001All right. Good evening everyone. Welcome to the 2026 2027 school year budget hearing. So to get us started this evening. So obviously throughout our board meetings throughout budget season we've been going through step by step line by line and kind of and then we kind of circulated back around to revisit. So for any of you that have heard throughout the process, this is going to be a little bit redundant, but we want to make sure that we're presenting this as if someone hadn't heard it for the at all. This would be the first time that they've heard it. So to look at the last 10 years for our overall budget going from the 1718 school year up to what we're projecting out for the 2627 school year, you can see how our budget has risen
002over the years and obviously which is true with all of our personal lives as well. Over the last four to five years, we've seen significant increase in costs which have led to larger budget numbers. Um, but for this year in particular, we're looking at a 3.18% increase over last year. And and throughout that process, we've really done our due diligence to make sure that we one have a good understanding line by line of that budget, making sure we know what's in all those different budget codes so that we can continue to plan for the future. As as we've been working with Dr. Tims and working on our five-year plan. We've really been trying to make sure that we know where we are now and so that we have a better understanding as we work towards
003our goals in the next 5 years. And similarly enough, over the last 10 years where our tax levy increase has gone. Um so for this particular year, we're looking at a 3.09% increase and which equates out to around $191,000 increase in the taxes. So from that overall average of 10 years, we're looking at around 2.56. And and I thought that it was worth noting that within this 10-year time frame, we did have two years in which the district challenged the tax cap. And when you do that, it requires a 60% voter approval to do so. And both of those two years was a very wise decision in my opinion as as we've talked about and looked through as in those two years the tax cap actually calculation came out to be less than a percent.
004So to not even take in a percent in those years would have then put us in a position where we would be potentially in financial trouble. Those are the important things as we look at like each year when you take in a certain amount that impacts the following year. So when you take less in one given year, it impacts every year they're following. So it's always that balance, I think, of making sure that we are bringing in enough through our tax levy while being respectful to everyone in the community, but simultaneously making sure that we're able to offer our students what they deserve and what's necessary. And then looking at our revenue or projected for 2627, we're looking at a proposed revenue amount of 23,474,688. So that is an increase over last year. When you
005look at the straight dollar amount, that's 1,177,68, which is 5.28%. But I think it's worth noting that the actual revenue for 2526 included around $830,000 from unappropriated fund balance. So you add that in and that counts as revenue. So we're taking that from essentially our savings, that unappropriated fund balance. So then it impacts every year thereafter. So when you're looking at those increases, you want to be mindful of that because we don't want to always be rellyant on our fund balance as we go from year to year. It's there for a reason. We're going to need it from time to time, but if we rely on it too heavily in our budget planning, that gets to a point where we're depleting that money and then we don't have it for the future. So it's an
006important balance as far as when to use it and when to plan to not use it. And just some other additional highlights in here from that. Uh once again, we said the tax levy was 3.09%. So that equates to $191,115.97. So obviously when we're talking about a $23 million budget, that's not a large amount of money to be increasing. So when we talk 3.09%, 009%. It's important that we understand that that is really still kind of a small amount relative to what type of revenue we're looking at and relative to what our budget equates to. And similarly enough, you know, we are a rural school district. So, we are very much reliant on our state aid, on our foundation aid because we don't have a lot of large businesses where we're getting a lot of
007tax from. So therefore, we are more reliant than someone in a suburban or in a in an urban district. So that foundation aid number is really important for us and I think we are on our 10th extender right now for the state budget and we're hoping that this will be the last one. So right now we're still working with the projection of a 1% increase which is what Governor Hokll had come out early on and said that that's where she would expect it to be. We lobbied hoping for more. We're hoping that it'll be larger than a percent. Projections are that it'll potentially be 2%, but even if that's the case, that's only an additional 104,676. So total still as we're talking about our tax levy increase and even if we get lucky and get
008a 2% foundation aid, those are not large increases which just continues to reinforce that over these next 5 years, we've got to be very very diligent with our spending and our planning and making sure that we're not overextending ourselves and not being completely rellyant on fund balance from year to year cuz those revenue streams are not growing. at the same rate that those expenses are. Our expenses are on a steeper curve at this point in time. So, we need to make sure that we're doing everything we possibly can to try to get those at least parallel and hopefully over time, which may be a little bit of a pipe dream, but to be able to have those expenses actually not going up in a steeper rate. But those are those things that we got to
