Thursday, April 3, 2014

Pittsford's School Budget - Part II


In a current commercial (http://vimeo.com/88089123), Governor Cuomo reports that “of the 15 counties in the nation with the highest property taxes, 12 are here in upstate New York.”  (And yes, our Monroe County is one of them.)  Over half of our property taxes relate to the school system.  So I went to another Pittsford budget “workshop,” to see if I could understand more about why we’re so over-taxed.  Mr. Kenney gave another Powerpoint presentation, with a reduction in budget increase from 2.39% at the last session, to 2.36%, which translates to a 2.52% increase in the tax levy, which still exceeds the cap of 1.81%.  At one point, he joked about trying to get the budget to be $120 million even, instead of $120,019,408.

Why wouldn’t they simply prepare an alternate budget showing only the allowed increase?  Because the Board of Education is still bent on educating the public on why they need to exceed the cap, whether it happens this year or next.  While Superintendent Pero reiterated his feeling that they should stay within the cap this year, he explained that that would just make the next year more difficult.  Kim McCluski, President of the Board, reiterated her position that breaking the cap, and requiring a super-majority vote, is a matter of ‘when,’ not ‘if,’ and that they should explain to residents all of the cuts that have already been made (e.g., eliminating some sports teams and coaches, consolidating some music programs, eliminating some secretaries).  Mr. Pero posited that there is “no more low hanging fruit” and that any additional cuts will hurt the students.  But what does that mean, and why is there no consideration to the financial burden their quest places on taxpayers?

The workshop part of the meeting ended early, and I finally got to ask some questions (Mr. Kenney denied having received any of my e-mails).  So I asked about the student enrollment, historically and projected.  They didn’t have numbers at the ready, but directed me to their website, and said that their enrollment projections are based on census info, and the current budget projects no increase in students or staff:
I also asked what the cost per student was, and again, they didn’t know the number, but thought it was around $17,000.  Looking at their on-line chart, though, their projection of 5,893 students equates to roughly $20,400 per student.  Even if the budget were exactly the amount allowed by the cap, it would still be over $20,000 per student.  Doesn't that seem a bit high?  They seemed to complain about the portion of the budget this isn't under their control - pensions and insurance - rather than focusing on thinking creatively about what is in their control, and controlling it.  

Another of Cuomo’s commercials explains that there are 624 local governments in Monroe county. In a county of roughly 750,000 residents, that seems like a ridiculously high number.  Of course the local governments are all speaking out against his proposed tax freeze and his invitation to them to consolidate services.  What local government is going to reduce its size or eliminate itself, just because it’s the right thing for to do for the taxpayers?  

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