Lancaster's new budget proposal

[gorja]

Check out Lee's front page article- http://www.speakupwny.com/article_4311.shtml

Lancaster's new budget proposal

Lee,
>>
I did not read of any mention of salary adjustments; teacher, staff or administration. There will be many residents who will want to see a contingency budget.>>
Your post said that $1.2 million in cuts would be necessary to get there and to do that the Central Avenue School would have to close and class periods would have to be reduced from nine to eight. In the Buffalo News it was written, “In fact, Lancaster school officials have asked teachers and other union employees to freeze pay. That would save only about $1.3 million, according to district figures, and the head of the teachers union says no guarantees were made that layoffs would be averted.”
>>
I would imagine if everyone’s pay were frozen (non union staff as well), the other two scenarios would not have to be considered.

From Lee's article-
>What is true is that one cannot say that your taxes are going to go down because your tax rate went down from 15.92 to 14.73. One cannot really predict what percent your taxes are going to go up with this proposed budget is because of reval where anyone seeing an assessment increase of more than 12% will experience higher percentages of tax increases. Do your own math. Put in your new assessment, subtract the STAR rebate of $30,000, use 14.73 as the new tax rate and figure out your new tax obligation. Compare it to last year to determine by what percent your taxes are going to increase.>

I did do the math and found my taxes would go up 3.3% after my assessment went up 10.5%

But my 80+ year old neighbor's taxes would go up 39.5% using her $60,100 STAR exemption after her assessment went up 23.5%.

Her Social security compensation is frozen this year and next and she's paid her fair share of taxes since building and moving into that house in 1950. She can't go out and get a part time job like the teachers can if they can't live on their present compensation.

[SAAR]

I did do the math and found my taxes would go up 3.3% after my assessment went up 10.5%

But my 80+ year old neighbor's taxes would go up 39.5% using her $60,100 STAR exemption after her assessment went up 23.5%.

Her Social security compensation is frozen this year and next and she's paid her fair share of taxes since building and moving into that house in 1950. She can't go out and get a part time job like the teachers can if they can't live on their present compensation.[/COLOR]

I also did the math and at 14.73 with my new assessment my taxes will go up 6.24% I also did not get a raise this year or last year for that matter. Just to compare during high school I only had 7 class periods so Lancaster slicing the class periods down to 8 doesn't bother me one bit. Close Central Avenue as well.

[Lee Chowaniec]

Gorja: There was no mention of teacher/administration/other staff salary adjustments. Considering the BOE was hopeful that the Task Force Committee would find the proposed budget acceptable (a 1.3 budget-to-budget spending increase) they believed there would be but a little change to Thursday’s proposed budget. If that were the case, I would have to assume the school district is planning on giving teachers a 3.9% increase and other staff (including administrators) a 3% salary increase. That was the last proposal I had seen.

It appears to me that the BOE is hesitant on making further cuts that would alienate teachers, parents and students – by closing Central Avenue School and cutting from 9 period classes to 8 and in having larger class sizes.

But adding another $2.5 million in fund balance money and debt reserves, we have robbed Peter to pay Paul and delayed the inevitable – when next year the deficit in aid will be $6 million and the wolf will be at the door.

I had made it publicly known at the school board meetings that I was willing to pay added school taxes to help weather the storm, certainly no more than 3%. But as my reassessment went down, the impact to me is nowhere as great as it will be to someone whose assessment went up 15% or more. This recent proposal, though seemingly reasonable, will have a significant impact on others because of reval.

We have been told there are no sacred cows in this budget; that we all have to share the pain. Well, I see the use of $8.3 million in fund balance and reserves used to smooth the waters, where hard decisions that should have been made this year delayed to next year; a year where the piggy bank will not have enough in it to cover state aid deficits.

The sad thing is that we still don’t know what is in the contract negotiations between the Lancaster Teachers Association and the Lancaster Central School District. What we do have now is a formula to figure out the tax obligation by looking at the new assessment, subtracting $30,000 for STAR ($60,000 for Enhanced Star) and multiplying this number by the proposed tax rate of 14.73. Compare this number with last year’ tax obligation and figure out the % increase.

Some will be happy campers, some will not. Happy campers will vote for budget approval. Unhappy campers will vote against the budget proposal and then by law the school district will have to come up with a contingency budget. Despite the findings of the Task Force Committee next week, the BOE has the final say on whether they will gamble to push this budget through.

Superintendent Edward Myszka stated at several board meetings that the use of fund balance and reserve monies should be used prudently and with the thought of next year’s budget in mind. “How fast do you want to let the air out of the balloon,” he asked. In my opinion it was let out pretty damn fast.

The BOE is going to have a hard time convincing some taxpayers that Central Avenue School should be kept open, that class periods should not be cut from 9 to 8 and that more money could be had by decreasing (or freezing) salaries.

From the first budget work session on the school board has been asking taxpayers for input on what they want to pay for and what services should be kept. They will be getting an earful at the Citizens Task Force Committee next week and at the next board meeting.

