001Welcome. We'll all stand for the pledge of allegiance. Taro, would you lead us in the pledge? Absolutely. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Right. Good evening, everybody. Uh just a reminder of the emergency exits, the door you came in and the door in the rear. In case of an emergency, please listen to staff and leave in an orderly fashion through these exits. This is a smokefree and a vape free school district. Smoking and vaping are not permitted in the building or on or anywhere on school grounds. This is a hateree and a bullyfree school district. Okay, moving on to item B, the introduction of board candidates. I'll read all the
002names. If you if you're here, I see three of you. Please stand and we'll hold applause to the end. Uh Joseph Barry, Erica Calderon, Robert Felicetta, no Daniel Fitz Fitzgerald, and Christopher Ross. Okay, three out of your five candidates. Thank you. Moving on to item C, the budget presentation. You're up. All right. Thank you, board. So, today's uh budget hearing is basically the retelling of the uh sort of budget process and a different format. New York State mandates that we present the budget in three different parts, which I'll get to in a second. So, I'll get just right to it. Um, basically again I like to highlight our budget uh sort of process calendar which started back in January. Actually the budget process for us starts back in November of the school year and it's
003ongoing through um actual this hearing. It's basically the last uh presentation we'll be here in district office. I do have one more uh scheduled uh what we call budget road shows uh in the next couple weeks uh but we'll culminate in our budget uh vote and election and wish all candidates luck on May 20th 2025. Throughout this process we started on like I said in January we talked about sort of the challenges and strategies to meet those challenges. We talked about the discrepancy in state aid or rather the drop in state aid, the discrepancy in bond payments with our b uh with uh the drop in state aid or building aid I should say. We're sort of aware of um some of the uh sort of challenges that we were facing. Um but you know
004as I go into the process other things sort of came to light as we underwent this process and again the strategies that we were looking to use is strategic use of reserves and the continual engagement in capital reserve projects because again capital projects generate revenue in the form of building aid and we hadn't really engaged in sort of a capital project for some time now. So we wanted to make sure that became sort of a focus of our strategies moving forward and as always we look at reducing expenditures. Um our second meeting which was held um in the beginning of February talked about the eight-point formula or eight part formula that calculates our tax levy limit which landed at 3.48%. And we presented the final tax levy um at the April 23rd DOE meeting which
005I'll get to in a second. Our third meeting uh which was in late February talked about the budget codes that covered administration, transportation and unallocated which are debt payments and employee benefits etc etc which was followed by a board presentation beginning of March when we went over the 2000 code which is our largest sort of code represents almost half of our budget and this is all curriculum and instruction um that covers everything from our classroom instruction to extracurricular activities and athletics. Um then we did our staffing pre uh presentation. Um it was during in between sort of like the first February presentation when we started getting contracts and sort of projected costs that we started realizing that some of these costs were increasing in an exorbitant amount namely transportation, our health care and special education
006because we have more and more families moving into the district despite our overall declining enrollment that require special education services and those children come with uh costs associated with their education. And I want to emphasize again, we love to support those kids. So what I'm saying is not meant to be taken in any negative fashion. It's just there's costs associated with that population of students. Um and so when we engaged in our revenue and expenditure update, um which was at the beginning of April, we realized that even with all the line items that we have reduced with our initial proposals for staffing reductions, there was still a $3 million budgetary gap that we had to address. and we went back to the drawing board and we looked at further uh sort of reductions in budget
007lines. Um but the premise was what do we do to not affect any programs? The idea was to maintain all of our programs um even if they get delivered a little differently but we wanted to make sure we didn't chip away any of academic programs. So when we returned uh April 23rd we gave the final sort of presentation. At this point, we gave our final uh proposals for our staffing cuts to sort of uh lessen that gap. And we proposed a budget um that was right at the tax levy limit u which is 3.4%. Um it's an increase of about 24 $2.4 million when you compare the tax levy to the tax levy. And again, the tax levy is a portion of our revenue that comes from the taxpayers. Um so we're also appropriated a
008little bit more of our fund balance towards next year's uh budget as well as uh more use of our reserves and it was strategic manner. Um when you look at our budget lines budget to budget comparatively we're looking at a 2.87% increase. That's comparing the overall budget to the overall budget. And again the final proposed tax levy was 3.48% 48% which is the cap which requires a simple majority vote to um pass. That was our budget proposal. So now New York State asks that we present it a little bit differently. First we need to publish our t our property tax report card. I don't expect anybody to read anything here but these figures will be shown in later slides. It basically includes the percent change in spending in the general fund. That's the budget to
