BOE reviews expenditure/revenue budget, OKs propositions

PINE PLAINS — With several important dates in the 2021-22 budget development process coming up, the Pine Plains Central School District (PPCSD) Board of Education (BOE) focused part of its meeting on Wednesday, March 17, to reviewing the draft expenditure and revenue budget proposed for next year’s school district budget.

The meeting was held via Zoom due to the COVID-19 pandemic and can be seen on the PPCSD website, www.ppcsd.org.

Expenses and Revenue Budget

Assistant Superintendent for Business and Finance Michael Goldbeck gave a brief presentation on the 2021-22 expenses and revenue budget. As of that evening, he said it been calculated at $34,382,238, indicating an increase of $856,788 (or 2.56%) from last year’s budget, though Goldbeck said he’s working to minimize that increase.

Breaking down the expenditure budget by component, he said the administration budget is at $3,941,123, indicating a $147,567 increase from the 2020-21 adopted budget. Meanwhile, the program budget is at $27,287,734 for next year — marking a $626,157 increase from last year — and the capital budget is at $3,153,381, indicating a $83,064 increase from last year.

The allowable tax levy is at $24,710,043, generating a $520,367 (or 2.15%) increase from last year.

Same boat with state aid 

Based on Governor Andrew Cuomo’s proposed budget — which Goldbeck felt was going to be radically different when they got the legislative budget — the 2021-22 total estimated state aid had been calculated at $7,842,859. As part of the governor’s calculation, Goldbeck said Cuomo included the district’s STAR payment, a deduction of $481,576 for COVID-19 related expenditures and then a replacement of that money with the COVID-19 supplement stimulus.

“So it appears we’re going to be in the same boat next year as we were this year in that we had a portion of our state aid that had to be allocated toward COVID-related expenditures,” Goldbeck said, adding that he believes it will be a challenge next year having half a million dollars allocated toward that.

Meanwhile, the 2021-22 estimated revenue came to $34,382,238, indicating a $656,788 (or 2.56%) increase from last year. In terms of what still needs to be determined for next year’s budget, Goldbeck took state aid into account in addition to special education costs, transportation costs, federal grants and fuel prices, usage and energy savings. 

In addition to the approval of the 2021-22 budget, he reminded the BOE that the voter propositions include the approval of the district-wide capital project, establishment of the new capital reserve and election of three BOE members.

Important budget dates

Following the full budget presentation on Wednesday, April 7, the BOE was scheduled to adopt the 2021-22 budget on Wednesday, April 11. A public hearing on the budget will be held on Wednesday, May 5, followed by the BOE’s annual meeting for the budget vote, capital project, capital reserve and election of BOE members on Tuesday, May 18. All of these meetings will be held at 7 p.m.

No new buses

Looking at the voter propositions, Superintendent of Schools Martin Handler said the BOE may notice that there is no proposition listed for buying buses, which is a typical purchase coupled with the annual budget vote. 

Handler explained the district would like to replace a portion of its bus fleet every year to avoid getting hit with a larger expenditure all at once. That being said, he said the district didn’t propose a bus purchase this year because the buses they would typically replace are the oldest ones, which are tasked with field trips, athletic trips and other such activities. Up to this point, Handler said they’ve put a few miles on those buses, but as they’re in the same condition as they were last year because there was essentially no driving with the pandemic and few on campus classes or activities, there’s no point in replacing them.

Capital reserve fund

The board later passed a resolution to approve the capital reserve fund proposition for the budget vote to establish a capital reserve fund of $5 million to pay for “all or part of the renovation, reconstruction and construction of district buildings.” 

By approving the resolution on the capital project proposition, the board was authorized to “construct improvements to and reconstruct various school buildings, facilities and sites, acquire original furnishings equipment, machinery or apparatus required for the purpose for which such buildings, facilities and sites are to be used” while paying costs at a maximum aggregate cost not to exceed $7,727,992. The resolution also included the expenditure of $3,506,434 from the district’s 2016 and 2019 capital reserve funds for this purpose and the issuing of the district’s bonds and notes in the principal amount not to exceed $4,221,558.