SHERBURNE – With only a handful of district residents in attendance, “shameful” was how the public hearing held last Monday for the proposed Sherburne-Earlville Central School’s budget for next year was described.
“I’m very surprised to see not more people involved in this. It’s shameful,” said Ken House of Poolville, referring to the district’s proposed $28,975,880 budget.
Voters will have the opportunity to accept or reject a 1.99 percent tax hike on Tuesday as well as vote in three candidates to fill three vacant positions on the district’s board of education. Newcomer Daniel Piliero of Earlville will join incumbents Thomas Morris and Patrick Dunshee on the ballot to fill the seats.
Stephen Bodnar of Palmer Road, Sherburne, who also spoke at the hearing, said he has watched as industry and agribusiness have left the district, taking along much of working population, but leaving behind taxes to be paid by those who remain.
“The only one left is me, the homeowner,” he said. “We’re on a real thin line here. If I can’t make it, this school system is going to crumble.”
Bodnar advised the district’s board of education to find ways to lower the tax rate, and said he was concerned about affording the $25.2 multi-year capital building project currently underway.
“The days of bigger, better and more beautiful are over,” he said.
Palmer questioned teachers’ union contracts which will award a 2.9 percent salary increases and a 6.8 percent hike in benefits for the next school year.
“They are making too much for working only half the year. They only work 180 days and make three times what I make,” he said.
The budget includes a seven percent reduction in staff, or eight full time and two part time positions. Using an overhead projector screen in the middle/high school auditorium, Assistant Superintendent Thomas Strain outlined the 3.73 percent budget increase from last year, about $880,000 of which is for benefits and salaries increases. The budget reflects a 3.16 percent cut in administration, .86 percent more for programs and cuts to the capital budget (which includes salaries and benefits) equaling 1.11 percent over 2009/2010.
Superintendent Gayle Hellert asked for more input from the public during teacher contract negotiations coming up in 2012. Due to the schools’ declining enrollment, elementary teachers are first targeted for cuts. Eliminating instructors in the upper grades is difficult to impossible, Strain said, because core subjects are required for certification.
“The loss of student population can’t be confined to one teacher in the upper grades,” said Strain. ‘We are looking at the upcoming negotiations. Unfortunately, we can’t react as fast as the economy; it can tank instantly.”
“It’s going to get worse. We are not at the worse place we can be yet. We think they (the economic times) will be worse, and we are in preparations for that,” Hellert said.
The budget was projected after infusing $900,000 from the appropriated fund balance, up about $60,000 from years past, as well as $250,000 from retirement contribution reserves.
The district anticipates a New York State reduction of $919,187.