001[Music] Good evening everyone. Good evening. I'd like to call to order this public hearing on the 2025 2026 school budget. Today is Tuesday, May 6, 2025. Please stand for the pledge. 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. Thank you. This evening's public hearing is on the proposed 2025 2026 school budget totaling 272,26,615 which reflects a 940 thou 940,298 increase from the current budget and will result in a 3.3% change in the tax levy. Mr. Famosa, you have the floor. Thank you. Good evening everybody. My name is Jose Formoso. I'm the assistant superintendent for business here at the Mount Vernon City School District. Um, thank you everyone for attending the public public
002hearing. I'm going to start by just going through some acknowledgements. We're going to go over how we got here during the budget process. We're going to give a little background about the fiscal condition of the school district and the things that we're doing to address it. and then we're going to discuss the 2526 budget. So, just some acknowledgements. Um, this budget was put together with the board trustees, our senior cabinet, and our budget committee. I would like to thank all of them. Um, I'd also like to thank everybody in the buildings, and everyone who helped really get this together. We did have quite a bit to tackle on this budget in the beginning of the year. As people know, we were designated um in fiscal distress. We've been in fiscal distress for a number of
003years, and we knew that we were going to have to make some pretty difficult decisions in order to really start 2526 school year um on the right foot. So, here is just some key budget dates. Uh on April 9th, we had a special meeting which we discussed some personal matters regarding the budget. And then on April 23rd, the board adopted the budget. And today we're having the budget hearing. The next big date will be the annual budget vote, which is May 20th. Um, that's the budget vote and the school board election. So what you see on this slide is the two main goals for the 2526 budget was creating a path to sustainability and increasing fiscal responsibility. and and I'll talk about that as as we go on in this presentation. It was important um
004for this district to really take a close look at at the current model we have, see what's happened fiscally over over the last decade and see what areas need to be addressed um to really put Mount Vernon on a better path fiscally. um and also look at the things that we could do to better increase our fiscal responsibility, look at ways that we can provide more documentation, um provide more knowledge on how the budget works, how it's developed. So, those are things we're actively working on and we'll be improving as we go. This right here is a a snapshot really of of the story financially uh of Mount Vernon since about 2019. So, what you'll see on this slide is our fund balance since 2019. And you'll see whether we had an operating surplus or
005a deficit. If you have a surplus, it just means your revenue exceeded your expenses. If you have a deficit, it's the opposite. Your expenses have exceeded your revenue. So, what you're going to see here is since 2019, there was only one year where the district was actually operating in the black, and that was in 2021. Besides for that year, we've lost anywhere from three to almost $7 million a year. And the net effect of that is every time we are in a deficit, what we're doing is we're using our fund balance to accommodate for that. We used to have about $33 million when we started in in 2019 in fund balance. By the end of this year, we're projecting to have less than a million dollars in fund balance. So those are really the key
006things that that set this trajectory on. We have to make changes and we need to make them make them now. Um the other big factor that we saw in Mount Vernon was a pretty sharp decline in enrollment. Uh we did talk about that a lot. If you look at 2014, we were over 8,000 students. Right now we're at about 6,500 students. But probably the more alarming thing was the the study that we did through Boseies which shows that by 2033 we're going to be down to around 5,000 students which which I'll I'll talk about on the next slide. So this is just a a chart showing the decline in enrollment. Um you could see there was some steeper points where it declined and now it's it's kind of steadily going down and it's projected to
007steadily going down. in that report uh that we do we do have on the website and just to give some clarification everything regarding the budget this year will be on the budget website on the navbar if you go to mtverinscd.org or right on the top you'll see a section labeled budget. You click on that. We're going to have all our information on there. As we update any information, we'll make sure to put a notice out and to show where to locate it, but everything will be in one central location. So, we'll also, if it's not there already, we'll also make sure to include that long range study. But what it really showed was this decline that it's going to and it looks like it's all actually we kind of looked at the mist and we're
008checking about every quarter. We're seeing where we're at. It does look like we are trending the way it's been projected. Um and if that's the case, Mount Vernon will be below 5,500 students by 2033 which which is alarming. So that was I know there was a lot of questions on the consolidation of buildings. This was this was one of the big factors uh when you talk about having to reduce your footprint and start to really bring the expenses in line. So this this next slide is uh the restricted reserves. So what I talked about before was our total fund balance. In part of that we have what's called restricted reserves. And the reason I'm just really making sure to include this on any presentation is because this year we're projected to go over our budget.
009So our budget was about $271 million. When we do what's called fund balance projections um and expense projections, we're noticing that we're going to go to about 278 to 2880 million in expenses this year. That's that we already had put a purchasing freeze all the way in I think it was like October. So, we already started to try to cut back on expenses, but we're still going to go well over our projected budget. One of the biggest reasons for that, unfortunately, was transportation. We did have to go out to bid last year. That bid did increase our prices by 40%, which for a district of our size, we run about 80 routes in district a day. So, that's about a $7 million increase in transportation costs alone. So, that was a big factor in this.
