The North Syracuse Central School District is facing a deficit of $2.8 million for the 2015-16 school year, according to the district’s first draft of next year’s budget.
Don Keegan, associate superintendent for business services, said the preliminary budget has been calculated with the same amount of state aid as the 2014-15 budget. He said since the state legislature and Gov. Andrew Cuomo have not finalized the state budget, it is not known how much the district will receive. If the legislators and Cuomo cannot agree, the amount of state aid for next year will remain the same.
Keegan estimated next year’s school budget at $151,145,106, a 3.8 percent increase over the current year’s total expenditures of $145,665,035. However, NSCSD’s revenues are only projected to increase by 1.8 percent next year, creating a $2,834,975 deficit.
The draft budget would increase the tax levy by 2.3 percent, which is just over the state’s 2 percent tax cap. Keegan said he expected the tax levy to increase by the allowable amount of 2 percent.
“We’re one of the few districts in Central New York that has a robust housing market, so we’re able to increase the levy,” he said. “We’re essentially proposing a tax increase that’s comparable to last year.”
Data from Keegan’s presentation said a homeowner with a house assessed at $100,000 could expect to pay $53.27 more in school taxes next year before STAR exemptions.
Also of note in NSCSD’s preliminary budget is the 147.8 percent increase in the district’s use of its fund balance. The district plans to use $2.1 million in fund balance for next year’s budget, $1.4 million of which will be used to support full-day kindergarten.
Keegan said the kindergarten program would have no impact on 2015-16 school taxes, as the conversion aid NSCSD received in October 2014 will support the program through the first half of the 2016-17 school year.
North Syracuse’s dipping into the fund balance may ease some of the costs for next year’s budget, but it has long-term consequences. The district’s fund balance is projected to be $ 5,852,406 in June 2015, but interest rates can’t keep up with spending.
“While we see an increase in fund balance here, our savings account is not growing at the same rate,” Keegan said.
While a $2.8 million deficit is daunting, the district stressed that this is only the first look at next year’s budget.
“This is very preliminary,” NSCSD Board of Education Vice President Bob Crabtree told the audience. “This is just the beginning.”
Crabtree encouraged the public to contact Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office via mail and phone to encourage him to compromise with state legislators to ensure adequate aid for schools.
“We cannot stop now. We have to keep going,” Crabtree said. “We are at the forefront of this activity.”