009budget increase that I talked about which is 2.87%. Um it talks about our tax levy limit including the allowable exclusions, pilot payments or exclusions for example. Um then it also includes a percent change in the proposed levy compared to the prior year and that proposed change was a 3.48% which is our tax levy that we're asking our community to vote on. Um it includes our enrollment which at the time uh that the property tax report covers generated. I believe it it's a 37 or 3,755 students and includes all of our fund balance and reserves. So, this property uh tax report card is printed in the budget newsletter. We expect that newsletter to arrive in people's homes on Tuesday at the latest. It's in the printer there. It's going to the post office on Friday. So,
010our expectation is uh at latest uh Tuesday delivery uh which gives people ample time to look it over. also included uh we just wanted to share sort of projected fund balances uh in our respective reserves. Again, we submit this to uh New York State based on our current standing at the time we submit this, which is March 31st. And we always are required at by this deadline to uh share our projected um reserve balances. So, those are our projected fund balances at the end of this last school year. Moving on to the three-part budget. So basically New York State mandates that we present the budget in three different parts. The administrative component which represents almost 12% of our budget or 11.8% that includes uh uh curriculum development, staff development, inservice development, personnel district audits, uh
011central printing and mailing and district loans. So those expenses are are included in the administrative costs. We also have to uh print our capital expenses that represent almost 15% of our budget and those are facilities costs, debt services, operations and maintenance, supplies, utilities and personnel related to those areas. And finally, the biggest component of our budget is the program expenses and let's suit student services, instructional support, transportation, and instructional salaries and benefits. So that's really almost uh that's a little over 73% of our budget representative there. And all this information that we're going to share and I'm going to break down each of these uh component areas in a second, but all of this information is consistent to the budget that's been presented already. None of the information has changed. So when we go to
012the administrative component of our expenditures, you notice that from year to year, we're looking at an overall increase in this area. This about $150,000, which is really uh low. We really worked hard to sort of reduce a lot of the budget lines in this area. Um I do want to point out that the board of education expenses board members work for free. Um but this includes the district clerk salary uh the cost of elections and advertising and everything that is associated with the functioning of the board like no salaries. Oops. And so but those that basically a little too far. So those are administrative expenses alto together. We're looking at an increase of about $150,000 comparing budget to budget. Overall in this category we spend about a little over $17 million. Next are the capital
013expenses. Uh this was reduced uh by $39,000. It's kind of a little bit misleading because we removed the uh transfer to capital line. Uh the transfer to capital line was an extra million dollars that we had inserted in our general budget in our general fund to allow us to do capital work on an ongoing basis. Um the reason we removed it is because it raises the tax levy limit and those funds that million dollars cannot be used to offset um operational expenses including salaries. So we felt that you know we have to keep our taxpayers in mind. So we didn't want to sort of uh elevate our tax levy in a manner that would not help us save uh positions or help cover the cost of operations. We're still committed to our um you know
014working on capital improvement projects and just forformational sake um we're going to be breaking ground on some capital projects this summer which includes the windows at crit elementary school finally the high school auditorium it's going to be gutted right after graduation. Um our energy performance contract which I'll talk a little bit when you look at that dramatic increase in operations at the plant it's almost a $700,000 increase. Those are operating costs that are going up include fuel, maintenance, and repairs. Um, so again, this is why we're going to get engaged in these capital improvement projects because the cost to maintain and repair our buildings are becoming astronomical. Um, and so we're also proposing a capital reserve vote uh to repair the high school track as well as gymnasium windows and two boilers at the high
015school. Um, the boilers are in disrepair. Um, and again, the cost of maintaining them are getting sort of outrageous. So, and I want to emphasize that all this capital work is coming from funds that are in our general fund in the reserves and that has no impact on the tax levy or on the taxpayers. So, we're looking to continue that work because ultimately this work is state aidable and again like I said before it generates uh building a revenue. Finally, program expenses is basically the hugest component. It's almost 73% of our budget. um increases in instruction are basically incremental increases in salaries and it's inclusive of all the proposed staffing reductions. So even with those staffing reductions, we're looking at almost an $850,000 increase in that component of our budget. Um contract transportation we talked
