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General News: School District Presents Budget Outlook
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| Superintendent Tim Rehm speaks at Monday's forum. |
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| Melanie Mulroy Robinson (center) was not satisfied with the response she got from an area representative. |
January 10, 2012
By Charlie B. Scirbona
Budget season is approaching and leaders of the Cornwall School District are laying out three options for staying within the state-imposed tax cap: Cut more from the district’s budget, dip into the $2.2 million fund balance the district has accumulated over almost 10 years or convince the public to vote to override the tax levy cap.
The board held a special budget forum Monday to help taxpayers understand what they’re facing in the coming budget cycle and how the tax cap levy works. The forum, which was held in the middle school’s new cafeteria, was standing room only. The crowd was a mix of community member, teachers and school board members.
Superintendent of Schools Timothy Rehm focused on the fact that the school district has continued to expand with almost 500 new students enrolled in the past ten years. He explained that unfunded state mandates and cuts in state aid have caused the district to hit a point where the districts sports and arts programs, as well as elective classes, are in danger of being cut from the budget.
During last year’s budget talks, the board cut a third of modified sports as well as all clubs from the elementary schools. The board had considered cutting all of JV sports along with several elective classes and fourth-grade band.
Assistant Superintendent for Business Harvey Sotland also spoke about the tax levy cap. Sotland explained that the cap levy isn’t truly a two-percent cap and that it’s based on several variables that differ from town to town. The variable included current and past year’s tax exemptions and PILOTs as well as tax base growth and any available carry-over. In Cornwall’s case, the maximum allowable tax levy is projected to be 2.52 percent.
Most of the crowd’s questions focused on what the board can do to fix this. One member of the crowd asked what the state legislators were doing to help the district. Board President Larry Berger said that while they meet with the legislators at least once a year the legislators essentially don’t offer any help. Board Vice President Melanie Mullroy Robinson recounted one talk she had with state Assemblywoman Nancy Calhoun about the district’s’need for more state aid.
“She basically said, ‘well find more ways to cut,’ not ‘I’m fighting for you, I understand.’ That’s not what I wanted to hear,” said Robinson.
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