001All right, everyone. Welcome to our board workshop of March 26, 2026. Without further ado, I'm just going to turn it over to Christine. Good evening, everybody. So tonight we're going to provide an update on our 2026-2027 budget. Since our last meeting on the 11th, the admin team has worked to refine all of our figures and identify a path forward that balances our educational commitments with the fiscal reality that we're in. Our agenda tonight is as we always do, we're going to revisit our budget goals. I'm going to give you a budget update and we're going to talk about next steps in the budget calendar. In reviewing our goals, our guiding principles, they remain unchanged from prior presentations. We're committed to maintaining a comprehensive education that the community expects and aligning our resources with the school
002district's strategic plan. Obviously, we are trying to stabilize our reserves and maximize the the use of every dollar spent. And of course, as you know, it's my favorite thing is trying to generate aid for future years. Transparency also remains top of our list. Um So our our path forward, our commitment to to students remains unchanged. Our plan is to have no reductions in student programming during the 2026-2027 school year, no no layoffs to staff, and we plan to maintain established class size parameters. While we say that, we also want to let you know that we may lean towards the upper end of these parameters. Um So, a a little bit of budget update. Um So, kind of to understand where we are tonight, we're going to look where we were last time. So, last time
003we projected a a budget gap of $7.6 million. Uh our revenues had had um come in at 109 million 701228, which was a 3.38% increase, and our expenses increased 6.91% to 117,360,097. So, um that's where we started was a $7.6 million gap. We've done some work on our budget, and I'll kind of talk about how we how we got there. So, that gap that you saw, the $7.6 million, um we've identified through our conversations with our advocacy at the state level, uh that we we feel strongly that we will land at a 2% increase in foundation aid. So, right now I had factored in 1% into our budget. So, that $271,000 uh that is a increase of 1% in our foundation aid only on our on our revenue side of our budget. Uh we also
004identified expense reduction of um 218,186. Uh that is related to some staffing um ch- efficiencies that we found. Um I believe there was another retirement, um and we're able to kind of slide some things around uh in positions to find some efficiencies there. So, that represents salaries and benefits that go along with it. Now, we don't I have not been when you see me um present on the reductions in the expense for the the retirements that we had, I did not reflect a savings in health insurance on that for those people. I did that just by committing and our teacher retirement system. The reason I don't include retirement excuse me health insurance for those retirees is a lot of times they will get that retiree health insurance through the district. So that it'll pretty much
005be a wash. So we won't experience a savings on that side of it. So that brings us to a subtotal of $7.1 million and then a further looking into things we were able to knowing where we were projecting our fund balance to be at the end of the 25-26 school year and knowing we're about 6.5 to 6.7 million right now. We um can comfortably reduce our contingency that's built into our 26-27 budget. We are reducing that by $575,000 while still being able to maintain about a 4% contingency 4 to 4 and 1/2 % contingency in next year's budget. So that brings us down to $6.5 million which we plan to bridge with appropriated fund balance from this year leaving us with a a zero gap. This slide just kind of restates what I I I
006mentioned in the previous slide the $271,000 increase in state aid 253,120 reduced in staff efficiencies and a contingency adjustment of 575 and I think there might be we'll have to revisit that 253,000. I think that might be a slight that typo from a previous version. Um So when you factor those those three three items in um that first slide that I had showed you. This is updated with those numbers. So, your state sources went up 271,000. Um the items that changed are in red on here. Um so, your gap is now $6.5 million. So, uh we always talk about the ramifications. Um you know, we understand that we were able to use $6.5 million left over at the end of this year to use towards next year's. But, it's basically double. If we were look
007back here, we're doubling the amount that we appropriated in the 25-26 school year. We're appropriating $6.5 million this year. So, basically at this point in time, we're uh it's a significant hurdle uh for 27-28 um budget year and beyond to to take a look at it. So, um at the end of this year, if we use that full fund balance of $6.5 million towards next year's budget, we will not have funds to put in our operating or capital reserves at the end of this year, which is what we try to do. And we know I know we've talked about it at prior meetings that our operational reserves right now sit at about 6% of our budget, and we want that I would Most districts are between 15% and 20%. Okay. So, our operational reserves are
008are low compared to other districts. Um we have 10 million total if you factor in our capital reserve as well to that, but we're about 6 million in reserves. So, if we move forward and we have to dip into reserves for the 27-28 budget, again, we're not funding reserves, we'd be reducing reserves. We don't want that that's not um not something that you want to do. So, um So, future ramifications. So, you know, we've we've balanced this year. Um we can't we have to focus on the fact that this is a compounding situation with our structural budget deficit. So, by trying to solve a a recurring problem with a non-recurring solution, fund balance is cash in the bank. Eventually, that goes away. Um so, um when our health um our expenses are going up between
