001everyone welcome to the budget committee Workshop um it's February 25th and it's five so sorry that we're starting a little bit late we um we do not have a quorum so this does not um count as a board meeting this is the true budget committee um work that we're be that we're doing so we want to start out with public comments is anyone have public comments okay so um no public comment uh yeah right you know um so um Tabitha can you go over um I know you were um looking into the senior citizen data and the firefighters exemption data can you um fill us in on what you found out so um the assessor's office wasn't great at going back I did some research um just to find out the basics of what we
002what exists right now so I'll go with the senior citizen uh exemption first so um according to the website the uh real property of oler County there's a scale for just about every school district in the area when it comes to the senior citizen exemption just similar to ours we are only um we are not the lowest uh soings is 21,500 to uh qualify for 50% exemption and then the scale goes down now ours is 24,000 to receive this so you make $24,000 you qualify to receive a 50% exemption from your taxes and then is a scale um as you make more you get a little bit lesser of a percentage right now we are uh as our sits um Ellenville is the highest um Helen Ellenville provide if you make $50,000 you get a
00350% exemption at Ellenville um Auntie Ora is also similar close to that where you receive if your income is under 50,000 you can get a 50% um exemption y so that being said uh real data from our tax collection from this year so based on the um School tax software that we reutilized it tells us um who had an exemption on their tax b y um the total senior citizen exemptions were given the total amount what was given was 5,369 877 so that's what people did not pay and was put into the levy for everybody else to pay as a percentage that is 12% of the total tax levy 12% that 12% as our with our scale the way it is right now so so if it were to go up we should assume it
004would in yeah I wanted to after the assessor's office and maybe they'll get back me in couple the next couple of days um of a breakdown of what percentage people receive like how many people got 50% how many people got 20% what who hit what scale that it doesn't tell me on here um but you have a range between someone receiving $108,000 in an exemption $113,000 in an exemption or 7,000 so it varies youve got $10,000 um but there are quite a few um the total just for bar town was 2.6 million in exemptions for RO town of Rochester was 4.8 so the total alog together was 5 so and you're thinking that it's like we would have to have the vote in by March 1st yes so in order to for the exemption to
005be applicable in the 25 26 tax year yeah we have to have the exemption change approved by March 1st so you would either have to do a special session sometime this week or you can get a forum um and just do that as your only action item um there's you if you did that I would say I would package in if you're thinking about the firefighter exemption so the the issue with the firefighter exemption is that there was a little bit of a law change in the writing that we have that we didn't capture in the exemption that was approved by the board in that um currently The Way It Was Written the only only way you qualify for the first responder exemption is if you are a firefighter in the same town in which
006you are you reside um when the gentleman came I think his name is Pete um he realized that that that it U disqual disqualifies or excludes a good amount of the firefighters because most of the firefighters so for example if you live in the town of award and you're a firefighter Rochester you wouldn't qualify um for the exemption right because well Waring is a weird that's that covers a lot of the ks in the area not a lot but I mean it comes into so there's a little bit of a change in the language that you would just have to approve the resolution I have already received that change to language from gerso gerso legal council for these matters so we have that change is there any way we can hold a vote via email
007or via Zoom no we have to show up we need to have a forum here yeah in the room and if the the other board members who can't make it they can zoom in but we at least need to have five that that would be unfortunate that we missed that deadline few days I didn't want to Sprint that on yet have today just wanted to have the information first so um I figured you could decide and then if you wanted to have a we have a couple days yeah we have a couple days that we can figure this out yeah um would what would the what would the amount be that we would uh how much we gave the uh seniors so right now it's up to 24,000 you have any figures for if we
008were to give them uh up to I don't know 27,000 28,000 how would that affect our if you're looking at neighboring District right so um it looks like Highland is at 29,000 like I said sere is at 21,000 right um uh let's see who else would be close similar to un at 50 Anor is higher you said Anora is at 35 according to this new around our our area new B is at 29 as well so it would be realistic to go up to 29 y That's just to match with cost of and then I just I guess want to know like how does that affect our tax well it five million is is back into the levy um everyone that five million make I was just gon to say it doesn't change it just
009spread money but other people have to pick off and pay more me the 12% would probably grow to I would I guess 133% of the levy would be exempt and put back to other taxpayers redistributed did we look at so I remember when when we did this last time we actually looked at the medium level of our community have sens data have we looked at that at all I didn't grab any senses data but I that might help of us the G what that right level is yeah I just yeah I just think that I no that's fine I just think that we we need more data to in order to come up with a number come up because provided we also have to let the taxpayers know like the impact you know and what's
010being impacted now I mean right now if it stays status quo the your taxes are um you know you're only going to see the 2% or the 1 7% that we're going up but if we incre if we make this change then um the taxpayers who are making up the difference may see uh we we will see an increase for sure yeah I mean on top of the regular correct I don't know I would I think we need to know the significance of that increase just so that we can have all the data before we Deion and I would just say like we they're at 19,000 for a long time they're saying and then 2023 is when they bumped it up to 24,000 or whoever yes we we recent and then last year there was
011no bump yeah 2022 so like do we begin to think about a percentage every year so we don't take a big head uh you know that's a good point oh and also County it's 55 if we're trying to like catch up to some of the other districts we just be in the middle as we always say we just be in the middle everybody you know how long might it take for us to get this right well a you uh a lot of the tax bases from the the water um so different it's all calculated different right and when we move to 2 or it was to match up to surrounding I think it was even with news but newal has since moved to 29 so like we moved up to them and then they moved
012up so I mean it's yeah because we were in line with everybody yeah that's the reason we did it when we looked at the data are you looking at household income or senior citizen because and the household is um 80 but uh 51,000 per senior that's a per capita yeah so based on that data then I think the 50k marks seem very high right we probably it probably makes more sense to be at that 30 or so range and then because you said it scale it scales down from there yep and right now as it currently stands it looks like we go down by like 4,000 and so we get to 50 no uh up to 32 okay so if we move to 30 you're going to go up to you're probably going to get
013up to 56,000 okay I can create that scale if you'd like send that to everybody you see that would be great and I'll just mirror what we have currently in ranges just by okay and if you could let us know about how much um like what that percentage would be if we went up instead of the 12% if the assessors would tell me what the break problem is we don't get a breakdown of what the income is of the person to qualify for the exemption we just get that they qualified just like if a veteran qualifies it's just a veteran exemption so I I have to see if they have have that right or if they could tell us how many people would match the yeah okay do you all want Deb I to see
