The community budget forum, held in the high school’s large group instruction room, featured presentations by Board of Education President Ryan Riefler, Vice President John Fuller, School Business Administrator Anthony Sonnaccio and Superintendent Craig Tice.
As Mr. Sonnacchio told board members at their Jan. 21 meeting, after Gov. Andrew Cuomo released his draft budget, the district now faces a budget gap, based on anticipated revenues of $29.79 million and projected expenditures of $31.37 million.
But the district has many more tools at its disposal to pare down the deficit, Mr. Sonnachio said, such as staffing reductions through attrition, increased state aid from the NYS Senate and Assembly, additional use of district reserves, and other savings resulting from contract negotiations.
During the forum:
As Mr. Sonnacchio told board members at their Jan. 21 meeting, after Gov. Andrew Cuomo released his draft budget, the district now faces a budget gap, based on anticipated revenues of $29.79 million and projected expenditures of $31.37 million.
But the district has many more tools at its disposal to pare down the deficit, Mr. Sonnachio said, such as staffing reductions through attrition, increased state aid from the NYS Senate and Assembly, additional use of district reserves, and other savings resulting from contract negotiations.
During the forum:
- Mr. Fuller discussed the budget in a historical context. Since 2008, Marcellus has had to weather not only losses in state aid, but also steep increases in retirement contribution rates, declining student enrollment and staffing reductions. Mr. Fuller stressed that during the past four years, the school district lost a total of $7,824,370 in state aid to the Gap Elimination Adjustment.
Yet, even in the face of these challenges, the district labored to limit tax increases and maintain the level of instructional programming that residents have come to expect from Marcellus schools. Marcellus Central School District once again ranks among the state’s lowest (30th out of 671 total school districts) in per-pupil spending. - Mr. Sonnacchio, the district’s business administrator, explained what the governor’s proposed state budget means for Marcellus. The governor’s proposal calls for a modest increase in base aids of $180,566, resulting in a $1.57 million operating deficit for the next school year. To close this deficit, Mr. Sonnacchio projected what would happen if the district used reserve funds (including any fund balance from the current year) and increased local property tax revenues to the tax levy limit. While these measures would make the deficit more manageable, Mr. Sonnaccio cautioned that the reserve funds are limited and will be exhausted over time if they are continuously used to balance the budget.
- Mr. Riefler discussed future goal development and the district’s priorities from the Board of Education’s perspective. Mr. Riefler said these priorities include student safety, fiscal responsibility to taxpayers, improving academic programs while increasing student opportunities, and maintenance of the physical plant, technology infrastructure, and human capital. Mr. Riefler said the Board of Education was reaching out to the district’s state legislators, including Sen. John DeFrancisco and Assemblyman Gary Finch, to share district concerns and accomplishments.
- Dr. Tice expressed his gratitude to the staff while highlighting Marcellus Central School District’s past accomplishments, current initiatives and future challenges. Dr. Tice thanked the faculty, support staff, administrators and Board of Education for their efforts to not only be transparent but also accountable: in financial matters, educational program development and review, student assessment, curriculum alignment, bench-marking district achievement against rigorous standards, professional collaboration, and the care and maintenance of the campus.
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