Chappaqua School Officials Face Difficult Choices in Upcoming Budget
Chappaqua School District officials will face some difficult decisions in the next two months as administrators look to pare down the district’s 2013-14 budget but retain current programs and class size.
If the district were to make no changes and roll over this year’s budget it would face a 4.61 percent spending increase over the current $112.2 million budget, which would be equivalent to $5.1 million. Under that scenario, the tax levy, which the tax cap is based on, would rise by 5.3 percent.
Despite the grim outlook, Assistant Superintendent for Business John Chow said under no circumstance will the district send a budget to the voters that exceeds the 2 percent tax cap.
“We’re going to be within the tax cap,” Chow stated. “We’re not going to look for a supermajority vote over the cap.”
Under the state’s tax cap law approved by the state legislature in 2011, a school district’s budget must pass by at least a 60-40 margin if the board of education decides to exceed the threshold.
The spiraling expenditures are largely caused by a projected 12.2 percent increase in the Employee Benefits System, accounting for just over $3 million in spending increases. Smaller increases include a 2.7 percent hike in salaries and estimated jumps of just over 3 percent each in transportation and special education costs.
The challenge for the board will be determining how much discretionary spending it is willing to cut and where those cuts are made. Chow said during the past four years, the district has eliminated the equivalent of 87.66 positions districtwide, including 38.07 teachers’ positions, 18.5 teacher assistants, 21.59 support staff and 8.5 members from the custodial staff.
Board members decried the continued absence of mandate relief, a key factor in handcuffing many school districts.
“We want to have the district we’ve always had and it’s getting harder and harder to do that,” said Vice President Alyson Gardner Kiesel.
Superintendent Dr. Lyn McKay said once again the upcoming budget deliberations will be extremely challenging but mentioned that Chappaqua is fortunate to be in an advantageous position.
“This is a strong district, we have strong programs and we continue on the path of continual improvement,” McKay said.
However, she warned the district will not be able to sustain the level of cuts it has had to impose over the past several years for much longer. Chow estimated that the tipping point will occur in the next three of four years.
“It’s really difficult,” McKay said. “I can’t sit here and say one area is more important than another.”
Further muddling the picture for officials is that by the end of this school year all four of the district’s unions–teachers, administrators, custodial staff and support staff–will all be working on expired contracts, Chow said. The district would likely need to make the budget assumption that it would need to roll over the salaries for all union employees to adhere to the state’s Triborough Amendment, he said.
There are other unknown factors, such as the percentage increase in contributions to various budgetary categories such as the Teachers Retirement System, special education placements, state aid, tax certioraris and the district’s growth factor, Chow added.
McKay is scheduled to present her preliminary budget to the board of education at the Feb. 27. meeting. Budget adoption is set for April 17 with the public voting on Tuesday, May 21.
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/