010If we do go over exceeding our budget, one of the solutions is we'd have to reduce our reserves. So that's just what this is showing that could happen. Um we could have to reduce our reserves. At that point, we'd be looking about a little under $500,000 in remaining reserves. Uh I do want to point out um something that's very important for the community to know. We were aware of this situation as a year went on. So, we've been talking to the state and we've been telling them about these issues and the state is looking to give us what's called a state aid spinup. What that is is they give us an advance in state aid. It's looking to be what we're trying to get is about $8 million for this year and that's payable back
011in 30 years. So, what happens is that amount is just divided by 30 and our aid each year is reduced by by that amount. Um, so if it was $8 million, that would be somewhere about 240,000 I believe a year in a reduction. But it would go a long way in really helping us start to streamline things because what that does is it helps the district end the year on on pretty solid footing and it gives us time to keep looking at other expenses that we could reduce um in operations and things of that nature. So, one of the questions that came up throughout the year when we were talking about doing this reorganization is is what's the true impact? So, what we did for this budget is we made two budgets. So, we made
012one budget which was a budget just as is if we kept everything the same, same amount of staff, same buildings, and just rolled over the budget where we knew was going to increase things like health insurance and things of that nature. What would that look like? What that looked like to us is about a $289.1 million budget. Um, which is obviously not sustainable for the city of Mount Vernon for the school district. So, with the reorganization, we're able to bring the budget down to $272.2 million, which is a $16.9 million reduction in projected expenses for 2526. With this organiza reorganization, we also did budget for increases to our bargaining units. Um, as has been discussed before, unfortunately, our MVFT uh bargaining unit has been out of contract since 2022. So, that's a big priority to
013get that um negotiated and settled. And then, of course, our after that do our other bargaining units as well. So, we made sure to include that in next year's budget. Um, and that is why a big reason why you also see the proposed tax increase. So this next slide is just the measures that we've been taking um to address the fiscal condition. So the first thing we did was what's called a fiscal analysis. We brought in a third party called Capital Market Advisors. They specialize in helping um school districts and specifically school districts who are in fiscal distress. So they prepared that fiscal analysis and they presented that in December of 2024. The next thing that we're working on with them is a multi-year financial plan to really go out five years and look at
014any other contracts that are expiring or that will be expiring after they're settled. Look at the makeup of the districts. What are the capital needs that are needed and take a holistic approach towards putting us in a better position year-over-year. That plan is expected, the first draft is expected to be done this month. Um, one of the things that it really is contingent on is will this tax increase pass? If that doesn't pass, that plan is going to look very different. So, that's why that plan hasn't been released yet. Um, the other thing we did is what's called the state aid review. So, we get about 42% of our revenue for the district and state aid. So, one of the big things that we want to do is take a close look at our state
015aid and see are there any other ways we could maximize our revenue specific to state aid. So, we are working on doing that. It looks like it will happen around June of 2025. If not, it would it would be early in the summer, but we're really trying to get that done for June of 2025. The other thing was the efficiency study. As I discussed, we had a very very large increase um in transportation over 40%. So, we have been working on an efficiency study. We're just waiting for some of the zoning to be done in order to conclude that, but early projections show that we could reduce about $1.5 to$2 million in transportation costs for the district. And then the final thing was a facility study which helped us to look at um the reorganization
016and to make those decisions. So this right here is just a pie chart showing where the bulk of our revenue comes from. So, property taxes is almost 52% at 51.6. The other majority is state aid. I'm sorry, I think I said 42. It's actually be about 44.4%. The state aid numbers are based on projections right now because the New York state budget has not been uh officially passed yet. So, that number is subject to change, but we were conservative with this projection. Uh we went off what is what is right now on what's called the governor's run. So, we feel confident about the number that that we currently have. Um and the other thing we broke out how much we receive in pilots which are payment in lie of taxes and then our prior year
017taxes that prior year to 2020 taxes is just the number that we we already reached an agreement with the city and the city is set to make their final payments by September of 2025. So that $1.246 246 million that you're seeing on there. That's really just the July, August, and September payments that we'll be receiving from the city. Uh we are currently working on a new agreement with the city uh to look at the 202021 and 2122 school year taxes that are actually due this month. So, we've been in constant contact with the city and we're going to be working on a plan to address that as well. Um, when it comes to pilots, we've discussed this in the past, but that $1.9 million, um, as one of our trustees presented before, if those pilots
018weren't in effect, it looks like we would receive about a few million dollars in additional revenue to the school district. Um, so that's that's something that we take a close look like at here at the school. So our total budget for next school year, the proposed budget is $272,26,615. So this slide we just we wanted to give the community an idea of what this projected tax increase would would mean to the community and to the school. So here we just did an example. When you see that full market value of $555,000, that's not necessarily what your home would sell for at the market value. That's the market value that's on your tax bill. So, if you were to look at your tax bill, you'll see what the market value there is and you'll see the
019assessed value. So, we took um a fairly average home in Mount Vernon, like based on median household prices, and we decided let's let's show an example of this one. So, what that would look like at a 3.3% increase would be about $289 a year or $24.15 a month. That's what that 3.3% increase is equivalent to. What that does for the school district is almost $4.5 million in revenue. So really what that revenue is is directly supporting in this case is our ability to address those outstanding union contracts that we discussed. Our ability to preserve athletics, prek, afterchool programs, and performing and visual arts. So, one of the things um that we'll discuss about if if this does not get passed, those are the areas that we're going to be looking to to make reductions in
