Pearl River School District Begins 2012-13 Budget Presentations

The Pearl River Board of Education listened to the first presentation on the district budget for 2012-13 at Tuesday's meeting in the administration building on Crooked Hill Road.

"It's not as scary as it was last year. I'll tell you that much," said Board President Michael Clohessy. 

Pearl River Director of Operations Quinton Van Wynen gave a presentation showing that the district is looking at a $127,000 shortfall for the 2011-12 budget and a deficit of approximately $468,000 when comparing projected revenue to spending for 2012-13.

"We're close to where we need to be in getting the budget done this year," Van Wynen said. "We're a lot better off (than last year).

"We're looking at a $468,000 shortfall, but that's far from the final answer. There is plenty of work to do to bring that down."

Van Wynen's presentation slides can be found attached to this article along with the agenda and other information from Tuesday's meeting. Van Wynen used projected revenues of $59,984,611, including a tax levy increase that would stay at or below the state-mandated 2% cap.

Van Wynen said that exceeding the cap is not a good option, though it is possible to override the cap with a 60% approval by the voters in the district.

"To go above that number, the budget would have to pass by a minimum of 60% of the public," Van Wynen said. "Though we have had great support of the years, 60% is a very large number and a tough guarantee. If you don't hit that, you have big problems on the budget.

"Secondly, this (cap) has been put in for a reason. Property taxes are very high. I think it is incumbent on us to try to live within those numbers." 

He based the expenses of $60,343,003 on existing contracts, benefit changes, debt service and general spending.

"We're taking the numbers we know about and subtracting the revenues we know about," Van Wynen said. 

That estimate does not include potential savings such as planned retirements or the use of any money from the district's reserves.

"The board would still have that option, to use fund balance, of which we have a significant amount," Van Wynen said.

Van Wynen's projection did rely on projected state funding, which is not guaranteed.

"This is with the assumption that state aid will come to fruition," Pearl River Superintendent Dr. John Morgano said. "That may not occur and it probably won't go up if it changes."

Van Wynen said the $127,000 shortfall on the current budget was due in part to state aid coming in lower for 2010-11 than expected. Another part was paying for the district's energy performance contract.

One possible way the district could erase that deficit is to use part of the $1 million settlement from Olympus Surgical & Industrial America Inc. Van Wynen is recommending that the money only be used to fund one-time expenses rather than start something the district would have to find a way to pay for in the coming years.

"We can offset any identified expenses with the settlement funds," Van Wynen said. "We can raise the budget and spend it, but the next year it is off, so we are not passing long-term spending on to the taxpayers."

Van Wynen recommended the following uses

• $127,000 to eliminate the 2010-11 deficit
• $40,000 owed to Pearl River Public Library
• $200,000 toward the 2012-13 budget.

Challenges Ahead

Van Wynen said there is no point currently in sight when budget issues will ease. Morgano called a recent breakfast with legislators and school administrators "depressing."

"All of our legislators were there," Morgano said. "In the past, they would tell us everything is good. We are advocating for you. We are going to get more money for you. We didn't hear that this time. What we heard is it's going to be tough. A couple of them reminded us they didn't vote for the 2% taxcap, but most of them did."

Some of the speakers projected that over time, the tax cap would be devastating for education in the state.

"Prior to the tax cap, budgets were driven by programs," Van Wynen said. "What was it that a district wanted to accomplish? We would figure out how much it was going to cost in teachers and equipment, in books and supplies. 

"That can no longer be the case, unfortunately. Now we are in a new world where first we sit down and calculate how much money we are going to have and then try to fit what programs we can inot the money that is available."

Pearl River has cut jobs, 20 of them over the last three years, but so far that has only been through retirements and other similar departures rather than layoffs. The question is if that can continue. 

Pearl River has already been working on keeping tax increases down in recent years. 

"We have worked hard to stay in the numbers that now everybody in New York State is trying to reach," Van Wynen said. "We were, I'm proud to say, ahead of most districts and the government to accomplish this. We were ahead of the curve and we remain there. Things are not easy, but we are in a better place than a lot of districts."