Review of Draft Budget by Trustees Continues
As Huntington School Board members continue with their comprehensive review of the 2008-09 draft budget, a close look at the document reveals a relative small number of areas that are the main culprits behind a projected increase of $4.4 million in spending. Based upon current state aid and assessed valuation figures, the draft plan would produce an estimated increase in the tax rate of 4.97 percent.
The draft budget totals $103,617,414 or 4.45 percent higher than this year’s amount. Release of the plan followed cuts amounting to several million dollars during the budget development process, which stretched over a period of months. Reductions were made in faculty and staff positions, equipment and supplies and many programs, including those encompassing the arts and athletics.
“These reductions are real and they are definitely going to be painful for many,” Superintendent John J. Finello said. Trustees earlier instructed administrators to develop a budget that held the tax increase to five percent or below.
If the final state budget, when it is enacted later this spring is more generous than Governor Eliot Spitzer’s initial proposal (which would reduce Huntington’s aid) and if assessed property values rise, the estimated tax increase could be further reduced, school officials have said. “That’s certainly our hope,” Mr. Finello said.
The ten budget areas pegged for the largest increases in the draft document include instructional salaries ($1,489,344), the program for students with disabilities ($942,333) health insurance ($899,000), contract transportation ($489,789), regular school supervision ($430,067), plant operations ($249,536), Social Security ($189,000), occupational education ($160,113), guidance services ($78,604) and summer school ($77,408).
The largest decreases are listed in the areas of the Employees’ Retirement System ($400,000), curriculum development and supervision ($140,407), computer assisted instruction ($126,422), the Teachers’ Retirement System ($65,000), co-curricular activities ($52,836), “other” employee benefits ($47,500), regular school psychological services ($28,663), interscholastic athletics ($9,222), inter-fund transfers ($8,442), dental insurance ($7,000), in-service training ($5,218) and life insurance ($5,000).
“We are absolutely committed to economizing wherever possible,” Mr. Finello said. “We will also continue to press for our fair share of state aid to help avoid even more of a burden being placed upon the shoulders of property owners.”
Trustees will hold additional public budget meetings on Monday, March 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 adopted budget on Tuesday, May 20.
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