001What's >> she I'll just kind of like >> I know he's Yeah. [clears throat] too. >> But um uh but like And then we're honestly almost for some reason I just asked so you do have Yeah. No, I was just That's all right. I was like very startive price. and knowing that Great. >> Oh. [laughter] We'll go ahead and call the meeting to order at 6:32. stand 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. >> Okay, we'll start with roll call. We have Roger Broker, trustee. Dr. Ashley Dreer, trustee. Beth problem trustee district court Dr. Brian Branch superintendent of schools myself Jake Roer trustee marker trustee trustee we have Dr. Douglas Balen our interim assistant
002superintendent for finance and Cheryl Tower our student representative and excuse this evening is Dr. It's Patrick and Cheryl is on her way. She's just running a few minutes late. >> Oh, and Brianna is our other student representative is excuse this evening as well. Um, just a couple quick things. If you can silence your cell phones in the event of emergency, we do have two emergency access. We have the door you entered um right behind you and the one directly located behind me. All right. I just really once again want to thank the administration, Dr. Graham um for your dedication and work to put this report together um after the vote um unfortunately it was voted down but I'm sure you guys did a great job. You gave us a great presentation. So um and getting
003that out to us in a timely manner so that we could review it and be prepared for our meeting this evening. Um, I have the utmost confidence in this board that we will take a look at the items that need to be to be cut and the changes we need to make to give the least amount of impact to our students. Um, because we are here for our students for our education and bar anything that needs to be our number one concern. So, um, thank you to everybody that worked hard to get us this presentation on time to prepare this evening. Um, that's all I over to Dr. P. >> Thank you, Sue. Uh, and good good evening everybody. Thank you for everybody who's here in person or watching us live streamed. I want to
004thank Robin for setting all that up, but it's not easy. So, thank you Robin. And so, uh, again, uh, if you're here or watching us live or if you're going to watch us later, we really appreciate your interest in our schools. Good news, our baseball team are the A1 sectional champions. They won today three games and they [applause] will play at Frontier High School on Saturday for the crossover A1 A2 sectional championship and we're waiting to hear from softball. So, uh, the point I'm trying to make is it's busy. We're all very busy and for you to show interest in our school system, we really do appreciate that and truly that is what brings communities together. Uh I truly appreciate the fact that you're interested in our school district and that you're here and when
005the community show up for schools, uh schools definitely uh win out and our students win out. I really want to begin by saying something simple and true. I believe in public education. I know that sounds silly, but over the last 39 years of my professional life, uh that is the work that I have done. Uh Doug, you you might have a couple more years on me, right? One or two, right? One. Okay. And uh and in those 39 years, I've been here 10 years, right? So public schools uh truly are where a community decides together uh what it owes the next generation. Uh public schools are where every child, regardless of where they live, uh their income, their ability, uh or their background, are welcomed through our front doors. Grand Island. Uh, this is not
006just an abst this this promise is what we do every day. It's the bus driver who knows your child. It's the teacher who comes early or stays late. It's the custodian who unlocks the gym door at 6:00 a.m. so that our basketball team can get another shoot around before they advance to the playoffs. It's for uh the custodians who do everything in their power to make sure that our uh pre-engineering students in the high school have the opportunity to practice with their robotics program. Uh it's our cafeteria workers who make sure that our students do not go hungry. And truly, that's what we're talking about tonight. It's not a line item in a budget. It's a promise to our community. On May 19th, the community voted uh and we had over 2,600 votes and the
007uh budget did not pass as we all know and the margin was 72 votes. I've heard the result loud and clear from the people who said no thank you to our budget. I also want to acknowledge that we are hearing in the days since the vote from parents at pickup lines, from staff in our buildings, from neighbors that I see at TOPS, and in emails or text messages that I've received. The message is simple from those people who are reaching out to me. I support the schools. I meant to vote and I didn't get there. We [clears throat] are hearing it from young families. We're hearing it from grandparents. We're hearing it from graduates who have children, their own children in our schools. They are telling us they want another chance. Tonight, I'm asking the
008board to give them and all eligible voters that second chance. I want to be honest with the community about what happens if we do not move forward with the revote or if a revote does not pass. Under New York State Education Law, if a second budget fails, the district must adopt a contingency budget. I also want to be very clear on what that means because I do not want anyone in this community to vote or not to vote based on any misunderstandings. A contingency budget is not a gentle adjustment. It is a deep cut and it's largely set by the state. But that's really important for the board to understand. A lot of the contingency budget is set by the state and not the board of education. Uh this may sound appealing in a newspaper
009headline, but the cost is paid for through our student programs. Under contingency, this district loses the ability to purchase new equipment. We lose the ability to purchase school buses. We lose the ability to open up our facilities, our gyms, our fields, [clears throat] our classrooms, and our auditoriums to community groups free of charge. Brett Banker, Mike Anteneelli, Brian Willitz worked on a complex matrix allowing little league baseball to use our fields for free because Vets Park is under construction. That goes away, right? We would have to charge every member in the community to use our facilities at the correct charge. Think about that what that means for youth basketball for baseball as I mentioned soccer leagues and the piranis swim club. They all use our facilities for free community education, town recreation, the boys and
010girl scouts. Under contingency by law, everybody gets charged. Those are not choices the board can make freely. They're choices the state makes for us. And the cuts do not stop there. Under contingency items, we would otherwise uh have to defer classroom equipment, small capital outlay projects, maintenance contracts, architectural services. They all get cut and they may get cut very deeply. Programs that touch students directly would be under pressure. under consideration in a uh in a contingency budget would be the elimination of modified sports. Just want to let that hang out there for a moment. The elimination of non-league junior varsity or varsity game contests. No intramural sports. No field trips. No field trips to music festivals. countywide competitions, statewide competitions. We just had our wind ensemble perform beautifully on Monday in the center of town
011on a day off on a federal holiday that goes away. Right. Our kids, we have one of the best DECA programs in all of New York State. We will not be able to transport them to regional or state or national competitions. Our elementary children get on buses and go to Eco Island. That goes away. No unnecessary travel. The reduction or elimination of mentoring, peer coaching. Right now, we're in the throws. Uh people are coming to our office right now. Our students wanting to be hired. This summer they're turning in applications. There are announcements at the high on the high school every day asking children to consider working for us this summer. That goes away. Professional learning goes away for our teachers. These are the categories that get squeezed when a contingency budget is in force.