009continue to look forward and keep projecting out so that we're making those accurate decisions. And then as we build our budget through the process, we're really looking going through by budget codes. And and I just wanted to make sure I wanted to remind everyone of this. All of the numbers we looked at and how we broke it out doesn't look exactly the same as what we're required to send out to our voting public and what we're required to submit to state ed. So therefore, when we look at these different categories, they're slightly different total amounts because as we build it, we do it how it makes the most sense for us going through budget codes, but then what we're required to submit is slightly different. The total, it's always the same. It's always based on
010the same total. It's just where they're allocated to see that difference. So for this particular year, as we had already stated where that proposed budget is, that was an increase of $735,000. 735,168 which as we said 3.18 are rounded to 3.2% increase from last year's budget. So based on that compared to our projected revenue which again these are projected we never know with certainty exactly where that revenue stream is going to come in. So we want to be cautious with that. We don't want to be too bold and over project that because that could get us into trouble because we have we can only spend what we budget in any given year. So we want to be a little bit cautious in that projected revenue. So right now that puts us at a deficit of
011$388,149. So that would be made up with the unappropriated fund balance amount. And and as we talked about the idea of we use around $830,000 projected in last year's budget. The goal even when we do that is to not use all of that. We do that because we have to have enough wiggle room in case we get additional costs throughout any school year. But the goal is always we use that to balance it, but if possible, we don't use it all because we don't want to just spend to spend. We want to make sure that it's with purpose and it so this is just a overview of all the budget codes. You know, obviously in our budget workshops and in our work, we went through all of the subcategories of all of these different areas,
012but these are just the headings in the overall budgeted for 2526 compared to the proposed budget for 2627 along with some descriptions of what fits within each of those categories. And and as we were building this, we talked about the idea that just because you see a decrease in some doesn't necessarily mean those were cuts. Yes, we did trim some of the some of the areas that we felt we were able to do. So, we did tighten the budget in areas where we thought that maybe it was overbudgeted in the past to try to get a better handle on where we're really expensing our dollars and making sure that they're going to be earmarked for what's best for our students going forward. And also, sometimes they just change locations, which is another important thing to
013know. like the the easiest one to highlight that is the public information the public relations when you see that increase you think oh well the reality is we switch from capital region Boseies to OM Boseies public relations they code them in different areas so we actually are receiving the same amount of service for the same cost with the same aid but they're categorized different so sometimes we see shifts from year to year in these categories when in reality it didn't even actually change the amount we were spending overall or the services that we're receiving. And as we had talked about like we are a school, our primary function is instruction. So when you're looking at these numbers and you see your largest dollar amounts, they're right where they should be. They're under the teaching regular
014school and then they're under the teaching special needs. Now the difficult part is we've seen drastic increases over the years of the teaching special needs and drastic increases in that cost. And as you can see that that's true again here. So those are things that we're always being mindful of whether we're keeping our kids within district for programs here or whether we have some that have needs that need to be sent to outside schooling. Always a balance. I believe in least restrictive environment. I think it's important for students, but there are times when we can't properly educate students and there are programs that can do it better because of the additional services they're able to offer. So, it's always a balance where we have to be we have to try to keep kids here, but
015at a certain point it actually can be a disservice. So, those are those times when we need to explore those other programs. And as I said before, the requirement out of out of the state and what they require is that three-part budget format. So you're looking at that administrative, that program, and that capital. And so whether whether you're a resident in Waterville, you're resident another school district, you always get this same form. It's mandated. So this is always part of our budget flyer. And it's part of all schools in New York State, the requirement to send this out to all of their voters. So, our three-part breakdown, you can see in in that graph on the left, and it's always going to be this case for a school. The program is always going to be
016the largest amount, as I stated before. That's where we're doing our instruction. That's where all of our teachers fit in and everything that it takes to actually educate our students. So, that's always going to be the largest one. So, as we look into those categories a little bit deeper, the first one is program. And if we look at that, we've got an increase in program of 632,150. And really relatively for for that particular item is not is not that large of an increase in my opinion. And you can see that some of the areas even went down. And again, that doesn't necessarily mean cuts. It means some things were shifted. But overall, we did everything we possibly could to make sure that anything we chose to either minimize or not go forward with would not
