New Hartford schools chief proposes 2.5% tax hike

 

By ELIZABETH COOPER

Observer-Dispatch

Posted Mar 27, 2010 @ 09:09 PM

NEW HARTFORD

School Superintendent Robert Nole pitched a 2.5 percent tax hike for district residents at a Saturday morning meeting of the Board of Education.

Although the state has not yet finalized its 2010-11 budget, Nole said he had to factor a proposed decrease in state funding of 1.3 million for the district into his own 2010-11 budget.

It’s possible that some of those funds could be restored during the state budget negotiations. But even if a portion were returned, the state has been known to propose mid-year cuts later, he said.
“We have to proceed with caution,” he told the board.

The increase would mean district taxpayers would pay $25.41 per $1,000 of their assessed property values, up from $24.78 for the previous year.

For a house assessed at $200,000, that would mean a school tax increase of $200.

The proposed $46,646,335 New Hartford school budget is 1.16 percent higher than the current year’s spending plan. It retains all existing programs and maintains current class sizes, Nole said.
Board of Education President James Davis called the plan “very responsible.”

“It’s very responsive to the needs of the taxpayers while at the same time staying extremely focused on instructional programs,” he said.

Nole said he had held the line on costs by following a multi-year spending program that did not incorporate promised state aid increases. When those increases did not materialize, his budget was not impacted.

Additionally, the district has been downsizing its staff by attrition when school officials deemed it prudent. Over the past three years, 12 positions have been eliminated after retirements.

In the 2010-2011 budget, Nole is eliminating three administrative positions in the same way.
The district has also limited its expenditures. For example, the school newsletter is no longer printed in color. And energy purchases are being pooled with other districts and municipalities, Nole said.

Asked if the district could expect tax increases in upcoming years, Nole said the district does not have any structural deficits in its budget, and that its $25.7 million capital project is not seeing overruns.

“We can’t predict what is going to happen,” Nole cautioned. “We are in an economic cycle that everyone is very sensitive to. We are hopeful we are beginning to see a recovery.”

The school board will vote on the budget at its April 6 meeting. The public vote will be May 18.

Copyright © 2010 GateHouse Media, Inc. Some Rights Reserved.
Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted.