001I 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. >> I'm so into this presentation of the budget. >> Thank you, Tracy. All right, good evening, everybody. Thank you for attending the budget hearing today. This is the one opportunity for the [clears throat] Guilderland schools 2026-2027 budget, where folks from the community, anybody in attendance, gets to ask questions about this budget prior to the May 19th vote next Tuesday. So, here we go. In the interest of time, we also have three candidates running for two board seats, and I want to make sure I try to wrap this up in the next 20 minutes, so those folks can get get up here and have a
002chance to speak about their candidacy. So, our agenda for today, we're going to just briefly highlight the state budget. We're going to compare our revenue, the money coming in, versus our expenditures, money going out, and break those down into three categories by law, administrative, program, and capital, which every school district budget is required to be presented in that way. We'll take a look at our tax levy history, and just look at a budget analysis for the past seven to eight budgets. What does that look like in terms of a budget-to-budget increase versus a tax levy increase? We'll look at approximate increase in school taxes, talk about our bus purchases, and our five ballot propositions, and then finally, our Board of Education candidates. So, after nearly five weeks negotiations, or five weeks of delays for a
003April 1st state budget, on May 7th, the governor's office announced that they in principle had reached a an agreement with the legislature Um, on a $268 billion budget. Unfortunately, Speaker Carl Heasty said, "There's things that are agreed on in principle, but none of the finite numbers have been negotiated." So, while the governor's saying, "We've got a We've got a complete budget of 268 billion." The speaker of the house is saying, "None of the numbers for school aid, none of the numbers for Medicaid and other services are are finite and hence school districts across the state haven't really uh received their school aid runs. So, what do we have to go on? We have the governor's January proposal to go on, which talked about a 1% a minimum 1% increase in foundation aid for all school
004districts across the state. What does that mean for a district like ourselves? That means an increase of $211,320. In March, we heard that both uh both uh houses have proposed to the governor, instead of 1% there should be a minimum of 2% more like in our case $422,640. The problem is between January, March, and today, we don't know where the governor's office has landed because once again, none of the finite numbers have actually been discussed or negotiated. So, we're kind of in limbo and what we have chosen to do is apply a 2% increase in foundation aid to our state budget. To our school budget, excuse me. So, when we look at our expenditures to the left, once again broken down in three categories, administrative, program, and capital. Those three added together, and once again
005the revenues on the right with state aid, real property taxes, reserves and debt service, and other sources of revenue, your expenditures and your revenue match up or dollar in, dollar out. Hence, our proposed budget for this year of $48,944,277. As I was doing a quick comparison, as I was looking at the administrative and thinking, all right, administrative this year is 10.64%. How much was it last year? Last year the administrative portion of the budget was 9.98. So, that's a difference of 0.66. How much was the programmatic portion of the budget? Last year, 75.55. That's a difference of roughly uh I'm going to say 20 or 0.31. 0.31% and finally capital, we've got 14.12. Last year it was 14.47. So, the numbers haven't moved much when you compare the administrative program and capital 1 year ago.