0095 and 7%. Really driven by contractual obligations and our collective bargaining agreements, um as well as and we've talked about it a lot and we're advocating on this on this topic now, um focusing on the health insurance increases. Um our health insurance rates, um one of the plans that has the bulk of our our members on it, uh went up 18 and 1/2%. Another one of them went up about 12.5. So, when you do the math on those, it comes out to be be about a 15.5% increase in our health insurance this year. So, um while our expenses are going up at that pace, our revenues aren't. So, when they go up 5 to 7% and our revenue's going up 3%, that's a structural budget deficit. So, and that compounds over time. Um the other
010factor I had here is the impact on our operational reserves. I did re- refer to that um slightly um earlier, but um the importance of our reserves is not just to help when we do have a a tough budget year to help with the operation operational side of things, that capital reserve is is super important because just like at home, the roof needs to be replaced. Um things happen. You have to take care and maintain your facilities and your grounds and that that reserve helps us do that with minimal impact to our taxpayers or no impact if we can fund the local share of a capital project through that reserve. There's no tax impact to our our um, our constituents in the community. So, it's important to to plan for a cycle, whatever that might
011be look like for our district depending upon the the five-year plan that we get back from our um, architects when they take a look at our facilities and our needs. Um, we need to make sure that we have those funds available to cover that local share in five years. So, if we're not funding that reserve, we won't and there would be a tax impact when there is a major you know, um, work that needs to be done. So, let's talk about the path forward. Um, it's going to it's going to take shared leadership and solutions and I think that this um, is evidenced by the the board uh, and the community and the leadership in the district. I think that that um, we do have shared leaderships and we are focused on combined solutions. So,
012um, we need to transition from a short-term fix to long-term fiscal health. Um, we can't rely on one-time fixes of fund balance or appropriating fund balance uh, indefinitely. We can't do that. So, um, our our path forward is really about transitioning from uh, short-term solutions to long-term sustainability. So, our first budget point our first bullet point here is about advocacy which is something that this um, I'm I'm I'm proud to be a part of this district that is really focusing on that. Um, the current during those ongoing meetings, this is where we've you know, gotten confident that that 2% is where we're going to land on the the state aid formula or at least the foundation aid. Um but we are able to voice our concerns that even that is insufficient when expenses are going
013up 5 to 7%, but we've actually been able to have a seat at the table and get that that across, and we need to continue that effort. Um uh innovation, um the district has um obviously started, and you've heard this before about our community partner groups looking for outside of the box revenues and savings. Um and also we're always looking for efficiencies um in our current operating practices to maximize every dollar. Um we are reviewing all of our internal efficiencies. That means looking at every vacancy, every contract, um every BOCES service that we sign up for to ensure we're getting the highest return on the investment. Um we are also looking at structural savings to reduce our our base costs um without impacting student experiences. Um so our goal over the next 12 months is
014to, you know, identify permanent solutions so that next year when we're sitting before you in March, we have uh um a budget that relies less on savings and more on sustainable recurring revenues. So our next steps are um you know, we will continue to monitor state aid. Um I have not gotten wind of whether we will have a budget on April 1st from the governor or from uh the legislator, but legislature but um you know, I always have my fingers crossed every year. Do you have done this a long time and been disappointed quite a bit, but always hopeful. Um it might be mid to late April. Um we've seen it as late as May. So um at some point we will have to um take our best guess. If we get more revenue, it
015means we appropriate less fund balance. Um if we get less, we'll have to appropriate more. We'll we will we will adapt. Um We'll continue to be looking at our expenses in ways that we aren't cutting programs. Um and then this all leads up to the the um vote on April 16th by you guys to adopt uh the budget that we will put forth to the voters. And as we always do, we end it with our budget calendar, looking at the dates ahead. Obviously, I just mentioned 16th date where the board adopts the budget. Um May 5th is the budget hearing, which will you will hear us again talking about this. Uh and the meet the candidates night. Uh Tuesday, May 12th is the uh voter registration in district office. And on May 19th is the
016budget vote and Board of Ed election. So, we've covered a lot of ground tonight. Um I'm glad that we were able to get from a $7.6 million gap to a $6.6 million gap. Um that came through um some hard work and conversations, a lot of conversations to get to this point. I think we have um some more uh opportunities in the budget as we take a look at things and dive deeper into our um salaries and benefits. Um and our BOCES expenditures, we just got the BOCES service requests. Um some of those numbers, I'm pleased to say, are coming in a little their rates are coming in a little less. I don't know if it'll be how big of a I haven't been able to quantify yet what that impact will be on our budget.