017impact programming for our students. So that was always a conscious effort for us as we move through this process. Similarly with capital, you see that actual the capital portion of the budget actually went down by $80,664 from 2526 to 2627. Again, this was us line by line. It wasn't us cutting any positions or anything along those lines. It was us making sure that we were right sizing the budget. And we found a couple areas here where some things were potentially overbudgeted in the past and we made sure that we had a good handle on where they stood so that it can help us project out in the future. And then lastly, the administrative component. And again like similarly to what we had talked before, you can see that public information right there that shows here,
018not a change. Okay, it's same service. It just now it falls in a different category because of the way that it's coded. Um, so overall in this particular one, we had an increase of 183,682. Still pretty modest considering what we're getting out of these. And then to highlight because obviously it's important that we know because we're relying on our voters and I have to say that the community in water has always been very supportive of the school and of the school budget. But obviously we still have to plan for for situations that could be surprising. So if the budget were to fail, the board of education has the ability to ask for a revote and throughout the entire state. It's the same date no matter where you're located. So that's takes place on June 16th.
019So heaven forbid we were to have a failing vote on May 19th. We could have a vote to do a secondary vote on June 16th. Now if that was not a choice that the board made, you could then go to a contingent budget. So a contingent budget relies on the tax levy from the previous year. You can't go above that. So that goes back in this particular case to last year's tax levy which was $6,171,35148. So you can't go above that amount. So if that's the case, obviously that's lower than it is for this year. So therefore some things have to be taken out of the budget. And so looking through what we would expect, obviously we would look at all proposed staffing increases that we had proposed in this new budget. those would be
020eliminated and we would also factor in the capital outlay project that we have planned for next year. We would remove that from the budget. Other than that, we would look through and see where we could cut down on supplies. And then discretionary software is where we have listed because software in in this day in education is pretty costly. So there are areas that that would be a place that we would choose to kind of trim down even further from where we are currently. not something we we plan to do, not something we want to do, but something we have to be prepared for just in case something were to occur. Got to make sure that we know. And then just just quickly, something to point out with that, even though it would go back to
021the previous year's levy, >> levying that amount and not taking up to the cap would set us back for many years to come. That's a great point to go back to the tax cap calculation how one year impacts every year thereafter. You are 100% correct because then the percentage on the next year would be on a smaller amount which would be less going forward >> more and more. So that gap grows larger and lesser >> becomes more burdensome for the taxpayers. >> Excellent point. And then just to remind everyone again like what our focus really was in this budget cycle in preparation. It was really in this year because we knew that we were going to have to use an amount of unappropriate fund balance. That was not a surprise to anyone even in the
022beginning of that based on last year. So our goal this year was to one try to minimize that and two to try to maintain all of our extracurricular and academic offerings. And that's at both levels, both our elementary and our secondary levels. And then again, to build a detailed understanding where we're spending our money because as we're working on that five-year plan, we're looking projecting out to make sure that we don't get to a point where we find ourselves in financial trouble. So, we want to have that understanding now so that each year going forward, we can make sure we don't get to that very difficult situation that we want to make sure that we avoid. And then just some added elements for the 2627 school year budget that are a little bit different. Obviously,
023as we try to maintain things, we're still adjusting and adapting to make sure that we're giving students and community members what we think is best and what they're saying they're interested in. And so STEM instruction is planning to begin at the elementary level. That's going to roll in as one of their specials as opposed to foreign language, which is something that the district had adopted. and was a great initiative. And at this point in time, we just felt as though STEM is would be more engaging for our students and some more of the skills that we think would be more widely used for our students. Not to diminish anything about the foreign language program. I think it was wonderful. I think there's a lot of detailed research out there as to how important it can
024be for our youngest learners to be bilingual and how that really taps into the brain and helps with their learning. Um, but just through feedback from people, it felt like it was we were ready for a little bit of a change. And I think that this will be something that'll be very engaging for our our students at NPS. And we're hoping that it'll really continue to reinforce one, the skills that you need in this day and age, and two, that idea of open-ended, hands-on learning that is that is so critical at that young age as well. And then another really important thing is the addition of a reading specialist at NPS. Currently we have one and we've found that they are working extremely hard every single day and the quantity of students that need reading