006Those numbers are once again within a reasonable range. Similarly, state aid. Last year it was right around 62%. This year it's 61.8% and our real property taxes or our tax levy accounts for the second highest portion that completes our school budget. So, a couple minutes ago we were talking about a numbers like 211,000 or 422,000 and yet what we're showing up here is an increase in state aid of nearly 1,091,585 dollars. That's because in our last couple of budget presentations, we didn't just talk about foundation aid. We talked about things like building aid and BOCES aid. And those are two things we've been very deliberate about. Those are expense based aids. And those expense based aids, building building aid, we're seeing an increase of nearly 174,000 dollars. BOCES aid, it's our biggest increase of nearly
007558,000 dollars. So, when you add those three pieces together, foundation aid, building aid, BOCES aid, that what's that's what results in the state aid increase of nearly 1.1 million dollars. Real property taxes, that represents our 2.23% tax levy or the increase of 360,719 dollars. And finally, we're using an additional 105,000 from our reserves, but I'm going to go one slide previous. If you look at reserves and debt service, as I go one slide to the back, you'll notice it accounts for 1.87% of our total overall budget. Now, why do I highlight that number? In a couple slides, the middle column represents our total reserves as of year end June 30th, 2025. To the left of the middle column represents what we borrowed from reserves last year, 1.71% of the overall budget. This year, we're borrowing
008a little more. It's 1.8% 87% of the overall budget. The auditors say, "If you're borrowing within 2% of your overall budget, you're right where the greater accounting standards board are right where auditing guidelines say that is perfectly acceptable." So, right now, we're right by that 2%, perfectly acceptable as far as the auditors are concerned. So, expenditures, we've got, once again, three categories that we're going to talk about. We're going to talk about the administrative, the program, and the capital. One of the largest increases we're seeing in administrative is as a result of BOCES services. And BOCES services are scattered throughout the administrative portion of the budget. I'd also like to point out benefits, health insurance, retirement through the New York State Teachers' Retirement System or the Employees' Retirement System. Every single portion, administrative, program, and
009capital, will have benefits scattered through their portion of the budget, so you will see that as the last line on the next three slides. So, we talk We were talking about BOCES services. There's three big areas of BOCES services where we're seeing the higher expenditures. First, we're adopting a software a new through new voting regulations. We've had to adopt bold election management systems, which community members are going to see when they come into the the voting site at the old middle school library. They have to sign into an iPad because by this I believe next year by early 2027 all the reporting from municipal elections has to be reported to a state state website. I don't believe that website has been created yet, but that's what school districts are required to do. So, bold election
010management systems is one of the pieces of software we've had to purchase through the Board of Education uh codes. In addition, um under central administration and finance, we have our director of the central business office at Wayne-Finger Lakes BOCES scheduled to retire. And collectively the 25 districts in this region have given the green light to have somebody start July 1, even though the person is retiring March of 2027, to have a significant overlap period cuz this individual has 20 years of auditing experience that has really really helped the component districts. So, there's a significant increase to all 25 districts to have this overlap and this transition plan in place. In addition to our treasurer, our accounts payable, our benefits clerk, our payroll clerk, all their contractual increases are also rolled into that dollar amount. Finally,
011we have a major phone system upgrade that we have planned for next year and that just the hardware and the service contracts of the phone are well north of $100,000. So, that's the other piece that's causing the administrative portion of the budget to go up. And finally, like I said, the last line is always benefits for all administrative por- portions, excuse me, all administrative positions across the district. Not just health insurance, but teachers retirement system, employees retirement system as well. Program. The program portion of the budget, while we have tried to tighten several areas of the problematic portion of the budget, one of the areas that is ballooning is special education. And that is simply because there have been more students slated to go to out of district BOCES programs or private placements in addition
012to some students that have been waiting in the pipeline to try to get into some of those outside placements. The BOCES programs themselves have also increased their rates by a minimum 5% and so when all these things are compiled together, we are seeing nearly a $738,000 increase in special education across the board for our district. Transportation, bus driver salaries are a huge driving factor of the $56,000 and finally I would say benefits accounts for the $235,000 like I mentioned. The last portion of our expenditure expenditure budget is capital. Capital means facilities, operations and maintenance. Maintenance of plant, taking care of our facilities, our cleaners, our custodians, our groundkeepers. One thing I'd like to point out is when you look at the first line $126,620 is the increase in that line. Salaries account for or salary
