School Board Must Close $738K Budget Gap
The Board of Education has two months to close the budget gap.
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The Board of Education will be tasked with closing a $738,188 gap to balance the district's proposed 2012-2013 budget, superintendent Bruce Watson said Thursday during a presentation of the budget's first draft.
“We’re faced with $738,000 now and we’re going to be spending the next two months with the board in committees talking about how do we close the gap," he said.
The proposed budget, which assumes a 2 percent tax increase, maintains the district's current assets and seeks to add new positions.
“Remember a little over two years ago when we lost $4 million?" Watson said, referring to state aid cuts. "We cut out a ton of positions and we’re trying each year to bring some of them back a little at a time."
The district's goal, he said, will be to keep "everybody and all the programs," while also adding the new positions.
In addition to the revenue raised through taxes and other sources (broken down below), the budget proposes to appropriate $1.1 million from the district's surplus.
As the district approaches the delicate budget balancing process, Watson said it would seek entrepreneurial solutions to bridge the shortfall, citing shared services agreements and school bus advertising as potential revenue generators.
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A breakdown of the first draft of the 2012-2013 Fair Lawn school budget is contained below:
First Draft of 2012-2013 Budget
* = column that is summed to reach 'Balance'
Totals
| REVENUE | |
| 2012-2013 Tax Revenue (with 2% Increase) | $74,621,364 |
| Additional Revenue | $6,242,673 |
| Appropriated Fund Balance | $1,100,000 |
| *Tax Revenue + Additional Revenue + Fund Balance | $81,964,037 |
| EXPENSES | |
| *Budget Book Today (General Expenses) | $82,702,225 |
| BALANCE | (738,188) |
Breaking it Down
Tax Revenue - Expenses
| 2011-2012 Tax Levy | $73,158,200 |
| Allowable Levy Income (2%) | $1,463,164 |
| *2012-2013 Tax Levy Cap (Tax Revenue) | $74,621,364 |
| *Budget Book Today (General Expenses) | ($82,702,225) |
| Balance |
($8,080,861) |
Additional Revenue
| State Aid Estimate |
$1,892,985 |
| Special State Aid Payment | $797,622 |
| Extraordinary Aid Estimate | $1,000,000 |
| Tuition | $485,000 |
| Transportation Fees | $39,450 |
| Capital Reserve Interest | $2,000 |
| Capital Reserve Withdrawal | $300,000 |
| Summer School | $35,560 |
| Special Education Medicaid Interest | $40,078 |
| Other Revenue (Community School) | $1,454,478 |
| Misc. Revenue and Interest | $195,500 |
| Education Job Fund Aid | $0 |
| *Total of Additional Revenue | $6,242,673 |
| *Tax Revenues - Expenses | ($8,080,188) |
| Balance | ($1,838,188) |
Anticipated Closing Fund Balance
| *Planned Fund Balance Appropriation (Surplus Appropriation) | $1,100,000 |
| *Tax Revenue - Expenses + Additional Revenue | ($1,838,188) |
| Balance | ($738,188) |
Zak Koeske
9:31 am on Friday, January 20, 2012
@Adolpho There was actually a discussion of out of district students at last night's meeting (at least one who was found was disenrolled) and a residency investigator was hired by the district. I will be working on a story next week addressing the issue
LENNY
10:11 am on Friday, January 20, 2012
IF YOU CUT POSTIONS A FEW YEARS AGO AND WHERE ABLE TO RUN YOUR DISTRICT WHY BRING THEM BACK . LOOK AT YOUR POSTIONS THAT DO NOT DEAL WITH EDUCATION AND NOT THE PEOPLE ON THE BOTTOM OF THAT PAY SCALE.MOVE YOUR ELECTION TO NOVEMBER THAT SAVES MONEY AND GETS MORE PEOPLE TO VOTE.
Ed Rooney
3:58 pm on Saturday, January 21, 2012
Lenny, I have two good reasons: First, maybe more staff will help people like you discriminate between basic words like "were" and "where". The second reason will be in the form a rhetorical question. Who says the district was functioning better or in the best interest of students without theses positions being filled?
Next, if you don't like the political side of things, you may want to reconsider preferring the BOE election in November.
Your simple mindedness is saddening.
Last, I know a good tutor who can work on your writing skills.
Marty Cone
9:02 am on Saturday, January 21, 2012
Adolpho and Zak, Below is a comment posted by BOE President Rosenberg:
Michael Rosenberg:
8:26 pm on Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Mr. Mostaccioli, we have an ongoing program to identify any students attending our schools that are not residents. If you are aware of any students attending our schools that are not residents, please notify the Superintendent's office so that we can investigate. There is an ongoing process and residency verification program in place. Thank you for your concern in this matter.
I would really like to know what the ongoing process is other than waiting for folks to call in and report something. I think hiring a contract investigator is nice, but I thought we had people in the registration office, employed by the BOE to do this. Why do we hire contractors if we have people to do this? Something doesnt add up....