By Carol P. Bartold

May 11, 2016: The Bronxville Board of Education will present its approximately $46.6 million budget for 2016-2017 to village voters on Tuesday, May 17. Voting will take place in the Blue Gym of the school from 7:00 am until 9:00 pm.

The board held a public hearing on the budget at its May 5 meeting. Although time was available for public comment, there was none.

The approximately $46.6 million budget for 2016-2017 calls for a 0.24 percent tax levy increase. The tax levy calculates to a tax rate of approximately $13.36 per $1,000 of assessed property value, down 2.8 percent from the approximately $13.75 rate in the current year.

The school district budget will be financed through a combination of a tax levy of approximately $40.9 million, non-property tax revenue of $5.1 million, and $585,000 from the district’s appropriated fund balance.

“This is a very good result for this year,” said board president Denise Tormey. “We have evaluated all of the existing fund balance reserves and are comfortable with their adequacy.”

Dan Carlin, assistant superintendent for business, explained that, with enrollment remaining flat for several years after a significant increase in 2013, the district did not need to budget for extra staffing for the 2016-2017 academic year. Enrollment is projected to be 1,708 students, Carlin said.

Both savings and increased costs served as drivers in formulating the budget. Eight teachers accepted the retirement incentive the district negotiated with the Bronxville Teachers' Association this year. Carlin noted that the district will benefit from a significant salary decrease in hiring new teachers to replace the retirees. Those salary savings, along with the reduction of two positions at the school during the current year, and a lower than expected pension contribution rate served to offset increased costs for 2016-2017.

According to Carlin, the district expects to incur increased health insurance and security costs. Also in the budget are anticipated additional costs from an agreement under negotiation with The Bronxville Women’s Club for site improvements that will provide satellite parking for school staff.

Looking forward to the following year for the 2017-2018 budget, Jeff Rohr, board vice president and chair of the finance committee, emphasized that the district does not expect to reap, again, significant savings from retirement incentives or pension reduction benefits. He added that the district also will not know until midway through the 2016-2017 year what the required pension contribution for the next year will be.

“We’re not anticipating having retirement incentives next year like we have this year,” Rohr said, “and we won’t know until halfway through the [2016-2017] year where the pension expense will wind up.” He advised voters to prepare for a possible 3.5% tax levy increase for the 2017-2018 budget and, therefore, a tax levy cap override referendum to fund the 2017-2018 budget if current programs are to be continued.

Without the override, Rohr said, the district would have to consider making “very substantial cuts” of things that cannot simply be reinstated. He warned that once cuts are made, any subsequent increases would still be subject to the maximum 2 percent allowable tax cap. “You really can’t reinstate anything once you cut,” Rohr said.

“We’re happy that we alerted the community now,” said Denise Tormey, “so that people are cognizant of the fact that next year may be a completely different situation.”

Pictured here (L to R):  Board president Denise Tormey, Superintendent Dr. David Quattrone, and board members Jon Atkeson and Adele Murray.

Photo by Neely Bower