Spa City school district considers $125M budget

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » The Saratoga Springs City School District’s tentative 2018-19 budget proposal shows a 2.66 percent increase from the 2017-18 budget.

The 2017-18 budget was about $122.7 million, while the current proposal is about $125.9 million.

Budget discussions Tuesday night centered on the Board of Education and administrators continued conversation about the tax levy.

The maximum tax levy limit is 7.41 percent. In the most recent presentation, school administrators showed a rise in the tax levy to 3.8 percent with $175,000 coming from appropriate fund balance to balance the budget.

Board of Education members, however, said they’re concerned about the amount of fund balance to be appropriated to support the budget, raising questions about potentially raising the tax levy to over 4 percent.

Saratoga Springs City School District lost $3.3 million in building aid and will only get $54,000 in foundation, which assistant superintendent for business Tim Hilker said has been the biggest challenges developing this budget.

The associated debt that’s tied to the capital projects that generates the building aid will retire after the 2019-20 budget. Based on the presentation earlier this month, administrators project a -0.91 percent tax levy decrease in the 2020-21 budget.

Discussions will begin again April 10 at the next meeting. The school district will find out the amount of State Aid they will receive after the state budget is finalized. Board of Education members said Tuesday night that how much aid the district receives from the state will help determine their actions.

Hilker anticipated $162,618 in State Aid throughout the budget process, which he still expects.

Over $465,000 worth of program proposals shape up the top priority additions, which are included in the tentative budget proposal. Overall, there was over $1.1 million in budget proposals, but it’s most likely only the top priority program proposals are included.

“Primarily it’s based around student needs,” said Hilker. “More specifically students with special needs.”

The top priority program proposals call for adding five full-

time teachers and two teacher assistants.

The budget is expected to be adopted April 17. The budget vote is scheduled for May 15.

To view the most recent budget presentation, visit http://www.saratogaschools.org/files/filesystem/ BOE%20Regular%20Meeting%20-%203-27-18.pdf.