014if we can get the board together to vote on this now to meet the March 1st deadline or I mean I I would like to for the firefighters and and the seniors um we just need to make sure we have all the information um the firefighters I feel like we have the information but the seniors I feel like we need we need each a little bit more I mean I'm ballparking numbers doing math in my head like I'm not crunching like serious numbers right now physical but obviously it needs to be this week right Wednesday Thursday Friday so if you want we can see people are available give some time to yeah Thursday or Friday get it done I'll get you the information I won't be able to get to you by tonight probably by
015the time we leave there I'll be like 11 o' before I get home but I could probably get it to tomorrow di it's fine that's fine that's totally fine Friday Friday is rehearsal for all count so this would be approximately 10 minutes and it would be a public meeting so whatever time everyone can make day Thursday or Friday so I'm G on a Friday Friday issues only I'm thinking Christine yeah so let's go for six o'clock I don't think we I don't want you to be upset just say I don't I don't want to be rude but we're not trying to be rude not trying it's all right we need her you be here we need the assistant superintendent no not on you Paul we love you but that's tough that's I think she gets
016out that's why I said six because I think she gets out at five and coming from rhy back I've been in six sometimes is tough for her so we can ask for us the earlier she can be here on the Thursday and then yeah go from there I'm sure six but everyone has to be Pres in the in the five five people so I can make it I can make it hold on let me check my busy busy calendar that's four Chris can make it th so four of us we just need one we need one more you can do they can zoom and they can zoom in correct no they cannot they have to be physically here they can watch but they all right so I have four right now so one more I'll
017do that thank you yeah all free those then I know right um okay so we're gonna move on we're going to see if we can have just to wrap it up uh Tabitha tomorrow by end of day is going to get us some documentation for the senior citizens um and then she already has the amended uh language for the firefighters and so we will take a look at if we can vote for that on Thursday so that it's effective for the next budget um go around we have four so far we just need a fifth person to have a a form okay and Debbie just let them know it's going to be like 10 five 10 minutes it's come in we'll vote on the two things and we're asked uh just to be to be
018clear I'm going to provide you with the scale change and the potential percentage change to the um number of people qualifying yep with a $330,000 30 take or do you want to see a few different op I I would I would want to see a couple different op okay well you want 30 what El 47 at 30 right let's go 330 yeah I don't want make it crazy 27 27 or 30 okay that's fair now um next up is the updated budget calendar and development for approval so I did have a question about this um because well let me see what you what you have Tabitha because I know we have to vote on it 30 days prior but I thought that the May vote was the 14th this year is it the it's subject
019and the calendar itself is just what we're telling the community we're going to follow to get to the vote yeah so um that just need it's subject to change throughout because anything you could have a snowstorm or whatever so you're just reaffirming the new date with this budget workshop being tonight and the vote being the 11th for um the adoption of the budget if if that's what you choose so because that's what I well that's what I wanted to know because the the next the following week the 14th through the 18th is the school closed right so there's a holiday week so we would have to approve we would have to have meet the candidate night and the budget approval the week prior to but I think that week that we're closed is the 30-day
020Mark we can have it earlier we just can't have it later talking about in May or in March April and April so if when when's the budget vote in in May the budget vote is actually the 20th the 20th so may so if we were to we have to approve the budget 30 days prior correct uh 28 days prior to the bud so we um right now it's the 22nd is the date you're going to adopt the budget the property tax report card April 22nd April 22nd it's it's the last possible day the last possible I put that in there red because we're going to do a budget presentation and you could be your final budget overview you could based on what we talk about today decide to adopt it on the 11th and then
021your way ahead we had originally before I started here talk about having it not be so close to the vote day yeah so um that would be your potential that's your next board meeting is the 11 everything else is just what do do legal notice and stuff like that okay I mean it's I I leave it up to the board the only thing I changed on this budget development worksheet was um was just this thing that would change the workshop weight so how anything else stay the same the property tax C projection has to be approved I have to submit it to the uh Office of the State CR controller on March 1st I already have it queued up I just have to I double check myself before I submit it um so that's due
022today the legal notice that'ss already got queued up to send out and that's just to tell people we're going to be having both petition she already started working on those um the adoption of the property tax of per has to happen 28 days prior so if you wanted to add a day to approve the budget so it's before the 20 the 22nd but right now we're on scheduled to make the 22nd that's the very how do you all feel about that we good I think mostly works on that right I mean after tonight I'll know if I'll have it ready by the 11th or I have a lot more work to do for sure okay okay this would have to approved by all work you this is just you tell me if that looks good
023the change [Music] project oh what's up there is not it that's my that's the what the next part is thank you so I'm fine with this my only um Carolyn Jim Chris are you guys how you guys feel about this it's from my perspective Don is consistent with what I've seen yeah you know prior budget um preparations I think the only thing that's standing out to me is the budget newsletter um obviously there's a lot of work that goes into that the and in the past we have had the budget committee either involved in you know making quotes in some cases and or reviewing certain cases so I'm not sure where that's going to fit in but I would recommend that you all somehow have some visibility into that theed newsletter I would assume that
024it would be probably whatever U budget audit committee follows the budget approving or adopting the budget because you can't do a newsletter until you know what your tax cap what you're going to go out to for Levy right and what the ultimate budget's going to be so that's all in the newsletter right so you can have a lot of it prepped but then I already do have it prepped oh good it's ready to go just have to change numbers where you so I'm okay with this as well my only concern is April 22nd is the last possible day and it's the day we're having a meeting so um I know that we'll get we'll review everything on the 11th and all of that but if we don't have a quorum because people are out people
025are sick it's I I'm just concerned so um I mean do we want to do we want to add a meeting on April 8 that's two weeks prior to and in April have two meetings I I mean I don't I don't know does it does it have to be we did last year we actually put a meeting on the calendar the week before that date yeah we before spring break spring break that's why have would have to be the okay but you put two meetings in the calendar you don't use a second one if you don't right so April 22nd is that the budget meeting that is at the board meeting the board so um if we were to do it the eth it would be meet the candidates night and budget approval or the
02622nd is that it can't be it can't be meet the candidates because the candidates have until the 21st to so when do we normally do that yeah the week before the budget oh got it oh May got it it's in May yeah and you'll still have to have that April that's the that's when they released there you have to approve the B budget also I thought was on a Wednesday usually I just C I captured it there I can double check but that's also something the board has to take AC so potentially it could be the E I could check with the um don't Lally I would say put a date of April 8th and a half right I feel like we we need it for just in case yeah I'm just worried that if