020um is is really those. So, here is just an overview of the projected expenses broken down by category or object they're referred to. So on this chart, you'll just see the 2526 proposed, what the 2425 budget was, what that dollar change is, and what that percent change is. As people will notice, um the biggest decrease we had is in personnel services. Uh personnel makes up about 62% of our total budget. So that's that's why it's always a large factor. Um you will see an increase in contractual services. That is a little bit misleading because our 2425 budget was under budgeted $7 million in transportation. So you're seeing an $1 million increase, but the large factor of that is actually the large increase in contractual transportation expenses that happened this year. We're actually uh able to
021look at about a 1.5 to$2 million savings when it comes at transportation next year. And then the other things that sometimes I'm asked about the debt service. So debt service is just our annual cost for our existing debt specifically on any bonds, capital projects that we did. So you'll see it broken down into principal and interest. Our debt service schedule shows a breakdown of year-to-year, which I'll make sure to include also on the budget website. Our debt is expected to almost completely fall off by 2033. Um, and we are also looking next year we're going to be talking a lot about a capital project for this school district. And this capital project is different than a a lot of ones that have probably been addressed in the past. This capital project is really to look
022at bringing our buildings um up to up to the needs that they have. They have some infrastructural needs, some repair needs that need to happen there. So, that's that's our next big focus. This is just a pie chart of it broken down by objects so people could see where the greatest percentages of our expenses really are. You'll see salary and benefits are about 61.69%. Um the other large categories are BoseI services. We do run a large amount of services through them. Um one thing important to note when it comes to Boseies, we do receive aid on Bosey's services. Um the typical average rate we receive is about 56% in aid coming back based on our expenses. Here's our key drivers. Uh the one that I put first was really one of the largest ones over
023these last two years. So health insurance premiums for the district and really ac across the state have been skyrocketing since since really after COVID. Um, what we noticed this year was a 10% increase in our premiums. That equates to about a $3.2 million increase in expenses for the district. Next year, we're looking at about an 8.94% increase. So, that's an additional $3 million just on health insurance alone over these last two years. Transportation, I did go over already um that cost. The reason that cost is less than $7 million and that 5.24 24 is because we actually have been able to reduce transportation expenses. We're expected to to really reduce them. We're thinking of about $2 million reduction. So the analysis we're doing looks like it is all going well and it will be significant
024for this district. Um and then some of the key revenue drivers. So the one thing when I showed those losses on the other slide, that structural deficit that's been incurring, what's been happening to balance the budget is we've been assigning fund balance instead of increasing taxes. What we were doing to not put that burden on the community is we were using our fund balance. The thing is that that was different when you have 30 something million dollars in fund balance. You could do that for for a time period, but you can't sustain that. So that's really the big change that we're making right now. we are assigning no fund balance in order to balance the budget next year. Um we were going to do that regardless of how we ended the year because our fund
025balance is so low and that really puts the district in a very susceptible place. That is one of the largest reasons that we have such a high fiscal stress c uh fiscal stress score from the office of the state controller. They really do look at are you running at a deficit? Are you using your fund balance? How much fund balance does a school district have? Because while things have been not bad in terms of state aid that we've been receiving in the past there has been state aid cuts and if that were to happen that could really leave the district in a vulnerable place. We know that at the federal level they've been talking about reducing some of the title funds that would be very significant when it comes to to Mount Vernon and the
026city. So, we want to make sure that we start to prepare ourselves for the future and make sure that if things do happen, we can actually still stay in a position where we're sustainable and we're not having to make drastic changes. And and the final thing is the increase. We did receive our 2% increase to foundation aid. That's about $1.6 million. Um the other state aid numbers, we're still waiting for to see the finals. Um, but we do expect it to still equate to that $120 million in state aid that I had on the other slide. And then the biggest factor and key revenue driver for us this year is that tax increase. It would give us almost $4.5 million in additional revenue, which would allow us to really tackle the other things. Um, prek,
027I'm going to reiterate it because it is very important for people to hear. We'll be able to sustain our athletics, sustain our prek program. um keep sustaining our arts programs and actually be able to uh resolve these uh these negotiations with our bargaining units. And the last thing is what's called a three-part budget. Three-part budget is broken down into administration, capital, and program. Um administration, I talked before, you typically want to see that number be less than 10%. Um so we're hovering right around there. Our capital costs um could sometimes look a little bit higher than if you compared it to other districts, but we have a lot of infrastructure here. So in that 4.2 square miles of Mount Vernon where we're housing 17 total buildings, so you are going to see higher capital costs
028when it comes to that and our program is almost at 70%. Here's our final slide. So this is just an overview of this year's budget compared to next year's budget. So, current year budget $271 million. Next year's budget $272.2 million. It's an increase of $940,000 or.347% and it's a property tax levy of 3.3%. I do want to reiterate even though our budget is going up very slightly under a million dollars, when we end this year, we will be somewhere at about $278 million in expenses. So that was a true cost to the district, $278, $280 million. So the budget we're proposing for next year is much lower than what our expenses are going to end up this year. And I think it's important for the community to understand that. That is it for the presentation.