013increases account for a very small portion of that. $90,000 is going directly to increase in electricity costs for this district. I'll say that again. Out of the $126,000 on the board, $90,000 is the budget for increase in electricity costs for our district next year. Next, employee benefits and finally our debt service. We talked about our building aid increasing by approximately 174,000 as a result of our long-term capital planning, we also have some debt dropping off which is causing us essentially a gain of 166,000. That building aid increase and debt service drop out together when you add those up, that's nearly a 340 to 350,000 dollar increase in revenue for the district, which has come in really handy in closing this year's budgetary gaps. >> [clears throat] >> So, here's a little look at our tax
014levy history for the past roughly 10 years. The red line represents our levy limit. Each year we calculate this number in the month of February and by March 1st, we submit this to the comptroller's office. This is how much we can levy in taxes with 50% voter approval. The blue line represents how much each year the Board of Education actually levies in taxes looking for a 50% voter approval. By the way, if the blue line ever goes higher than the red line, you need what's called a supermajority or a 60% voter approval, but you'll notice that blue line stays under the red line. No different this year, our tax levy limit is 4.49%. What are we asking for the community to come out and vote? 2.23% increase in tax levy year-over-year. I'm going to turn
015it over to Nick, but once again, the net this this slide essentially represents the budget for the last 8 years. How much has the budget increased from one year to the next in terms of real dollars or a percent and how much have we levied in taxes on our local community in terms of a percent in the far right column. >> Yeah, so one of our general strategies when we're budgeting is um to be consistent for our students. And when we think about what it takes to be consistent with students or for students uh year in and year out, uh really has to do with maintaining our budget in a way that allows us to be business as usual. Now, when we say that, that doesn't sound too exciting. But, business as usual is a
016really good thing. Um, a couple years ago, um, after being, uh, classically underfunded from the state, Midlakes was fortunate enough to get, uh, fully funded, which meant, uh, and I don't want to dive too far into the details, but, uh, back in those days there was a lawsuit, um, in Albany that compelled, uh, the state government to fully fund districts that had, um, been classically underfunded per the foundation aid formula. So, we were a benefactor at that point, uh, because, again, Midlakes was traditionally underfunded. And since then, Carl and I made a real concerted effort to, um, again, be consistent with our budgeting practices and recognize that year in and year out we're going to have increasing health care costs. We're going to have increasing utility costs. Year in and year out we have collective
017bargaining agreements with four different unions. Those costs continue to rise per their annual salary increases. So, each facet of our our expenditures, uh, increases. So, it stands to reason that other pieces of our budget should also increase. I really like to use the word grow. Our expenditures grow, and what that means is we have to grow our tax levy in a commensurate way along with everything else. So, what that means is is is we're just trying to create conditions where we have sustained growth in the tax levy year in and year out because if we can do that, what that means is that we can consistently offer the same budget to the best of our abilities year in and year out. So, that's where we arrived at the 2.23% um, increase in our taxes this
018year. You know, make no mistake, it is a tax increase, but a failure to increase taxes in a way that grows along with every other um, piece of our budget is only sowing the seeds for a future problem. So, what we try to do is increase that tax levy by a responsible amount that's not too much of a burden to our community year in and year out to be consistent. >> Yeah. So, what does 2.23% look like based on last year's assessment based on the 2025 tax rolls on a $100,000 home assessment? Uh for folks without STAR, that represents $50 and 33 cent increase. Once again, per 100,000. With STAR, $37.78 increase per 100,000. And with enhanced STAR, $11.94 94 cent increase per 100,000 based on last year's or 2025 tax rolls. In terms of
019our bus purchases, um Phelps Clifton has applied for a 2-year waiver on electric buses. So, as as of right now, we have no intention on purchasing EV buses. We have concluded our EV bus study and based on the study, we are comfortable with continuing our diesel bus purchases. We are purchasing four 70-passenger diesel or we're asking the community to come out and vote on purchasing four 70-passenger diesel buses and one 60-passenger wheelchair accessible diesel bus as well. Our our school district gets 90% transportation aid and it's amortized over 5 years. So, the $1,095,582 that the community is voting on, if it if it pending a successful vote, what does that mean? We get 90 cents back on the dollar over the next 5 years. So, the net cost of the district essentially after 5 years