012None of those reductions make our schools stronger. None of them lower your grocery bill. None of them lower what you pay for a gallon of gas. They simply quiet the things that we do so well for our students. This revised budget the board is considering tonight is not the same budget that was defeated. We've heard the community. The proposed tax levy increase has been brought down from 2.69% to 1.5%. That reduction was achieved through hard work by the administrators Doug Whale and our our interimm assistant superintendent John Montasanti and our entire team over the course of several day excuse me several days and the weekend have come to uh trimming down the budget so we can go back to the community at 1.5%. It is a budget that truly does respect our taxpayers and protects
013our students. And both of those things can be true at the same time. I also want to speak directly to those in the room who did not support the May 19th budget or those who are watching who did not support or who may not support a revote. You are welcome here. Your voice matters. Disagreement is not disloyalty. It is the engine that drives public education. We may not agree on every item, but the children of Grand Island deserve adults who debate honestly, who keep the conversation about them, the students, and not about the adults. To this board, I'm asking you tonight to authorize a revote on Tuesday, June 16th. Not because the May 19th vote did not matter. It certainly did, but because more than half of our eligible voters did not cast a ballot,
014and many of them have told us in their own words that they would like to. Democracy is strongest when it's widest. A revote gives the community a second, fuller conversation. It gives the supporters who missed the first vote a chance to be heard. It gives the opponents of the first budget a chance to weigh a different lower levy proposal on its merits. and it gives the district the path most likely to protect what we have built here over decades. Whether uh whatever path the board chooses tonight, you will have my full support and the full support of our administration and carrying it out with integrity and with care for every member of our school community. So, word of education. With that said, I'm going to turn your attention to the presentation tonight. The first slide
015is like slide nine. And I'm just sharing this with you because last week in Buffalo Business First on May 22nd, an article came out ranking 50 zip codes in the Western New York community and Grand Island was ranked number one. This is uh pretty powerful information for our community, right? Low poverty weight rate on the island, very low dropout rate, one of the best. That means graduation rates are one of the best in Western New York and we have very low housing vacancy. I think this is very timely that this came out with respect to uh the the the uh vote that we just had on May 19th and I really just wanted to share that. Does anybody here at the board have any questions about that? Very powerful. So right now we're going to
016start with the first slide. Uh, and Doug, I know that we've been working really hard. Our request for the board is to revote on June 16th. I want to let the board know and our community know that we did not pick June 16th. Right. This is a date established by New York State. Any district that is going for a revote has to do it on June 16th. and we're recommending 8 uh to 900 p.m. We already talked about the the difference between the yes and no votes. And uh the choices of the board are really three options tonight. We can adopt a contingency budget. We can put up for vote the same budget at 2.69% or we can put out to vote the reduced budget that we're recommending at 1.5%. Uh so uh that would
017be submitted uh this reduced levy budget to the voters for as I said June 16th. Uh we believe it does respect all the voters. It believe I believe uh sincerely that it demonstrates we're listening and that we're uh understanding uh the needs of our community, the needs of our taxpayers while also protecting our students. With that said, Doug, I just want to kind of turn it over to you and you and I can go back and forth the differences between 2.69 and 1.5 and the work that went in to reduce to that. >> Well, to start with, >> I am really interested in having our community uh support the budget. So, what I did for Dr. program is I went back over 10 years and I looked at the tax increases. There's a couple of
018years that are outliers. It must be because of reassessment that last year was one and it was one and uh 2122. But if you look at all the other years, the average tax increase is 1.78%. So I showed him that data and that was the rationale part of the rationale to go to 1.5. So 1.5 uh in order to get there and by the way the consumer price index is 2.63 that New York state uses. So that 2.63 is supposed to represent the growth of all of our costs. uh and it would be the growth of the costs of the school district per se. So 1.5 is really cutting into you know people might say well how can you why didn't you present this before? Well we know all our fixed costs and we do
019plan for unexpected things. So, I can list off where the half a million dollars is coming from because you have to take a half a million dollars out of this budget that was defeated to come down to an $81,85,000 budget, which would represent a 1.5% increase in taxes. I think it's fair. I think it's reasonable uh given our history and it's under what has been for the last 10 years. So, let's take a look at it. this um this budget here you're talking about the levy. So the levy was 2.69% and we're proposing a 1.5% le. The next slide talks about the expenses. Uh the expenses of this proposed budget are 81 million185 805. That's a half a million dollar less than the budget that was defeated. And its difference from $79 million the prior
020year is 1.8 million. The budget that was defeated, the difference was about 2.3 million. So we're coming down to an increase in budget 1.8 million, which is 2.4%. So we have to remember when we're talking about expenses, we're talking about budget to budget. That's 2.4%. This budget represents a levy that's on the revenue side. Levy to levy that's 1.5%. The and see the bottom of that page. The top is expenses 81.1. The bottom is the levy. So the difference in the levy of the 1.5% is 42 million4. Um, and it was 41,846 last year. So, you know, it's like talking about the tax rate with STAR and without STAR. I think all of us in the community need to get used to what we're saying. Are we talking about revenue expense? Are we talking about