029So now I'll take any questions from community members. Do we normally just pass around the mic? Okay. Oh, and just to clarify on that budget site, we do have an FAQ up there. So, any questions that I can't answer today because I need to dive into a little further, I'll address them on that FAQ and we'll make sure we put a notice out there of it. this game. Check. forum. Is it working? Uh, it's not working. Is it working now? Okay. So, I'll sit like this. Okay. Uh, a few months ago, I had asked the question, I understand that you guys are closing the three schools. Number one, I wanted to know what was um what was the plan for those properties? are they going to be sold? Are they going to be rented? Um,
030and then my second question is, uh, a lot of friends and families are teachers here in the district. I understand that the, uh, tax increase would also go to contractual CVAs, but where are you guys in the process of that? Like, are you guys sitting down? And what do those increases look like? Because a lot of the union members are are scared. I mean, we're all going through increases in groceries, gas, everything. So, I'm just curious because it's hard for them to plan also. So, where are we with the three closed properties and where are you? Yeah, thank thank you. Appreciate the questions. So, with the closed properties right now and and I don't want to make this vague, but I just want to make it really clear. The first goal is to get the
031buildings properly closed down and then to get the transition in place over the summer. Then at that point, the board and the cabinet are going to sit down and discuss what's the best solution for for Mount Vernon. And it's it's going to be a process. So, you know, looking at whether it's leasing or selling buildings, getting valuations, all that is really going to be looked at after we first close down the buildings. And the reason for that is there's a there's a lot of work when it comes down closing buildings, especially when you're doing three at one time. So really, that's the number one priority. Let's make sure we close them properly. Let's should make sure that the students are all properly moved and everything goes well with that. And then let's address the the
032buildings after that. One more question. Do you want to ask is it on this one? Yeah, sure. Uh no, actually go ahead. You want me to answer that second one? Sure. So the second one with the bargaining units, we are speaking um we're specifically uh in talks right now to with the MBFT. Uh the thing is that we are proposing a tax increase. So we can't we can only go so far until we figure out where this budget is going to truly land this year. So that's why we are waiting for some things until May 20th to see what happens because if it doesn't go through on May 20th, we have one more opportunity to put forth an increase and then we'd have to go into something what's called a contingency. That is a very
033difficult uh budget to put forth. It is not great for communities. Typically we would have to reduce our equipment codes. We'd have to make severe reductions um across the board. So that's something we're looking at. Uh and hopefully that won't come into play, but that is something we're also looking at. But in in putting the budget together, you had a number yet you're working with a number for of So are we at a 2% increase? I mean, and I think that's really important for people to understand, right? Because you're you may have to come back with another budget. What What is the percentage that you guys were working on for that for those contracts for those three years for the So I'll be honest. I don't know if I'm at liberty to to say that
034at this time because we haven't had that conversation yet in negotiations. What we could do is once we have that conversation in negotiations, we have no problem making that making that known as long as they're good with that. But there had to be a number you're working with. So I mean I would think if this this is a public budget that the the public wants to understand better. I mean of course we want to have good education for our our kids in the community and we also want to have a living wage for our teachers. So there had to be some number that you guys were working with some percentage that you guys were working with. So if anybody can answer that. I'm sorry. We're not at liberty to say what that is right now.