027we don't have a quum and for something like the budget you want more than just you know you'd want that conversation well we should be having the conversation March 11th we should really know how everyone feels about it on March 11th right so you know to do it the eth even if that's the only thing we have the meeting the board presentation just the board presentation and and vot and adopting it yeah just on the eth right and then we would still have to have the 22nd but the 22nd could be our standard full meeting that you know where where we have our presentations at the beginning the the gander Spotlight and stuff like that on we can just it's just like the vote for the budget we just keep it tight to that and
028if obviously if there's anything else we need to vote on that's a little bit more critical we can but right and if on the 11th there were changes that need to be made from from that we can review them on the game Chris does that make sense no I know last year that became very so well the year before we were really tight well yeah last year too just with trying to make last minut changes T how do you feel about I'm I'm easy easy okay thank you say have again because I find it very much easier we're going to talk a lot about Revenue tonight because I think that's the Spotlight to have to talk about but uh we already talked about the budget calendar um we're going to talk about what we talked
029about on the 11th just to reiterate and then we're going to start talking about the individual pieces and stop me in this supposed to be a workshop so just stop me wherever you want but we also at the end back uh nothing has changed this is all the same as what we talked about last time the lottery no all right no no Lottery um we're still projecting an $80 million or 2.22% increase um on our expenditures and a loss um currently but remember the 2425 number includes those appropriation of funds um both through reserve and fund balance which is not included here because we talk about this is also what was presented um a little side note um in re-evaluating the property tax um calculation that I did before the presentation with more data and
030more information and including the uh tax-based growth factor we actually have an allowable Levy increase of 4.16 so we're going to talk about that in a minute but I maintained that 1.86 because this is still what we talked about on the 11 just to bring everybody back to our $4.9 million gap at the 1.86 we'll talk about different scenarios in a little bit that's great thank you that's good news yeah is really good news we can get more of a levy so um we're going to talk a little bit about that uh this is also what we talked about on the 11th um the eight resignations and the six retirements approximate savings on the retirement that's going to be about a half a million that is already considered in that $80 million projection um areas
031of opportunity that appropriated fund balance and reserves current year is 2.3 and then the tax levy ah Hadad at um 1.86 which was only $800,000 increase the 4.16 gives us 1 point so a little bit more that's a lot more there so we did hit the lot yeah a little bit okay to scratch off a little biton um it would could you go back to that I'm sorry so was out 800,000 at 1.86% okay at a 4.16 increase we're looking at 1.86 so a million dollar increase okay this is how our um our revenue is broken down by pie chart so 61% of our Revenue actually comes from the levy 37% comes from state aid and other it's going to be your Pilots or your payments and mo of taxes we only have a few
032it's only about $47,000 that's why it's not really skewing this um uh mostly solar agreements um tuition receivables those are the students that come here and pay tuition to come here um and again this is still based on the governor's budget we have not considered the legislative budget yet historically which is going to be the next slide were in line with so in 23 24 it was the same 58% 36% same thing these just include the appropriation of fund balance and reserves the difference between 755 and two the budget that was approved said they were only going to use 755 of appropriated fund balance but there was also Reserve money used the total culmination was higher we'll talk about that another slide this includes reserves because it was approved as appropriated fund balance makes sense
033still the same the loss it's our state aid do you do you see any movement with that potentially with the legislative budget or you like they've turned the focus on the conversation more on the grants and the Federal funding and the loss and all these things and the president and all this I haven't heard a lot of chatter about the a for schools not really but past practice usually want typically you get more it just depends it's a it's you're gonna I can almost guarantee we'll get a little bit more only because it's a it's an election year um she's going to give out a little bit more but we're also presenting as more wealthy than we had in the past so how much more I'm not going to say very much I mean the
034fact that we got an additional $300,000 in F Foundation Aid when we're fully funded I don't think that number is going to change much and that's really the only number she has control over is there a way that bottom corner thing can go away where it says the content of this meeting I don't know is Chris here see behind it can I slide so if there's something important behind it Paul can you just let us know um yeah the the numbers just says 37,000 with the total and it's red so we don't okay yeah the the building aid number I I'll just reiterate to remind you that this number is not what showed on the aid run so if you were to go and look at our Aid run this is not the number this
035is what we're projecting based on our final supports that we sub December being accepted which they were um they're just not presenting on the and they won't on the next a but they were accepted so that's what we'll get yeah okay yep that a clicker hey is there a way you can get that this is there a way that can disappear that has to stay up think it's there for notification to let everybody know that's being going to YouTube okay thanks question yeah I'll let you know what that says down here in a minut when we get there so this is our tax cap calculation uh for the 25 26 school year starting with our current year Levy increased by our allowable growth factor that's set by the state plus our um um expected uh
036receiving of Pilots minus the capital exclusion from last year gives you a total that gets to grow by the CPI brings us here minus the pilots for this year and plus the capital exclusions for this year gives us a total maximum tax levy of 46 m718 88 816 which is behind this box um is 1,866 558 of an increase from the prior year or 4.16 oh so that's that's that's where that is that's the new numbers the change okay the levy will be 46 million instead of 44 okay that equals 1.86 so this yeah this will be the new this is the allow Levy is different from what we this is the cap the most we could Levy and then we you determine how much actually 4.16 change 4.16% increase from the prior year instead
037of like the 1.8 the 1.8 which and the reason why I got 1.8 is this number up here was missing it was a one right so in my last calculation there was no 224 okay makes a difference it sure does does makes yeah that's why I double triple check things yeah no we appreciate that luckily we're still in the working P okay what is that four I always find this to be my favorite slide what does that 4.16 mean to the individual tax there so this these calculations are based on if your home was assessed fully at $300,000 I use a flat number so people can back into their own number easily 300 I thought was kind of a middle ground this is the current tax rates at the current Equalization rate if anything changes
038with assessments the equalization rate could change this is also not considering any exemptions people may qualify for so this is flat straight test so in the current year if you lived in marbletown you had a $300,000 home your taxes were $5,799 if we increase if we increase the taxes by 4.16 the new tax rate would be 20.32 now it's not an exact 4.16 increase remember there's Equalization rates and things like that but the tax increase would be to $640 or $242 for $20 $ a month and so on so if your house is worth $100,000 just take a third of that your house is worth 500,000 or if you get a discount you would to and yes and you could anybody who's watching or listening you could take your tax bill from this year plug