016about we're looking at an increase of about $1.4 million yeartoyear and employee benefits embedded in there is the increases in healthcare which also represented another um $1.7 million. So this really was the biggest area of increases that we sort of observed during the uh budgetary process. Um so out of almost $4 million just in this component. Um and so and the transportation expend or employee benefits that's not the total increase because some of those benefits are included in the other component areas because if the personnel for example associated with operations or maintenance if their salaries and benefits are there it's included in that other component um which was u what I mentioned in that last bullet point. So finally I get back to the final proposed budget. Again we're proposing a budget with a tax
017levy at 3.48% 48% which is our basically right at our tax levy limit which requires a simple majority vote and compared budget to budget it's a 2.87 uh% increase. Now the question is you know what happens if the budgets fail and so I want to make sure I shared what happens in a contingency budget. The school district uh can propose another uh budget should it not pass on May 20th. Um but I want to assure the trustees and community watching that there is no other scenario a budget proposal that's going to um eliminate the need to reduce staff. So that regardless of what happens is sort of a reality um that we have to deal with as difficult as it is underneath a contingent budget. However, state mandates that you basically give uh their tax
018levy has to be flat. So if you look at it, our tax levy for this current year was a little over $69 million. The difference between the proposed tax levy is $2.4 million. So that's what we would have to cut additionally from the budget. Some of those cuts are mandated by the state. So anything that's contingent, meaning not necessary or for your state gets cut, which includes equipment, workstations, desktops for computers, Chromebooks, we're refreshing in Chromebooks. We're replacing Chromebooks uh for students. any new furniture, athletic and field trip transportation needs to be eliminated, athletic uniforms, co-curricular clubs and activities, driver program, new courses at the high school would not be able to offer. Um, and additional staff reductions are included in other discretionary items. Uh, basically contingent budgets are pretty devastating for school districts and
019so again, it's important that we support school districts so we can maintain our programs and continue in providing the quality instruction that we we sort of are striving for. And um again, what's going to be on the ballot? There's going to be proposition number one, which is the authorization of the proposed tax levy increase of 3.48%. There's going to be a vote to um use our capital reserve, a little over $2.3 million. Hey, Mr. Philic, come in. Um and there's also going to be the ballot for the election of the trustees. I do want to introduce Mr. Phil, who's one of our candidates as well. Welcome. Um and that um concludes my uh budget hearing presentation. Um again our budget vote and trustee elections on May 20th. I encourage as many people to come out
020vote. Um if you have any questions trustes questions. Yes. M. Thank you. Um thank you Mr. Santana, and thank you for sending the backup information as requested um for the for the slide. So, I'll start with slide number eight. Um there's some assumptions in here of salary increases that normally aren't considered until uh the reorg meeting. So, I'm assuming you're just putting in there to, you know, to prepare. And I I don't want to assume that that means they're approved because they would have to first come before the board of education. So I think in this category are we talking about legal services primarily or contractual services? I'll get to legal services first. No, some of the some of the and I know we I don't want to talk about personnel uh in public portion,
021but there's some personnel expenses that were in here that were uh in fact in all the all the lines, but I just want to your your asurances that if there's lines that were budgeted for that you're planning on considering asking the board approving this budget doesn't mean it's an assumption that they're going to be granted until the board approves them. That's 100% correct. Okay. So, you still have a budget for it, but we can't make any changes to any salaries without board approval. Okay. Thank you. Um, and that happens. I'm sorry. That happens always. It always we always, especially contracts, right? We always build in increases that we anticipate even if they're not settled. Okay. Yeah. And now we're just looking at them. So with respect to that and during during budget crisises in in
022in the past, we have always asked some of our uh consultants to accept a zero wage increase for those contracts uh namely the the legal council and I was on this board when I when I requested to do the same and they responded in kind. So I see that we do have um we do have increase to contracts to for those legal for legals for auditors um built into these to the lines that uh that uh are are um associated with especially the lines in slide number eight. And I would I would ask you know have we considered asking those consultants to consider a zero wage increase? Yeah. Yeah. So when we go down to the table and discuss contracts, we're going to ask for multiple considerations and a lot of the work is ongoing.
