Administrators Scale Back Budget

After revising the first draft of the Glen Cove School District's preliminary 2010-11 budget, the district's administrators are now proposing $71.4 million in expenditures for next year. The new figure is an estimated $180,000 decrease from the first draft. 

Superintendent Dr. Laurence Aronstein, who presented the latest draft at a school board meeting on Monday night, said that the district is doing the best it can to keep the budget to budget increase as low as possible. The current proposal is roughly a $2 million — or 3.02 percent — increase in spending over the current year. 

The budget, which is scheduled for a public vote on May 18, is the district's annual spending plan. 

Salaries still comprise the biggest expense in the latest budget at $37.9 million or 53.11 percent. Health insurance premiums and state mandates such as retirement contributions, school officials said, also account for part of the 3.02 percent expenditure hike. 

"The money in this budget is in salaries, employee benefits and existing contracts," Aronstein explained. "Almost 80 percent of this budget is based upon instruction and fringe benefits." 

The savings in the latest draft comes primarily from a $125,000 decrease in capital project expenditures. Administrators lowered their proposal from $890,000 to $765,000, with new carpeting at the Glen Cove High School library and a few other projects being removed from the district's list. 

The seventh grade athletic program, which was eliminated in the first draft in order to save $64,000, has been put back into the budget. Administrators said they still expect to save $16,000 in athletic programs next year by not fielding the same teams at the high school that were not funded this year.  

School officials also scaled back the budget's proposed teaching cuts from 13.5 to 11 teaching positions. The second draft also calls for eliminating a teaching assistant job. 

The latest budget proposal, however, still prompted two residents to voice concerns about losing teachers and staff at the high school during Monday night's meeting.

Aronstein declined to reveal which positions could be eliminated, because, he said, the budget is still in the revision process. He said he would announce the positions in two weeks, which is when the third draft of the budget is expected to be finalized.

Although the district is still waiting for the state's budget to be approved, school officials have already projected that the district will lose a little more than $880,000 in state aid next year. Gov. David Paterson's executive spending plan allots about $6.9 million in aid for the district. 

As a result of this and decreases in other revenue sources such as utilities, taxes and earnings, the district currently has the tax levy for next year set at an estimated $60.1 million. The proposed levy, which is the amount of money that needs to be raised locally, is a $3.1 million increase from the current levy. 

School officials said they remain hopeful that the 2010-11 budget will be approved by voters, but they now have a heightened concern about the future of finances in the district if the economic climate in the state does not improve.  

"What really frightens me is next year's budget, because we have no where to go," Aronstein said. " ... This budget here will take us down to the bone ... and out of 46 years in this profession, I have never seen a situation this bad." 

The board will continue budget discussions at its next meeting on March 22 at the Robert M. Finley Middle School at 8 p.m.