Monday's Springs School budget workshop was the first time board members and the community at large got an up-close look at the preliminary budget number the district is wrangling with for its 2020-21 budget: $32.12 million. Nearly every time a school administrator pitched a budget increase in a particular area, board members raised some form of the question "Why?"
For example, Tim Frazier questioned increased spending on conferences and training for new administrators and clerical staff members. Dave Conlon, the board's vice president, suggested "spacing out" certain expenses over two or three years.
And so it went for about an hour and a half, with board members asking tough questions about the budget.
The associated tax-levy increase could be as much as 3.91 percent, which differs from the "2-percent tax cap" that people are used to hearing about because of exemptions for capital spending, real estate development in the district, and other factors. Going beyond that would require a supermajority, or at least 60 percent, of voter approval in May.
"We may decide we have to pierce the cap or decrease the levy, or increase appropriated fund balance," said Michael Henery, the business administrator. The latter refers to unspent money from previous years that can be applied to future budgets. "It's a little bit of a juggling act . . . that leaves us with a number of options here. Should we be cutting the budget? Should we be using more in the appropriations?"
There are many factors still in flux, such as whether the state will come through with a one-time Covid-19 stimulus payment of $743,034 and any budget cuts the school board could choose to make.
One theme that emerged Monday was increased spending for equipment and materials for the new classrooms that are under construction as part of the district's $23 million capital project. Administrators included those expenses in their proposed spending plan, but the board requested that new building expenses be broken out from routine increases.
"It might be nice to have Mike pull out of the budget all the things that are related to having the extra space, so we can see the total amount, percentage-wise, of what it looks like," Mr. Frazier said. He said it would help the board weigh "what to include, what to maybe not include, and what to stagger over a couple of years. Right now, it's kind of in the budget everywhere."
Of note in the budget plan is the need for an additional $229,373 for tuition, an increase to a total of $9.34 million, to send 292 general education students and 42 special education students to East Hampton High School for the ninth through 12th grades. Overall spending on special education services is expected to decrease slightly, by $116,304, down to $3.23 million.
Salaries are projected to rise by about $738,500, or about 6.5 percent, up to $12.06 million, and benefit costs will rise by about $466,800, or about 8.8 percent, up to $5.75 million.
Mr. Henery said the proposed $32.12 million spending plan would take the district "right to the maximum tax cap."
David Buda, a Springs resident, was the sole person to call in to the meeting. He described the district's benefits spending — which make up 47 percent of the total budget for salaries and wages — as "an astronomical number," the likes of which "is certainly not what happens in the private sphere."
"Right now, the number you are contemplating seems to reflect a predisposition to utilize the maximum allowable amount of tax levy without exceeding the maximum," Mr. Buda said. "That's frankly the wrong-headed attitude to start with. You should be looking at what is the least you need to spend to get the job done."
In other school board news, with candidate petitioning officially open, Barbara Dayton, the school board's president, said she would be running for re-election.
Springs is scheduled to hold its next budget workshop on April 12 at 7 p.m. Adoption of the budget plan must take place by April 26, and the budget vote and school board election will take place on May 18.
This story has been updated to correct the statements made by David Buda during the March 22 Springs School Board budget workshop.