Voters reject $50.7M Gloversville budget

Initial proposal voted down for third straight year

By RODNEY MINOR, The Leader-Herald
GLOVERSVILLE — For the third year in a row, voters in the Gloversville Enlarged School District rejected the initial budget proposal submitted by the Board of Education.

By a ratio of more than 2-1, voters rejected the proposed $50.7 million budget for the 2008-09 school year Tuesday. The budget would have resulted in a 6.9 percent tax-levy increase.

Now, district residents may be faced with a contingency budget that cuts spending by $4,000 and has the same tax-levy increase as the defeated budget proposal.

School board President Katherine Hillock said the board can adopt a contingency budget — which requires no voter approval — or put another budget proposal up for vote. The school board may decide which path to choose at its next meeting Tuesday.

The district presented revised budgets to the voters with reduced tax-levy increases the last two years the initial budgets were rejected. Those budgets passed each year.

The first 2006-07 budget proposal contained a 6.9 percent tax-levy increase, and passed when the tax-levy increase was reduced to 3.5 percent before being resubmitted to the voters.

Last year, the initial budget proposal was voted down and school officials blamed it on the proposed 1.9 percent tax-levy increase. Voters eventually approved a second budget proposal which totaled $46.8 million and included no tax-levy increase.

Hillock said wiping out the tax-levy increase this year would be unrealistic.

“I don’t see how we could cut the 7 percent [tax-levy increase] from our budget and educate our kids,” she said.

Under a contingency budget, the school district would basically have the budget proposed by the school board, Superintendent Robert DeLilli said.

The main difference would be community organizations would be required to pay to use the school facilities, he said.

A number of cuts were included in the proposed budget. All seventh-grade modified sports were eliminated, three librarian positions were cut, stipends were cut to the advisers of extracurricular clubs and activities, and a general reduction in the number of supplies was expected.

The cuts amounted to about $2 million. School officials said the cuts had to be made because the school district received $118,000 less than expected in state aid, and unexpectedly had the use of $1.8 million in aid restricted to certain programs.

While $200,000 in additional aid was subsequently secured for the district, the school board decided to hold on to the money to secure its fund balance. School officials said the fund balance, between 2 percent and 3 percent in the proposed budget, is supposed to be closer to 4 percent of the budget.

DeLilli said this morning the school board may go back into the budget with the additional aid to determine if any of the cuts can be prevented or if the tax levy can be reduced.

Were the school board to resubmit a budget for public approval, the voting date would have to be determined, he said.

Despite being rejected by a vote of 1,189 to 513, Hillock said the margin of defeat does not matter. The board will consider all constructive criticism when it considers the budget again, she said.



Bus proposal rejected

Voters also rejected a proposal to purchase new buses.

By a vote of 876-728, voters declined to approve the $190,000 bond needed to purchase the two buses. The state would reimburse 90 percent of the money needed to buy the school buses.

Last year, voters initially rejected a proposition to purchase five new school buses. At the time, school board members said the proposition failed because it was on the ballot with an unpopular budget proposal.

Separated from the budget, voters later approved the $400,000 bond to purchase the buses by a vote of 482 to 155. It was well above the 60 percent needed for the proposition to pass.

School Board Vice President Perry Paul said many voters probably do not realize the state will reimburse the school district for almost all of the money it has to spend on the buses.

“It will cost them more in the long run,” he said.

The state Department of Transportation regularly inspects the district’s buses, and those that do not meet the state standard can be pulled off the road or taken off regular routes.

School officials have said a lack of buses would cause routes to be shifted to compensate for fewer buses trying to pick up the same number of students.

DeLilli said he was disappointed the buses did not receive voter approval.

“Ultimately, when DOT pulls the sticker on a bus, we can either lease [a new bus] or buy it straight up,” he said. “But it’s at a cost of almost $100,000 versus $10,000.”



New board member

Former school board member Betsy Simek will rejoin the school board after receiving 1,022 votes Tuesday.

Voters also gave new three-year terms to incumbents E. Lynn Brown (1,080 votes) and Harry Wiggins (951).

Wiggins edged out former board member Joan Oare (948) by three votes to retain his seat.

Board member Gino Calandra did not seek re-election.



Rodney Minor covers Gloversville. He can be reached at gloversville@leaderherald.com.