March 12, 2010 - Facing a multi-million dollar gap between projected expenditures and revenues, the Board of Education accepted reductions in the areas of debt service and summer curriculum on March 11, at the second of six Budget Committee meetings.

Mr. Steven Zautner, Treasurer, explained to the Board and community that last Fall, the Administration developed a rough budget that totaled around $94 million, which included total debt service of $5,145,763. The district decided to examine its debt service to see where they may be able to save money in order to help reduce expenditures. In the end, total debt, as approved by the Board for 2010-11 will be $4,942,363. That will be $240,238 higher than total debt payments in 2009-10, but $203,400 lower than the original 2010-11 budget estimate. The district will receive more building aid in 2010-11 than in 2009-10 because of new aid beginning for EXCEL capital projects. This means 2010-11 net debt (Total Debt minus Building Aid) will actually decrease by $143,158, compared to 2009-10 net debt.

Assistant Superintendent for Instruction, Mr. D. Joseph Corr, presented the Board with a proposal for summer curriculum in 2010-11. The North Colonie district is budgeted for $75,000 for summer curriculum workshops. This is a $60,000 reduction from the $135,000 budget in 2009-10.

“Our building Administrators worked extremely hard on coming up with proposals that I feel are well thought out,” Corr said. “We still remain on target with our planning for summer curriculum workshop requests.”

The Board approved the $60,000 in reductions in the area of summer curriculum.

2010-11 projected enrollment was also discussed at the meeting on March 11. While the district is projecting a small increase in enrollment for next year, the overall mean has been dropping over the past few years. This trend, of course, will have a direct outcome of how the district plans to address staffing changes in 2010-11 and the years to come. Click here to view the trends in enrollment. Please note the print is small on these documents. You can increase the size of the text by clicking the zoom button.

To close the initial $4 million gap with property taxes alone would have resulted in an 11.34 percent increase in the tax levy, which the district is not pursuing. So, the Board has been reviewing a series of budget cuts across all departments at its workshops in March. Click here for a full schedule.

Public participation is welcome at the Board’s budget workshops. The next budget meeting will be held on Monday, March 15 at Blue Creek Elementary, at 7:30 p.m. The Board will be discussing staffing changes, equipment and interfund transfers.
 

Budget Meeting Recaps

March 8, 2010