001All right, folks. We're going to get started. Um, thank you for joining us. Welcome to the Eden Central School District 2026 2027 budget hearing. Today's May 11th, 2026. U Mrs. May and I are going to uh present the budget. And just as a way of background, um the budget hearing is a required process that happens uh a week or so before the actual budget vote. Um back on April 20th, the board of education adopted the budget uh which you will uh hear about today and you'll see today. The information um detailed information will be coming out in the mail this week in terms of the the budget newsletter. Um hopefully that hits your mailboxes in the next couple of days. It's important to note that unfortunately not unique uh this year, but we currently do
002not have a state budget. Okay. Uh sometime today, they actually passed another budget extender to fund the government through Thursday. Um so maybe Thursday or perhaps Friday, we we'll get more information about um actually what kind of support we will have. Now, uh it it may seem a little bit odd that that we've already adopted a budget. Now, we're presenting a budget and we already have plans to vote on a budget when we don't have complete information from the state. But that's the rules that we're forced to live by. Okay? So, we use the best information we we have um and the and the most up-to-date information we have, we actually got back in January. Um and that was the governor's first run. Uh and that's what we built our budget around. Okay. So Frankie
003will we'll do the bulk of the presentation. I'm sure I'll jump in here and there and we'll have time for questions as well. >> Take it away. >> Uh so 2627 budget hearing um which is the capstone meeting for the budget development process. Just want to thank everyone that was involved in the budget development process for um this upcoming school year including the board of education. Um a lot of hard work over the last six months. So, for tonight's agenda, we're going to talk through budget goals. Um, we're going to look at the three propositions that will be on the budget ballot ballot next Tuesday. Starting with proposition number one, which is the general fund expenditure budget. Uh we're going to talk through the expenditures broken down by category or the three-part budget which is
004the administrative pro program and capital. Uh we'll talk through revenues which includes the property tax levy. Um we're going to look through proposition number two which is the use of capital reserve funds in order to purchase diesel buses using um our savings account for that p that purpose. And then proposition number three is just the creation of a new capital reserve fund for vehicles and equipment. So goals were extremely important uh for providing direction for the work that was done over the last six months. Uh they provide context for short-term and long-term initiatives uh when we talk about budget planning. Um so some of the goals for the 2627 budget development process including um included making budgetary decisions that are consistent with long-term financial planning. uh continuing to keep tax creases tax increases to a
005minimum by staying within that tax cap, communicating budgetary needs and decisions to the public throughout the budget development process. And then lastly, maintaining student programs and class sizes. >> Turn your camera. >> So we look at proposition number one. This is the general fund expenditure budget uh for a total of $39,921,020. Uh when we compare that to the 2526 budget, it's actually a decrease of about 155,000 or.39%. Uh we'll talk a little bit further as we get through this presentation, but in the 2526 budget included a one-time short-term um debt service payment that was offset by deferred building aid on the state aid side for revenue. uh that is dropping off in the 2526 school year. So that's why when we're comparing the 2526 to the 2627 budget, you're seeing that decrease. However, if we
006were to pull that one-time debt service payment out of the budget from 2526 and compare operational expenses year-toear, it's actually an increase of about 1.4 million or 3.74%. which is consistent with what we experience um in an increase year-to-year. Okay. So, the budget tonight is presented in what's called the three-part budget. Um in the budget newsletter, as well as other presentations, um the same budget factors have been shown in different formats, uh broken down by major expense categories. However, the state does require that we use this format for the budget hearing. So, we look at the three components. You can see administrative is our district office, our business office, uh curriculum development, as well as our instructional administrators are our principles. Uh about 4.4 million, um which is about a $468,000 in or $271,000 increase.
