What happens if district residents vote ‘no’ on May 18?

When voters take to the polls on the third Tuesday of May, they will have two choices when it comes to their local school district’s proposed budget for the coming year. They can vote yes, or they can vote no.
If the majority of votes cast are in favor of the tentative spending plan, the proposed budget with its estimated tax levy impact will be adopted by the district’s school board, tax warrants will be issued and all will move forward as usual.
But what happens if voters defeat the budget proposal put forward by the board?
According to Doreen Rowe, who serves as Assistant Superintendent for Business Services at DCMO BOCES, districts basically have two options if that occurs. They can either choose to move directly to a contingency budget, she explained, or go to a second vote with either the same or a revised proposal. If a district does decide to go to a second vote – held, according to state guidelines, on the third Tuesday in June – and that proposal is defeated once more, they are required by state law to adopt a contingency budget by July 1.
Each year, the state establishes a contingency budget cap, which limits the amount a district can increase its spending over the prior year. This cap, according to Rowe, is calculated based on the Consumer Price Index.
“This year it’s zero,” reported Rowe, or the same level of spending as last year.
Contingency budgets are nothing new across New York State. During the 2004-05 academic year, the Norwich City School District found itself in a contingency situation. Because the proposed budget, which was defeated twice by voters, was higher than the contingency cap, drastic cuts were necessary.
Current Norwich City School Board President Bob Patterson vividly remembers the steps taken to reduce spending that year.
“We had to wipe out athletics,” he said, adding that supplies and equipment were also “cut down to zero.” An ad-hoc community group, called Norwich Cares, stepped up to the plate, and was able to raise the money necessary to reinstate the programs cut.
But being in a contingency situation this year will be much different than what those who lived through it in Norwich might remember. Since most local districts will be presenting voters with spending plans which already fall below the contingency level, further large-scale cuts will not be necessary in most cases. (Most districts have already proposed a number of cuts.)
Contrary to what some have suggested, a defeat of the budget will not mean that district spending can or will be increased to the contingency level if the initial proposed budget falls below that amount. Therefore, voters should not expect any program or position cuts proposed in the tentative budget proposal to be reinstated if a district goes into contingency, unless the board should choose to include those items in a revised budget.
In fact, further cuts would still be necessary, even if a proposed budget already falls below the contingency cap.
“There are a number of items that have to come out regardless of spending levels,” Rowe explained, all according to a complex formula established by the state.
According to NYSED website, a contingency budget is calculated by subtracting all “non-contingency appropriations from the proposed budget.” That includes eliminating the purchase of student supplies, such as paper and crayons if they are provided; community use of the school buildings and property; certain types of equipment purchases; and certain salary increases.
In addition, the administrative portion of the budget may not exceed the percentage of the total budget it represented in the prior year’s budget. That means if the administrative component of the budget comprised 6 percent of last year’s budget, excluding the capital component, it can not exceed that percentage in the contingency budget. If, however, the administrative portion of the defeated budget represents a smaller percentage than the previous year, it must not represent a larger percentage under the contingency budget.
“Therefore, the contingency budget adopted by the Board of Education would always be less than the proposed budget,” the website concludes.
The state agency does lay out procedures for handling unexpected expenditures due to enrollment increases, students with special needs, etc. And, based on legislation enacted in 2007-08, if a district should receive an increase in foundation aid from the state, that additional aid revenue would not be subject to the contingency cap.
More information on the school budget process and contingency procedures can be obtained by visiting www.emsc.nysed.gov/mgtserv/budgeting/.
Rowe’s research has included not only what it would mean for local districts if their proposed budgets are voted down, but also her own. School boards at each of the 16 schools in the DCMO BOCES district will cast their own votes on the cooperative education organization’s administrative budget tomorrow night. If it is not approved by a majority of the component districts, the budget will move automatically to contingency.
According to Rowe, only one BOCES budget has ever been voted down before. That occurred in 2006 in the Oswego BOCES. Prior to that event, she said, the state had no established guidelines for handling the issue.
“It took quite a few conversations with the state to eventually figure it out,” she said. The result is a much easier formula than what schools must contend with, and she has already run preliminary numbers to determine its effect. The proposed budget already falls under the contingency cap, she explained, and adjustments of non-contingency items would require a roughly $55,000 reduction.

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