Rocky Point Looking for Community Involvement in Budget Process

The Rocky Point Board of Education delivered its first budget presentation for the upcoming 2012-13 school year and afterward, Superintendent Michael Ring conveyed the district's desire for more community involvement in the process.

The budget workshop, which preceded the board meeting, went over the administration, transportation, debt service, building and grounds, benefits, personnel and library/technology categories of the upcoming budget.

"Each of the last four budget years have been challenging but this year will be as challenging, if not more challenging than those years," Ring said. "The involvement of the community is as critical or more critical than ever.

The presentation laid out what the district calls "significant factors" for the upcoming budget, which include a lack of state aid, absence of significant mandate relief, a non-recurrence of federal job fund (resulting in a loss of $701,000) and the implementation of the tax cap. All of these factors present possible hurdles for the district.

"We encourage the community to come to the workshops, learn about what is being proposed, come to the board meeting in March to understand the full package that’s going to be proposed and ask all the questions they have," Ring said. "Community support in the process is important for the end product."

The next budget workshop will be held on Feb. 13 at 5:30 p.m. and the first budget overview is scheduled for March 26. View the first budget workshop here on the district website. Click here to watch video of Monday's board meeting.