Schools

MIller Place BOE Talks Taxes, Spending

Board of Education outlines its costs from the state, residents again plead for saving of clubs and activities

The Miller Place Board of Education highlighted its district costs at the third budget workshop Wednesday night before residents again pleaded for the saving of clubs and Advanced Placement classes, currently still on the cutting board of the proposed budget for the 2011-12 fiscal year.

Deputy Superintendent Dr. Marianne Higuera announced that district costs are projected to rise by six percent to 6.2 million despite the possible reduction of nearly 50 employees. Employees' Retirement Systems (ERS) could rise by 57 percent and Teachers' Retirement Systems (TRS) 24 percent with staff reductions. ERS is set by New York State for all State Departments and is projected to rise from just over $650,000 in 2010-11 to over one million in 2011-12, a projection of 16.5 percent of employee salaries.

The district will be dipping into 50 percent of its reserves for the upcoming budget, just under 4.8 million of its reserve fund balance of $9,577,451. With the possibility of a tax cap in 2012, Higuera is weary of using much of the reserves.

Find out what's happening in Miller Place-Rocky Pointwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"Being left with 50 percent of reserves is a situation that will have to be monitored very, very closely," she said.

State aid is projected to drop by nearly seven percent with construction aid and 13.46 percent without construction aid. In the proposed budget, the projected tax rate will increase by 7.78 percent, with the monthly cost to the average taxpayer increasing by $56.93. Higuera said that if the board did not apply this, even more cuts to the district would have had to be made.

Find out what's happening in Miller Place-Rocky Pointwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Of utmost concern to most residents again were the widespread cuts to clubs at the middle school and high school levels as well as the eliminations and reductions of many AP classes. Laurel Sutton, a Miller Place resident and member of the Miller Place PTO, urged the board to "get creative" in order to save these valuable assets to college-bound children. Sutton said she'd be "willing to pay that little extra" in taxes if it means these programs would be saved.

"We are listening," Board President James Moran said. "We're trying to listen to everyone and come up with something that's best for the district.

At the , Moran said the board would further evaluate administrative staff reductions. Wednesday night, the board announced that administrative reductions would be increased from two to four, although they would not announce how that would affect the rest of the budget proposal.

The entire proposed budget can be found on the district's website. The next workshop will be held on Wednesday, March 30 and the budget adoption is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, April 13.

 

 


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