichever is lower)• Consideration is also made for any allowable “carry over” funds from previous years (districts are allowed to “bank” some unused portions of their tax levy limits to use in future years, for emergencies, etc.) Therefore, individual school districts will each have a unique tax levy limit, which must be submitted to the state by March 1 each year. So it’s important to realize that this unique tax levy limit means that the Millbrook Central School District tax levy limit is most certainly going to be different than the Arlington School District’s tax levy limit. Once the tax levy limit for this year is determined, the district will then add the coming school year’s exemptions to the tax levy limit, creating a “maximum allowable levy.” As a result, a district may actually propose a budget with a tax levy that is higher than its lax levy limit and still be within its “cap” under the law.While this year’s tax levy limit is .94 percent, last year, the Millbrook Central School District could have proposed a 6 percent increase in its tax levy and still have been within its “cap” under the law. However, the school district chose not to do that. Brian Fried, assistant superintendent for business, finance and operations, pointedly remarked during the discussion of this year’s proposed budget: “You don’t ask for more money when you don’t need it.” Indeed, there was a definite rigorous discussion between the BOE members and school district office personnel regarding what needed to stay in the budget and what, perhaps, could be pushed off until next year, especially since this year’s allowable levy is drastically lower than the year before. All parties agreed that even further cutting to the proposed budget should be attempted.With this in mind, Superintendent D’Angelo suggested that when the BOE meets at its next regularly scheduled meeting on April 7, he would present another draft budget with a target of somewhere between a 2 and 2.5 percent increase as opposed to the current 2.77 percent increase as the budget now stands.