025intervention is too much for one person. And that is arguably the most important thing for students have to have at an early age is to be successful in their ability to have fluency and to have comprehension that'll lead to success in their educational career. And by third grade, if they're not reading on grade level, the percentage, the chance of them not graduating rises significantly. So, we need to make sure that we're hitting those interventions very early on to make sure that we're not putting them at a disadvantage, which what you think is a very, very young age, but the amount of research that shows that is a critical turning point as a student is is undeniable. And we want to make sure that we are not allowing our students to reach that point or at
026least minimizing it as much as we possibly can with the additional service there. And then something that wasn't necessarily expected but has become a a pretty big priority for us at this point in time is the what we're going to relocate sixth grade for next school year. That is all we have planned at this point in time. And the need because of the capital project and how invasive it is going to be at NPS sounds negative because we're talking about being invasive in education. But that's why we want to relocate sixth grade because we know that's going to give us that buffer to minimize the impact on the rest of the students there and it's going to lead to something fantastic. updated classrooms, updated HVAC, air conditioning in an elementary school, which I have to
027say is not in very many schools. So, we are very lucky to even have that opportunity, but I'm also not going to sugarcoat it too much and say that this is going to be a very easy process to go through it. It's not. People are going to have to be flexible, and I know that they're willing to be, and kids are always more flexible than we are. So, I'm sure that they will be okay. And we just need to make sure that we are flexible as well because no one is going to have a perfect situation next year at NPS. They're going to have to rotate classrooms and we're just going to make a plan that minimizes the amount of time they have to be relocating. The goal would be to get them out. We
028know they're going to be displaced for a little bit time and then to get them back in a room as quick as possible so that they can have a stable remaining part of the school year. And then lastly, uh because our capital outlay project, we plan one every year. It's important to do so. It helps give us the ability to keep maintaining our facilities and that gives we're allowed to do that up to $100,000 every single year. And the aid ratio makes that a very affordable way. Now, as we talk about rising costs, $100,000 doesn't go as far as it used to. There's talk of it potentially being raised in the future and I think that that would be really important and really helpful if that's ever able to happen. But for right now, we're
029still at that cap of $100,000. And what we have projected for for next year is some work in our high school gymnasium, specifically the exterior doors, which you can see daylight around. And part of the capital project is to refinish the floors potentially in different years, maybe in the same year, but either way within this capital project, both at the elementary and at secondary. And the last thing we want to do is refinish that floor and then allow weather, snow, and rain to be able to come in on that freshly redone gym floor. So that's part of it along with some other equipment that's that's pretty outdated at this point in time just to get that up and refreshed. And that's our that's our budget hearing for the 2627 school year budget. >> Any questions
030or comments from the board before we go into the official meeting? >> I would say appreciate the work from everybody. I mean all stakeholders are involved in the budget process. I think the administrative team did a great job this year partnering with everyone in both buildings to try to assess needs and make some tough decisions. Even they might seem small in the big picture, but big decisions like moving away from the elementary language program >> and moving to STEM as well as the the fifth sixth grade conundrum and having to move sixth grade up early. Those are all tough and serious decisions that have to be made. Um, we don't want to go back through the budget, but I would just point out too, we're very thankful to our taxpayers who always support the school
031and understand that we scrutinize every dollar. And if you think back to the presentation, programmatic, which is a big word, but really people that do all the educating is twothirds of our budget. And we had about a seven a little bit more than 7% increase in those costs which are primarily wages and benefits. And we all know what's going on in the regular world. We understand why that's happening. But for us to navigate that kind of increase on twothirds of our budget with a 3% tax levy and 1% increase in foundation aid is really hard work. It's a difficult challenge and uh you know I appreciate voters and I'm am confident that they'll continue to support us like they have understanding that we're making that work less than 3% coming in more than 7% uh
032on our most important expenses going up. So, uh, we're working hard to figure out the future and, you know, we're thankful. I think a lot of it's due to hard work from everybody in the district and the board that we're not in the position a lot of other districts are in where if you if you go to meetings or if you read in the papers, a lot of other districts are are just cutting off a lot of staff because they overspent. They used up their fund balances. We did not do that. Um, and even though we're well positioned, we know three, four, five years down the road, we're going to have to work through some things and we want to get on the right path now. So, I just appreciate the work and am hopeful