023So you know what you have to make allocations in a budget to make sure we're covered in any sort of scenario. Um but even when I speak, we're still looking at like transportation routes for example and looking at efficiencies there. Again, the idea is, you know, when you adopt a budget, it's not to spend the money allocated. It's to spend as much as needed to run the district in an efficient manner. And if you can cut expenditures, we always want to cut expenditures to make sure that there is a cushion in case of unfortunate events in the budget. But absolutely, as we renegotiate contracts uh with all of our consultants, legal services, we basically communicate where we're at. Okay, good. Just want some assurances that those efforts have been made. Thank you. Um you mentioned
024too with a contingency budget, you know, that contingency budgets would mean no furniture purchases, correct? And I see in here too, we have some some uh listing of furniture purchases in this in this particular budget. So with respect to those people who are looking for middle school in um for example, there's $1,000 listed for um purchasing a middle school, $4,000 for high school. Um I don't know if you have the specifics of what they're they're for, but and then there's another line, one of the other slides. We'll get to that when we get to those slides, but there was a approximately a $15,000 purchase for furniture. I don't know if that's to do with, you know, students, students. You have to replace student desks, you have to do bookshelves, all those types of things. So,
025it's um that's kind of ongoing. It's an expense we always have, but under a contingent budget, you're not allowed to spend on anything that's new. Okay. In that category, furniture. Okay. Um, also one of the one of the questions I had earlier in the in the budget process, I'd like to see us really minimize the conferences that we go to, um, to also minimize the cost in going through uh, you know, a year that we're having particular struggles. Um, I see that you didn't increase the lines a lot. So, I appreciate that you that you did pay attention to that and um, and that we would do that accordingly. If there's a a opportunity for virtual attendance, I would I would like to see us do that instead. Um so I do appreciate I see
026there's there's an effort that's been made um for that accordingly. So that was um that was slide number eight. Thank you for that. Um I have I have two more slides but I'll give an opportunity to the other. Why don't you just finish? Yeah. Okay. So slide number nine. Um and I did have this conversation with the superintendent uh earlier but I'd like you if you don't mind u Mrs. Santana, if you would just explain. Uh, one of the lines that did have a significant increase to it showed a um a $70,000 increase to um operations of plant for health and safety. It's a it's a Boseies line, but uh you did explain that it it results in in changing that line so that it's aidable. That's a Yeah, that's a contract we have with
027Environ Science which does you know surveys and does environmental studies. So, we used to pay them directly. Now we're paying them through Boseies which means we get aid back. So wherever we can that's another sort of cost-saving measures or that we've been doing because you save costs indirectly is contract through Boseies as much as you can. Um there is a small Boseies fee but you get aid back on those contracts. So we shifted the environment science contract from contract and services to that Boseies line and that's what is represented there. Okay. And that that was a line that was once budgeted at $25,000. Now it'll be budgeted at $95,000, but the $95,000 will be eightable at what percent. I believe it's somewhere near like 60%. Okay. Where the $25,000 wasn't aidable at all. No, Boseies
028is alwaysable, but the 70 additional that was on the other line was notable. We weren't getting the additional on the 70. It's like even last year when we adjusted some lines like now we purchased all of our Chromebooks for example through Boseies. We didn't in the past. Okay. All right. And that's the kind of work that our budget office is doing. Yeah. Absolutely. to see that we get back the most money that we can. Okay. Okay. Good. Thank you for that. And um finally to slide number 10. This this one is the is the uh is the biggest one. Um unfortunately where we have because that's where we have uh this is curriculum. So that's where we have most of our uh education. And that slide slide nine is curriculum. What's that? I'm sorry. Slide
029nine. No, you're right. 10. Sorry. Right. Do I have the correct one? You're correct. No, you're correct. Okay. I had my backups in the wrong order. Okay. So, this is the one where we where we see the most pain. Um but but again um I um and oh here's the one where I had the the question about the uh the furniture, but again you're you're you're telling me that this is going to be mostly for student correct student um the students benefit. Correct. Okay. Um yeah, that's where I've noticed a $3,000 purchase and then a $15,000 purchase. Okay. Music supplies. We had a significant music supply um purchase last year as I recall because we had some damage. Initial. Yeah. I don't know if it was last or the year before. It was the year
