Springs School Administrators Present Over-The-Tax-Cap Budget to Voters

Springs School District officials stressed to voters during a budget hearing on Tuesday that the district needs to pierce the state’s cap on property tax increases in order to maintain current programming.

That’s because the cap only allows for a $725,730 increase, while tuition costs to other districts is expected to rise 8.68 percent, or $997,431, alone, and general instruction, special education fees and retirement, health and benefits costs are also increasing. Most of the costs associated with the $37,814,314 budget adopted for the 2024-25 school year, which is a 6.8 percent, or $2,408,181, increase from this current year’s spending plan, are nonnegotiable, Deputy Superintendent Nancy Carney said.

“The allowable tax cap only begins to cover our required obligations,” she said Tuesday. “There is a projected sharp increase in expenditures and no corresponding increase in revenue to fund these expenditures except for an increase in the property tax levy.”

The anticipated levy is $33,900,488, compared with the $30,595,409 for the current school year. It equates to a 10.8 percent increase, well above the allowable 2.37 percent. This means that 60 percent of voters need to approve the budget in order for it to pass.

For a home with a property value of $1 million, or assessed value of $3,500, taxes would be expected to increase at least $637. The increase amounts to $956 for a home with a $1.5 million property value, or $5,250 in assessed value.

General instruction expenditures are expected to climb 6.71 percent, or $1,505,187. Tuition is part of that, but so is a 4.78 percent, or $469,756, rise in general classroom salaries, which Business Official Sam Schneider previously said includes appropriations for all mandatory salary increases.

Special education and other instruction fees are also increasing 8.89 percent, or $621,883. This includes a 9.77 percent, or $571,214, increase in the special education budget, which is also obligatory as determined by the Committee on Special Education. This group meets to create students’ individual education plans, and the district is required to provide the instruction as dictated by each plan.

“Special education costs go up on a regular basis, as do the number of students that we provide services for,” Carney said. “We need to make sure we have the revenue there to cover those mandated expenditures.”

Retirement, health and benefits costs are increasing 8.3 percent, or $527,512. Retirement and Social Security is going up 12.68 percent, or $273,798, and health insurance 6.17 percent, or $251,714. Schneider said in the last 25 years, the cost of health insurance has gone up more than 510 percent. Last year alone, active employee family coverage increased about 9 percent and retiree health insurance swelled 24.9 percent.

“Every single dime that we could save as a school district we tried to do now, with the hope that we’re going to end this school year with a little bit of money that we can put into our appropriated fund balance,” Carney said.

There are also foundation aid cuts. Springs School is seeing an 18.66 percent, or $381,009, decrease in state aid.

“This is a challenging time for our district, and it’s been a challenging budget season,” Carney said. “We wanted to put together a budget that would preserve our programming and what we have and what we hold so dear here at Springs School, while being mindful of what we’re asking the community to support.”

Along with voting for the budget, residents will be asked to select one of two Board of Education candidates. Current President Barbara Dayton is being challenged by community member Dermot Quinn for her seat. The annual budget and trustee election will be held on Tuesday, May 21, from 1 to 9 p.m. in the Springs School library.

If the budget does not pass, the district will decide between putting the same spending plan up for a revote, reducing the budget or adopting an austerity budget. If the second budget does not pass, the district would default to a contingency budget, which would require officials to cut $4.159 million in spending.