POPLAR RIDGE - With just one week remaining before Southern Cayuga Central School District taxpayers go to the polls to vote on a revised 2008-09 school budget, school officials listened to questions and concerns voiced by community members during a public budget hearing Monday that lasted more than two hours.
Jill Connor / The Citizen
Southern Cayuga Central School District Board of Education members Jim Wilcox, left, and Leonard Jordan react to questions from the community at a public hearing Monday evening.
Southern Cayuga Central School District Board of Education members Jim Wilcox, left, and Leonard Jordan react to questions from the community at a public hearing Monday evening.
Voters will get their say June 17 on a proposed budget of $16,373,330, a 2.9 percent increase over last year's numbers, that carries an estimated tax levy increase of 4.47 percent.
The district amended an original budget of $16,448,192 with a tax levy increase of 5.24 percent after voters defeated the proposal May 20.
During the session, the some-40 people in attendance broached subjects such as declining enrollment, alternative energies, converting to a single bus run and long range planning.
Superintendent Mary Kay Worth and Business Administrator Martha Stevermer sought to clarify information received within the last few days regarding a debt owed to the state after hearing several questions from the public.
Last month, the board of education was notified that the district owes the state more than $400,000 from building projects since 2002. Stevermer said the state Education Department overestimated bond amounts for those years, and are now taking back that money through a reduction in state aid.
The district will receive separate bills for each of the academic school years for which the state overestimated; that is, Southern Cayuga will not be paying back $400,000 in one lump sum, she said.
The current debt owed for the next academic year is $182,196, which is a third of the debt owed for the 2002-03 and 2003-04 school years, Stevermer said. For these bills, the district qualified for a three-year payback because it has a low fund balance, or a rainy-day fund. There is no guarantee the district will qualify for this kind of payback for future bills.
Even though the district made spending cuts to the original budget, the revised budget was in danger of carrying a larger tax levy increase to offset the cost of the debt.
At the same time, the state owes the district 181,394 for the latter half of the 1990s and the year 2000.
The money owed to the district is in a que, Worth said, and when the district is close enough to the top, the state Senate releases that money.
Late last week, state Sen. Michael F. Nozzolio and Cayuga-Onondaga Board of Cooperative Educational Services Superintendent Bill Speck were given reasonable assurance that the district is high enough on the list for $150,000 of the money to be released for the 2008-09 school year.
Community member Mary Burns, of Genoa, said the money will help the district for the next academic year, but asked school officials what is going to happen for future years when the district has to pay back the debt and the $150,000 is not there to offset the cost.
“What the board is very, very aware of,” Worth said, “this is not just a one year concern the board is extremely aware of what's going to happen over the next two to three years with the long range financial planning.
“We need to talk about it for people to understand, for the board to understand, what has to happen next,” she added.
Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. June 17 in the Planetarium at the Poplar Ridge campus on Route 34B.
Staff writer Alyssa Sunkin can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 239 or alyssa.sunkin@lee.net
The district amended an original budget of $16,448,192 with a tax levy increase of 5.24 percent after voters defeated the proposal May 20.
During the session, the some-40 people in attendance broached subjects such as declining enrollment, alternative energies, converting to a single bus run and long range planning.
Superintendent Mary Kay Worth and Business Administrator Martha Stevermer sought to clarify information received within the last few days regarding a debt owed to the state after hearing several questions from the public.
Last month, the board of education was notified that the district owes the state more than $400,000 from building projects since 2002. Stevermer said the state Education Department overestimated bond amounts for those years, and are now taking back that money through a reduction in state aid.
The district will receive separate bills for each of the academic school years for which the state overestimated; that is, Southern Cayuga will not be paying back $400,000 in one lump sum, she said.
The current debt owed for the next academic year is $182,196, which is a third of the debt owed for the 2002-03 and 2003-04 school years, Stevermer said. For these bills, the district qualified for a three-year payback because it has a low fund balance, or a rainy-day fund. There is no guarantee the district will qualify for this kind of payback for future bills.
Even though the district made spending cuts to the original budget, the revised budget was in danger of carrying a larger tax levy increase to offset the cost of the debt.
At the same time, the state owes the district 181,394 for the latter half of the 1990s and the year 2000.
The money owed to the district is in a que, Worth said, and when the district is close enough to the top, the state Senate releases that money.
Late last week, state Sen. Michael F. Nozzolio and Cayuga-Onondaga Board of Cooperative Educational Services Superintendent Bill Speck were given reasonable assurance that the district is high enough on the list for $150,000 of the money to be released for the 2008-09 school year.
Community member Mary Burns, of Genoa, said the money will help the district for the next academic year, but asked school officials what is going to happen for future years when the district has to pay back the debt and the $150,000 is not there to offset the cost.
“What the board is very, very aware of,” Worth said, “this is not just a one year concern the board is extremely aware of what's going to happen over the next two to three years with the long range financial planning.
“We need to talk about it for people to understand, for the board to understand, what has to happen next,” she added.
Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. June 17 in the Planetarium at the Poplar Ridge campus on Route 34B.
Staff writer Alyssa Sunkin can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 239 or alyssa.sunkin@lee.net
The Citizens' Say
There are 5 comment(s)
a.mom wrote on Jun 10, 2008 6:03 PM:
Our kids need basic skills and a strong foundation so they can compete with students from larger districts when they go to college. My best teachers in high school taught us skills as well as knowledge - I'm thinking specifically of my Western Civ teacher who told us that when we finished his class we would be able to take college level notes in a lecture in any subject. He wasn't kidding, either, to this day I still use the skills he taught us.
Core classes are essential for relaying these kinds of skills as a secondary level of knowledge. If teachers are focusing too much on elective courses, then these lessons fall by the wayside. "
casualobserver wrote on Jun 10, 2008 4:16 PM:
mdean wrote on Jun 10, 2008 1:53 PM:
teacher1 wrote on Jun 10, 2008 1:32 PM:
a)there is absolutely nothing to attract people to the Southern Cayuga area.
b)Southern Cayuga's reputation is widespread. People know about the "issues" with this district. Who in their right mind is going to enroll their child in this district? "
a.mom wrote on Jun 10, 2008 12:51 PM: