Hermon-DeKalb girds for bigger state aid loss

DEKALB JUNCTION — Hermon-DeKalb Central School officials over the next month will work to pare down a 6.32 percent tax levy increase with its proposed $8,868,755 budget for 2010-11.

"We're going to wait until the last minute to see where we are as far as state aid goes," Superintendent Ann M. Adams said. "Usually when you get the governor's proposal, that's the worst-case scenario. We're hearing it could be worse than that. I'm hearing that the deficit is worse than when the governor put his budget together. We don't have anything left to cut."

Gov. David A. Paterson's budget proposes a 3.99 percent aid decrease for the district from this year.

The school board has canceled its budget meeting planned for March 15 because of the uncertainty.

The current budget proposal represents a 0.9 percent spending increase over this year's $8,860,449 budget, said Janet M. Boyd, school district business manager.

"It's a difference of about $8,000," Ms. Boyd said. "The only additional things we're anticipating are refinishing the gym floor and repaving the parking lot."

Ms. Adams said district officials expect to roll over to next year $560,000 left over from the school's recent $6.3 million renovation project, which was finished last year.

"We also had a veteran staff member retire after the budget was done last year, so we had less expenditures for special education than we anticipated," she said.

The budget proposal was unveiled last week. Ms. Adams said school board members will work to bring the proposed 6.32 percent tax levy increase down to between 3 percent and 5 percent. The proposed levy is $2,177,090, up from $2,047,602 this year.

The proposal spends nothing out of the fund balance, but Ms. Adams and Ms. Boyd said that is likely to change in the final spending plan, which is scheduled to go before voters May 18.