Huntington SD Releases 2010-11 Draft Budget

Huntington School District administrators released its draft budget at the Board of Education's Monday, March 15 meeting, prepared after trustees voted 5-2 several weeks ago to cap the potential tax increase at 3.5 percent.

That translates in to a 2.71 percent spending increase bringing the draft budget total to $107,850, 242 up $3,035,983 from the 2009-2010 budget total of $104,814,259, according to Assistant Superintendent for Finance David Grackin.  The tax rate is estimated to increase from $193.97 per $100 of assessed valuation to $200.76.

In developing the plan, district officials extensively pared down expenditures by $2.985 million, he said, in a myriad of ways including eliminating 28.3 full-time positions and cutting extracurricular programs.

Superintendent John Finello described the process of developing the draft budget as "painful" in several ways. "When you make changes that do affect program, and this will deifnitely affect the program, it is painful and it s painful when it affects taffing and the jobs of those who have done a great job for us so we will talk about where we are now."

The draft plan makes several assumptions, including the district's assessed valuation remaining flat at $46,128,234. State aid is expected to decline by $315,427 to $11,946,576. The district is also projecting $1,866,100 in miscellaneous revenues and officials are recommending appropriating $1.43 million from the fund balance to hold down property taxes.

"The fund balance isn't sexy but it has allowed us to make capital improvements without having  to borrow and to fund worker's compensation expenses without having an annual appropriation for that," Grackin said. He said this year's draft budget proposes putting one percent of budget in to the fund instead of two percent, as it has done for the past decade."

The budget draft does preserve the full-day kindergarten program, present bus transportation practices, the high school science research program, drama club productions, more than five dozen athletic teams, an extensive selection of clubs, the college and career counseling center, the alternative high school program, honors and advanced placement courses, reading, speech and special education services, academic competitions and science fairs and monies to purchase maintenance tools and supplies to keep the district's eight buildings in good condition.

The largest single expense area in the budget goes to pay the salaries of professional staff members responsible for carrying out the district's educational program.

Expenses for the Teacher's Retirement System will rise by $850,000 to $4.35 million and costs for the Employees Retirement System will grow by $500,000 to $1.5 million. The state is increasing the contribution rates assessed on payroll by both systems.

Transportation expenses are budgeted to run $8,642,186 or $300,036 more than the current year.
Medical insurance for employees is budgeted at $13,978,317, a reduction of $85,167 over the current year's budget. The draft budget for the district's program for students with disabilities is set at $18,213,418 or $481,645 more than 2009/10.

Trustees will spend two more meetings—Mondays, March 22 and April 12— reviewing the plan, listening to public comments and evaluating updated financial projections. School Board members are scheduled to adopt the budget on Monday, April 19. A public hearing on the plan will be held on Monday, May 10. All of the meetings will be held in the Jack Abrams Intermediate School auditorium at 7:30 p.m.

Residents will go to the polls to decide the budget's ultimate fate on Tuesday May 18 from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Huntington High School.