The Springs School District’s over-the-tax-cap budget proposal for the 2023-24 school year continues to take shape as Tuesday’s state-imposed deadline looms. Schools must finalize their budgets by then.
In between the school board’s March 28 workshop and the special session it added a week later, on April 4, district officials adjusted the proposed budget and tax-levy increase even higher. The budget now stands at $35.76 million, up from the initial estimate of $35.45 million. The associated tax-levy increase would be 6.39 percent, up from 5.31 percent.
One key difference lies with high school tuition. A prior board-generated request to add contingency money for tuition had the effect of upping the estimates. School officials say the budget is also being impacted by a 15-percent increase in health insurance costs and the need to hire more special-education teachers, plus inflation, cybersecurity cost increases, an overhaul of the math curriculum, and rising costs through the Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES).
Part of this plan hinges on Springs’s “unassigned fund balance,” a term for end-of-year surplus money that the district can use to offset future tax increases. The district is planning to apply $2.06 million from that pot of money, as long as it has that much left over to spend and still have some in case of emergency.
“Remember, we still have three more months’ worth of expenses to go through. . . . These numbers could change somewhat,” said Michael Henery, the school’s interim business administrator. “I hope not, but we’ve got to watch our spending.”
Addressing the board at the April 4 meeting, Mr. Henery also translated the tax impact into actual dollar amounts. An average house in Springs, he said, has a fair-market value of $1,182,134, a number that he pulled from the real estate website Zillow. Under the proposed budget, a homeowner with such a house could expect to pay just under $400 more in taxes for the next school year.
“It’s a ‘guesstimate,’ “ Mr. Henery said, noting that those numbers were based on last year’s assessed values in East Hampton Town. “They don’t start rolling into next year’s levy until September through November.”
The good news, he told the board, is that with voter approval this year, Springs most likely won’t face a tax-cap-piercing situation for at least five more years.
Board members, though, indicated that they would like to see the administration bring the increase under 6 percent. With a few longtime teachers expected to retire soon — whose replacements would receive lower salaries — and with the potential tuition buffer reduced from 20 to 15 students, Debra Winter, the district superintendent, said she thought it might be possible.
Still, Ms. Winter said she wants to avoid having to make significant midyear budget cuts if the tuition fluctuates above the estimates. “I’m not balancing this budget on the Springs students,” she said.
The board is to meet again on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the school library, a meeting that can also be accessed via LTV’s live stream on YouTube.
Also on April 4, the school board heard an explanation from Ms. Winter of how the district goes about verifying the residency of students who move into the district midyear.
Two forms of identification are required for enrollment. Social workers and school security employees will sometimes perform five to seven home visits to confirm residency. If it’s suspected that students are living in overcrowded or unsafe conditions, the district will call in town code enforcement.
If after February students are discovered not to be residents of the district, Ms. Winter said, they will likely be allowed to stay in school. The State Education Department, she explained, consistently rules in favor of students — not their schools — to preserve the continuity of their education.
In order to check the residency of every one of its students — Springs currently has 1,094 across all grade levels — Ms. Winter said a lot more resources would be needed.
“You’re supposed to enroll students immediately and ask questions later,” she told the board.