021Star without Star? I I've heard these different conversations and it's important uh that we get our communication effective to people and it's important that people understand. So I think the 1.5% tax increase levy increase is very reasonable given our history. Proposition two remains the same. We are very interested in staying on the 10-year replacement cycle for buses. Uh we talked about um you know in the past that you can change the engines if you want but the body eventually rusts out and it has to come off the road. Uh we do use Auctions International which is a company uh where schools can sell various things uh mostly equipment um and we auction them off. So, I haven't looked at the prices of what we've gotten for a bus in the past, but probably in the
02220,000 25,000 range. We would like the community to take another look at proposition two. It's the same uh proposition that we put up the last time. >> Can I ask a question? >> Yes. >> Um, can you refresh my memory? Um, what was the poor transit? We had took one of the trucks away to transport back and forth tools that you speak to the speaker. >> Sorry. And I'm under the weather so I apologize. >> The question was about the proposition. >> Correct. So for proposition two, I'm asking if you can refresh my memory what the border transit 350 cares were. I do remember we did um during the budget negotiations we did remove the vehicle but what was this cover was it to transport between the buildings and we just didn't have uh a
023viable vehicle to be able to do that >> we currently have a van an older van and we use it to transport food when the government food comes into from schools we also use it to transport maintenance um equipment u tools etc and we're trying to get away from that. We don't we don't want to have the same vehicle transport food that is got tools in it. And one of the things that the people the maintenance men are requesting is when they go to a job, they'd like to have a vehicle that has all these specialized tools in it rather than having to go back to Eco Island every time they go to a job. So when we removed the pickup trucks, we thought about this And that's the alternative, but we currently have one
024as a dual use and we want one for food and one for maintenance and other. >> So for the one for food, um I know we've had talks about the that additional money if would that >> could it be paid out of the C fund? >> Yes. >> Right. That's something I know Doug and John Joey, it's an excellent question. And I know Doug and John have been investigating that. It's possible >> you can buy a truck out of the seat if you have to >> because it may show the public if we can adjust it and take this out, pay for it out of the seat, it would show the public an additional reduction. It's a good faith >> that that is really the ban the increase in breakfast and lunches really has necessitated
025the ban because of the distribution of product around the district. I think that was the real thing. >> Yeah, there was a question I asked the last meeting before >> we talked about that for the van and we talked about that >> lunch. The answer was is that at the end of this year, the determination will be made. As of right now, it's not in the C fund, but the anticipation is that will be on the C fun. It was still in our final budget presentation coming out of the general fund, but those monitors are not in the C yet. That's our anticipation. >> They want to wait till the full year's over. That's right. I made the mistake of saying at one of the board meetings that we're making $165,000 a month in revenue
026in the school lunch fund. We are doing that, but I didn't mention the related expenses. So, I looked at last year's balance in the school lunch fund and we ended with about $200,000. I want to wait this year. I talked to the auditor. We want to wait till the end of this year to balances before we put this $40,000 in monitors in there. Uh certainly anything, you know, cafeteria tables, uh vans, things that are transporting food, that can all be charged to the cafeteria fund. Um I just read the information from the state that is going to be extended, the state aid information. So that food program is going to be extended. So we can anticipate similar revenues and but you have to offset that with the amount of food that's going to stop. >>
027I have a question >> um with respect to decisions to bring glasses, right? And I know you mentioned rusting. What standards are we going by? Is this New York state standards and does New York State conduct inspections of our buses? What is helping us. Um I know the obvious with the visibility of the rusting, right? Um but what standards are we um by law required to follow um in terms of the bus and removing it? >> New York State doesn't have the personnel to come to each district. They used to, they don't anymore. It's the Department of Transportation that can come unannounced and you cannot have rest on school bus and you'll never see that are rusting out. Most schools have come up with a 10-year replacement policy because it seems to be 10 years
028um that the mileage is high. Uh some are replacing the engines, putting new engines in them, and making them last a little longer, but most are going with a 10ear replacement policy. When I came here, you had a 10ear replacement policy. Um, it just seems to fit well in terms of the bus and its wear and tear. Um, standards, I don't know off the top of my head. I just know it has to be in very safe condition. Uh, it cannot have rust on it and it needs to be mechanically operating, you know, in a high efficient manner. That's all I can say. >> And I'm sorry to hear this chief, but do you happen to know if there were penalties issue or fines issues as a result of buses that um were failed inspections
029on unannounced visits. >> I don't have any information on that. >> I would I would say that school districts keep their vehicles in much better shape. >> Oh yeah. >> Than uh transit buses for example that we sometimes hear about accidents where axles are breaking, wheels come off etc. I would say that schools are extra careful and and have a higher level of safety. >> We're we're held to a much higher level. It's 19A, I believe, is the designation. It involves a tremendous amount of work by our transportation department to make sure we're meeting those those standards. Uh and to your point, I would say that um excuse me [clears throat] uh last night we just honored our distinguished school related professionals at a dinner. We uh awarded 15 SRPs in all categories of work.