020is $109,558. The five propositions the community is coming to vote vote on, is to adopt our school district budget, once again, $48,944,277. To elect two members to the Board of Education. To authorize the bus purchases, once again, our five diesel bus purchases using our transportation capital reserve. To create a new savings account, a new capital reserve for future capital projects. This savings account is going to start at zero dollars and it's going to have a max of 10 million, not inclusive not inclusive of interest. To once again use to offset any future capital projects. And then finally, a separate proposition for both our libraries, 100,000 for each of the two libraries within the community. Our three board candidates running for two board seats are Shannon Passalacqua, Nathan Dingee, and Debra Gallagher. At this point, it
021is 6:20. I tried to keep it to 20 minutes. Uh I'm going to first off and see if any folks in the audience have any questions they'd like to ask before inviting each board member to come up and speak or each respective candidate to come up and speak, excuse me. >> I do have a question about the electric buses. So, is that something that the state is pushing? >> Yes, there's an electric there's an EV bus mandate that the state has said the state initially said by 2027 the only buses you can purchase are EV buses and by 2020 2035 all school districts across the state their entire fleet needs to be electric vehicles. Unfortunately, the feasibility of this has proven very challenging even for the early adopters and the governor has offered a two-year
022extension and then as of last year's budget an additional two-year extension. So, if you completed the EV bus study, you automatically qualify for the first two-year extension, which we have most recently applied for, hoping that by 2028 that timeline is is pushed even further back. There is chatter amongst the state right now that part of the state budget will cause that 2035 timeline to be pushed back, but once again, they have not released any of that information, so it's very difficult to know. >> So, I'm curious because it's such a rural district, are these buses feasible to make the runs? >> Not all of them, no. >> Right. >> And and hence we are purchasing we are asking the community to come out and vote on five diesel buses. >> Yeah, and you're asking all
023the same questions that we've been asking as well. >> Um, do they know the area? Interesting. Okay. >> Any other questions from folks? Thank you for asking, by the way. All right, Tracy, at this time Was there a hand raised? Did you just have your hand raised? Oh, okay. >> All right. Sorry. Sorry. >> No, that's fine. I wasn't sure if you had your hand raised. Well, yep. Candidates. Candidates. So, >> Okay. [clears throat] >> Up to you. >> Shannon Peslakwa, are you running? Is this already on? >> Yes, it is. >> Okay, hello. I'm Dr. Shannon Peslakwa. I'm a chiropractor. I practice uh part-time in Phelps. And then I work full-time at Bryant and Stratton College as a program director, where I oversee the natural science department. Um, so I'm very familiar with writing
024budgets and rewriting budgets and trying to squeeze dollars in where there are no dollars to squeeze. Um, and part of my job involves over reviewing curriculum for the biology courses and chemistry courses that we offer. Um, what else do I do there that would be fitting for a Board of Ed candidate? Um, I hire and interview for open um faculty positions, as well as mentor new faculty during their onboarding process. I do faculty observations where I'm in the classroom and then provide feedback. Um I do a lot of faculty coaching and professional development. Um What else I do? I do I wear many hats. I've I'm currently running a faculty enrichment committee where we're coming up with more ideas to provide faculty development. So my objective is really um when I purchased a home or
025when I was looking to purchase a home, I really wanted to be in Mid-Lakes district. I graduated from Geneva and was very impressed. I have friends and cousins who went to Mid-Lakes and my I have nieces who are currently in the Mid-Lakes district and I hope that my daughter will be attending Mid-Lakes in a few years. But um I've always been very impressed with Mid-Lakes curriculum and the the additional support and resources they provide their students, especially for such a rural school. It's really unmatched. Uh if you look at other schools around here, the BOCES program that you guys run and in the number of students that from other districts that are coming in is pretty impressive. So those resources are awesome and I work with a lot of students, even though they're college students,
026a lot of them are adult learners. So we have to provide a lot of resources and we have to get pretty creative on how to teach them some of them the technology they need to be successful in the classroom because it's not second nature to everybody. Um so these are all things that I've done in my current role that I think would I could contribute to the board. Does anyone have any questions? Awesome. Well, thanks. >> Thank you. >> [applause] >> Okay. We'll call that good. All right. Hi everybody. Um so I apologize for my voice. We're teaching my 3-year-old daughter how to share and apparently she thought colds were part of that. Uh so Um but I am a uh lifelong resident of Midlakes uh of the Midlakes district, I should say. And I