039in this tax rate take out your exemptions and you'll figure out what you're change ready to place but we're looking about a 250 to $200 change on the individual isn't a lot but it raises $1.8 million so questions well with a a gap of almost five million that's a big difference yeah the gaps a of a less way do you see okay um all right go ahead Paul you're not hurting my feelings all right so um this chart is just to show you a four-year perspective on what the tax C ones versus The Levy in 2223 and the only reason why I included 2223 in this slide and not in any other slide is because in 2223 the district went to the cap and the cap was 5.26 just bringing that up but in these
040other years we stayed below the cap and we left an amount of money on the table right that is no longer leviable and if I look at I just put this because we talked about the 1.86 this would be whatever I'm not S I am not suggesting the 1.8 I'm just using it as a point where we talked about before the next slide shows you how much you left on the TV that's that same slide I just got rid of the going to the C because it's zero but in 2324 you left about 400,000 on the table and 2425 you left about $300,000 on the table which put together $700,000 we could have had in the current Levy base so if you don't go to the levy I mean you could if you went with
041the 1.86 you're leaving a million dollars I wouldn't suggest 1.86 just us the the leaving money in the people it it hits a nerve so I'm sorry to that I don't mean to you know okay be abrupt here but we need to remember that's tax money right and one of the reasons that we as a board did not want to push to go to the max in those years is we didn't neily need that money right we had healthy reserves um we um every time we went to the max like that one year you pointed out I was not about care that Year by the way that money was then taken and it was essentially just shuffled all over the place and it P reped stuff that we didn't really need to be spending money
042on so I I have a big issue with that that focus of leaving money at the table knowing his cat pair of money but I also know that this year we have a need for that money right which is why I think going to the max this year makes much more sense but if we don't have a need for the money I don't agree with the premise let's go to the max every year right I think we need to protect our taxpayers and make sure that we keep that the affordable living within this this community so I I 100% agree with with with what you're saying um and and we were able to when we went to the 3% both times I believe we were able to still put money into Reserve right um and
043and it's important um I don't want the taxpayers to think that we're we're um putting money in reserves and like we have this like huge bank account because we don't like the reserves are really meant to be used in a bind we used a lot of them during covid because you know we were able to keep everything going that first year because we had some money in reserves and then you know the teachers were amazing and used all of their their old all their stuff you know that they had had and and they didn't get new stuff um so they everyone really work together for that but so I agree um I think this year though we may have to get much closer to the cap if not at the cap um and the reason
044why I say that is because of how much um our assessments increased and the difference that we'll see next year in eight so if we don't take some money now and put it in reserves we're we're going to be in a bind even I think and you guys are are better than I am but this is the year yeah because next year if we don't get the aid that we're looking at we're we won't have Revenue to help so my only um back to the leing Mone on the table I agree with you it's kind of a hard thing to say my point more drill back to our pie chart right 67 65% of our Revenue depends on this and so I am also the we need to have a really tight budget we need
045to be fiscally responsible be evaluating spending making sure that it makes sense right do we need to buy another uh chair I don't know do we do it make sense can we wait what's the schedule for that and those are things that Paul and I have been putting in place I'm I'm in full agreement with both of you that this is the year to probably consider the going to the cap and that's why I brought it up and I'm just reminding everybody that by not going to the C you do tie your hands in future years it's more of a smart in the moment but we also want to consider to Don's Point what's going to happen here at rondal a year two and three years from now because the assessments keep going up and
046your Equalization rates are at 50% most your towns once those Equalization rates change it's going to affect your taxpayers more and I I agree with that thought now then actually I think seeing what you've done with the budget to make it a little bit and only a 2% increase if we go with budgets like that then it makes sense to go to the max right but prior years we were going in in some cases six 7% increase in year-over-year there was clearly fat within those buets not anymore yeah this budget's very tight that makes me a little nervous can I it also goes to your point Chris and I know you've said it before um we've talked about really taking a look at you know eventually taking a look at that fiveyear Outlook and what
047having looking ahead um you know I mean seeing it like and I agree it's that fine line right it's our taxpayer money and I totally get it um in those so 700,000 between the two years roughly you know not going to the tax levy I I not going all the way up I get that it would have been looking at those numbers an extra dollar an extra $1 per taxpayer and I get it's taxpayer money but now when you look at it like that I mean this is the first time I've really seen it like this where I can see physically see the number it it does it makes it a little bit easier to also understand um and and be able to plan for that five year looking at this but I think you
048need to take into account the it's it's a dollar per thousand of assessed value right okay so it's not simply a dollar right I I think there's it could be too yeah right exct depending on the the the tax R area I think the issue with going to the max every year as well is had we been doing that over the last 10 years just imagine what tax rates would be in our community right when you're consistently going upward like this without finding a sense of plateau which aligns more with with CPI you know actual inflation um people would be taxed out of their homes people would be able to afford delivery well and but that's that like doubles down to your point Chris if we're as trim as we can be in the budget
049so we know we're not going to have a fund balance that we can utilize it makes sense to go to the to the cap because we're not increasing the budget and increasing and and the tax levy isn't as high it's not we're not increasing the we're not going to the levy to simply just have money just sitting there with a I know we have to budget for it somehow right but in a sense it's money that doesn't really have an allocation and then every year you saw we had un balances of you know three4 million right so I I to emphasize we my personal opinion we need to go to the max there's no question we need it but I just wanted to give you the perspective of the what we've debated many times the
050last several good to know the history um it's not a story just for Rond out um everybody's trying to be fiscally prudent and making sure you're not going after your taxpayers for every dollar and if there's a lot of fluff that's that's robbery right we shouldn't be yeah um I don't know the story of 5.26 I was just using it as an example of a time where we did the max it wasn't that long ago so this is a breakdown of scenarios for the different percentages on the tax levy if we increased it by 3% the tax levy would be 46 million we would have a 4.47 five Gap and this is just me playing with numbers this is a suggestion not a necessary what I would necessarily say to you um these are big
051numbers still and at least at this level with the 4.16 we're looking at more closer to four instead of four and a half or four and a quarter which takes a little bit of pressure off that fun balance because this is projecting this this is only a little bit more than what we put this year it's about a million million three more than we did this year i' say that again so how much how much would be left because we can only go 4% for our fund balance right that's outside after this so your fund balance isn't this is taken out of your fund balance calculation you're appropriating your 4% is your unappropriated so the appropriated part so it's 3,952 plus 2,900 this here is just your short form that's just your Gap the red
