Sewanhaka district adopts 2012-13 budget

The Sewanhaka Central High School District Board of Education voted unanimously on March 27 to approve the district’s 2012-13 of $167.03 million — a 2.94 percent increase over its current budget, $163.97 million.

Prior to the meeting, the board had discussed several budget scenarios and stressed that it would likely have to exceed the state’s 2 percent tax levy cap in order to avoid more than $3 million in cuts. The district had previously discussed the need for a 4 percent tax levy increase, in order to maintain current staff and programs, and contemplated cuts to lower the levy increase to 3.47 percent — that levy increase would have required a “supermajority,” or 60 percent of voter approval, in May.

However, next year’s approved projected budget includes a 2.22 percent tax levy increase, just under the district’s allowable levy increase of 2.28 percent. (The state-mandated, 2 percent cap is based on the majority of, but not all, budget items.) The district's total proposed tax levy for 2012-13 is $130.15 million — a 2 percent increase over the 2011-12 budget's tevy of $127.55 million.

The proposed budget will not require a super-majority when voters go to the polls on May 15; it can be passed by a simple majority.

According to Dr. Ralph Ferrie, the Sewanhaka district’s superintendent, the district was able to stay under its allowable levy increase due to additional cuts made to the budget, as well as an additional $601,349 in anticipated revenue.

He explained that in the days leading up to the March meeting, the board learned that the district would receive a 1 percent increase in state aid — or $260,441 — over the $26.3 million that was initially expected. The district also recently discovered it will receive $340,908 in revenue reimbursement from BOCES by June 2013, for pension-related expenditures from prior years mandated by the state, he said.

Additionally, Ferrie said, the district made a total of $2.6 million in budget cuts, not including staff or program cuts. He explained that the board focused on three themes while working on the 2012-13 budget: “Do everything to protect programs in the district, do everything to maintain resources in the district and, while doing all of this, try to be as responsible as possible on the tax rate,” he said.