030And when Rick Stout stood up, which was his third year in a row of winning as a transportation mechanic, Teresa announced that he finally in all of his years reached a 100% score by I think the state or the DOT in the work that he does. So that's just kind of emblematic I think of your awesome question, right? Like the standards that we hold uh are very important and we're not ever going to put a bus out that has rust or it has issues and we rely on people like Rick to do an amazing job to keep our kids safe. So, in years past, um, we have had conversations about the buses and the purchase of the buses. And I do remember Teresa talking about the repairs and the cost of the repairs and the
031man time to do the repairs and then the depreciated value of the buses. And that is one of the reason why we are on a 10 year and it was a long I want to say it was maybe two three years ago during one of our budgets that she stood up and she did go through and say you know that stuff that we wouldn't know and what has to be repaired on these buses on an annual basis. So >> that's great. We are comfortable if the board directs us to take the 57700 off. Uh we and then perhaps uh Doug we can purchase that through the C fund and then lower that proposition. We just felt that best to put it forward for you. >> In my opinion I remove it. >> Okay. >> In
032your opinion but everybody else. So I just if Doug if you could go over how how these are purchased and it's it's like a rolling bond for can you please expect I mean um speak to because it's the same money like it's not an outlay it's just a bond right like can you explain that that portion of it as well >> when schools finance capital projects or buses there's permanent bonding if the interest rate is appropriate. So if we had a capital project and we're going to pay for 20 years, we assess the interest rate and we may permanently bond that. Temporary financing is called bond anticipation notes and all schools use that with busing. So you have bond anticipation notes for five years. We do it with busing. If the interest rate isn't appropriate
033on a capital project, we could do bond anticipation notes and renew them every year for 5 years. You can only renew them for 5 years and then you must permanently bond. But for buses, um we have a schedule of 10 years. We use uh temporary financing which is called B bond anticipation notes. Um and we are subject to the interest rate every year when we renew those bonds. So the way you have your schedule set up is this five years is is a rolling five years where some are paid off and the new 5year payment comes on. So it doesn't have the effect on your budget that you think it does. Uh we have to incur an interest expense. So there is interest and that may be uh that may fluctuate but uh the payment
034that you're making that 15 payment a payment is dropping off a one payment is dropping off of other buses and this payment is going on. So that's what we mean by there's no real impact. I just wanted that to be explained so people don't think that we're writing a check for $672 to buy >> pay for it over five years. The payments are split into fifths. Um you're subject to an interest rate every year when you roll it over. >> I just have a question. Oh, go ahead. >> Well, no, I just wanted to add I like fun. It's brilliant. Um but I can recall saying that like he currently or he had been replacing some very out original kitchen equipment from >> original from the60s60s. So um in terms of using that next year
035between auditor's recommendation I'd like to know where that process is. Are you still replacing equipment? >> We are. In fact I'd say about a month ago we just find stoves and refrigerators. Uh, one of our freezers froze up because a compressor, you know, happened. It happens in our homes. You know, if a compressor or something happens in our refrigerator, we get that device up. Um, but that was fixed and repaired and, you know, so we're doing the equipment that's the oldest and we're um starting to change it out. >> Something that came back. >> Just to that, I just want to add on to that. I mean, our our um food department ran ran at such a deficit for so long that we could not replace equipment and we we really couldn't do anything in
036the department. While I like while I like Joy's suggestion as well and when we're done talking about it, I'll you know, I'll poll everyone. But I think we need to be careful that in a time when the food food department finally has money in their budget that we are replacing their needs as well as um this vehicle and those those two monitors and all of that too because we can only know purchase those needs for the department out of that seat fund. Right. So I just think um >> it was a great question by Joy or a great suggestion by Joy J. Great. Great question as well, right? Like we don't want to overload that department now that it's finally seeing the plus because it ran in the red. I mean Joe, you remember when
037we were over 800,000? >> It was over 800,000 and that's when we put together the food and beverage committee. Um but I you know I just and that I think we just need to be careful. That's all. >> Yeah. Well, when I suggested it come out of the sea fund at the last meeting or the meeting before the budget vote, I was thinking, you know, that was if we had money. I wasn't thinking like, oh, take it out, regardless of, you know, what's already on the docket to replace because I know that we have a lot of outdated equipment and and that does need to be replaced. So, I've been thinking a lot about the man that spoke at the board meeting. I think his name might have been Tom from the Lions Club. And
038he talked about his car being 14 or 15 years old and why are we not driving our buses the way that people have to keep their cars longer because their household expenses are so high. And you just explained that with a little bit with the rust um that buses cannot have rust that um obviously they have to pass inspection, they have to be road, they have to be safe for the children that are on the buses. So my question then is just so that the community understands if we had a bus that was 11 years old that did not have rust that did pass inspection that was road worthy would we be doing what our community members are doing in their households and driving it for for 11 or 12 years versus 10 years if
039that bus was safe for the children to ride to school and for school. Yeah, >> I think you would be. I mean, for sure. >> In other districts that I've worked, we've replaced engines >> and taken that bus a little further, but it has to be mechanically sound. There's a costbenefit relationship between what you're spending on the repairs and value of the bus. >> I think the difficulty is we don't really know. I mean, I don't really I don't want to speak for every day. I don't really know exactly the inventory that we have, what what the year of the buses are, what the mileage is of the buses, and you know, a 10-year replacement schedule when buses are this expensive. I think sometimes, you know, a community member may not understand all of the
040rules and the regulations. You know, it can't have rust, for example. We might drive a personal vehicle with rust, but a bus can't have that. So, I think that kind of highlights what we need to do. But it is good to know that if it was 11 or 12 years old and it didn't have rust and it did pass inspection, it was safe that you would still >> And I bet you I bet you actually that happens when you look at the request, right? two large buses, one smaller bus, and then a wheelchair bus. You know, if we're just transporting students in Grand Island to Grand Island schools, right, on a small bus, it's very likely that that small bus is going to last longer and the distance on it on it will be fewer,