035They're behind closed doors in negotiation. The two sides have their figures, but it's not something that we could discuss publicly yet. And I don't want to feel like it's we don't have our our legal counsel. Uh oh, actually we do. So, I could see, but we don't have the person who is actually in running the negotiations from our legal side here today. So I don't want to put myself in a situation um okay but I have no problem again giving that information I just think the public would like to understand that better so that they can understand what they're voting on because to blindly go into the ballot box and vote on something that they're not clear on. You guys are promoting this budget as you know we're going to negotiate the CBAs and this
036is not an attack in any way on you guys. I think that the public has a right to know what percentage rate you guys are looking at. My second um question, just to stay on that first one, it's it's not even that I'm disagreeing. I'm just not sure if I can actually publicly state it yet. So, we can state it, but there's numbers in this budget. Okay. And you're going out to the public and you're asking for a 3% increase. We should have an understanding of what the percentage rate you guys were working with. You know, was it 3%? I get it. If you guys can't answer it, I don't know if you're actually accurate on that. But my uh second thing that I wanted to answer, it was disturbing to me as a taxpayer,
037also as an elected official here in Mount Vernon, that as of October, I got a bunch of emails from teachers within the district saying exactly what you said, that there was a um buying freeze on on everything within the district. So my immediate, you know, thought was, okay, this wasn't bud budgeted properly prior. So, but then you mentioned something that I thought was very pivotal here. So, you guys went out to bid for the busing, the transportation. So, was the budget created prior to that RFP and did we not have the proper number in that last budget? So what happens is they can on they don't have to give a very large notice if they're not going to renew at CPI and that's what happened. So they it was happening towards the end of the
038budget. It was already finalized and then all of a sudden we found out they're not going to they're not going to renew. We had to go out to to bid and then we actually had to do a second bid. So we didn't have those numbers at the time. That's why. Thank you. You're welcome. Good evening. I'm going to keep it simple. Is a 3.3% tax levy increase significantly above the 2% cap following a decade of supporting school board election campaigns that advocated for 0% increases. protecting students and taxpayers particularly within the current economic climate. Sure. And just to clarify because actually I just had an interview with News12 and we talked about the cap because there's always a lot Hello. I'm sorry. There's always a lot of confusion around that because they call it a
0392% but switch it. So what it is with the 2% is it's based on a calculation. Our cap is actually 5%. Um so and that's actually I believe in our budget book. So that's why when you see proposals for taxes you'll see 3.95 3 and a half. None of those are overriding the cap because it's based on a formula and after you put your formula you can see what the cap is. So our cap is 5%. We went out at 3.3 because that was based on what our needs are and we are significantly under that tax cap. And part of the reason it's at 5% is because we have not done tax increases in the past. I am positive on this answer. So that that I will tell you that I am positive. That's how
040the tax cap works and the formula I believe is in the budget book. If it's not, I will actually post it on there. Sure. Honestly, at this point, I'm not really sure. Let's let's put new mics in our budget also as well. Um, thank you for answering that because my question was What's the blue one? So that was my question as well having that you know being that less than three years ago we had board members spearheading a zero tax increase revolt in our community and now seeing in the midst of our finances being in decline, our fund balance being depleted, us being in fiscal distress, our teachers having no contract. yet they spearheaded this 0% tax revolt and here and when also meanwhile our student enrollment was already declining as well. So, how detrimental
041do you see this looking back now in those three years of 0% 0% 0% now with the climate the the political climate that our country is in with the inflation rate. How detrimental do you see that it's now a sudden 3.3% tax increase can be on a community where it's known that you know we are a title one community. That means 60% or more of our students live at or below the poverty level. We have a majority of our homeowners are aged 60 and over on fixed incomes. How how and their homes, a lot of the the homes in my neighborhood are worth way more than $500,000. So, it's going to affect them more than just $28 a month. Yeah, I do want to clarify that was based off the off the bill. So, that
042market value that home I know is roughly $800,000. So it said 555 because we have to stay that formula is based off of what is on your tax bill determines the you use that full market value and then your assessed value and that's how you get that calculation. So it's not what you would have if you appraised a home. So I don't want people to get confused about that. Um in terms of the tax the tax increase and not doing it. One of the things and it was presented actually to me by by a gentleman who works on our capital projects and has been here for some time. The board those struggles that you say with the community um there's been there was a concertive effort to not increase taxes to not put more pressure
043on the community. So that was done. Thing that I think was hard to address uh as it was happening, you had COVID happen. Um you have issues with tax collection at the city. And I'm not blaming on the city on that. I'm just stating what what is true. It does cause cash flow issues for the school district. It does cause opportunity cost issues when we're not receiving um our revenue on a timely fashion when it comes to that. So there was a number of factors and I can't really go into the past as to why those decisions were made. What I can do is work with the team on addressing the issues and making sure that like you said if cuts happen at the federal level are we going to be okay? Those type of