007Um so when we look at the expenditures on the next slide broken down by major expense category a large portion of that administrative increase is related to contractual items. So our property insurance payments our utility costs and our legal costs. When we talk about program the program component this is the crux of our general education. So it's our regular school instruction. It's our special education instruction and services. It's our student services such as social workers, psychologists, guidance counselors. Uh it includes our instructional media which is our technology department. It includes our extracurricular activities, so our clubs districtwide as well as our athletic program. It includes student transportation, which is both our to and from home to school runs as well as our field trips and sports trips. And then lastly, our community services which are
008is the fitness center here at the middle school high school uh which is about 29 million um and an increase of about 468,000. A large portion of that increase which again we will look at the next slide is related to our Boseies expenditures uh which is focused on special education placements at Bosey's programs. And then lastly the third component is our capital component uh which is our maintenance and operations or our buildings and grounds department. It also includes judgment and claims and refund of taxes or tax tertiary. Uh and lastly, our debt service um which is our payment on uh old capital projects and as well as our $100,000 mini capital project or capital outlay which will be on a future slide. So if we look at our major expense categories for expenditures, this is
009kind of what we've kind of discussed uh the budget broken down throughout the budget development process. You can see salaries are increasing by about 27,000. And the reason for this small increase is um the district has a lot of retirements for next year and we're seeing a lot of breakage. So of the nine retirees replacing six of those positions. Uh equipment about a $43,000 increase. Uh, a large portion of this increase is related to buildings and grounds equipment. So, uh, purchase of new scrubbers, a new zeroturn mower, contractual, so kind of what I referenced on the last slide, a large increase of about $340,000. U majority of that is our utility bills, um, our legal expenses as well as our property insurance. So, I think on a personal standpoint, we can attest to the fact
010that both our car insurance and homeowners insurance, renters insurance, um, as well as our utilities have pretty skyrocketed in the last few years. Um, and the district is also experiencing that just at a higher level. Materials and supplies increase of about 40,000 uh really related to inflationary increases as well as a purchase of a new reading program mandated by New York State. tuition about a $20,000 decrease. Um while this is not a decrease in the students that are attending outside placements for special education needs. Um it's really a reflection of analyzing the actual costs per student attending each of these outside placements and just understanding what the actual cost will be for the next school year. Bosey's expenses. So increasing by about 480,000. um of this increase about 300,000 of that is related to special
011ed placements um at Bosey's programs. Um the other portion is related to just increases in the services that we purchase through Boseies. They increase every year. Benefits kind of goes handinhand with our salaries. So small increase of about $20,000. Again, this is much lower than what we've seen in the past just due to breakage as well as we had um reduction in the employer teacher retirement system contributions that the district is required to make as well as um an actual decrease in our workers compensation premium debt service. Um, so again, this is a drop off of um a one-year short-term financing debt payment uh that was offset by building aid on the state aid side for revenue. Um so a decrease of about 1.1 million. And then lastly, transfers or interfund transfers. Um an increase
012of about 21,000 related to our school lunch program as well as the extended school year or our summer school program for our special education students. Just an increase in those operational expenses. Uh, one note is you'll see that these none of these items include proposition number two, which is the purchase of school bus purchases since that is voted on separately by the voters. So, part of our expenditure budget includes a capital outlay um or a mini capital project uh which it has to stay within that $100,000 um bucket. All work must stay under $100,000. $100,000 which includes administrative costs. It includes architect and lawyer fees. It includes any insurance related to builder risk policies as well as the actual construction. Um so the district is kind of limited on what we can include in that
013scope. For next school year, we are targeting tile repair at the middle school high school. So the pictures on the bot bottom part of the slide are in the pool area. So the pool deck as well as the bottom of the pool. And so tackling as much of that tile repair as we can as well as any miscellaneous repairs throughout the middle school high school. So if we look at the revenue side of the budget, um you can see that majority of Eden's revenues are made up by state aid. Uh federal aid is about $100,000 of that amount as well as our property taxes. So again, as Mr. Chortissio mentioned, we don't have finalized state aid numbers. So, our state aid on uh that we built our budget around is based off of the governor's
014executive run, which came out in January. Uh while the state budget is due April 1st, we still don't have a finalized budget. Uh they just passed the 11th extender through Thursday. Um so, a decrease of about 800,000. And again, a majority of this is related to that one-time debt service payment that we saw on the expenditure side. The drop off of the expenses uh also equates to a drop off in building aid or a drop off of state aid. Our other tax items small increase there. Uh these are our payment in lie of tax or pilot agreements. So think our solar farms throughout the community rather than being on the tax roles and paying uh based on their assessed property value. They pay the district directly. Um small increase in those set values as well