030before. Yeah. Okay. So, um so I do I do see that we we took some money out of that and I'm assuming because we already made the replacements last year. Yeah. Yeah, if you look at the these multiple lines, a lot of them are either at zero in terms of the net change or negative because this is when I said we went through literally every line item. Yeah. I want to thank, you know, not just Mrs. Sige but um Miss O'Hagen, she came in and um in her capacity as assistant super instructor for instruction and curriculum to really go and meet with all the directors and teachers to see exactly what we kind of can chip away at. And you'll see that it's um it's pretty much across the board. and and what I'm looking
031at is um is the um the the aid positions. And I just um so I just I just I just hope that's not going to affect the classroom. Um because when when you see the different aid positions that were that um are proposed to being cut, it just it just to see it in to see it in writing now, it just concerns me that it's not going to affect the result in the classroom. And I just hope we pay attention to go ahead to the results of what's of what's going to happen. Um, also with respect to the librarians, I had this question for you earlier that um I guess with bump and retreat, I'm going to call it, that's what it's called in the county with civil service because of seniority. Um it it
032appears that there's a position in the in the um librarian in the librarian positions that one position is going to be eliminated that shouldn't be eliminated. But you're going to look into that. Yeah. No. So we're looking to reduce the um number of librarians K3 buildings but not at the secondary buildings. It appears to me on this chart that that one in the high school is eliminated, but you'll look into that. It just appears to me on this chart that it is eliminated. I will look into it, but right now in our conversations, the we're not looking to impact the high school library. Okay. Um um some books um for elementary or some books all through all the high through all the schools are being eliminated in the budget. Is that because we're satisfied with
033the with the books that we currently have? Just like the same with like conferences, we're looking to do a moratorium for one year and the purchasing of new books. That's not to say we always use new books. I'd be kind of as an educator, that's kind of a silly thing for me to say. Okay. But there are certain things that like um are not absolutely necessary. And so it's that's where we started chipping away at to see how we sort of navigate this next school year, see where we land. Um but yeah, those are just represent new books. Okay. And a lot of like the platforms we're using much to my dismay are, you know, digital. And so, um, but we, you know, part of our strategic plan that we'll launch is, um, getting kids
034to read more actual books, engage in actual writing, uh, handwriting and stuff. So, we're going to be, uh, moving away from technology a little bit in the classrooms. That's our intention, but no. So, yeah, we're doing a moratorium on new books to a certain extent. Um, as well as like conferences and stuff as we suggested before. And I see our mental health providers are are left intact. Um which I think is strong because you know certainly I think our mental health program is um is is very much needed. There is a there is a um a reduction at um at Frank P. Long. Do we can you explain uh that reduction? I think it's a salary differential off the top. Is that all it is? Okay. All right. Good. All right. Good. I'm on the
035last page. Um there was a transfer in the overall lines of um transfer of food services and then to uh to special aid for a total of of 300,000 from the overall budget. And so that just means you you had enough money in this in this line to satisfy it and then you just needed to move it to elsewhere. Yeah. So I believe that's just to cover the cost of lunches should the federal funds we always budget for it. Um last couple years we haven't used it so that goes to our fund balance. Okay. But um you have to have it allocated just in case things change with part of the subsidies we get for our free reduced lunch comes from federal government. Okay. And then my last question is this, you know, I've been
036on this board long enough. This is my eighth year on the board. The board always uh uh you know quivers at that um uh appropriated fund balance. And this is the first time that we're at $5 million. I mean the most we ever had to use was was 4 million. That's not accurate. It isn't. We've gone as high as seven before then. That was before my time. Yes. Okay. So, in my time, it's the most we've ever had to book. So, um so that so that's a little unnerving, but that we're we're comfortable with that number. Yeah, it's another strategy we use to sort of um help reduce the staff reductions. I don't know if that's appropriate English say that redundant, but yeah, we wanted to make sure that we could salvage as much as
037possible. And so, that's why we kind of elevated that. When we initially looked at the budget process, we're thinking about actually reducing it. I think we had initially uh proposed something like $3.4 million and we looked at going back to $4 million, but we feel comfortable to get us through this year to go up to the five. Yeah, we were always like at about 3.75 to four last Yeah, last couple years was four. Yeah, it's it's um it's been a really trust and try process. None of this has been easy. Um, I certainly emphasize with anybody who's been affected, but I can give you asurances that, you know, our programs will go on and and that's really was kind of our our sort of uh strategy and our mindset throughout this entire process as difficult
