Sullivan West holds budget hearings

By TOM KANE

LAKE HUNTINGTON, NY — One lone voice was raised against the cuts in the proposed 2004-2005 school budget at the public hearing held on Thursday, May 6 at the high school.

“It’s so unfortunate that we have to cut teachers and teacher aides at this time with so much hope created by our new high school and renovated schools,” said Delaware Valley first grade teacher Jennifer O’Brien.

The new budget calls for cutting three teachers and nine teacher aides. No programs will be cut but some will be reduced, school officials said.

The tax levy to be raised this year is $13,245,218, a 7.12 percent increase over last year’s tax levy at $12,365,181.

Total spending is set at $29,903,915, which represents an 11.46 percent increase over last year’s plan at $26,829,103.

No residents protested the estimated 7.12 percent rise in property taxes.

Beside O’Brien, there were only six people in the room. One other person present asked a question about the budget provision for services from BOCES.

“We had about 25 people at the public hearing in Delaware Valley on May 4,” O’Brien said.

The Delaware Valley Parent Teachers Organization was responsible for the turnout.

Again, no residents present protested the rise in taxes.

“The principal concern expressed at DV was mainly for the cuts in the aides,” said school superintendent Michael Johndrow.

O’Brien wondered what the reaction would have been if the school board raised taxes just a little more to prevent the cuts.

“I think most people would be willing to forego a couple of trips to McDonald’s or to the mall so that our children would have the best we can offer,” she said.

At the hearings, Johndrow and Business Manager Paul Nienstadt explained the principal reasons for the cuts.

“We had a hefty increase in the teacher retirement system due to the poor performance of the stock market over the past year, as well as large increases in our health liability insurance payment,” Johndrow said.

He explained how the board pared back over $900,000 from the original requests that teachers and staff proposed.

Nienstadt showed how the board used $3.4 million of the fund balance to support programs and another $1.5 million to lessen the debt service over a 23-year period. This last measure would save several million over that period, he said.

If the district had not had the fund balance available, the cuts would have been much deeper and the taxes much higher, he said.

After this year, the fund balance will revert back to two percent of budget, which is the level called for by the education law of the state.

Will the absence of a hefty fund balance next year cause taxes to be raised even more and cuts in staff to be greater?

“Not necessarily,” Nienstadt said. “We may not have to face the same high costs next year. And state aid could be higher. You can’t tell what will happen.”

The level of state aid had to be estimated since the state has not passed its budget. If more state aid comes to the district with the new state budget, the money can only be used to reduce taxes or be carried over to next year’s budget process.

Three seats open on BOE

Jeffersonville resident Gerald Murphy, director of special investigations, Sullivan County Division of Health and Family Services, will run against incumbent Tim Lanese for a three-year term.

Mileses resident Shawn Bailey, Sr., a teacher of technology at the Delaware Valley Job Corps, will run against incumbent Jerry Triolo for a three-year term.

Incumbent board member Rick Lander will run unopposed for a three-year term.