- By Dan Veaner
- News
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Lansing School Business Administrator Larry Lawrence reporting
on the state of the proposed budget to the Board of Edcuation last week
Lawrence was filling in the Board of Education on the state of the 2007-2008 budget in progress. The numbers are by no means complete, but the current projection of $22,567,155 represents a 5.61% rise over last year's budget. But with two failed money votes in less than a year and a consumer price index increase of less than 4% it is not certain that taxpayers would pass the budget with that high a rise.
Last May taxpayers defeated a budget that would have been 7.73% above the previous year's budget. In June a budget that was 6.79% higher than the 2005-2006 budget passed, but not without controversy. At that time many voters said they approved the budget only to avoid a State mandated contingency budget that most seemed to agree would be bad for kids.
This month a $20.8 million capital improvement project was also voted down. That vote occurred a year after the Board Of Education chose not to put a previous version of the project that would have cost $42 million to a vote. While Lawrence said that projected expenditures are reasonable relative to the School Board's stated goals for the district, he warned that board members will have to take a very careful look at what the district is required to do and consider cutting other areas. "I am very concerned that our revenue picture, when it firms up, is going to be very difficult from the taxpayer's perspective," he said. "I don't want to be an alarmist, but we need to look very closely at what we must provide."
The draft budget includes a .5 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) chairperson for the Committee on Special Education (click here to see related story), changes in the student management system, two equipment leases through BOCES, and increases the number of special education slots. New positions include 1FTE instructional technology professional, 2 Academic Intervention Services teachers, 1 reading, a guidance counselor, and additional summer hours for a special services clerk. It also includes bus garage repairs, preventative to the three schools, and a new truck.
Lawrence says the money for maintenance is partly an ongoing expense, and partly in response to taxpayers' criticisms that many items in the capital project would not have been needed if maintenance had been performed more rigorously on an ongoing basis. "Last year the budget reduced those budgets for those areas were reduced by X dollars," Lawrence says. "Those would have been preventive maintenance, upgrades, and stuff like that. So, the money that I put back in is a combination of adding materials and supplies money back in, and adding money for preventive maintenance back in. You heard for yourself at one of the meetings that somebody was complaining about not doing preventative maintenance and it is a valid concern. So I was definitely trying to put some in and trying to catch up."
Lawrence explained that while most of the expenditure figures are known, the final figures are not yet set. For example the cost of BOCES services has yet to be set. But he was not ready to talk about the revenue side of the budget except in general terms. "I can't talk taxes until I know assessments," he noted. "And I can't talk taxes until we know expenses and revenue side needs more work."
But he did identify areas of concern, including the anti-tax sentiments in the district, a loss of $100,000 of federal aid, and $200,000 of reserve money that the Board Of Education used to lower the tax burden on last year's budget. "When you utilize that kind of money from the reserves, it creates a future problem because those reserves ultimately aren't available forever," Lawrence says.
Lawrence says that if this year's budget doesn't pass the State will enforce a contingency budget limited to 3.84% above last year's total. That would mean no more that $820,488 above last year's $21,366,210 budget. As it stands at this point the proposed budget seeks $379,796 more than that for a total of $1,200,284. If revenues other than taxes are not found that may be a hard sell. Lawrence summed it up neatly, saying, "It's going to be a very difficult budget season if we are unable to manage the appropriations side and find ways to save money. "
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