District officials outline preliminary budget for 2012-13, state aid and other factors at first budget meeting
 

(Jan. 26, 2012) More than 50 parents, taxpayers and district staff members attended the first budget meeting on Monday night, Jan. 23. Assistant Superintendent for Business Gregg Diefenbach provided an overview of the preliminary budget for 2012-13 and specific factors shaping the budget.

At this time, the Voorheesville rollover budget for 2012-13 is projected to be $22.3 million (this would mean carrying over ALL current programming). This is $1 million higher than the current year’s $21.2 million budget. Most of this increase is caused by the loss of federal stimulus funds and increases in the state-mandated employer contributions to both the employees’ and teachers’ retirement funds.

"We are way early in the budget process so this working draft of the budget is merely a roadmap," said Diefenbach. "As more concrete information becomes available, we will have a better idea where we're at and will share that with the community."

Diefenbach explained how the Governor's proposed $805 million increase in state aid for education is not really $805 million. Of the proposed $805 million increase in education aid, nearly one third ($250 million) is earmarked for competitive incentive grants for schools through a process yet to be determined and another third ($265 million) is slated for increases in expenditure-driven aids such as transportation, building, and BOCES aids. That leaves about $290 million as the true general increase in state aid to be shared among more than 700 public school districts in New York State.

Much like the Governor's state aid proposal, Voorheesville's reported 6.5 percent increase in aid is also not as promising as it appears. The district’s loss of $242,000 in federal "Jobs" funding that was part of President Obama's economic stimulus package was not included in the projected aid figure. Diefenbach also clarified that the district's state aid amount recently reported in the Times Union as not giving a true picture as it doesn't include expense driven aids but looks at base year to base year aids.

"The flaw with that is that last year we didn't show full day conversion aid and this year we do. The aid is given to the district to assist in it's implementation of full-day kindergarten, not new aid to be used for other needs," Diefenbach explained. "The point that also isn't clearly reflected is the fact that the district received only $41,844 of real new money (through the Gap Elimination Adjustment) which equates to .8% of 1%."

Diefenbach also discussed the new property tax levy cap and the complexity of its 8-step formula. A budget with a tax levy increase at or below the threshold requires a simple majority vote for approval (50%+1) and a budget with a tax levy increase above the threshold requires a super majority vote for approval (60%). Because of the formula used to calculate this threshold, every district will have a different “cap.” Diefenbach said that not all of the information needed to calculate the threshold is currently available.

The next special budget meeting is set for March 5 in the high school Large Group Instruction room from 7:30-9 p.m.

Download the Jan. 23 preliminary budget 2012-13 presentation [PDF].

For more information about the tax levy cap, including frequently asked questions and the comprehensive publication "Understanding New York's Property Tax Levy Cap," please visit our tax levy cap webpage.