027have Um I currently work as the student admission specialist at Finger Lakes Health College of Nursing and Health Sciences in Geneva. Um I've been in the higher education um admissions world for uh right about 7 years now. Um so I'm very understanding of what it takes um what the expectations are for a high school student um to continue on to higher education from there. Um but that's kind of the intro of my work. Uh I did write myself some notes, so bear with me here. Um so Uh I'm like I said, I'm a lifelong resident of this community. Um I'm also a father uh with a daughter who, like I said, she's 3. Um so she's getting ready to enter the district in UPK. We were very excited when we found out that there was
028no lottery system this year, so she was able to get in for sure. Um so for me, this isn't just a school district. It's been my entire life, and it's also the next 13 years of my daughter's life. And if we have if we're, you know, blessed with more kids, then their lives as well. Um so I'm running because the direction of our school district matters, not just for my family, but for every family who is trying to build a life here. Uh the decisions made by the board don't just impact a single year. They shape the experiences students have each day, the support that our teachers feel in their work, and the confidence that family have families have in choosing to be here. Uh Phelps and Clifton Springs are growing in more ways than
029one, as I'm sure we're all aware. They're becoming destinations for young families, and I want to be part of uh you know, making sure that our schools reflect that same um that that same growth. Uh strong schools don't just serve a community, they help define it. So, that's why I'm approaching this role with a focus on asking good questions, listening carefully, and making decisions that hold up over time, not just in the moment. So, this means being willing to ask hard questions when something doesn't add up, but also taking the time to truly listen and understand before jumping to conclusions. So, if I'm elected, I will stay focused on three things. Responsible use of taxpayer dollars, as we're talking about tonight. Strong support for students and educators, and clear, honest communication with the community. These
030are not abstract issues, and actually throughout my campaign, I have had conversations with parents, taxpayers, teachers, former teachers, and students who care deeply about where we are headed. They want to be heard. They want transparency, and they want to feel confident in the decisions being made. So, I will bring those voices to the table. This community deserves leadership that is thoughtful, steady, and willing to engage. I care about where we're going, and I am ready to help be part of steering us there. So, I appreciate your support. Thank you. >> [applause] >> I only have seven pages, so hang tight. I am proud to say that Phelps Clifton Springs is not just where I reside. It is where I grew up, where I learned my values, and where my family family continues to put down
031roots. I am an alumni of the district and have a current sophomore attending. I am running for re-election because the district has shaped my life, and I want to continue to shape its future. I have experienced this district from many multiple perspectives, as most of you have. As a student, as a parent, as a board member, and a deeply invested community member. That gives me not only pride in what our district does well, but also a strong sense of responsibility to ensure our district continues to grow, adapt, and serve our students. Our district is the heart of our community. It's where lifelong friendships are made, where students learn not just academics, but integrity, responsibility, and accountability. Every decision made by the Board of Education shapes the lives of our students, and that is why I
032take the responsibility very seriously. In my professional career, I oversee fiscal budgets across my territory, managing resources responsibly, making data-driven decisions, and balancing needs with long-term sustainability. That experience is directly relevant to to serving on the board as we oversee the budget. Taxpayers deserve thoughtful stewards stewardship of district funds. And as our district records reflect, we have sound fiscal decision-making and responsibility. Beyond my career, community service is core of who I am. I volunteer with many youth organizations throughout our community because I believe that investing in the youth strengthens us all. Most notably, I serve as committee chair of the Clifton Springs Scout Troop, a program that emphasizes leadership, service, responsibility, and character. Our troop has the highest percentage of scouts earning Eagle rank in the county. That, I believe, is a testament to our
033leadership and to what youth can achieve when they are supported, challenged, and believed in. If reelected, my continued focus will always be on students first. That means advocating for excellence. It also means supporting our incredible staff, who continue to work tirelessly for our students. They deserve our respect for their professional expertise and their commitment to our students' success. I am running for re-election, not for recognition, but for the gratitude to what this district has given me and a commitment to what it can continue to provide for future generations. I want this district to remain one that we are all proud of. I would be honored to be re-elected to the Phelps Clifton Springs Board of Education. Thank you for your consideration. >> [applause] >> Okay, I adjourn the public hearing. >> Public hearing. >> I'll
034go right into it to the other >> [clears throat]