JOHNSTOWN — Voters in less than a month will decide on a proposed 4.2% tax levy increase in Fulton County’s second-largest school system.
On the ballot in the Greater Johnstown School District is a $500,818 levy increase attached to a $43,488,975 spending plan. The current tax collection this academic year totaled $11,764,841.
This marks the fourth year that the increase sits just under the state’s tax cap.
Superintendent William Crankshaw said the move is intended to serve as a piecemeal approach to avoid property owners getting saddled with ballooned rates, as they did in the late 2010s and early 2020s.
“I think, ideally, people would like not for us to raise taxes, but with the cost increases of salary, benefits and insurance, especially, that is not really going to be an option,” Crankshaw said.
The 3% spending plan increase is tied together with $3,052,777 in fund balance dollars. It accounts for 7% of the total budget.
The amount of fund balance applied is 33.2% higher than last year. Crankshaw said that GJSD is fiscally healthy enough to tap a heap of excess revenue from the account, but shouldn’t make a habit out of it.
“We have to continue to take a really careful look at our spending year to year based on student needs and advocate for the state government to make sure schools are appropriately funded and aided,” Crankshaw said.
State aid accounts for 58.86% of revenue. At $22,303,543, foundation aid — the largest pool of state funding — remains flat from last year.
This comes as COVID-19 relief (ARPA) funds are set to expire. GJSD will eliminate three out of 18 positions created with ARPA dollars — a move opposed by the Johnstown Teachers Association.
Among other changes, for the first time in 11 years, GJSD is switching student transit services from Hamilton-Fulton-Montgomery BOCES to Brown’s Transportation, an Amsterdam-based subsidiary of Student Transportation of America.
While not expected to impact state transportation aid, making the switch is expected to provide $1 million in savings. The state’s 2035 bus electrification mandate could fill that void back up, according to Crankshaw.
“I think the electrification of busing is going to have a huge impact on cost, so I can't guarantee that kind of savings in the future,” Crankshaw said.
School budgets are typically crafted with multi-year projections in mind, especially with contractual expenses, debt service payments and construction projects.
Capital expenditures next year are anticipated to number $8,589,983 — a 4.53% annual increase. It represents 19.75% of the budget.
Separate from the budget on this year’s ballot is a proposal to create a new fund which would hold up to $10 million in excess funds for capital projects spanning the next decade.
From an existing reserves fund, GJSD has also separately proposed tapping up to $5 million to modernize kitchens and bathrooms across the four-campus system.