Blind Brook Schools looks for minor cuts to keep 2024-25 budget tax cap-compliant

Increases in employee benefits, special education costs put district in tight position

March 7, 2024 at 2:56 a.m.

The Blind Brook School District’s 2024-25 budget development is well underway, and its current iteration implies cuts will have to be made throughout the district to compensate for mandated increased spending.

Superintendent Dr. Colin Byrne presented the Board of Education his preliminary budget proposal on Thursday, Mar. 5, giving the public its first look at the district’s proposed spending plan.

This year’s tax cap is set at 4.54%, allowing the district to levy up to $52.1 million in taxes from the Blind Brook community—an increase of $2.26 million over last year, which was $49.8 million.

Should the 2024-25 proposal stay tax cap-compliant, it would see a total of $59.13 million in revenue for the next school year, up $2.05 million from the 2023-2024 budget.

The original budget seen on the ballot last year exceeded the tax cap drastically with a proposed 10.85% increase, which would have seen a $50.8 million levy. One of the key factors forcing the district into that position was the large increase in employee benefits, specifically health insurance increases.

In an unprecedented move, the Blind Brook community voted down the budget—forcing the district to submit another, with the risk of austerity at stake.

Though the second budget passed, still surpassing the tax cap, the saga sent the district a message that it wasn’t going to forget anytime soon.

“We’ve heard everybody loud and clear, and our goal is to either stay at or below the allowable tax levy cap,” Byrne said during the presentation. “However, it is proving challenging because we are still struggling with a lot of the costs that we had last year.”

Byrne also presented the proposed expenditures for the district, totaling $59.38 million, an increase of $2.3 million compared to the 2023-2024 budget.

That means the district currently anticipates a $250,000 budget gap, with earnings coming in under the anticipated costs.

“So, we will have to either find a way to increase our revenue by that number or decrease our expenses in order to balance those two things out,” the superintendent said.

While the district expects a 3.6% increase in revenue, the preliminary budget sees a 4% jump in expenditures over the previous spending plan.

“We, like everyone else, are still struggling with inflation and increased costs, especially in the healthcare and insurance areas,” Byrne said. Employee benefits will see a $1.14 million spike, or 9.1%. It’s an issue that was seen last year when benefits leapt $2 million.

It’s a mandated cost, though according to Board Member Scott Jaffee, the district attempted to search for an alternative to the New York State Health Insurance Program after facing similar issues last year.

“There was no magic salve there, and I’m not sure we expected there to be,” he said.

It’s a problem that other municipalities have been wrestling with, the superintendent relayed.

“There are several districts in our area who have already established they have to go over the tax cap,” he said. “Escalating costs in healthcare and insurance are just too much.” He listed Rye City and Chappaqua as districts that presented budgets which may have to see a supermajority, or over 60% of voters voting in favor, to pass.

The second-largest cost increase in the proposed budget is in special education and pupil services.

The $490,000 in budget-to-budget growth sparked a conversation among board members on whether the district should continue in the direction it’s heading.

Board President Jeffrey Mensch described it as “unsustainable” as he aired his frustrations with the significant increases.

“Between special and pupil services and healthcare costs, we’re up $1.6 million before we gave any teacher a single raise, before we add a single program, a textbook or anything like that,” he said.

It’s been a topic that board members showed concern over since October 2023 when they were presented with an update on the pupil services program.

At the time, there was unease as the department had continuously grown to take up a larger part of the budget. Between the 2022-23 and 2023-24 budgets, it saw an increase in spending of 12.5%, $874,000. Board members were concerned because it’s difficult to gauge the success of programs such as special education.

According to Byrne, Director of Pupil Services Harry Burg is working on a long-term plan, which should paint a picture of what programming across the district looks like.

“I’ll always put out the caveat there that we can never really have a solid number on special education because we don’t know what needs students will have either coming into the school, or develop along the way,” he said. “But we do need a better understanding of where we want to go in the next couple of years.”

To stay at, or below, the tax cap, Byrne said building administrators have gone back to their budgets and made cuts in certain areas.

Reductions include class trips, assemblies, theater, furniture, technology equipment and more.

Byrne emphasized that these programs are not being eliminated completely, but their funding is being reduced in a way that “won’t cut back on the educational process.”

As the board continuously stressed throughout the meeting, this preliminary budget is not what will be adopted by the board on Apr. 16. Once a proposal is finalized, a public hearing will be held on May 14, followed by the public vote on May 21. Community members will also be voting to fill two Board of Education seats, as Board President Jeffrey Mensch and member Scott Jaffee’s three-year terms will be up at the end of June.

Additionally, the ballot will feature a proposition to enter a lease-purchase agreement to buy one new 72-passenger school bus for $151,275, to be paid off in five years. It’s part of the district’s plan to replace its aging fleet of buses. Last year, the district put up a proposition to purchase two buses in a similar fashion.

The next step in the process is the Saturday Budget Workshop on Mar. 16. Beginning with breakfast at 8:00 a.m., attendees will be presented with a deep dive into the budget starting at 8:30 a.m., as administrators and department heads move through expenditures line by line.

Byrne invites members of the community to partake in the meeting to ask questions about the budget.