017So, I think there's some opportunities in there for some cost savings as well. So. Does anybody have any questions at this time? I know I gave you a lot of information. Uh actually, let me reference the budget book that you have in front of you. We can kind of look at that and I can tell you how I laid it out. It's laid out a little different than it's been laid out in in prior years. Um It's It start The end of the book you'll find there's a fund balance and reserve section that that gives you all of the charts so that you can reference that. It has a section summarizing out of our software the revenue codes, but I also provided some our history on our tax levy and the preliminary state aid runs
018reflective of the additional $271,000 if we get 2% so that does reflect that. Our expense budget updated slide for um for all of them summarized and then the categories that are on this overall I have a tab for each one of them. So you'll see the detail behind that. Right behind this summary expenses is the full printout of all of the expenditures, but then it's all followed by the by category. If there's a question I try to put budget notes in there for certain items that I had an explanation that I thought was important for you to to see. I have not gotten through inputting that information on every single one. We'll be working on that so you'll have some explanation, but please if you're looking at a budget line and you have any questions
019shoot to my a message. I'll be happy to print out how that was calculated. Understand I'm still diving into some of the salary lines. I think some there are some people were budgeted in a one code and paid in another code. So I'm still working on refining that so I hopefully I can give you some better explanations on that. If you see a line swing in a different direction it might be swinging in the other direction on another line. Okay? Now listen. Now you can ask questions. Any questions, anyone? Thank you as always, Christine, for finding every dollar we can find, saving us every dollar we can save. Um I We like to see that gap going down. It's still obviously concerning how much we have to appropriate from our fund balance, um potentially, this
020year. It's a, you know, a little bit of robbing Peter to pay Paul, and that just never It's a vicious cycle uh that we're we're we're going to need to work to get out of. So, I agree, continued advocacy, using our community partner group that um to generate some new ideas for revenue sources is going to be invaluable. And I So, we can weather this. The um you know, one of the things that came out of our advocacy at the um um with Shelley Mayer's office is they're very interested in the conversation extending a conversation regarding health insurance and the impact. Uh very interesting, and I I don't know that I've said this publicly, but this isn't just a Victor problem or uh our health consortium problem or a um New York State problem. It
021is across the country. Um at as one of our national, which um I'm a member of, um sent a survey out asking how much, specific, how much health insurance is impacting budget, and what districts are doing to mitigate the the the increases. So, it's not just us, it's across the state. Um lots of conversations around that. And it's not just impacting us, it's impacting private industries as well. So, I don't know what the solution is, but I'm glad that Shelley Mayer's it is reaching back out to us to um continue that conversation. Um next week I'm meeting with our health consortium leadership to put together some talking points to bring back um to their um Shelly Mayor's office. So, um I don't know if they're reaching out to other districts. And they want more information
022outside of us, but they may based on the information that we provide them. And I'm really hopeful that they can find some solutions. Is it going to impact 26 27 budget? Probably not. But, um you know, maybe there's some some relief somewhere uh for future budget years to make this more sustainable. Yeah, I was at a school today to the east, large school to the east, and they have a $17 million issue they're going to be dealing with. And another school I was at has a $4 million issue, and they both said health care was the biggest cause. And I don't think people want to air their dirty laundry about this. Like I can talk, but it's like this is a problem. Like we're all dealing like I want how much how much collaboration can
023happen around this to find out what everybody's doing because like all all our decisions are made on making sure that we can maintain, if not make everything better, that we have here. But, that's not realistic really when we have a gap like that. So, but if everybody's doing the same thing and to coming at the same way, then it's not like cuz what's the biggest worry? People would jump ship and the best people we have would want to go somewhere else cuz we got to make a decision. So, if everybody's doing it though and on the same page, it's it's impacting everybody. You know, so I think it's easier to make a decision when it's a big massive group of people in different school districts versus Victor's got to decide to do something different to
024make this work. Just long-term thinking on how we're going to deal with this without impacting what we're trying to do here. Yeah, and I can I piggyback off of what you were saying with regard to hearing it? I mean, it's in the That's the K-12 environment, but in higher ed, there's the same headwinds are hitting um you know, where I work and at the university level. And I I think a couple things. One, the stability path forward is very reassuring. That is the commitment, right? It's good that we lead with that. It's good that we say that we are committed to this, but it's also a good cautionary tale for us to say there's a sustainability problem that we're already out in front of that other districts, to your point, are are dealing with. But
025I think this is an economic issue as well. I mean, there are other factors at play that we cannot control. I think we've talked about this um in previous meetings. We look at things like what's happening with supply chain. We're looking at healthcare. We're looking at inflation. All these indices are are hitting and what Yeah, utilities, right. Um uh you know, uh I guess my point is um these are these are things that we really environmentally can't often perfectly control, but I I do appreciate the fact that we do have uh a very strategic plan kind of moving forward. And one thing I wanted to draw attention to that I thought was really interesting is um and I'll trying to be brief, but I I can't. You know me, I talk, but um the the