052is your Gap got it this is me filling the Gap got it as an example reserved so I'm take I'm suggesting a million this year you took 1.4 out of Reserve okay okay so I'm suggesting less out of reserves and a little bit more out of fund balance this year the total of the two is 2.3 2.36 this year it'll be 3.9 which is truly just a little bit more than what you took out this year this is an anomaly you won't have this much money at the end of this 25 26 we will not be able to continue this going forward we have to continue to make smart choices in our budgeting thank the reserves which specific reserves we P it's going to be on another slide yep I have a whole breakdown of
053our our reserves as they are what we're doing this year so um I also brought together a little bit about of our expense about our expenses I thought about doing line by line but that could be really drag we have a lot of lot of lines so instead I took it to approach of our three-part budget which we have to do in our public hearing this is a preempt to that talking about the different segments of what are budget is made of what goes on our budget newsletter program is going to be all your instructional and the important part and the reason why I wanted to bring this up the district is doing the right thing in their finances 75% of the budget is going to students capital is only 15% and your administrative budget
054is only 10% what is the administrative include we're gonna talk about the breakdown so we've stayed in line over the years in the program you see it's properly and in instruction going up each year 2% this 2% is just for this but I was just using this to show you we're in line natural progression up those are salaries and this describes what exactly makes up this Transportation clearly we had a big bump here but remember we only had that 2% because we're in the fiveyear budget the fiveyear cycle this um number is going to stay the same this is your transfer to food service and the federal fund helps to support those programs and benefits are going to be a percentage of the total more salaries higher percentage but overall from 2425 to 2526 you
055get that 3% increase the next one's going to be Capital behind here um is going to be negative one is the net this is going to be all your buildings and grounds and Facilities um anything that has to do with our debt this transfer is the cash am out of Our obligation to the Bose project so it's actually going to be on our Bose bill but it's paid out of the capital fund so we have to transfer there seems like that's a pretty good percentage jump for operation it's all contractual and this is because we're in negotiation okay so in my projection in the projections we put in there I put the worst dat in are I'm hoping for less and that would be where I could Trend next year but I don't know what
056it's going to land on we haven't even start talk and point Ben that's for uh the same people yep and it's just a percentage of the total bucket of of make sense that it went out the same with operations the the interest payments is just decreasing simply because we thatb phed out Deb okay we had that loss in debt which is also why you're seeing that loss in debt a the building and project a which will even back out once we start that $24 million project and finish the 64 then our administrative so this is principles are in the middle Central Services is everybody else that has to support curriculum and development and then the benefits overall 4% increase and a lot of this is because you had um you had a administrator that we
057didn't replace that was a part of those resignations on the previous slide that's for under Central Services or Central Services is going to be mostly administrators like Paul salaries in there my salaries in there okay than but the introduction supervision is um ad yeah okay data then the curriculum of development is going to be uh Lisa and um Natalie okay just salaries then that no support support St too this is not just him and I no I gu I'm more by the curriculum this yeah these all these here are salaries yep Personnel School Board insurance insurance is in here too um mostly in this these two here so to Chris's question the curriculum and all of that would be in the 75% um of instruction for the actual programming and curriculum yes this is just
058ad administrators okay and the reason why you do this three-part budget is that's where you start to look out if you have to go to a um contingency budget you Cann not cut more from you have to equally cut from all groups but the percentage in capital or in administrative has to be greater than that in the program basically nobody gets a raise um so this is just me breaking it up by chart because I'm a visual person and I like data and numbers just kind of talking about what it look like other than a pie chart what percentage each year because I only showed 25 26 as a percentage but as you could see we always stay the same about percentage each area I like us being at 75% I think it's fantastic I
059was glad to see that yeah I expected it but um it's really good we're focusing on what's important that's the students and that's always been the the ultimate goal of a board is to um make sure that we programming for the kids students you're doing the work and it's coming out yeah and we're keeping it going good so here we're going to talk a little bit about your reserve balances so this was at the end of 2324 prior to what you appropriated for 2425 and this is what your balances will be at the end of June 30 at 25 so not huge small percentage of your total [Music] budget and the 375 375 and 250 that's what you're projecting this is what I'm suggesting yep um these two here have limits um TRS can only
060be 2% of your prior year salaries and with the decrease in the employees that and teachers that we're already seeing from retirements we're going to want to take a little bit out of there make sure we don't have this be too full I mean this is definitely less than 2% but this is less than 2% but I'm Al this is not even projecting any replenishment I would suggest replenishing if we have it but right now I don't have a plan for us to have replenishments based on how much I'm saying fund balance we're going to so if we take out 375 from erf that brings us down to like 2 Mill 500 or and then but if we take it at a TRS that brings us to 125,000 TRS is a fairly new reserve and
061we do budget for that um really the purpose behind having these reserves is to offset your expense and this is what that's going to do this is not even going to touch the tot going to help rate a little bit of it don't saying so when you take 375 from TRS is 503 left in TRS no this is what it would be before the 375 got so the New Balance would be 503 minus 375 so to her point it be $200,000 we don't this is just a suggestion this e Balor what this stands for I left it here because it's really long employee benefit acur liability Reserve this is meant for the retire incentives we could do more here so just for the because we're live streaming this right could you let everyone know what
062ERS and TRS is sure um so ERS is going to be your Employee Retirement reserve and your TRS is going be your teacher retirement Reserve um they only allow any use of that funds to be clear on any reserve only use of those funds could be used for is the items in which they're listed under we can't take money we couldn't like withdraw all of ERS and put it towards budget you have to put it towards the expense It's associated with e Balor we want to consider not taking too much because it helps support those incentives we pay upon retirement so um for example if a teacher lets us know a year before they're eligible they get $22,000 for the contract I just know that one top my head so the and this is including
063the 4 million we've already talked about for the 24 so this takes out the $4 million that was taken out for right the capital project so my concern is with TRS I I don't really understand how much money we need but in the 23 24 we went from 900,000 to in 25 26 we're going to have about 200,000 and is is that sustainable so if that's part of the retirement system no this is just a reserve so this is just a saving money to offset in the future so okay if the district were to ever this is just your savings account the district were ever to see hit a point in which um your money's really tight and the tax levy can go up for any number of reasons you pull from your reserves to