015as interest and penalties. So anyone any taxpayer who doesn't pay their tax bill on time is charged interest and penalties. Um so that's what that revenue source is. Um I'm going to skip fund balance and use of reserves and we'll come back to that a little bit later. Uh real property taxes. So an increase of about 416,000. This is reflective of a 2.52% tax levy increase which is the tax cap for the 2627 school year. Erie County sales tax. So, Erie County sales tax is based off of consumer spending. Um, all districts within Erie County receive an aortionment of sales tax uh based on however much Erie County collects in a given quarter. So, based on consumer spending, we're estimating that amount to stay relatively the same with a small increase of about $50,000 just
016based on tariffs and inflationary costs that we're seeing in the consumer spending. And then miscellaneous revenue. Um so an increase of about 75,000 in this category which a large portion is related to interest earnings. Um so as we were developing the 2526 budget we knew that interest uh rates were going to start to decline. Um so we were conservative in our estimate on what that interest earnings would be. Um interest rates didn't drop as quickly as we had anticipated. So kind of bumping up that interest revenue to what we've actually experienced knowing that interest rates are going to decline in the next couple years. Uh but they didn't decline as quickly as we had initially anticipated. And then if we circle back to appropriated fund balance and use of reserves. So these two categories kind
017of go hand inand as they're our district savings account. Um when we were developing the budget this year, our revenue we had a budget gap between the difference between our revenue and our expenses. And rather than cutting additional programs, the board made a conscious decision to plug um the difference with additional use of reserves. So an increased use of about 146,000 between last year and this year. Um knowing that similar to a personal savings account, once that money is spent, it is no longer available for future use. Um but being conscious that we didn't want to cut additional programs. So we talk about the tax levy for 2627. Um it is 16,916,573 which is $416,000 increase over the 2526 tax levy. Again, this is reflective of a 2.52% tax increase uh which is the tax
018cap for next school year. Um and in comparison, the 2526 tax cap tax cap was 2.58 and the board did adopt to increase taxes to the property tax cap as well last year. So when we talk about reserve usage um and the use of our savings account, the top section and then the bottom section is what's being used to offset that general fund budget. Um so you'll see workers comp, unemployment, our employee retirement system as well as teacher retirement system and our ELAR. So those are really to offset our benefit expenditures. The middle section is voted on separately. Um it is proposition number two which is the purchase of bus purchases. Um but it is worthy to note that we are spending about 2.6 million out of our reserve or our savings account um with
019dwindling balances in our reserves overall. So, we talk about what a contingent budget would mean and what it may look like. So, if the board or if the vote goes out uh next week, Tuesday, and doesn't pass, the board has two options. They can either go for a revote uh which is the statewide revote day, June 16th, or they can adopt a contingent budget at that time. if they decide to go for a revote and the revote in June also fails, the district is required to adopt a contingent budget. So, a contingent budget would mean there's no increase in the tax levy for the prior year. So, essentially eliminating that $416,000 increase even though we're eliminating that $416,000. Individual tax bills may increase or decrease depending on the um assessed property values in each of
020the given towns um as well as the overall assessed property values in the five towns that make up Eden School District. It would eliminate any equipment purchases for next year. It would eliminate that mini capital project or that capital outlay $100,000 project uh which is slated for the middle school high school tower repair. We would not be allowed to allow the use of facilities on a free basis. So, Town W currently uses one of our buildings to run their summer wreck program out of and we do not charge them for those use of facilities. If we had to go to a contingent budget, we would be forced to charge. It would eliminate school bus purchases and lastly, it would just eliminate any other program or non-contingent expenditures in order to fit the expenditure budget within
021that $416,000 loss of revenue. So if we fast forward to proposition number two, um this is the use of capital reserve funds in the amount of 587,648 and it includes the purchase of two 20 passenger diesel buses as well as two 64 passenger diesel buses. Since it's using our savings account for uh the purchase of vehicles and equipment, it has no taxpayer impact because it's essentially using our savings account. So if we talk through the summary for propositions, prop one again is the general fund expenditure budget in the amount of $39,921,20. It includes that capital outlay as well as the tax levy increase of 2.52. Proposition number two is the use of capital reserve funds for bus purchases in the amount of 587,648 um for two 20 passenger diesel buses and two 64 passenger diesel
022buses. Again, no taxpayer impact. And then lastly, proposition number three, which we didn't really talk about in previous slides, but this is the creation of a new capital reserve fund for vehicles and equipment. The current reserve which we are using in Prop 2 uh when it was established in 2016 had a 10-year life um which expires at the end of the 2526 school year. While there is still funds in there, we can still expend out of there. We just can't fund it. Um so by creating a new reserve, it just allows the district if we should have excess funds in future years, we can fund that reserve to offset future purchases. Again, since this is a creation of a new reserve, no taxpayer impact. And then lastly, our school budget vote and board of education