041right, than another 10-year bus that's bigger that's going off island, going to Catholic schools and private schools, going on field trips and things of that nature. So I'm sure it does vary by us. >> So if I could just add I just looked at a meeting from the 21st of April. We absolutely needed that's the right correct way to say it. Uh and it was from 2015. Thank you answer your question. And I understand the department >> uh so I understand the department of transportation to be very um detailed >> especially in your work. >> Yes. Exactly. and it is highly regulated and um upheld to very stringent standards. But Dr. Graham, you mentioned 19A. What is 19A? Are you referencing a statute? Is that um >> it's called uh New York's article 19A sets
042a strict uh set series of requirements of course for school bus drivers, motor carriers, and so forth. It establishes what we're supposed to do with all of our training to make sure we're up to date. If an inspector came in and went through all of our personnel files and found one error in 19A regulations, we would be cited, perhaps fined for not following those strict guidelines. So, it's a it's a big deal. I actually oversaw transportation in the West Olympus Central School District and learned a bit about that. And um we we are very very blessed. We have a transportation director who is so careful and so uh focused on school safety not only for the drivers but for the equipment and I think that's why we trust uh the recommendation. >> Thank you. If
043I can just one more thing, >> we haven't touched on the New York state mandate for electric buses, which is another hiccup in everybody's um with this proposal, right? Um it has been moved um I think um out another was it five years with um final purchasing to be done in 2040 um is when it needs to be implement it, right? So, we're not looking at buying these buses and then next year having to buy electric buses. It has been the program has been moved out five years with a finality date of 2040. We're sitting in 2026, we have 14 years, right? Um and I think we're seeing a lot of changes with that. You know, that stays with if our governor continues to be reelected or somebody else um gets into office. So, you
044know, we're not going to propose to buy these buses and then come back next year and say, "All right, we need 10 electric buses, right?" Like, um I we have spoke to the electric buses quite a few times in our meetings. I know um there has been some some you know comments that we have not spoken about it. We we have we talked about um what it would cost to put you know the trans fix the transportation center what it would cost per bus and I think we as a board have put out our position that we're not moving on it right while our state government is wanting it our federal government has put a hold on it so with the conflict between the federal and the state and the push out to 2040 I
045don't really think that the electric buses are in the conversation no for this proposal and I just, you know, >> it's great to clarify. >> I just that that's another thing I had heard. Um, so I just wanted to talk to that. I don't know if either of you want to speak to that, but um, we as a board have definitely discussed it. We have we have we have put out our I don't want to say feelings, but thoughts on the proposition and their joy continually brings up, you know, the conflict between the federal and the state. So um you know it's there should not be a discussion at all in this proposal. >> You've also you've also um asked for a study by Wendell Associates, Wendell Engineering Associates. There's a study that I have
046in my office that's over 200 pages and it outlines all of the things that would be necessary to move forward. So that was a requirement that the state had in this board and that was >> and it was presented Yeah, >> I just thought I would I I didn't think we could talk about buses and not talk about the electric whatever, but um I don't know if we want to at this time talk about that um for transit if everybody's agreeable to move it to the C fund. We can go ahead and do that. Um I don't know if anybody Oh, Roger has more. QI if we decide to keep it in the current proposition and then at the end of the year we realize that we're carrying uh a balance from our food service.
047We've been able to do some other repairs. When we remove it, will that remove like a fifth of the price of 577 off of the bond for like how would it be reflected? In other words, this proposition is for a maximum amount. You can change the numbers and borrow less or you can remove the item. So, we would put it up for a vote at 672 and then it could potentially go down 577 at the end of at the end of the fiscal school year. >> Yes. And the other thing that we have to be um we have to recognize this is a very short turnover in terms of advertising for the uh June 16th meeting. There has to be publications in the paper and we have them ready to go because they have to
048what was it like 2:00 uh yesterday or tomorrow that has to be sent to the papers to be in right to give you the right notice. So, you still have the ability to decide, but it's it's a very tight timeline. >> Well, if we decided tonight, there would be time to get that change. So, um I don't >> No, >> but you know, I just again, I mean, >> for the next >> What's that? >> Correct. Yes. So, I mean, I don't know what everybody's feelings are. I mean, I know Joy is is is wanting to remove it and then, you know, we're going back out to a public vote. You know what? So if we put this back out and it's voted down, is it done then? >> Yeah, we won't be we can't
049buy any buses. >> So I guess the question is if we move out 58,000 rounding um will that be enough of a change for people? I think we need to show some change just out of respect for hearing hearing the vote and that that's only my opinion on one of just another >> the removal of that one piece still based on seers potential still purchasing right so that's correct that makes the most sense to show that we are moving down we are listening to the voters you want Call for a motion. >> Um, yeah. Daniel, is there anything to send forward to? >> All right. So, I am going to make a motion to remove the Ford Transit 350 cargo van from uh Proposition 2 and move that purchase to our C fun. [clears throat]
050>> Oh, I'm asking for motion. I'm not motion. Sorry. >> I will motion. >> I'm asking motion. I need a second. >> I'll second it. >> Sorry. All in favor? I I >> oppose motion car. >> Thank you very much for that. >> Well, hold on. So, uh I I just realized that I wrote this big note to myself. [clears throat] So, I'm going to switch to the calculator that we built that is on our website. I have to thank Robin and Patty and Ally who worked very very very hard to put this calculator on our website. And uh the highlight is this. One of the members uh here tonight uh that are observing asked about this this uh 116 and it comes from basic star with a home value of 397,000. And the big
051change by if the board chooses to move forward with a a different budget at 1.5%. You can see with Star it goes down to about $6549 for $397,000 home. And so this is what this uh calculator looks like. It's right on our website now. And quite honestly, if we get good feedback, I think this would be a practice that we would do forever, right? Uh you have a question. >> Oh, okay. I thought you were >> You want my number? You want my value? Uh [laughter] okay. >> So what a user of our website can do is they can move the slider back and forth to their uh assessed value. So I guess I'm just showing that to you, right? You know, so if your assessed value is at a million dollars or you know
