Huntington Releases Financial Projections
In a matter of weeks Huntington School District officials will begin the public process of releasing and reviewing a budget to fund operations for the school year that begins July 1. District executives have been sifting through requests from principals, directors and teachers as they craft a draft spending plan to present to trustees for their consideration.
Setting the stage for that annual ritual, Assistant Superintendent David H. Grackin presented a financial overview at the School Board’s Jan. 28 meeting, indicating that continuing next year a school program identical to the current one, would require an estimated tax rate increase of 6.83 percent.
Mr. Grackin based this estimate on Governor Eliot Spitzer’s state aid proposal and current property assessment values. Increases in state aid or assessed values, or cuts in programs – or any combination of the three, could lead to a lower tax increase.
The so-called “carry forward” budget would increase spending from the current level of $99,199,355 to $104,885,719 or 5.73 percent. Mr. Grackin is estimating next year’s state aid at $10.425 million, miscellaneous revenue of $1,584,500 (identical to the current year), an appropriated fund balance of $1.35 million and $91,526,219 in property tax payments, up from this fiscal year’s amount of $85,199,355.
The carry forward budget would result in raising the tax rate from $183.98 per $100 of assessed valuation to $196.55. “These are only estimates based upon the state aid and assessed valuation figures we have right now,” Superintendent John J. Finello stressed. “We will have more definitive numbers later in the budget process.”
Mr. Grackin said the district currently has money set aside in various reserve accounts for Worker’s Compensation ($2,202,900), accrued employee benefit liability ($1,279,247) and capital projects ($1.648 million).
The district’s unappropriated fund balance stood at $2,975,057 as of June 30, 2007 and Huntington estimates it will have $2.5 million in unspent expenditures and $1.2 million in surplus revenues earned on its investments by the end of the fiscal year giving it $6,675,057 of total fund balance as of June 30, 2008.
Of this amount, $1.35 million would be appropriated to cover next year’s expenses and $4.2 million would be kept as an unappropriated fund balance, leaving $1,125,057 to be reserved on June 30. “These are estimates at this time,” Mr. Grackin said.
Huntington School District officials hope the state legislature sweetens the state aid pot this spring during its own budget deliberations, which will allow for a possible significant reduction in any tax rate increase.
During the financial overview presentation, Mr. Finello reviewed a district-by-district comparison of the state aid that would go to town school districts if Governor Spitzer’s budget proposal became law. Under Mr. Spitzer’s plan, Huntington would lose more aid than any other district.
Following release of draft budget, trustees will review the document, line-by-line, and program-by-program and consider cuts and additions. Trustees will hold public budget meetings on Monday, March 3, 10, 31 and April 7 and adopt a proposed budget on Monday, April 14. A public hearing on the plan is scheduled for Monday, May 12. Residents will vote on the budget on Tuesday, May 20.
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