023election is next Tuesday, May 19th from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. in the middle school high school auditorium foyer. Any questions? >> So if the public decides to vote down, we have to go with a contingency budget. the there's a lot of very valid things that not be positive. >> Um the summer wreck program, would the summer wreck program or the town be able to pay the charges for that? Would that they'd have to tank that program? >> Yeah, we haven't thought about it, >> but it probably would be pretty exorbitant cost. >> Sure. Cost taxes the next year. And I'm I'm just put out that that that in itself is a shame just for that one thing and then you know all the other stuff too. So we heard state budget I know it's
024not done. Has there been any scuttle that we're going to need to get less than we anticipate? I don't care if they give us more but >> no but that I mean it could happen. Um, typically the governor's uh run is the lowest amount. Um, I haven't heard anything at all about less. So, we we were like most districts in Western New York got a 1% increase, which is just over $95,000 and that's in our base aid. It's called foundation aid. Um, there there has been some push that 2% be the minimum. We don't we really have heard very very little. It's been exceedingly quiet on the monetary side of the budget um for schools. You what what we've heard is they're the um they're debating over changes in car insurance. They're debating over changes
025to tier six and and that pension reform, which if realized will be a future cost passed on to districts. Um and the other uh issue is rolling back some of the green initiatives that were uh signed in 2019. There has talk about pushing back the zero emission bus requirements by by five years um which may come out in this budget as well. Just clarification. So if budget were not to pass but the purchase of the buses does pass, we still can't buy the buses. >> Correct. So, no equipment purchase purchases, that's 145,000. No capital outlay, that's 100,000. >> Yep. >> Do we then need to cut another 200,000 to get to that 400? >> Correct. Yes. >> Other questions? >> For the uh the figures for going out at the 2.25 25 roughly I know
026they publish it that's probably coming out the flyer that's coming out what that will be for 100,000 assessment of your house increase >> that's kind it's kind of difficult to to predict what that'll be because it changes based on on the assessment equalization rate um so when we when we say it'll be x number of dollars per hundred thousand that's a very general statement um and what where did we land on >> it's about 77 cents per thousand of assessed value >> on average. Anything else? Going once 99 on Tuesday next week. 99 on Tuesday. Chicken barbecue. meet the candidate on Wednesday, right? Yes. >> Yeah. Right in this room. >> Six o'clock. >> I don't think everybody realizes how many um how many parts of the community do utilize the school because under the
027rock hospice, the little loop uses the school a lot. Um so we would have to pay as well. So I know as part of the board of the little loop, we will be encouraging people to vote for the budget. So I mean it it's they don't and I think people will flip it as well the little loop can just pay for the use of it. Well, if I'm going to pay for the use of the school, why wouldn't I go to one of the all-star cheer gyms and pay them the use when they have the mats to use and everything else? So there's other contingencies. So, I don't think people realize just how much the school is utilized by this community. >> Yep. >> And and the rates that it's utilized, it's it's not >>
028not cheap. We've got to go out to >> right >> like whatever the going rate of >> rentals are. It's it's not like, oh, you know, rents are 10 bucks an hour or something like that. It's got to go out at full. So, >> and I know we get a discount when we utilize the field for like say um uh the playoffs and championships that we hosted here at the school. Um but yeah, there's just a lot >> of vote down. >> Correct. Yes. I know we've had fairly decent in my time on the board a fairly decent positive record of passing the budget. But again, it's in the hands of the voters. And I think also my opinion is is that I don't think people realize our constraints and our restrictions on what we
029can and can't do to balance the budget. And it it blows my mind that the governor can be as late as she wants the budget, but we have to follow a deadline if we get penalized. and we're remitting public schools and we're getting penalized either way. We're penalized if we don't hand our budget in on time and we're penalized if she doesn't get hers in on time. So, it's just very frustrating. I hope the public takes that into consideration. I know I learned that by being on the board. I did not, you know, even when I was in school, I always thought I went to Yorkway, I always thought it just ran itself. And I learned an awful lot in nine years that it doesn't just run itself. And yet there's a lot of restrictions
030that things we can and can't do that I think sometimes people are under the perception that we spin a wheel and, you know, just decide one night, well, maybe we'll do this this year. It's it's a lot different than what I think it appears to people and I'd like everyone to consider that that it's not as easy as uh I have a better time balancing my own budget even though it's not as exorbitant as this by far but pretty cut and dry. This is not cut and dry. >> It's it's it's hard because this is the only vote that that >> people have everything everything else is They're throwing it down. >> You take it >> and whatever the uh the temperature of the time is, you know, when the boat comes, >> we're going
031to be victim of that. So, >> we need to we need to as a group >> uh of citizens, make sure we talk to people and say, "Did you go out and vote?" >> Yep. >> Did you go and vote? >> Hopefully, the majority of who you talk to will go and vote and will vote affirmatively. Yeah, >> but uh it's always been it's always been hard that the districts in general, all districts have a hard time marketing the positives. Have a meeting like this and talk about how great things are and they get people all excited, but there's a lot of people out there that don't see what's going on and don't understand it. And it's it's a it's a tough cell, >> you know. Yeah. It's always funny like people complain like we
