A school district in Schenectady County is outlining what’s included in a budget that would override the tax cap.
The Scotia-Glenville School District held a public hearing Wednesday at the middle school, where Superintendent Susan Swartz provided a brief overview of the budget and fielded questions from residents.
The more than $67 million proposed budget would increase the district’s spending by more than $2 million and includes a 5.09 percent tax levy increase.
Since that’s above the 3.25 percent tax levy cap set by the state, the budget must receive 60 percent of votes to pass.
The school district estimates a home with an assessed value of $160,000 would see a tax increase of about $136 a year.
Swartz says some families will feel the increase more than others.
“We certainly have folks who…if you say to them its $135 a year more that sounds so reasonable but that’s on top of whatever they are already paying so I always think we have to be mindful of the fact that what we may see as a small increase, you heard this from some of our candidates tonight, isn’t necessarily a small increase for some of our families,” she said.
On the other hand, Swartz says supporters of the budget want to provide for the district’s roughly 2,300 students.
Levi Sayward is one of those people. He has two children in the district and has lived in the area for four years.
“I think in one hand it’s kind of to be expected in the financial climate we’re in with everything going up across the board for all businesses and individuals and its no different for a school. Of course on the other hand as far as money out of the wallet is concerned you hate to see it go up but if we are going to invest in one thing, our kids are the best investment we can make,” he said.
Resident Christopher O’Neill says the proposal is the best the board could do.
“It’s not easy to swallow a tax increase, that’s for sure, for anybody, but we heard tonight basically everybody, at least that is running for the school board is pretty much like we need a budget, we need all the programs that we have,” he said.
After the public hearing, the school district held a Meet the Candidates forum. Four candidates are running for two open spots on the Board of Education.
Kimberly Talbot, Kristina Coughlin, Angela Piazza and Michael Torelli all support the proposed budget.
Talbot is the current Vice President of the Board of Education and is seeking a third-term. She voted to advance the proposed budget in March.
She says she isn’t in love with the plan, but believes it’s necessary to preserve school services.
“Am I in love with the increase? Absolutely not,” she said.
Talbot says strategic planning is needed to ensure that such a large tax increase does not happen again.
“So, I originally said I wanted to go with the 3.25, looking at the budget and what our schools needed to keep everything the same this year we had to go out over that. So, I voted to go out over that. Now can we do that again? No.”
Swartz says there are two big factors.
One is increasing insurance costs for the school because of rising pharmaceutical drug prices.
“Unlike many employers at present we pay 87 percent of individual insurance and 85 percent of family insurance and your contribution rate is pretty reasonable here,” Swartz said.
Another is the cost associated with ensuring that children with special needs receive adequate support.
“If we can’t provide quality programs then I have to be willing to let them attend in the places that do, which are sometimes private schools like Wildwood or Parsons and are sometimes Capital Region BOCES programs located at other schools and those costs can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars,” she said.
Swartz says it’s not clear if the proposal will pass, saying she’s worried about reaching the supermajority threshold.
“I think sometimes, people who can come out and talk at events like this are people who have the means to do that they’re not necessarily a single mom or dad who is working two jobs and trying to get food on the table and rent, so I try to be really mindful of that,” she said.
If the budget fails to pass, the Board of Education can bring the same or revised plan to taxpayers for a second vote.
They may also decide to go straight to a contingent budget. If the budget fails to pass twice, the Board must adopt a contingent budget.
That means the current tax levy will carry over into next year.
According to statistics compiled by the New York State School Boards Association, 68 percent of budgets requiring tax cap overrides passed last year.
The rate for budgets within the tax cap was 98.7 percent.
The Scotia-Glenville School Budget vote is May 20th at the high school.
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