044things. So that's why you see this type of budget. That's why you saw this high level of decreases in expenses and reductions because we are doing what we can to write the ship. But the truth is, you can't write a ship in one year. Um, you can't just turn things around that quickly. So, this is really the start of of a process, and that's why that multi-year plan is going to be so important to address those issues. But, I can't really speak on, you know, what happened exactly in the past. All I know is that I know it was a conservative effort to not put more pressure on the tax base in this community. you you I I can agree with you to to a certain point with that because you're right, our community we
045are our community is cashstrapped. However, when you go for a decade of 0% tax increases seeing what our funds have been, it doesn't now for a sudden three how are the how are us taxpayers supposed to trust now? How are we supposed to trust when we go out to vote? How are we supposed to trust this district now? When we went 10 years with 0% and now we have three schools closing in our community and now you want a 3.3% tax increase. No, I I understand your question that it's totally rhetorical. Don't worry. I do want to address though like we're aware of the challenges and this whole year what we've done is work very hard to start to get the expenses down make I know they were drastic and and it's hard when you
046make these kinds of decisions but everything was to put this district on a sustainable path going forward so that we don't have to revisit this in five more years or in 10 more years from now on the goal is to continue on an upward trajectory to be conservative when it comes comes to finances and to really set this district on a new path forward. And I believe if you see what we've done, um you'll see that we are taking those steps. Like when you look at a transportation study, when you look at a multi-year plan, a fiscal analysis, those are all things that are done to really put the district in a better place. And and that's where we're at. And we're really at only the beginning because there's more we can do. It does
047take time, but this is a major first step for for Mount Vernon. Okay. My question is if how do you think you supposed to take care of anything if you have no money coming in? Mount Vernon went 10 years without a tax increase. Mount Vernon 10 years. So what did you think was going to happen? Seriously. If you have no money coming in, can you pay your bills? Yes or no? Right. Well, I don't I don't want people to say there's no money coming in because there's almost $270 million coming. So, I don't want it to be like, oh, now they're saying there's no money. No, we've been receiving our state aid. That's $120 million. Sir, I'm talking about taxes, right? We have no increase in revenue. That went 10 straight years. And I even
048suggested maybe just a 1% tax increase. 1%. You know, we that would have been something coming in. Now, you're at the point that you're closing three schools. And why not start with one school? Another thing is, is there an official letter from Orbundy saying that these schools are completely that they will be closed? Cuz no one has seen a letter. Is there any such thing as that? Sure. So, I'm going to answer I'm I think I got them in order, but it might be out of order. Uh why why three schools? Yeah. $16.9 million over over over our expenses. $289 million. There's no tax increase that would be able to support that kind of a budget. So, so that's why and and the reason it was looked at the the truth is our enrollment did
049go down over 1500 students and it's projected to go down another 1,500 students. You you can keep the label same level of infrastructure if you want but it comes at a high cost and that high cost will come from taxpayers which it's up to them if they want to vote on that. We did we did an analysis um we had Boseies also look at our capacity. There were some buildings that are at 32% capacity. Now, if you think about the cost of running a building that is meant for over 3,000 children and you have a,50 in there, I don't believe that is a proper use of taxpayer funds. So, I believe it did need to be addressed and and and I stand by that. Well, I understand that, but I'm saying to go for 10
050years, it was ridiculous. I do understand your comment. I think we are paying for two superintendent team and lawyers fees. our teachers are not getting any kind of increase or any kind of raise. I'm sorry. It's just ridiculous what is going on there. Okay, it's just ridiculous. And you could have started with one school and just go over and over and over, but to close three schools to go rogue at one time and again, is there a letter from a stating an official letter? I I wouldn't be the one to ask. I I can get you that answer, but I wouldn't be the one to answer that. We would definitely like to see it. Sure. 10 years. Mr. Formoso, what is the status of the um requested expedited um state aid from New York? Because
051the PTA council, we had a meeting with state representatives and they were not in favor at all of giving money early to this district due to our financial situation. Okay. So, the budget hasn't been passed, but we've been working with the executive director at the conference of the big five. Um so they represent the five largest districts uh in the state of New York were we're also associated with that um as the three smaller ones and they have been the ones working with state legislators on that and we have spoken to uh senators and assemblymen and we were told that this will be going through. Um obviously their budget isn't passed yet so nothing is guaranteed. So, if you're asking, do we have a contingency plan if it doesn't go through? Yes, we do have
052a contingency plan. I got a question. I know you weren't here. Sure. But when the district decided to take its own taxes, um should would it have made things better if they had also certified at the same time for the uncollected taxes? Yes. Yes. Cuz two years. Yeah. Yes. [Music] Um, I also more so want to make a a a comment that for the consecutive years of 0% tax levy increase for it to be a 3.3% now and the um presentation listing tax increase directly supports ability to address outstanding ing union contracts, preservation of athletics, prek, afterchool programs, performing and visual arts. We as a district have been down this road before, and that's why I'm wearing this uh special edition jacket when the district cut the sports, the scare tactic of cutting the sports.
