- By Dan Veaner
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Superintendent Stephen Grimm
"We want to make sure in this budget cycle that we have listened to the community," says Grimm. "We're very aware of the need for the school district to keep spending down and keep the impact to taxpayers down. We've tried very hard to do that in this budget. Although the budget to budget percentage is higher than one would normally expect to see, we'll be able to explain why that is and also show how we're able to keep the combined tax levy down to 2.5% and to keep the tax rate at zero percent, which is what we're committing to as a board as a promise to the community."
Budget teams started with a rollover budget, which determines how much money it would cost to do all the same things next year that we are doing this year with no additions or deletions. Earlier in the budget process Grimm and Business Administrator Mary June King had presented a significant list of cuts that would have to be made to cut $1.2 million from the budget.
But Grimm says new numbers from the State Education Department show that federal stabilization funds, IDEA (special education aid), and Title 1 funds will help relieve the expected one million-plus of cuts to the so-called rollover budget. The government money comes with strings attached, adding paperwork to prove the money is being used for approved uses. The district will have to show how the money is being used to save jobs or saving programs for kids.
"A 4.84% budget rise three months ago would have translated to a 10% or 11% tax levy increase, because we didn't have revenues to support that," Grimm explained. "Things have changed since we started this."
Grimm said he and his team tried to make sure that the cuts that ended up in the final budget were as far away from students' programs as possible. The 'cut list' has been reduced to cuts to materials and supplies, a district office position that will now be outsourced to BOCES, a cleaner, a bus run, 2 playground aid positions, reduced field trips, and BOCES reductions. Federal grants and special education grants, plus federal stimulus funds made it possible to restore two teacher assistant positions into the budget.
But the budget isn't all about cuts. It adds BOCES services, some of which will replace in-house services. Grimm explained that getting these services from BOCES makes the district eligible for 62% aid. Using the BOCES Central business Office instead of the retired district office employee will eventually save the district money. Other BOCES services will include copiers, data coordination, and a .2 of a Director Of Curriculum that will be shared with other area schools.
Part of the reduction in cuts comes from moving money around that the district already has. For example, a reinterpretation of employee benefits liability funds that State officials are now saying should not be saved in advance frees that money for the general budget. Of course that means taxpayers will have to pay that money as district employees retire.
A zero percent change in the tax rate means that if the valuation of your property has not changed this year you will pay the same amount you paid last year. Tompkins County Department of Assessment Assistant Director Jay Franklin says that will be the case for most Lansing property owners. He says that only 6420 change notices have been sent out this year. "5935 were increases, and 485 were decreases," he says. "The majority of those changes were for vacant land."
Franklin also noted that county-wide the under $200,000 house market seems to be very active, but the $500,000+ market is slowing down. Over the past several years it is that higher-priced market that has done well in Lansing, so these figures may indicate a coming decrease in assessed values. But Franklin says it is too early to tell because the 1010 roll will be based upon value of July 1 of 2009.
The tax rate was $17.76 this year this year. That is actually set in August, after the May vote on the tax levy (the total amount taxpayers are required collectively to pay). The status of state and federal budgets and aid are so volatile that it is nearly impossible to predict how exactly they will effect school finances ultimately. But at this stage Grimm says the goal is to set the tax rate at the same $17.76 as last year, a zero percent rise.
"Is the budget to budget percent up?" he asked. "Yes, it's up and there are reasons for that. It's a 2.5% rise in the tax levy. We've decreased that percentage and we're relying less on the tax levy, which is a good thing. We wanted to make sure that people understand that we are sensitive to the community, economics, peoples' jobs, and the uncertainty of personal incomes and within businesses. The best thing we could do was reclassify some of those liabilities and take advantage of stimulus money in a smart way to have a tax rate that is at zero percent.
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