Stephen Levine, the president of the Howell K-8 School District Board of Education, said the tentative budget the board has introduced for the 2014-15 school year is a “worst case scenario.”
“I severely doubt that the proposed budget we [introduced on March 26] will be what goes to be heard by the public and up for a vote by the board on May 7,” Levine said.
The 2014-15 budget introduced by the board totals $114.6 million and is proposed to be supported by a $74.7 million tax levy.
The 2013-14 budget totaled $111.1 million and was supported by a $70.9 million tax levy.
If the 2014-15 school budget is not changed by the Board of Education before May 7, Howell taxpayers would have to pony up an additional $3.8 million in property taxes to support the operation of the school district in the upcoming year.
Last week, district administrators could not say what the cost of the “worst case scenario” budget would be to taxpayers. They said a tax rate for 2014-15 had not been calculated.
Without a tax rate in place for 2014-15, the amount to be paid in K-8 school taxes by a property owner in Howell cannot be determined.
The tax rate for the 2013-14 school year is $1.27 per $100 of assessed valuation. The owner of a home assessed at $275,000 is currently paying about $3,492 in K-8 school taxes.
State aid to Howell is expected to increase from $32.9 million in 2013-14 to $33.61 million in 2014-15.
Business Administrator Ron Sanasac said the district’s budget as it stands now will exceed the state-mandated 2 percent tax levy cap as the board uses a banked cap — tax money that could have been raised in previous years that was banked and will be used in 2014-15.
Levine said the tax rate for 2014-15 should be available when the board adopts a final budget in May.
“In the preliminary budget, we are looking at having to go into the banked cap. Whether we will, and if we do, how much we will have to go in has not been decided,” he said. “There are a lot of unknowns.
“For this preliminary budget we made the decision to look at the worst case scenario and see if we can work down, as opposed to starting at a particular point and then working up,” Levine said. “It seemed better to look at the absolute worst.”
Levine and board members Mark Bonjavanni, Jeanne DePompo, John Van Noy and Chuck Welsh voted to introduce the tentative budget.
Board members Al Miller, Timothy O’Brien and Suzanne Brennan voted against the motion to introduce the budget.
Board Vice President Mary Cerretani was not present at the meeting. Miller, speaking for himself and not on behalf of the board, said, “I personally do not approve going over the 2 percent cap and using any of the cap bank. I believe we need to be fiscally responsible to the students, staff and taxpayers of the district. I believe we can accomplish all of our initiatives and maintain our quality education and programs within the cap.”
O’Brien, also speaking for himself and not on behalf of the board, said, “The increase in the local tax levy under the 2014-15 tentative base budget will be $3,829,351. The budget asks for an additional $1,256,421 above the cap to implement mandates.
“In addition, the increase includes an additional $583,931 under the health benefits waiver to pay for increased costs of health benefits. I would respectfully request that we do not exceed the cap at this time and instead approve a ‘tentative’ base budget with a local tax levy of $67,860,662.
“This would still be an increase of $2,572,930 from 2013-14 and would allow the district to address some of the challenges we face in providing a quality education for our children. However, it would keep this district within the cap under current law and would preserve some of the savings this board has been able to achieve in past budget cycles,” O’Brien said.
He added, “It is important to remember that this community cannot sustain significant and permanent increases in the local tax levy. I believe we must ask the administration to implement a policy where they develop budgets that do not exceed the cap as defined by law and slow the rate of growth in the local levy as a key long-term fiscal goal.
“Where possible, in future budget cycles, we must try to stay significantly under the cap or flat in order to try to bring our district back in line with what is affordable for our community. Remember, every increase we make in the local tax levy is going to compound again in each successive year.
“The cumulative effect of such increases over five to 10 years would be devastating to our community. We must strike a balance and respect the limits of what our community can sustain while providing a quality education for our children,” O’Brien said.
The board’s finance committee was scheduled to meet on April 1 and receive a budget update report from the administration, according to an agenda for the meeting that was made public on March 28.