053Um, again, so my question would be for the number of years of the 0.0 zero uh% tax increase. Where was this concern for athletics, prek, after school programs, performing and visual arts? That's one question. And then the next one is minus the uh 0% tax increase. Had there been a modest tax increase incrementally done, wouldn't that have put money towards our buildings for the repairs of our buildings because capital projects were put at halt because we didn't have the money. We're not taking in money. And I like to keep things layman and simple. If you have a checking account and a savings and you spin up all your money just about in your checking account where you now have to move towards your savings to pay your bills and then you about spend up all
054your money in your savings where you're working at a deficit, but you yet make no deposits as in tax levy increases into your checking account to pay your bill. who does that with has good fidiciary responsibility. So just just to address the capital project because this came up at another time. So you generally don't want to do any largecale capital project using general fund money. You do not get state aid on that. So, you would want to bond it and then you can receive your building aid um which is typically over about 63% in aid um which is which is a very large savings to the district. So, we would always be looking for that type of a practice um because it's much more cost effective. So, I just I just want to clarify the
055repairs and the capital projects. Um the other question in terms of things that happened in the past, I can't really give you those kinds of answers. I I came in here, we did a review, I worked with the board, I worked with the committees, I worked with our cabinet and superintendent, and this this is a plan we're putting forward. My question in regards to it being good fidiciary responsibility is not really something of the past. The question to you as a person who deal with numbers, the action of spending all your money in your checking account, spending all your money in your savings account, not making any deposits into your checking account tax levies. Is that good fidiciary responsibility? If you ask me if I would have addressed it differently, um I would have addressed
056it differently, but I can't tell you at what point I would have done it. Um because CO did happen. there was the major change with going to that K to8 model and things that a lot of that was happening at the district and then I don't know if at the time when the issues with the city occurred with not collecting taxes I don't know what the district's thought was of when they would be receiving their full levy again. So I don't know every year we're about $7 million short on the levy. So even though we're saying we're going to get $135 million we get about $128 million. It's very hard to budget under those conditions. So, seeing that it's very hard to budget, then the question would be, well, why would the district continue to
057budget on money they don't have, so to speak, counting your chickens before your eggs hatch. And so, knowing that the city was in uh is in a deficit, knowing that the city did not have the money, the school district did not have the money. So then why create and build a budget on that? Now that's a very fair question and again I don't know the backstory. I don't know if they thought it was going to come in at a certain time or not. I really don't. What I could tell you right now is this budget was not created that way. So we did take into consideration that we will not be receiving our full levy. Um so again you learn from things in the past and you address them and and that's what was done
058in this budget. All right. And that mine is a real simple question. I know that you'll be leaving us. And um uh is it going to be a situation where um you wasn't given a very good budget? You were given a mess. The next person are they going to be getting a good budget? Yes. They're they're they're going to be getting a ve a very good starting point. Um they're going to have a multi-year financial plan to to go by. Um and they're going to have support systems to help them. So, it's not I know people see me up here. It's it's really not just one person. There's a whole team behind me and the cabinet and I have a very great support system. So, it's not just one person. And we are putting things
059in place that will make it easy anytime there's transition in this district. I understand. reportations. The the Sereni report um gave some obviously some allegations of what happened in terms of finances and things along that line. And so it sounded at at a minimum that some probably some better controls uh would probably be need be needed. And one of the things I'm concerned of um is the idea of the um the the the changing of monies between budget lines where where that that kind of get out of hand and next thing you know we're back into this. So that's what I meant. Are there going to be better controls in place? Things along that line. Yes. Yes. So we really did address too in in this budget um any shortfalls that we saw happening in
060those budget lines to make sure they're properly accounted for for the next year. Some budget transfers are always going to are always going to happen unfortunately because people do for example switch buildings. We have transfers um unexpected expenses. So you will see that. But what you'll see is is a much more a budget that is much more in line when you look at the variances. You won't see those large variances where maybe you see a budget that had a $7 million budgeted projection and it's $11 million type thing. So, we did take a lot of time working with the board, the budget committee to address those concerns. Okay. Thank you very much. Excuse me. I just want to um address that we have just a few more minutes. We have to go on to our
061regular meeting. So, we'll go around to anyone else. Just a few minutes. Um hello. Uh so, regarding the tax increase and part of the the the you know, the rationale is a need to sustain um you know, the preservation of athletics and arts programs. Now we say sustain um is there a shortterm goal or you know opportunity to expand because my sense is that part of the reason that enrollment is going down in the district is the the lack of programs that we have um compared to other districts here in Westchester. That is in a nutshell shell. I've spoken to to you know different members of the community and that is a reason. Yes, it's important to sustain but we need to go beyond sustaining because we will continue losing um students in the district.
062Um, and I guess after that, just to clarify, has the state aid spin up been approved or is that something that you're still waiting to hear back uh from the state? That's something that goes into legislation. So, until the New York budget is approved, we won't we won't know. Um, we did have conversations. If it doesn't go in there, would they put forth a separate bill? And the conversation was yes. If it doesn't happen, they would put it on another bill. We did ask for that to come by May 20th, just so everybody knows. um your your question on programmings. I'm probably not the best person to answer this question, but I will tell you the other thing that we're looking at is the type of programs that we're offering and doing an assessment on
