Proposed budget and capital project, plus a call for legislation topics of Batavia school board meeting

Highlights from the Batavia City School District (BCSD) Board of Education meeting on Feb. 26 include news and updates about the following:

Preliminary Budget Update

Superintendent of Schools Christopher Dailey and Business Administrator Scott Rozanski have met with the Budget Ambassadors and are reviewing the ambassadors budget surveys. Those suggestions and comments will be brought into consideration as work on the Proposed Budget for the 2013-2014 school year continues.

Before the process began, the board of education had directed Dailey and Rozanski to contain any budget increases to no more than a 2 percent. Preliminary figures presented by Dailey indicate that a rollover budget -- one that maintains but does not add any new expenditures - would result in a 4.26-percent increase to the budget and a consequent 6.11-percent increase in the tax levy.

Furthermore, the superintendent noted that the calculation for our districts Property Tax Cap Levy* equals a limit to a 5.51-percent increase (*As has been widely reported, the Property Tax Cap Levy, popularly called the 2-percent tax cap, is actually calculated by using the states eight-step formula, then adding items that the state has identified as exempt from the restriction. If a districts proposed budget falls at or below this calculated limit, passage of its budget requires 50 percent voter approval. If a proposal exceeds the calculated limit, passage requires 60 percent voter approval. )

In order to get to a flat 2 percent tax levy increase, nearly $750,000 needs to be reduced from the preliminary budget, or, to close the gap between the 2 percent goal and the allowable threshold, nearly $638,000 needs to be cut.

Dailey and Rozanski will continue to process the ambassadors comments as well as all the updated figures for such things as retirements and state aid and will report to the board as progress is made toward the final budget proposal.

Legislative Updates & Promoting Local Involvement

Superintendent Dailey reported that the Genesee Valley School Boards Association Advocacy Forum and Legislative Breakfast was well attended by regional school officials and students, including several from our district.

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Proposed budget and capital project, plus a call for legislation topics of Batavia school board meeting