064pay you're using these reserves to cover the cost that you can't afford so that you don't have to l people offer cut thank you for thatting so this is just a savings account it's only meant to be able to be applied to expenses associated with them but they you don't have to even use ever you can keep filling them up but you can't use them for the budget you're saying but they can stay within this they can be used to offset the expense within the budget so we pay TRS pensions it increases every year this year the pension increased uh a percentage of salaries was um I think 4% and it fluctuates with the market so you'll take that money with 375 or whatever we're choosing and you would put it towards that expense that
065we're saving so that way um okay we spend less in the budget got it okay leaves room for um other expense it's offsetting the revenue we've lost got it okay and just to repeat something said you said that 4 million capital is still in these numbers you've already adjusted no it's still in there the 4 million so that next year is going to be showing up as 2 million correct 7 million yep okay that's something I am concerned about by the way we did work really hard to get that Capital uh Reserve built up so that we weren't hitting taxpayers heavy with capital projects so and that's what you should do with extra fund balance absolutely because you want to keep going with capital it's a smart move I'm going to counter something I said
066before right but with having a tight budget's good in this case it's not right so I I know though you're you're feeding some of this stuff up but I would recommend that we get ourselves back onto that track of being able to replenish the capital project absolutely if we can't do it this year maybe it's two years from now where we can make sure we're building that back in and that's by um budgeting for an expense but pushing to not spend the money like just because it's there doesn't mean it needs to be spent it's there in case you need to spend so like from materials and supplies my suggestion is always do you really need it I know it's there but do you have to spend but I also know this is the one
067that we that the voters had to vote on with the 20 million to use money out of here this can only be used for Capital expenses and has to be approved by the board or by the community by the community you can't touch this otherwise you can increase it because I think that's the one that we had had put in there for because we know that the um the fields and the track has to be redone roughly every 10 years and it's not cheap so I know that that's one of the reasons that we put it in there so that to not have to put it as part of that it's part of that reserve for because it's roughly every 10 years I said we have to resurface and we have to redo the field
068this reduces that local share as I'm sure you've heard Mr Tims talk about and we talked about dur that local share the the taxpayers portion of the capital expense is reduced by utilizing money you saved in here and I would propose this capital reserve has a limit right so if you set it if the board approved to create it in the community approved to create it there was a limit to how much you can deposit at one time or at in in the entirety of that Reserve so if you deposited 20 million already you can't put any more more any more money in there you'd have to create a new Reserve with a new a new capital reserve so you could have three capital reserves going out time depending on oh I see so we've
069already met the 20 million in that Reserve you can't put any more in okay thank you for the so this is an extra six million this is what's remaining in that capital reserve that was created above the 20 million or just the remaining it's like a a deducting balance okay I don't think we ever reached million so then you can only ever put 10 more in so it the limit is once you start pulling out you can't so say this was a 20 $2 million Reserve you put 20 million in and you use 10 you can't then put 10 in you've already met your max even though there's only 10 million in there okay you have to create a new Reserve to start putting in more money okay we definitely want to look at that
070because I know I think if I remember correctly in the bond you get state aid but if we just pay for a new field we don't get the state aid field by itself does not qualify has to be packaged with an inside project building Pro right yes we attached to the buildings the project not clear on that yeah quick question just about so we can save money uh also for the rest of this year by cutting off having a cut off dat I don't know what we've done in the past we've already cut off spending okay it's already done it's already been done Frozen Okay much to the principles to say yeah I get that I understand that yeah because I mean's be honest I mean it's not just the school districts but everybody then
071spends that fluff that they have you know I mean that's what we because we see that uh you could have some issues down the road you can't spend that fluff we got to take it course trim it off would you do a 2.2% increase you way are you both setting some goals for like how much we should try to gain to put into the capital reserve each year and if not should should we have a goal that's definitely a conversation I do want to have with the audit and budget committee I want to put together a reserve packet that talks about the purpose of each Reserve what the board approves is usable reason for it and the maximum amount of you would ever want each one of these should have a maximum but these ones
072are allowed to these two you Max as a as a school district so the board determines how much the maximum amount allowable it's usually like a percentage of your expense um same for your e Balor the the board determines by um approval of the reserve plan how much um I don't know that there's one existing currently I haven't found one there could be one that I would just grow off of um but you set these two are regulated by the state just like this one so this can only be a set percentage of salary but the school the board determines this employee benefit ACR liability so say we know in a year or two we're going to have an a a big retirement flux you want to have money in here to help support that
073so you don't have to go to the taxpayers say oh well we've got like $500,000 and incentives we have to pay out so you guys are going to have to pay more money in taxes this offsets that I'm okay with where the money's coming out for the reserves I don't know how you just a suggestion and this is all projecting that we go to the tax levy uh cap this is just me um bringing back to Center what has been done in the past through the um enacted budgets and what's being projected so that um Everybody fully understands what we're talking about because fund balance and reserves kind of seems like the same thing but it isn't so in 2223 the district appropriated fund balance of 1.3 million then in which was that year they
074went to that 5.6 right so 23 24 they only appropriated 755 and then they also used some Reserve money but the total was 1. 1.3 then last year got a little higher this usually you don't see usually you see a higher number here and a lower number here not sure the thought process there but um still a higher all all in number and then what we're suggesting for this year which is obviously Higher by a good amount this is an anomaly that will not likely happen again last year we had the state aid reductions as well which is why there was up pick in using reserves yeah then those offset your expenses for this year which helps you build more money to put in next year we have to like stop this trend of using
075reserves millions and millions of dollars and this fund balance we need to make it so that the budget balances more so your Revenue needs to balance more with your expenses right now we're a little bit out of whack well much more so this year than previous years but we've had some obstacles as we become less and less relling on state aid as we grow that percentage of tax levy the volatility in your Revenue will become less it'll be primarily just whatever your tax levy comes out to be is is what you're gonna be able to down AIDS are coming down too bosis Aid is going down Transportation AIDS going down right that's that's I mean it it was inevitable but you know ouch and it will the other ones will catch up they're all looking
076two years three years back so they'll catch up and everything else will adjust as well will we will we still be considered a rich District uh for the state or Bas on our assess yeah and how long and then how do we how does that how do we change that when everybody else goes Byer then we won't be so you gota wait for the rest of the state to catch up yeah and it can potentially never catch up right exactly it's a really nice place to live it is it just worries me though I think there is a big disparity you know within our community right we have a lot of these multi-million dollar houses that were put up that are artificially inflating everything and then we have people who have lived in this community