[gorja]

Lee, I hope you're on the Task Force committee-

Originally posted by Lee Chowaniec:
Gorja: There was no mention of teacher/administration/other staff salary adjustments. Considering the BOE was hopeful that the Task Force Committee would find the proposed budget acceptable (a 1.3 budget-to-budget spending increase) they believed there would be but a little change to Thursday’s proposed budget. If that were the case, I would have to assume the school district is planning on giving teachers a 3.9% increase and other staff (including administrators) a 3% salary increase. That was the last proposal I had seen.

They just don't comprehend what is going on in the real world outside of public employment. If they really want to do it for the kids, consideration should be given to a pay freeze and/or a pay reduction for the upper management.

It appears to me that the BOE is hesitant on making further cuts that would alienate teachers, parents and students – by closing Central Avenue School and cutting from 9 period classes to 8 and in having larger class sizes.

Using Stanley Keysa's projection, the K-3 census would decline 58.5% within 5 years. Closing the school with the census decreasing is a responsible move. It's a waste of taxpayer money keeping it open. Larger class sizes aren't the end of the world and if there is a savings in cutting a period from the day, so be it.
But adding another $2.5 million in fund balance money and debt reserves, we have robbed Peter to pay Paul and delayed the inevitable – when next year the deficit in aid will be $6 million and the wolf will be at the door.

And next year the teacher's contract will probably have been already negotiated. What then, with the reserve monies depleted? The sky will be the limit in tax increases.

I had made it publicly known at the school board meetings that I was willing to pay added school taxes to help weather the storm, certainly no more than 3%. But as my reassessment went down, the impact to me is nowhere as great as it will be to someone whose assessment went up 15% or more. This recent proposal, though seemingly reasonable, will have a significant impact on others because of reval.

As I said in a previous post, my senior neighbor's assessment went up 23.5% and minus the $60,100 Enhanced star her taxes would rise 39.5% at the $14.73 rate per thousand.

[Tangodown]

Gorja: There was no mention of teacher/administration/other staff salary adjustments. Considering the BOE was hopeful that the Task Force Committee would find the proposed budget acceptable (a 1.3 budget-to-budget spending increase) they believed there would be but a little change to Thursday’s proposed budget. If that were the case, I would have to assume the school district is planning on giving teachers a 3.9% increase and other staff (including administrators) a 3% salary increase. That was the last proposal I had seen.

It appears to me that the BOE is hesitant on making further cuts that would alienate teachers, parents and students – by closing Central Avenue School and cutting from 9 period classes to 8 and in having larger class sizes.

But adding another $2.5 million in fund balance money and debt reserves, we have robbed Peter to pay Paul and delayed the inevitable – when next year the deficit in aid will be $6 million and the wolf will be at the door.

I had made it publicly known at the school board meetings that I was willing to pay added school taxes to help weather the storm, certainly no more than 3%. But as my reassessment went down, the impact to me is nowhere as great as it will be to someone whose assessment went up 15% or more. This recent proposal, though seemingly reasonable, will have a significant impact on others because of reval.

We have been told there are no sacred cows in this budget; that we all have to share the pain. Well, I see the use of $8.3 million in fund balance and reserves used to smooth the waters, where hard decisions that should have been made this year delayed to next year; a year where the piggy bank will not have enough in it to cover state aid deficits.

The sad thing is that we still don’t know what is in the contract negotiations between the Lancaster Teachers Association and the Lancaster Central School District. What we do have now is a formula to figure out the tax obligation by looking at the new assessment, subtracting $30,000 for STAR ($60,000 for Enhanced Star) and multiplying this number by the proposed tax rate of 14.73. Compare this number with last year’ tax obligation and figure out the % increase.

Some will be happy campers, some will not. Happy campers will vote for budget approval. Unhappy campers will vote against the budget proposal and then by law the school district will have to come up with a contingency budget. Despite the findings of the Task Force Committee next week, the BOE has the final say on whether they will gamble to push this budget through.

Superintendent Edward Myszka stated at several board meetings that the use of fund balance and reserve monies should be used prudently and with the thought of next year’s budget in mind. “How fast do you want to let the air out of the balloon,” he asked. In my opinion it was let out pretty damn fast.

The BOE is going to have a hard time convincing some taxpayers that Central Avenue School should be kept open, that class periods should not be cut from 9 to 8 and that more money could be had by decreasing (or freezing) salaries.

From the first budget work session on the school board has been asking taxpayers for input on what they want to pay for and what services should be kept. They will be getting an earful at the Citizens Task Force Committee next week and at the next board meeting.

Lee your assessment went down? Mine went up $38,000 or about 24.5%! I haven't bothered to see how much my taxes will go up. Although.... fortunately both myself and my wife got 2.5% wage increases this year.

[Lee Chowaniec]

Lee your assessment went down? Mine went up $38,000 or about 24.5%! I haven't bothered to see how much my taxes will go up. Although.... fortunately both myself and my wife got 2.5% wage increases this year.

My assessment went up over 40% in 2005 and that cost me an added $600 in total taxes. I am lucky this time, but others will be in the same position I was 5 years ago. Do the math.

Gorja: Yes, I am on the Task Force Committee.