Yorktown School District's Cash Reserve Might be Reduced by 50 Percent; Proposed Class Size Increases and Reduction of Positions

The Yorktown Central School District might be increasing class sizes for students in kindergarten through 5th grade, and reducing positions in order to offset the costs for the 2011-2012 school year.

School officials said they expect a $1.2 million state aid cut, while the pension costs are rising to $1.5 million and the cash reserves could be reduced by 50 percent. 

Other contributions to the problem, superintendent of schools Ralph Napolitano said, are the escalating pension contributions and insurance premiums, increased salaries and contractual expenses, increased cost of materials and supplies,  and obligation to pay them, as well as unfunded mandates, increased fuel costs, and inflation. 

The school district will need to find $4 million to reduce the tax levy by transferring $1.4 million from the fund balance, which would still leave $2.6 million in cost reductions or added revenue , Napolitano said. 

In order to cut $2.6 million from the 2011-2012 budget, he said, school officials would need to reduce 23 to 26 positions, reduce equipment and supplies budget, reassign staff members, restructure programs, reduce BOCES services, and increase class size guidelines by one student. 

In past years, the school district has been making changes to ensure cost savings. Some of those changes, Napolitano said, include:

• Elimination some programs, such as modified sports and reduction of competitions
• Decreased transportation expenses through reconfiguration of routes and shared services
• Reduced or deferred costs of supplies, equipment and materials
• Increased class size up to board of education guideline on some grade levels
• Reduced expenses and increased efficiencies in infrastructure: phone, copiers, fiberoptic
• Froze the budget except for contractual obligations and emergency expenses
• Returned money to the community- in 2011, the district returned  $1.4 million. 

Since 2005, the district has had 500 fewer students, resulting in idling of the French Hill School building and reducing staff through attrition and lay off. 

The proposed school budget would see a tax rate of 1.75 percent for next year, a tax levy of 1.99 percent, and a budget-to-budget increase of 0.9 percent. 

"My greatest concern moving forward is that our cash reserve will be depleted, there will be increased costs that will not be as easy to manage as we hope," Napolitano said.

Other concerns, he said, include the district's inability to fund programs (extracurriculars), continue to down size, return money back to the community and comply with unfunded state mandates. 

As of June 2010, the Yorktown school district had approximately $9 million in total cash reserves, assistant superintendent of business Tom Cole said. Given the paid tax reductions, a property tax refund and other expenses, the district is looking at a 52-percent reduction of the reserve with a remaining balance of $4.3 million. 

"That's a very low number given the size of our operating budget which is $9.1 million," he said.

Source: Yorktown Central School District, March 14, 2011

The budget for the current operating year for the remainder of the year has been frozen, Cole said, except for extraordinary items and critical items to the operation of the school district.

"The goal of which is try to build that $4.3 million number back up to healthy level that will allow us a financial flexibility going into 2012-2013 school year budget," he said. 

In addition to having to , the school district expects to be paying out another $1 million next year to property owners who are challenging their assessments.

Board of education trustees will be increasing the guidelines for class sizes, will set aside $160,000 from the fund balance for staffing in case of enrollment fluctuation, and will also set aside $75,000 from the fund balance in case of fluctuation of fuel costs. If any of the money were to be spent, the district would need the approval of board of education trustees. 

The next board of education meeting is on March 28.