077for 50 years and those are the people I'm worried about with our taxes right yeah absolutely absolutely but we are I mean $5 million of your current year Levy was exempt and so that's that's not no small amount I mean that's 12% of your 12 told what ly so we're helping them as much as we can but we also have to be careful on everybody else too yeah and the next one is just I think it's a fair budget I think you you did a good job thank you sorry I didn't mean to no you do it like I was saying it there are times when we're going to have to go to the ma and this is think one of those those years and we're not used to that like how how do we
078sell that like what what do you recommend for us to do you know because you not used to go into the that messaging so agree but I I think that being transparent and having like this um is very healthy I think um maybe putting that newsletter like here's the link or something so people can go back and see the work that went in and and the or if you can get these numbers into the newsletter so that it's understandable um our community has always been willing to support the staff and students of Ronda as long as we're doing right by that um I felt you know and and we have those folks that you know um listen they they they just can't afford it or they don't want to see it go up and and
079I get it every time you know I write a check for anything I'm like wow so I get that I think um the tighter the budget the the better off will be because then we're being very realistic with what what we have um and what we have to offer so I I think that um we need to we need to explain it in the budget newsletter and um we need to talk about it maybe in this kind of detail at the next board meeting so that the people that watch the I don't know if anyone's watching this but the people that watch the board meetings um Can can see it you maybe you have like a a short verion but just to explain some of the pieces but I agree I think we have to
080go to the cap this year um I'm okay with where we're pulling the money from to to cover the Gap um because we we seriously have like this year's is tough but the next next two to three years are going to be they're going to be that so um and there's so many unknown negotiations in there you know mean right just from the federal government alone there there so many unowns and who knows who wins the the state Governor role like there's so many unknown so um I think to to set the staff and students and the school districts up right is what we have to do my opinion um I I uh Carolyn do you support this budget and bringing it to the board I do I I definitely do um I mean I
081it's one of the best explained budgets we've honestly had in a really long time and that's not to the fault of anyone other than we've just had a lot of new people you know um and haven't is new to us but not her first Roo with putting a budget together so um I really appreciate that Clarity you know really and I think it's I mean I don't know if it's almost worth having a conversation Paul and Tabitha with just because I feel like it is you kind of said at our last board meeting um Tabitha about how it's based off of our our new like our assessed homes right yeah you know and it's important that people that I I think that needs to that it's not us right that has to be that that
082needs to be and but at the same time is it worth having a conversation not that but needs to get our houses lowered but like making sure that the town assessors understand how this affects everything because you have to understand the I I would think and correct me if I'm wrong but the town assessors if they increase the assessment they get more revenue from the taxes from their taxes so you know it's a balancing act it is it is a balancing act but I think that I think I think we said it at the last Tabitha in we Tabitha definitely made it very clear at the last board meeting and I think it's worth being repeating about how it's a lot it's based off of and it's but they also have to be willing to
083work with the school district I mean you know I mean we're working together we should be working together you know with the assessories and the land tax versus the school tax uh because they're going to be affected ultimately also individually or collectively well and and so agreed but but there's laws in place that I know you can't serve on the town board because um that impacts the community with a a tax a tax and the school board because that right or superintendent or something I'm not saying anything about so I'm just saying Working Collective you know together like have we ever done that have we ever had these cessors come in sat down a round table have deep discussion about it might be something that we try to do as a round table at some
084point and I are attending a like an economic development kind of Round Table um next month where we're gonna at least start getting our faces recognized by the the heavy HS of people making these decisions try to build that relationship to help at least be a part of the conversation or is that County or is that the town is that the district level is that is at the county is that the county level superintendent of the towns okay all kind of just like a lunch and conversation I mean that's good so that's that's a start that's that's a starting point so as a committee do we feel that there's anything that Tabitha needs to work on to change to make adjustments are we prepared for her to move forward with this and present it to
085the board um I don't I think it's I see it I don't see it I don't have anything additional that I can think of all I mean it sounds like you all have done a thorough job going through the expense line items right seeing areas that we trimmed and um because I agree with you have the your point about we can't let this trendue right and I'm not in education field but I am in the business field right when your Revenue stream slows down you need to start looking at your expenses right and make sure that your Revenue expenses obviously are we may have some hard decisions honestly in the next several months you know years and I do think we need to be taking a realistic look at what that means um counter some
086of the revenue gaps all agreement with that question absolutely because it's just not sustainable to have a $5 million gap year over year over year and we were talking about the reserves we have to keep the capital project reserved absolutely healthy too right so I I would encourage you all you to look at way7 and have a more efficient delivery model without impacting program has been a you know Commission of of of the board um so obviously you know not not necess going out there and saying hey we're going to reduce 15 PS that I think that would be a bad decision they're the ones who impact things the delivery the program but are there other things that in that budget that maybe don't have a direct link to student uh engagement performance right and
087like we said like I mean like that having x amount of teachers retire like you all did already taking a look at how many of those retiring do we need to find somebody for and some can yeah just because our student population is also going down we are everybody say you know that's not a it's not a r out thing that's Nationwide babies as much and that's just a that's just a che so I bring I also popular right now but I also would like us to look at at some different Revenue sources like like we um we offer AO some kind of Automotive class high school but we also send students to boes for automotive blah blah blah so how do we bring that in housee and get that revenue from other students um
088like we I think we need to start thinking about things like that um because if we've got the players already in place I think like we can make some some very well thought out decisions that reduce our expense to bosi and increases our Revenue yeah and and I'm just throwing that out there I'm sure that's not the right one so I don't want anyone to think anything like you know right if we offered carpentry at one time it it did not it was not successful um I don't think think I don't think enough kids did it but I mean we need to think about Revenue sources as well I know um we have a couple of special classes where we get Revenue source so is that are we able to expand on that as well
