Proposed Pearl River School District Budget: 2.75% Tax Levy Increase, Minimal Losses in Staff

The public got its first look at a proposed 2011-12 budget for the Pearl River School District Tuesday night.

At one point, the district sent letters to 17 teachers informing them that their jobs would be eliminated. Most of those jobs would be saved under the proposal presented by Pearl River Director of Operations Quinton Van Wynen Tuesday in Pirate Cove at the high school.

The proposal includes a tax levy increase of 2.75%. Salary givebacks by the teachers, administrators and clerical staff reduced the number of cuts necessary for the 2011-12 budget.

"As you recall, a month ago we talked about a budget deficit of $1.5 million," Van Wynen said. "We've eaten up that deficit with these changes in the retirements, all of the labor contract changes, have helped us eliminate that deficit so we can keep our programs in place this year, save jobs and keep the levy under three percent at 2.75, so we can deliver what we promised the taxpayer for the last three years, which was to keep the tax increase under three percent."

Van Wynen estimated that when all is said and done, taxpayers will see an increase of 2.4%.

There will be cuts in personnel under the proposal, including 3.8 full-time teaching positions, three clerical staff positions and three other jobs. Taking retirements into considerations, two teachers would lose their jobs.

During the regular board meeting, Pearl River Superintendent of Schools Dr. Frank Auriemma went through a list of reported potential staffing cuts (teachers and other staff) among districts in Rockland and Westchester Counties. Among them were North Rockland considering as many as 130 staff members, New Rochelle losing 100 jobs and Nyack possibly losing 50.

Among the other cuts in the Pearl River budget proposal are:

• A student assistant counselor will be available four days a week instead of five, all at the high school. That counselor is currently at the middle school one day a week.
• The district would eliminate its freshman teams for boys basketball and baseball, saving $25,000
• Some clubs would be cut, saving $1,000 for each elementary school, $2,000 for the middle school and $3,000 for the high school.
• Cuts in spending for chaperones and substitutes related to field trips
• Textbook spending will be restricted to the state aid limits

The district will also use reserves to pay any tax refunds.

Potential savings from a proposed reduction in transportation paid for by the district did not have an impact on the budget because those changes would still have to be voted on by district residents. The proposal to reduce busing for the high school will be on the ballot along with the budget as Proposition 2-B May 17. If the measure passes, saving the district approximately $190,000 in 2011-12 alone, the savings would be passed along to the taxpayers in the form of a lower increase.

Board member Jackie Curtiss, who chaired a transportation committee that looked into the issue earlier this year, presented that committee's recommendation to the board Tuesday. They recommended making the change at the high school level, but doing further study before making any changes at the middle school.

A major part of eliminating the projected $1.5 million budget deficit was the salary givebacks by the teachers, administrators and clerical staff. Combined, those re-negotiations will save the district $560,000 for 2011-12 alone.

They will also save the district in the three years that follow, but Pearl River does face long-term budget deficits much larger than this year. Van Wynen had provided estimates for the next four years at the beginning of the budget planning process, numbers he revised for the presentation Tuesday night. He did warn that the farther into the future each projection is, the less reliable it becomes.

Van Wynen's revised projected deficits are as follows:

• 2012-13 -- $2.71 million (down from $4.38 million)
• 2013-14 -- $4.48 million (down from $6.25 million)
• 2014-15 -- $5.87 million (down from $7.58 million)