032all have to on the board like we pay tax. that like I'm like yes I want to pay more taxes. You know what I mean? Like and like if the community realize that like the people on the board who are saying we need this increase. It's not because we love paying taxes but we see that like we just we have to and yeah it's believe me >> and it is so difficult with the population of our town getting older and older and older and more and more fixed incomes and more and more you know the cost of everything rising. it it's not just a matter of these nasty old people going out and voting things down. They're voting it down to save their own lives, >> right? >> So there there's a there's a lot
033of marketing that needs to be done and a lot of understanding that needs to be done as well. >> And that's part of the balance that we have to talk about. And I mean I'm three years into my retirement. I have no children. I paid taxes and that my sister and husband have lived here and raised their kids here. They're now adults having children who are starting to come into the district. So, I feel like my duty is, you know, I don't drink coffee. So, it's important. So, I'm saving in that respect, but um and without going to school and spending money on my students, I'm definitely saving a lot of money in that respect. But, you know, my duty is to see to it that my next generation of family has it as good
034as their family had it here in this district. And yet, it's, you know, like John said, we're we're voting for this stuff, but we too are paying taxes. So, it's it's not an easy sell. And I get it. I totally get it. >> Imagine if we didn't have nine retirements this year. That would have been some interesting discussions. >> Yeah. And it's funny that this is the only tax we all have a say in and it's the one like education truly benefits everybody, >> you know? It's Yeah. The one tax people can really for I just hope it's the families who are coming out to vote in school who are most effective because you're right coming out to vote. No, because >> you know how many old people are out there. very well. >> I
035mean, if you just had basically the school parents and guardians show up in boat, >> it would be a no-brainer. >> Exactly. >> But the but the problem is we don't get that. >> I know. >> I mean, if you look at our our passage rate, we're probably one of the lower passage rates of any district in the area. >> We're only we're >> 62 to 64% >> up 50s. >> 62 to 64% last five, six years. 80s and 90s 70s were >> so I I always look you know soon as the numbers come in and I kind of have like what number vote is this? If it's under 500 we're in trouble. We need to get to that 7 800 numbers of votes to make sure that this thing passes. I know what the
036GOP and the elementary this year decision making teams are. They did it last year last year. They um have a contest for the kids to take home a form for their parents to fill out and then the parents in order for the long to come because they get to pick a a free recess day, a ice cream day or something, wear a hat to school day and the parent actually has to come and vote and put it in a special ballot box. So I think that helped a good amount last year, but we need even more of them to, you know, so the teachers at those two schools I know are pushing kids go home, you know, give this to mom and dad and say, you got to go hand it in or I won't
037get my ice cream or I won't get my recess and stuff. And um so that that is something that's happening. But like you said, God forbid if the weather too great being in New York or Western New York, it looks like it's going to be in the 70s next week though. >> But I think that awareness of what you brought up of how many school groups use the school and if they are starting to they have to be charged the facilities. >> I think I it's come up in the past, isn't it? Years ago, did we Well, twice we've had school vote voted down in the last 10 years. >> Wasn't there like a tier system that we were charging groups? >> Oh, no. Substantial. >> Yeah, it was a lot. It was a terrible.
038>> So, people need to be reminded of that and that anybody who can get that word out to your groups say this to your benefit. People need to stop and understand and really listen to what goes into the budget. I don't think people realize how much goes into it until you stop and listen to one of these meetings and it gets broken down for you. >> Fortunately, he's here. >> No, we did have a good turnout. Uh was it last day or two meetings ago? >> Two days ago. >> Oh yeah, that was last meeting. I listen to that. >> I know there's I've never looked to see the number that are viewing from home, but I I hope that because there are so many good things that are presented at the monthly meetings, things
039that have happened. >> Does that account does that account for double digits? We have two viewing. One of them is >> we average about five to seven >> depending on what's going on. >> Yeah. During budget time it goes up a little bit, >> right? >> But it's usually like five to seven. >> I feel like there was a lot of YouTube views on the last meeting though. >> They're played back a lot more than the last. >> That's good. Yeah. Well, so they're at least getting the information. Hopefully they're not just skimming through it, but okay. >> I mean, there are so many I like I said just in the the the terms I've been on here, the growth in academic progress, um things that have happened at the elementary school with their reading
040and math scores improving and you know, things that can't be done if we don't have a budget or budget fails. You know, that's unfortunately what that goes back to when cuts start getting made and things, you know, you hate to see the school regress when I've seen so much more progress over the years in sports too. Oh my gosh, Mr. Alo comes in and the the report for each season of sports and extracurricular activities unified basketball unified bowling. It's amazing and who knows? I just hope we can keep it going. Any other questions or comments? All right, then we're going to close this uh budget hearing at 6:34