052300 number that was 97, let me just adjust that. So you can type it in or you can use the slider to get the information. And you can see that the user can toggle the difference between 2.69 and 1.5. And then you can see it's defaulted at no star. So the difference comes down to $71 a year, you know, a year. That's the increase. Or when you click basic star, you get your $65. So you can see with basic star $6549 for the year or $546 for the week or $1.26 sorry for the month $546 for the month and $1.26 for the week. And what this does automatically is it has the comparison side by side which is really great. Right? So when you enter your home's value you'll see this is what you would
053have paid at 2.69 the increase and this is what it's established. Now, we have a little disclaimer. There was some misunderstanding or miscommunication in the community that the school district was raising taxes by $3 million. That's not true. And it was confirmed in Buffalo News. So, the information is there for people to see that. And there's just a little disclaimer here that when the town changed the assessment, that wasn't the school district, right? That was the town uh making that decision as a town for what's the betterment of of the of the town. Just just a real quick thing on the assessments. Um I know it was highly not white. Um but there's a misconception out there that because home values went up and community members taxes went up, mine included, that the town and
054the school got more money. We did not receive any more money. the distribution between households was reshifted and recalculated based on the new assessments. So when people are seeing a $300 increase in their taxes, the school district and the town are not seeing that increase. The assessment just re-evaluated the homes on the island and redistributed the amount of the taxes. We did not receive any more money and neither did the town. It was redistributed and that was another huge thing that went out into the public and it's a big misconception. Um I know they're dealing with it on the town level and we're dealing with it on the school, you know, school level [clears throat] and I think it's important for people to understand that because your taxes went up that means somebody else's went
055down, right? Or stayed the same. It was a balance. So although we may not have liked the way it was reassessed, we are not sitting with a larger pot of money because your taxes went up. We haven't already received that $300 increase in your school taxes. And I I hope I I communicated that. All right. I just really think it's important for people to understand that we didn't get a raise because your taxes. >> It just was redistributed among taxpayers. Mr. Thank you, sir. >> Oh, that's great. So, I guess I'm looking for a little feedback from the board. Do you think this is a helpful tool if shared? >> I like it. >> Social media, right? >> And uh >> and I like that you pick the no star, basic star, >> and hand
056star. My goodness. Right. Basic star $65 increase $54. >> I like it. And it's hard to see. It says year. This one is year. Yeah, it says year. Oh, there. And then you broke it down by month so people can actually see it's $5. >> Correct. >> Yeah. >> Thank you, Joy. And then um again, we had that little disclaimer uh little disclaimer here. And again, this just came out, ladies and gentlemen, >> right? number one out of 50 zip codes in Western New York, Grand Island and Business First last week. What is the date? May 22nd. I didn't, you know, this isn't something I concocted myself, right? And what does that mean, right? That we live in a great community. >> It means our home values go up, too. >> Yeah. Which is a
057positive. It's a positive. People want to move here. >> Home values increase. And look at the percent of housing vacancy, right? 1.16%. The graduation rate outstanding, right? This is what communities expect from schools and from the town. >> So, this is on here as part of our calculator and it breaks the budget down, right? Um, and again, you know, this was, you know, information that sometimes people did not have or heard misinformation about. So with the board's permission, if the board moves forward with this, we will keep this on our website. It is hidden right now. You know, Robin will unhide it. Uh given the action of the board, >> I like it. I don't >> I definitely think the website is there. >> Sorry. Um I definitely love the website idea. Is there a
058way that we can roll this out through email and a text link like we roll out information because some people as we said they don't know how to navigate through the site or where to go to the site but they're getting a text message and they can click on the link in the text >> 100%. Alli's taking copious notes right now but quite honestly you're absolutely right because >> it be right on the front page like >> we can do just about anything. Yes. I I I think it's really important um that it be right on the front page, not clicking to the board of education or tax [clears throat] information, but if we can have that, if it's possible to put it right as you open the school website, it's there. It's visible. >>
059We'll do our very best. I I have to say >> I know it's it's crowded and there's a lot of stuff out there. >> No, it's not it's not that at all. Robin and Patty and Ally had to actually use embed code to put this on this page. So, they will investigate that. I just don't want to say absolutely it'll be on the front page but um just your perspective Robin just >> and if it can't be on the front page if it can't be on the front page if you can put something big and bold >> click here for the tax the popup that we use to announce this meeting could have could say click here and it pops up every time they go to a page click here >> and then I would
060if you can't have the actual calculator I like the popup but something on there big and bold so they're they can find it so they're not, you know, struggling to find it. >> Yeah, I love that. And Joy, I love your perspective, too. Right. Um, we absolutely will push this out. QR codes, text messages, emails. also put it on the new district Facebook >> Facebook page >> because it allows a lot of us to be able to share to the public, share to public pages, especially people who may not have children in district. >> Um they are on certain pages that we can share that too which is huge. So they can you know click that >> and I would say even a grant if you go get it all on >> that's great. We
061will do our very best. I see Ally taking notes and I thank the board for the feedback. Um, >> so everybody's good with it, I'm assuming, right? >> It sounds like >> I didn't hear anybody. Great. >> And just just for people who may be worried, right? We got, you know, some people were angry with the board because we asked for their email address in a survey. This is not collecting any data from anybody. So just >> got the disclosure, >> right? Good job. >> All right. So, off we go. Um, so those are my notes to remind me to show that to you. So, I was able to do that. This is a repeat. You already saw this information. We already talked about the claim that was not accurate. And we have the information
062right here for everybody to see. And uh just a reminder, right, if if the if we don't go out to revote, it's a 0% tax levy increase and a$1.1 million cut. And we went over all those things and just for the public to you know see it again some of the big ticket items travel conferences field trips and that includes eco island music and county state festivals it includes DECA competitions modified sports would go away non-league JB athletic events extra class activities student clubs intramural activities student uh we won't be able to hire students this summer non-essential student travel uh continuing education programs rep R rep programs and so on and so forth. >> I I think this is a very important slide to send out because I I I think it when you put