033that we'll see u, you know, a positive support next week. We average about 70 plus% budget approval. So, we're very fortunate to have a supportive community. >> Very much so. >> Yep. And we do not take that for granted. So, any other thoughts, I know we all have budget on the brain at this point. >> It's easy to forget most people haven't even seen the big numbers and we've seen all the little ones all the way through. >> Okay. >> The work you did with like Dr. Sims was presented. So, I think it's very clear we're having that that long range protection you talked about. Um, so there's a lot of variables in the future. There are variables now that like a year or two will give me. They're like, is that set up in
034a way like you have a system set up where you start plugging in number to kind of just keep that same format or whatever. Just have it updated as data comes in. >> Yeah. So we we have a spreadsheet with him, joint spreadsheet that all of those numbers can change and as we worked with him, he was changing them as we're talking. So whether it be based off of okay well what if we did 4% over the next few years and he would just change it right in there and we have access to that and then okay so what if foundation aid goes up this amount that year so we can change and plug in all those different things to see how they all interact with each other >> because that is the hard part
035like >> you know and and he said it numerous times and he said it better than I can he's just very well verssed in it but as he talks about that projection he's like well we can't predict that so we're going to put this, but we don't really know what that's going to be. So, you're right, like, yeah, we look out five years and then we bring it back to this year and we do what we know and then we see how that impacts everything there forward. So, that's kind of got to be part of our process each year as we go through it. >> I guess I'll just jump in quick and say thank you to both of you for all the hard work that you did and bringing him in, getting this set
036up, knowing that the next five years are going to be difficult. I think having that tool to help illustrate the needs and the hard decisions that are going to have to be made and the partnership that's going to have to be taking place with the WTA and others in order for the district to come out of this in the way that it should. You guys are setting the stage for that to be a much simpler process. So, thank you for everything that you guys have done. >> Yeah. and and the entire faculty received this exact same presentation today this afternoon as the faculty meeting and that was kind of the closing remarks was you know so yes we're looking at this we feel really good about where we are but everything we do every conversation
037we have needs to be forward thinking from this point and we've got to create this together and and discuss how we can deal with this because we ha we owe it to our community we owe it to our kids but with those rising costs we've we've got to be creative And we can't just do things the way we've always done them. >> Yeah. >> I think too speak for myself. I think just the way he presented there's a lot of information. Thank all of us understanding more >> is super helpful because it's when you just look at the numbers it's like but it it's there's a lot lot of moving pieces to to move and to balance >> and I encouraged everyone today if they hadn't seen it to to go back and look at
038and watch it. I warned them. I said, "I know it's 90 minutes." So, >> yes, it was it was 90 minutes. So, it was but very informative. And I said that if you if you can't do the full 90 minutes, at least watch the back half. >> Well, and to tie into that, I mean, you know, we look back now and most of us dread COVID, but one of the benefits of COVID is that we have recordings of our board meetings now, right? We did not have that beforehand. And that is one thing I always encourage anybody in the public that's curious about why things are the way they are. If they don't agree with what we're doing, we can agree to disagree, but please understand there's a lot that goes into the decisions we
039make. And the information is available. We try to present everything that the public could possibly want to consume, especially around the budget >> and why we're making the decisions we are because we understand as a forward we have a responsibility a fiduciary responsibility to the community to you know be responsible and explain the decisions we're making and you know and I know like all of us I know our faculty are very busy but that 90 minutes was very informative. >> Yeah. that is as like overwhelming as it could have been at times. It's superative. So, >> it's understandable. >> Well worth the time spent because it it it helped explain again especially for people that aren't familiar with like the tax gap calculation, why the system works the way it does and how we have
040to make decisions within the system that exists. We could all want different things and that's fine, but the system that exists is how we have to operate. So, >> and I think the illustration that he did going back, was it 13 years? >> Yeah, it was like 2012, right? Or >> where we didn't the tax cap and what that grew to >> costing us as a district by not doing that by we have to be very deliberate about going to the tax cap and we're and being diligent about how you guys set the budget. I think that's the the trust that we earn from the public in order to get the votes that we need. Yeah. Okay. Are we ready? We can move into the meeting. So, we'll call the meeting to order at 6:17.