063like how well they're running. Do we need to make changes and things like that, but I'm not I'm not the right person to answer that. So if this budget does get approved on May 20th, what is a timeline that we will have healthy reserves where we'll be in a safe space? Sure. So that is a very difficult question to answer. Not that I'm avoiding it. It's just I'm not avoiding it because let's say things happen at the federal level. Let's let's say they reduce our funding on the grants. We're going to have to make decisions there. So that changes everything. like a budget. You're making a budget on the information, you know, at that moment in time. So, if unexpected expense is happening, that would reduce our reserves and things like that. But we really
064do feel we were very conservative in this budget. And next year, we'll actually see the first step in us building back these reserves. And going forward, that's the plan is to make sure that we're continuously building back not only the reserves where they were, but where they really should be. And we believe that should be about 2 to 3 months of expenses of the budget. So that would be more about4 to $60 million in reserves for a district of our size. And maybe we have one more. Sure. Right. Then we have to move on to our next meeting. Sure. Um so my my question is um for like the nine 10 years that we didn't get um a tax increase. Uh, has anyone has anyone um calculated like if beforehand if if it was like
0651 or 2% we were getting a year, has anyone calculated if we had gotten the 1 or 2% every year during that time what our monies would have looked like at the at this time because I think that's something important because I've seen a a microcosm of this in other areas where things weren't increased for like seven years or whatever and then all of a sudden it's just like oh man we're in a hole now. Oh, but what if but then the numbers they did calculate it and they're saying, "Oh, this is what we would have had has the district done that." So the public can see, oh, look, if we had done the 1 or 2% every year, we wouldn't have had this because we would have had x, y, or z money. You
066know, I think that's something important to share with the public. It's like, look, you guys might not want taxes. I have to pay it, too. You know, everyone in this room that lives here has to pay it. So, no one wants to have to pay it, but it is what it is to make things survivable. So, I think it'd be important for the numbers to get crunched to show, hey, if the last nine or 10 years we did this, this is what we would have had and we might not have been in this position. I would like to see those numbers. I understand. We we we'll take a look at that. For sure. And we're going to make one final. I do want to address that when you look at a multi-year financial plan, you'll
067see assumptions. If taxes increase this much, this is what it does. If taxes don't increase, this is what happens. So going forward that will be very clear to the community. Okay. Um I want to say that Mr. Famoso it's very unfortunate that you are leaving cuz anyone who knows me know that I don't give out compliments just ishing them out like water because this community does not trust the board and the administration and just to the fact that now it's being rushed. You're asking the community for a 3.3% tax increase after several years of 0% and now they're given 30 minutes or less, not even 30 minutes because the budget presentation was from 6:00 to 6:30. And so they're where is their time for the community. So now the community is being rushed because they
068need to go to the board meeting when that can be delayed because this opportunity for the community to for the community to express their how they feel their thoughts and ask their questions should be allowed. And that's an issue that we have right now with this current administration and board that disrespects this community, but yet want them to approve a 3.3% budget increase, excuse me, tax levy increase, but yet don't give them time to ask their questions. Ask your question. Um, before before you ask that, I just want to clarify something. So again, I I haven't worked in Mount Vernon um that long to know what the process should be exactly here in terms of it, but if the community wants another hearing, I have no problem having a Q&A session. That's not a problem
069from our side. So if that's something that people really want, we can work towards having that before the budget vote. What we don't want is for people to feel uncomfortable. A lot of work was put together to really address a lot of these concerns. I know I've talked about it before. We were headed towards a cliff and we were very close to going over that and it it was very scary. Um, and I believe now things are headed the right way. It's it's going to take time, but it's headed the right way. So, if people want another session, we can I could speak with the board, the superintendent, and if it's okay, we'll we'll make sure to address that. Can I ask Excuse me. I just really quick one second. I just You could ask
070just one second. I do want you to know that Thursday evening there'll be a budget presentation. Monday evening there'll be a budget presentation. We're working on Tuesday as well. We are lining up with the different neighborhoods and and so that we can we're on taking the show on the road and we have things lined up. We will put on our website where those budget presentations will be held. But this this Thursday it will be at Pennit School. Um Monday it's going to be a Zoom meeting with um um Axel is one of the individuals. You might be familiar with him. We're having a Zoom um budget presentation on Monday as well. Go ahead. And then that'll be it for tonight. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. What happens if the budget doesn't pass? Where is the
071five $4.5 million come from? What does that do to the activities? Do you go back to the drawing board? Sure. So, if it doesn't pass either time, like if we if it doesn't pass May 20th and then on June 17th, if it gets voted down again, um we'd go to a contingency budget. So, that contingency budget, you cannot have anything budgeted in equipment codes. Those equipment codes would have to be put to zero. Like I said before, preK would be something that's looked at, athletics, and and this is not a scare tactic. I I'm I don't want people to think this is what it is. These are areas that we could reduce without hitting that core K to2 instructional that we've already had to reduce significantly. And we'll look we'll work with the budget committee.
072We'll work with the team and we will we'll do what we can to make that work. But $4.5 million is very difficult after we just made significant reductions already. Thank you, Mr. Famosa. Thank you once again. Um I'll remind residents that the proposed 272,26,615 school budget will be voted on by residents on Tuesday, May 20th, 2025. Polls are open from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. You can find a complete list of polling sites on the district website. Also on the ballots are three trustee seats for the school district and three seats on the library board. For information on voting, contact the district clerk at 914-665-5235. Please come out on vote. This concludes the public hearing. Sure. Go ahead. So again, if if it is important uh to have anything else, we'll we'll talk about it.
073And also, if there's questions that are coming up, maybe we could figure out a way to take them. We have an FAQ on there, so I could continue to add to that FAQ as I see more questions. Again, we are trying to do this as as transparent as possible and and I'm saying that myself. Um, I love the team that I work with. I really do. People have been very supportive of me and I appreciate that. And I want to make sure this community is in a good place. I know a lot of other people do as well. So if people have suggestions, we're happy to hear them and we'll do what we can do. So thank you very much. Thank you everyone for coming out. Appreciate