063a face or you put a you know an actual item club whatever saying this will be jeopardized should we get to a um contingency budget. I think makes it a little more real to people. >> I think also when we communicate that then we have to be very careful. We don't want to make people feel scared that they have to accept our budget. >> Um so I mean I I certainly think the list is important. Um you know again there was a lot of communication that it would be administration payroll costs right like our employees are here contractually. We have contracts, right? And this board has been um eliminating positions to attrition since we hired Dr. Grim. That was one of the first things that we we uh we asked him to do. I mean,
064this year alone, was it six teachers and and a PA? Like I just think people need to understand that we're not going to come in and slice salaries and like we don't have the power to do that because they are under contract. It can happen in the next contract negotiation. We can certainly look at the employees but we have been doing that. So I think it's very important and that was something I was stressing is the things that you think may be cut are not. It will have a direct like effect on our students and and even if we get to teachers and and cutting positions there'll be bigger class sizes, less individual attention in the classroom. Our students will suffer. I I I so I I think the information has to go out. I
065think we just need to be very careful because we don't want to sound like we're scaring them into our budget because they certainly have a dec. And I just at this point will also say that there's a big feel that it's the board against the community and and and that is not true. We are here. We are elected by you. We work for you. We work for our students. We hear you. We have done great work at this table and for the feeling out there in the community when you have people thinking it's it's a fight. It is not a fight. We work together. We represent the school. We we represent the community. So, I just want to make sure that we don't sensationalize that feeling because people feel like it's a fight and it's
066not. We all work together and even when our capital project went down, we had the same thing and it's came out of scope and now we can get to work. We can make changes. I I think my my thought is to show that like we said you said at the very beginning the state dictates >> what can be cut in a contingency budget, right? So these have to be some of the things that we look at and I think that is the the difference just like you say like like people have a perception of well we can cut money here or we can cut money there and not affect overall programs or not affect this or that. We don't have that option based on the the guid you know what the laws are. I just
067would like to add I would like to add aside from the health of the students in reference to the community and being ranked number one in Western New York um and accounting for the importance of these activities and mouth mental health awareness as as is as regretfully I don't want to assume but I have to assume that the dropout rate would significantly increase which will have an impact um on the community in addition to the of course the obvious of the students in the district. That is just my um so the slide the categories under consideration slide I refresh um what I my suggestion would be because we do have a lot of people in the public who don't watch only to put in the verbage that these are state [clears throat] required cuts >>
068ex I mean it had so we release this it says these are state these are not district we didn't cut these are state required cuts so that way when this starts kicking around you know the community and on social media people see that that it's not the board and it's not the district these are statement cuts and this is the result not to scare them but just to give them that information I I agree and I think that's a great way to represent it >> and I don't think we can overemphasize enough that this would be potential >> correct >> right I mean I've already heard that modified sports are >> right that was before that was before the vote I don't >> know we have categories under consideration >> yeah particularly for the concept
069contingency Thank you. >> So, I'm just going to advance a little bit further. Um, so if the board passes the resolution tonight to revote, Jude Co is not allowed to take any vacation days between now and June 16th. >> I know it's >> Oh, it is a Thursday night. >> That is true. That is true. So given this timeline that you see in the slide, right, if the board acts tonight, uh June Jude will be very busy uh communicating now maybe legal notices and we will schedule a public hearing prior to our June 8th uh board meeting. So we will probably need to maybe make an adjustment maybe not to the 10ear retiree start time. We'll talk about that internally, but just rest assured that when we come into this room after the 10-year retirey
070uh ceremony that we will be in a public hearing for this if it's passed tonight. Does that make sense to everybody? Okay. And then uh we will have lots to do. Ally and J will work together with Doug uh to make sure all the notices are properly uh communicated. And then the revote established by New York State, not established by the Grand Island Central School District, would be the 16th. And we would follow our same timeline, 8 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. >> Okay. So, if we if we move to do the reduced budget, I'm just looking at slide number three where it says uh submit a revised budget with a lower tax levy, which is 1.5. It says the board determines the reductions. When when will those reductions happen? After it passes >> the reductions
071from 2.69 to 1.5. >> Yeah, it says the board determines the reductions. I recommended slide four. >> That's a half a million dollars. >> Correct. I'm just trying to figure out because we have not talked about any we have not talked about. >> Doug, can you just go over it? Do you have the list of things that have been reduced? Trans. >> So, you have already reduced. You don't have that. It would have been helpful to have that >> cuz I was under the impression if we went to the 1.5 that we would sit here and discuss what was going to be reduced just and because here it says the board the board determines the reductions and we didn't. >> Okay. >> So, do you have a chart? Do you have something for us? Um,
072that would have been I assume that's what we were going to be discussing here. Well, let's Why don't you go off your list then? >> I just have a list. >> Okay. >> So, remember, we're cutting into uh unexpected expenses. So, we're cutting into areas where we have uh we just don't know what our expenses are going to be. So, travel and conference is being cut $40,000. The legal budget for the district is being cut $25,000. Equipment of all types is being cut $50,000. Half of the 500 I'll just jump to this utilities were cutting $150,000. So half of it's coming from utilities and the Bosey's budget $100,000. So $250,000 of the 500 is coming from those two areas. other contractual expenses from personnel to curriculum to maintenance where we would hire outside people that's
073being cut $30,000. District supplies is being cut $5,000. It's mostly classroom supplies and curriculum supplies, that type of thing. substitutes. Personnel cost for substitutes is being cut $50,000. And the last cut is the health reimbursement account. This is an amount of money that's in the budget for people that do not take health insurance. It's kind of an unknown, but we're cutting that $50,000. So that's the 500. We're staying away from program. >> We're staying away from extra personnel. I chose things that, you know, you're cutting into areas where we have budgeted money where we don't know exactly what the expense is going to be. >> So, the one that makes me extremely nervous is utilities. I mean, everybody's utility bills are through the roof. I know we we talked about just our electric costs alone
