School board discusses setbacks; tax hike on the way?

MIcHAEL BRENDAN DOUgHERtY On Tuesday evening, the Brewster Board of Education began what Board President Stephen Jambor called “a series of painful discussions” about the upcoming year’s budget. Draped in front of the board members was an eight-foot banner that Jambor made, showing a red-ink number of $5,215,000, representing what Jambor called “the hits” the school district is taking in a season of setbacks.

“We’re not whining, complaining, or pointing fingers,” said Jambor. “[This number is] not going to go away until we all figure out how to get rid of it. We’ve never walked into a budget season in a deeper hole. This represents over six percent of the operating budget this year.”

Assistant Superintendent Dr. Timothy Conway broke down the $5 million-plus figure: $350,000 was to be spent out of the district’s fund balance on the C.V. Starr retaining wall which was damaged last summer. Court-ordered tax refunds for properties that lost value amounted to anther $60,000. Unemployment costs soared to $370,000, which Conway reported were up “dramatically.” The MTA tax, for which the school could not budget and which has not yet been refunded, added another $360,000 in red ink. Pension billings continued their increase to over $1,450,000. The state aid cuts over the next two years are projected to run to $1,940,000, and grant cuts another $65,000. Even the income from interest collected is down another $220,000 from just over $1 million in a typical year.

The board did not outline specific cuts that would be made to staff, saying it would be impossible to know the exact figures until after the budget passes in Albany, an event which usually comes well after the first week of April, when it is due. Conway also said that year-end fund balance figures would not be known until the financial books are closed on the 2009-10 year.

Conway also outlined the declining figures in the district’s fund balance and unrestricted fund balance. After a reminder from Jambor, Conway mentioned that a declining fund balance could negatively effect the district’s bond rating.

In order to head off some initial questions, Conway tried to separate the recently passed bonds for the new fields and additions to Wells Middle School, saying that those have no effect on next year’s budget, and are done through a bond process rather than a budget process.

Superintendent Dr. Jane Sandbank promised that Brewster would continue to “do more with less,” as it has in the past year. Jambor, also preparing the public for future budget discussions, said that there was “no use in being coy or strategic,” and that the district had to be clear that even with no budget increase at all, the district would be asking for a tax hike, in the absence of increased state or federal aid.

—Michael Brendan Dougherty