Warwick school taxes headed down--a first since 2008
WVCSD school budget, with negative tax cap, gets increase in NYS aid.
Continuing its annual budget season presentation series, the Warwick Valley Central School District administration offered another look at its proposed budget for the 2022-23 school year at its April 7 work session.
The administration proposed a budget of $101,729,239 – an increase of $3,109,197 over the current year’s $98,620,042 budget.
The lion’s share of the budget is salaries, benefits, and BOCES, at $2,009,580, $944,799, and $831,471 respectively; inflation was 7.5 percent in January, and has been running at 7.9 percent on average since February.
“Inflation is a major concern,” said Assistant Superintendent for Business, Timothy Holmes, noting that rises in costs aren’t uniform: some items cost more than others.
Holmes added that budget items that are the biggest drivers of cost are the above-mentioned salaries, benefits, and BOCES. Other major areas of the budget include school police services, propane and gas for school buses, the lunch program (“kind of struggling” this year, because of COVID-19), and the building survey conducted every five years.
Good news for taxpayers
The district will have a tax levy decrease for the proposed budget, at a decrease of 0.37%. The last time there was a negative levy was in 2008.
The administration realized several areas of cost savings, to the tune of $564,000, by reducing temporary staff hired to help with pandemic mitigation, as well as a reduction of over $1.8 million in debt service that’s been retired.
In previous years, the district was able to find savings through declining enrollment. However, said Schools Superintendent David Leach,“Those days are over.”
New York State Aid
Based on a January 21, 2022, projection from Governor Kathy Hochul’s budget, Warwick is expected to receive $30,904,472 from Albany – an increase of $3,016,956 or just under 11 percent, over the current school year.
That is not “new aid,” Leach said: it is aid “finally being restored...It’s what was promised (to the district).”
That aid is incorporated into $101,729,239 total projected revenue for the district for the coming school year, an increase of $3.1 million in revenue over the current year. The district’s revenue includes the school tax, library tax, state aid, non-tax revenue and an assigned fund balance.
Budget hearing: May 17 – Budget vote and Board of Education election
The administration realized several areas of cost savings, to the tune of $564,000, by reducing temporary staff hired to help with pandemic mitigation, as well as a reduction of over $1.8 million in debt service that’s been retired.