074and the rise of that and I mean should we really be taking 150,000 from there? I I don't I don't I mean >> well it see I didn't I'm not prepared at this point. Uh I'd have to show you what we put in the budget >> for extra. >> Okay. And then we think we can shave off that number. >> So >> is it is it >> Jay just read that number? >> Yeah. I have >> 1.1 right? >> Yeah. >> And you're you're taking out how much? >> 150,000. Yeah. >> So coming down to just shy over a million dollars. Um, you know, and I did preference this by saying someone could ask me, well, why didn't you put this budget forward in the first place? Well, we're getting for me, I'm getting a
075little bit uncomfortable in some of these areas. >> Correct. >> I I agree. >> Um, >> but it does demonstrate >> it does demonstrate we're listening, right? Right. We're listening and um we're proposing this 1.5% increase in tax levy >> and 2.4% increase in budget. Um >> that's where we are. >> Can you pass your microphone? >> Yeah. There you go. >> Right. So that that's it, right? brand new. >> Okay, [clears throat] >> thank you. So, where would we pull the funds from if we ran out of money for something like utilities? >> Well, you'd have to look at your budget and see where you can transfer money from. >> I mean, a budget is not uh exact science, >> right? uh it is an estimate in a many many categories and you just
076have to make sure you don't underestimate but way overestimate. So it's it's you know diesel fuel is one um it's much more expensive now than when we put the budget to gas >> and I know that we discussed accounting for emergencies and >> and um where would that come in in the sense of could we pull from the reserve? >> Well overall you end with 4%. So that means you're 96% correct in predicting your expenses and your revenue. It's not bad. You're $81 million. If we were 96% correct on everything, we'd think pretty good. But there is 4%. There is that $3 million that is being left over at the end of the year. So there is money in a budget. You know, everything can't go up, you know. So, we're hoping that Blue Cross
077and Blue or Independent Health self-funded insurance stays within a 15 to 18% parameter. We're hoping diesel doesn't go much more than six. If it goes to 10, well then, you know, there's going to be some purchasing that is going to be stopped during the middle of the year and you're going to be readjusting money >> because once we establish a budget, we can't go over those numbers. Once we establish our revenue number and our expense number, it can't exceed that. So if we if we agree we're going to spend 81 million, that's all we can spend. So we have to pull from other locations. We can't we can't pull from that reserve fund and say, "Oh, now we have more revenue because we already set our budget, right? So there's no we just have to
078shift all those transfers during the year." That's right. Is is >> is shifting money. is the shifting of the money to to exactly what we're discussing now. So, we will never increase our revenue or increase our expenses. We just have to shift where we're spending the money. >> And where that shift would come from would be unknown >> at this point. Yes. >> They would have to look at the budget where the money's been spent, where we are in the course of the year, where there's still money left in an account. Um, but it certainly can't come from the C fund because the C fund stays with the food. Um, so hey Brian, I just want I just want to make that clear. >> Um, fund accounting and and and nonforprofit accounting is very different.
079Like if you're saving for a vacation, usually your utility bill, you can take your vacation fund. You cannot do that um government accounting. So um throw that out there. Um, so >> maintain a minimum in terms of reserves, right? >> You're allowed to keep 4% at the end of the year. Some districts end without 4%. They end with nothing. When I was at Hamburg, we ended with $200,000. So, it was getting spent, spent, spent. So, you just have to be very, very careful. Um, >> we're not at that point, but >> and you don't want to deplete your re reserves because then what happens is the town gets hit with a huge increase. We're seeing school districts do it. I think I think Amber paid the price for that. >> Hamburg did. >> They did
080because they didn't have the money in reserves. >> Clarence did. I mean, and there was a one just last year. It was Buffalo tax like So, yes, we have those reserves. 4% is is the max they allow us to keep. um you know when we sit with the auditors that's maxed. You really don't you don't want to grab too much of that because you you just won't have the money to continue to go forward and then it's a steamroll effect, right? And then all of a sudden 5 10 years down the road there's a huge tax increase to the community and that's not fair either. >> And see what we really have to be careful it's a balance. What you have right now are about 11 reserves in specific categories. Um, one is medical insurance.
081So, if your medical insurance is rising out of sight, you have a reserve. So, you can offset some of that expense with some of that revenue. Um, we can and we can go over all those reserves. So there is some flexibility, but once a district uses those reserves, then you're in then you're all to the levy unless you want to cut your expenses way back. So thank you everybody. This is excellent discussion. I do appreciate you. Beth, did you see your daughter before? >> Oh, good. That's great. Uh if it's okay, uh Sue, this is the resolution that we're proposing unless we want more discussion. So, does anybody have anything else they would like to discuss? Anything they want to add? Um, >> hold on. >> Yeah. Just really [clears throat] quick, um, with the
082tonight's resolution and the removal of the the cargo van, doesn't the 1.5% then go down? >> No. 1.5% is on proposition one. >> Okay. So, we are good that I just wanted to make sure our percentage doesn't change. >> Okay. >> And we already corrected opposition to >> right and that won't necessarily be the language in this resolution. Would you like me to read it? Would anybody like me to read it or we are we good? Joe, you're good. to read that resolution. Does anybody have any more questions, comments, concerns? All right. And I will ask for a motion to um accept the resolution to revote uh with the tax increase of 1.5% 16. Go >> ahead. I >> first >> all in favor >> opposed motion >> car [clears throat] Roger and J. Thank
083you. So I I just want to say I didn't say in the beginning too. I really want to thank the board for coming together tonight finding a quick date where we could meet um on an off night. It actually was easier than I thought it was going to be. But thank you for your time um here tonight and consideration. >> You should vote on the proposition. >> Well, thank you to the board. Is there any final comments from the board of education? >> All right. Thank you so much everybody. I hope you have a good Oh, wait. Charlotte, we're quiet today. Just your perspective. Would you if we want to pass the microphone down just >> Yeah. Yeah. just uh just from your a student perspective, was this informative for you? Um and how might
084you carry the message to your peers, particularly those who can vote? >> Yeah, I want to say thank you to the board for really representing the students and thinking about them today. Um and hearing about the importance of getting this second vote through. Um, I'll definitely be doing my best to engage my fellow peers in voting um in the reg. >> Thank you, Shannon. >> Okay. A motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:40. A second. >> All in favor? Motion carries 70. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Thank you. [applause]