041If everyone could rise for the pledge, please. 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. >> All right. So, we have consent agenda for minutes and tonight's agenda 33. Can I get a motion? So moved. >> Thank you, Justin. Thanks, Lori. Any discussion? All those in favor? Opposed? Motion is carried. And here we are. We have a brief meeting tonight, but we're in board discussion. So, if there's any additional discussion on the budget, any other matters. I'm not tracking to any, but you never know. Dan could have had a thought in the three minute ride over here. We'll circle back later if we have any more. So that brings us to our
042first public comment. Were you at the track meet at all before you came in here? >> With the southwalk. >> Oh, nice. Finally some good weather. It's fine. >> It wasn't as windy as usual. All right. If there's no other public comment, we will move into our new business. We have a consent personnel item 61. Can I get a motion? >> So move. >> Thanks again. >> Second. >> Thanks, Kate. Any discussion? I would just like to appreciate Sandy even though he just retired on April 30th. I haven't seen him yet. I missed him on the last day that he has agreed to come in and sub for us and help out uh with his duties that he no longer does full time because it's uh it's a tough spot to fill. >> It is
043a tough spot >> and I mean we're not going to fill his shoes. He was fantastic but you know we appreciate him being a bridge for us. So all that on there. Any other discussion? All those in favor? >> Opposed? Motion is carried, which interestingly enough carries perfectly into our consent agenda under new business. One of the items, couple items. 73. Can I get a motion? Thanks, Dan. Thanks, Lori. Any discussion? >> I a question with the um the bid. So, there were was nice to see there were choices. >> Um, so it I don't know how they choose, but is that how much over can the lowest bid go? So if we choose one, is there like a certain percentage that they can go over when they do the bid or >> so really
044through the bidding process like we are required to take the lowest bid. So they have to present I'll give you an example. So we do the bid opening right in here. So, there's a certain time that they're in and certain day that they're required to get all their bids here and they're supposed to be delivered and we have them delivered to the to the main office. And then at 3:00 p.m. we come in here, just the location that's closest to the office and the contractors come in as well and CNS opens the bids and they read through the bids and make sure that they have all the appropriate documents and then they read the bid that they're putting in for and then any alternates that they've also and they list the dollar amounts that they've
045projected out. And so then at the end total them all up. And so for each category they give it to the lowest bidder >> because there's a varied range especially in some categories. >> Makes me wonder like how come this one here and this one is here and like >> makes me nervous to take sometimes when the low state is so much low. >> Right. And Damen was even was even saying that how how difficult it is to bid certain jobs in in this day and age with just with the volatility behind supplies and obviously staffing concerns as well, but just how difficult it really can be in certain areas. So yes, I agree with you and I think that we have all of those discussions afterwards as we kind of debrief or like look
046at the variation here like how come and try to figure that out. Some areas seem to be a little bit closer and more consistent than others. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Any other discussion? All those in favor? >> Opposed? Motion is carried. And look at that. Here we are. Second public comment. Told you it'd be brief. >> Patty just got her head down. >> I got a second meeting to go. >> This worked perfect. That worked perfectly. I think we planned this for you. >> I appreciate it. >> I was thinking of you. Yeah. Uh, okay. Any board questions? None. We do have the boat next week, then another meeting right after Memorial Day. We haven't had too many months two meetings. So, okay. Do we have a need for executive sessions? >> Well, if
047you weren't here for the super long Rick Tims meeting, that's why this meeting is shorter. So, uh, with that, can I get a motion to adjurnn at 6:23? >> Second. >> Okay. So, Kate and then Justin. All those in favor.