026constant uh state aid monitoring that occurs, I'm not sure I'm I think we're kind of underselling how much effort that that is that you under take. Uh so, I I I specifically want to call that out and say that I'm really pleased and proud that you're really staying true to that, staying on that. I do think there's one issue that you know, is is worth considering is that we're in a unique position in Ontario County as well. I think I think we've brought this up in other public forums, but the fact that we don't have the additional sales tax revenue is it puts a lot of strain on on us in this district. Um so I I I think that's worth calling out that advocacy to the state is really to me one of the
027best solutions to to move this forward. I yield back my time. Well, and to just um that was something that we were very pointed about with our meeting with Senators Mayor and Helming. The the sales tax was you know, they were both talking about the difference between Ontario County districts compared to Monroe County with that half percent. It's it does make a difference. Is it going to alleviate all of our issues? Certainly not, but it would give us support in a way that, you know, neighboring Monroe County districts have that little extra. Um so I think, you know, they were very vocal about looking into that as well in addition to the health care. Yeah, I was appreciate it. Um appreciative of that comment from them about helping us navigate that that they had helped
028a district helped a county navigate that previously. Previously county. Yeah. So um so hopefully we can get some some guidance on that and how to do that. Um you know, it's never you know, a great topic, you know, increasing taxes, but I I I think when you look at um the impact on us and how we get compared to Monroe County school districts and there's that that's that's a huge factor that's different between us and them. Um so um and and they are competitive in our labor market. You know, we don't want to lose um lose teachers to a neighboring district because they can afford to provide a service that we can't afford to provide. Any swag on how much that would be if we had that point five percent applied? I mean, that's really
029rough numbers, but I'm curious. So this is AI generated based on information that is in the like sales and and filings um and information that's publicly reported. So, I I don't want to say that this is factual, but when So, when we advocate, we're going to advocate for all school districts in in Ontario County. They're all going to be impacted. So, what it would do, I I believe the model looked at overall sales, what a half percent would be. Um, that would be about 5 million for the district. On an annual basis. That bridges a gap. Well, we're at 6.5. That would help. Certainly help. And it would get us to, you know, uh, Right. Right. You know, um, so obviously, it's something that still needs to be explored. Um, again, don't quote me on
030that number because I'm, you know, while I love using AI, I don't always, you know, you have to fact-check everything. So, um, um, Is it Is it significant? It would be significant to us. If if it was a half percent and it all came to the school districts in in Ontario County, the benefit to the students would be tremendous. If our share is 5 million, add add on the other districts. Let that sink in for a second. And then, just out of curiosity, um, our consortium for health care, how big is that? How like, is it just Wayne County BOCES schools or like, yeah, just >> So, Finger Lakes Area Health, um, I don't quote me on how many, um, uh, districts are in it. I believe it's upwards of 20 upper 20s. Yeah, I
031think 27, 28. I could be wrong. I'll I'll get that statistics. That's a good information. East of Monroe County, so like we're not at like No Monroe County school districts are in it, right? There are some. Monroe County has There's Rochester area. Okay. Health. Rashp. Um there's GAP, which is Genesee Area Health Plan. So there's those. So I know we have um some going as far east west as York. Um I know we have some as far west as I believe York. Might even be Sodus. So I know that's That's a great question, and you're giving me a things that I want to make sure that I bring up when I have my conversation on Thursday with the with the group. Yeah, cuz like that uh message from Shelly Mayor was like very encouraging that
032like she actually wanted the weeds. You know, she wanted the nuts and bolts of the numbers. So I thought that was very encouraging um that she wasn't just blowing us off. Right, they re they immediately reached out, which was very reassuring. Yeah, and I was just curious is like you know, sometimes you get those economies of scale. So it's like how big are we? You know, what is our consortium? >> Right, and and they have statistics about if we um and I asked that if we had if we go to Excellus on the market, what what would our rates be? Yeah. Um we are obviously less than if we weren't part of a consortium. Um you know, Just knowing all those numbers and It's still increasing. It's still It's still increasing. Um and you know,
033there's so many factors that go into the rate setting for the consortium. There's The the the packet they give us is this thick. And we really dive into utilization and um how many are high cost claimants that impact our rate. Um so many things and decisions by the board during a time when, you know, during COVID and there was, you know, high inflation and the decisions to, you know, keep things flat, you know, for all the districts based on information that they had at that time. And the information they had at that time is they had a fund balance. They don't have a fund balance right now. So, that's therefore the rates are are going up um at the rate that they are. Cuz you're making decisions, you're predicting the future and you're Can't always.
034Anything else? All right. Thank you. Thank you, as always. And we'll see you again at the April board meeting. How are we in April already? It's clear. We're clear. >> Mhm.