089some of that um taken students with special needs um the district that's sending also gets dated on that because it's cost right so potentially we could look at what what are we charging could be charged more would it be would it be beneficial I don't know those are definitely some things that I've been thinking about other cost stating measures or ways to be efficient with purchasing um that also looking into doing some deep dive into things that we're purchasing could we do it in a more efficient way buy more in bulk find find commodity kind of pricing kind of stuff so there's a definitely a lot of work still to be um but we're just starting I just got and again down the road are are there shared services that we can begin to look
090at you know well it's via other districts popping up a lot well I would just like us to look at all of these other sources and then then we see um because the last thing we want to do is um layoffs um because it impacts the kids the students um and it impacts human beings like people that are family at this sizes like all the things that we haven't wanted as a board corre they have a Domin effect correct I I also would love and I know we have signed a contract for the the transportation but I would also like to see um some more work done on that because like how many um kids are on a bus can we use smaller bus do we get charged less for that like can we do
091some negotiating on that realm um because that's a big chunk of our expense Transportation it's on okay good perfect okay research okay did you ever did you all look into um because I know we have a lot of special ad students coming into the district and I think I was told there sour of graue but honestly I don't know if I've ever seen that right is it truly tuition d a a a source of revenue for us um versus the expense we have I mean I'm not sure if it's worth doing a deeper dive on that as well so I think you make a good point because when we looked at it deep um and this was a while ago so um I know that they were looking at what how many kids we would
092have in a class um so we would have our own students and then we would bring in other students and it has to be some kind of path and then we wouldn't go into a second class because then that expense outweighs the the revenue so you know are we following that is is that happening or is it costing us more to be bringing the placements in right exactly right a value analysis yeah I think that's worthwhile looking into I haven't do to that yet but it's definitely an area of improvement or opportunity sure and we know transportation is GNA go up it's going to be if this mandate stays in with the electric buses right I mean this is going to drive can I and and not necessarily for this for this year um but
093something I know we've brought up a few times I know I've brought on brought up a few times do we take a look at our health benefits is an area I want to concentrate on as well and see about a Consortium or a way to find savings there absolutely so but all these suggestions and you have brought it up a few times thank you for that reminder um because it could potentially be a big last last the last time the numbers were run it was significant savings so and these of course are not things that we're looking to have in this budget we got to start thinking about our fiveyear plan right right we just need to so like when we go to look at a new Transportation like I I just want to have
094I want to have backup data for all of our pieces so that when like when we know we know yeah with the transportation through um we discuss doesn't make sense to be Outsourcing versus maybe we revisit that and think do we actually have our own transportation those ideas were quickly shut down and I didn't push back on it but then again we never sping data from that right so that maybe you already know Tabitha it's it's a def know would very expensive to pull that in house and maybe you don't right maybe we want to just do an assessment I know it will be expensive but I also don't think it's something you can't at least explore doesn't cost that much to look at it um a bus by itself especially a newer bus currently
095you're looking at60 $100,000 for the bus itself then you have to have a place to house it and inspect it um you have to have a mechanic always you got to have drivers you have someone to manage all those there's parts to it is that more than the and half million we're going to be pay I mean houses that we own right yeah can we shut out a route not buy a certain route that they're selling you know we have to pay for we're going to take care of this route without own buses I don't know that's I mean that's a good point right to get us into it definite things that I think to I mean I think it's a great conversation and I think um I think youve probably given enough things probably
096already thought about but I love hearing I love hearing that you're all the same page as me I got one I got one more all I know I mentioned this a long time ago when you I think you were still on Zoom our very first meeting they tried doing this um over by across the river um and I can get the wording for it but it has something to do with that it saves the district money and I'm so I haven't seen it physically so I don't understand how but you might where if you know it's your last year of teaching or even your last two years but I know definitely your last year before you retire that you can pay for all of your your your health up front as a one lump like
097a one lump some so it somehow does something or it raises that your final year salary like it shows your salar is higher you paid that they paid everything front but somehow it also saves the district because then they don't get health insurance retirement if we pay them in advance to health insurance we're doing like a time value of money for you know a number of years say time expected but it's but it's just their last year teaching right but you're paying you're prepaying for future years health insurance that's how you're looking at a health insurance increase annually of six to 8% depending on during the pandemic after the pandemic we saw rate increases in health insurance my other District of almost 20% um so the health insurance environment is so volatile right now a
098lot of things that are causing our health insurance expenses as the district here to go up are the cost of these prescription medications these new hybrid medication everybody wants to take these weight loss to get healthy and um companies are pushing it to our doctors but it's also a way of preventive care right but we don't know the long-term effects and how is that going to affect the district later we don't know no those are things you have to start planning um where people are living longer you're not expecting someone to live to 95 100 years old and you're paying their their health insurance and their MTH plan right now currently we reimburse them for their Medicare Part Fe and we offer them another plan so they have prescription coverage you're paying $6 $700 a
099person to be on health insurance and you're not working at the district doing it's a benefit it's part of what what we do as as a government yeah but those are the types of things that are killing those those um Legacy costs or what's killing districts it's what's called killing the expenses see the health insurance line for this District yeah I know they talking about it's a win for the district and a win for the the teacher it was through the teacher contract so that's why I say it that way where it it helps it helps yeah it helps them for pay out their their annual salary but it also stays the district because we're not gain Legacy cost per depending on how it's Rich right and that's you know again five year and I
100mean most people retirement pretty healthy and you don't need this C Cadillac retirement health insurance you just need you know you go to Marketplace and get all the return in reement 65 I have to go but um Dad did get back to me it looks like Christin and Pat arel open thday night so we will have those two plus us four we have Thursday at 530 6 yeah I think six o' all right very good some concerts out on the field maybe we can generate some Revenue that way thanks Chris so any other feedback did do either of you have any kind of feedback or comments give us more money and I do want to thank thank you I know that um us asking for things like the schedules and um to really turn cost
101and having spend increases it's tough right because it impacts the staff it impacts the students um but these were all all things that we need earlier going forward so that we can make a budget that's sustainable and so that we don't have to make cut so so thank you all um we didn't open this meeting because it's it's a committee meeting it's not a a regular official meeting so yeah cheers thank you no I was just repeating you yeah we're still live