Taxpayers Association President: 'Zero Is A Beautiful Word'

The Board of School Estimate met Thursday to hear a detailed presentation on the proposed 2011-2011 school operating budget which would reduce expenditures for the first time in 10 years.

Initially, the plan would have called for a less than one percent increase in the local school tax, but thanks to an unexpected award of $597,811 in state aid, which is earmarked to offset some special education spending, that tax increase would not be necessary. Overall, the plan would cut expenditures by 0.32 percent from last year's budget.

"I feel proud to be presenting this to the community," said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Nathan Parker, who added this is the first budget-to-budget decrease he's seen in his more than 25 year career in education.

The proposed budget is actually $1,779,421 under the two percent tax cap with a -.003 percent tax levy. However, because the school operates on a July to June fiscal calendar and the city does not, the next tax bill will include the second half of the tax levy for the 2010-2011 budget and the first half of the tax levy of the proposed (which is zero). Therefore, taxpayers will see an 2.6 percent impact on the average home assessed at $410,000 or an increase of $198.68 next year.

"This community is hungry for positive news," said Tom Garvey, president of the Summit Taxpayers Association. "And this is positive news."

Parker said the areas in which costs are up are no surprise: healthcare and pension costs are up 4.95 percent and salaries increased 2.10 percent. In addition, guidance support services are up 2.18 percent, resource room salaries and supplies are up .50 percent, school administration salaries and supplies are up . 56 percent and the district had invested in staff training, increase spending in that area 71.49 percent.

And while enrollment in the district has grown seven percent since 2005-2006 and 26 percent over the last 10 years, the district has been able to decrease expenditures in several areas in the proposed budget through cost containment and other methods.

Through the utilization of RODS grants, the district has been able to reduce capital outlay by 38.98 percent and by bringing more special education students back in district, the administration has saved $276,660 on out of district tuition expenses, a decrease of 9.59 percent.

Other areas of decreased expenditures are general administration support services which are down 10 percent, regular program instruction supplies and textbooks down 3.98 percent, business office personnel down 4.14 percent and gas and electric costs down .78 percent.

"I'm the severe money miser in the city," said Councilman Rich Madden who also chairs the city's finance committee. "And what I see numbers like this I'm impressed."

Over the last three years, Business Administrator Lou Pep said the district has also been able to reduce spending in other areas, including in some personnel reductions, by negotiating a greater contribution from staff into their health benefit costs and in simple ways by changing banks.

"That’s what helped us get to where we are today," Pepe said. "We didn’t get here by accident. It took planning."

In addition, during the budget process, the administration discovered there was an inequity in the per pupil spending at the elementary schools.

In 2010-2011, the district spent more per student at Lincoln-Hubbard than any other elementary school in the district. The district spent $108 per student at Lincoln-Hubbard. $95 per student at Jefferson, $90 at Brayton, $77 at Washington and just $68 per student at Franklin. In the proposed budget, cost per student spending has been equalized at $87 per student across all of the elementary schools.

Likewise, the district will now spend $21 per student for textbooks whereas that number also varied among the different elementary schools in the past.

"Zero is a beautiful word," Garvey said.

The Board of School Estimate will hold a public hearing and a vote on March 29 at 7 p.m. in council chambers at city hall.

Proposed 2011-2012 Summit Public Schools Budget

EXPENDITURES

REVENUES