038as it is. So, um, here we are. You know, it's um, you know, one of the things that we sort of charged with is the financial stability of the district, too. And so we have to sort of project and and sort of uh make sure we start off in in a position that helps us navigate, you know, another year of challenges that will come because again there's a three-year sort of span. We're in the first year of it. Next year is year two and one more year where we have those debt service payments that are amount almost like $7 million and a drop of building a need. And so after the um 26 27th school year, which sounds very futuristic, a lot of that debt service payment will drop, right? So, and hopefully by that
039time, we'll have some completed capital projects and we'll start receiving aid as well. So, that's the hope. Like I said, we're going to be breaking ground with the energy performance pro contract this summer. Does another big increase that you noted, uh trustee. So once we start seeing the savings and it's a little misleading because we're also going to have to pay for that work but the idea is a savings pay for the work initially. So it's like a a net sort of zero impact on the budget but all the other uh capital improvement projects which are the uh right now we have almost $6 million of approved projects are will be completed in the next school year not counting the additional capital reserve we're proposing. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for your diligence trust. Any
040other trustees? No, I want to ask my usual question. How about it? I can't hear the answer to this enough. This budget provides money for us to continue to provide all the courses and services to our students that we have this year along with the plans for the dual language program and the new courses at the high school. That is correct. The only uh caveat to that is we're kind of changing strategy for sixth grade dual language and making it more intense language instruction. So whereas from K to five kids get instruction in all content areas, we sort of want to start promoting our CEO literacy. So the idea is to get them into like really intensive language instruction in sixth grade. Um then they'll take their proficiency test which can earn them a high
041school credit. So what we did, we started the middle school a little differently. Students currently can earn up to four high school credits in middle school, which is studio art, biology, algebra, and the foreign language. Okay. And I just wanted to make a comment about how much I appreciate the efforts that the administration and particularly the business office has done bringing in um bringing in this Bosei services so that we do qualify for aidable um services through them and that saves a lot of money. Um, I also wanted to comment about uh the conferences because I I hear what my fellow trustees says about it. I can't say she's wrong, but I can say there's another side to that that I would be leaning on, and that is I think um you can't underestimate the
042importance of having a collegial environment outside the district among other experts in the field. And it's been a great way the last couple of years for our educators to have a light shone on South Country so that other districts are seeing how capable we are and what good things are coming out of our district. So you might not be able to put a dollar figure on it, but I'd like us to keep that in mind when you go to spend money. And you know it there is a value to that. And to your point, you know, it's about return on investment and and there are some things that are worth the investment. I'm certainly creating a shine on South Country. You know, um Jackie Oyan behind me has done, you know, national conferences and presented
043on behalf of South Country. Um we also gleam a lot of sort of best practices from them. But we have to be mindful and um you know really be kind of very deliberate to trust Felic's point about you know the conferences we approve or don't approve. I also want to give a sort of a credit to um everybody who's been involved in this, the trustees who have called me and asked questions and you know, Miss Fiz and Miss Hayes and everybody on the board just reached out and had questions and asked about different sort of programmatic changes and budgetary questions because it has been a difficult process. I just want to thank the BTA for their input as well. You know, I speak to Mr. Brady a lot and we try to advocate as much
044as possible together during this difficult time. I totally appreciate the position of the BTA um and all of our collective learning units. You know, everybody's kind of um sharing in in this sort of process and you know the idea is to sort of uh move forward to rise to the occasion to meet the challenge and to continue producing um you know quality students you know with good postsecondary outcomes. That's going to continue. We're doing the good work. Great. Thank you. Any cards for Okay, that's it. We will open the floor for a motion to adjourn. Mr. Barry, seconded by Mr. Little. All in favor? Motion carries. We're journed. Good night, everybody. See you on May 20th.