Policy makers in the Broadalbin-Perth Central School District hope to increase spending by 1.15% in the next academic year.
On the ballot in May is a $41,738,473 spending plan — a $472,473 hike — in addition to two separate high-dollar propositions.
If passed, this will mark the district’s fourth year of tax increases below 1%. Proposed is a 0.97% increase for property owners in portions of Fulton, Montgomery and Saratoga counties.
Under proposed funding levels, all programs will be maintained. Additionally, the districts expects to expand its biomedical courses in the high school wing.
Workforce expansion aspirations, Assistant Superintendent Marco Zumbolo said, had to be set aside in order to keep taxes below 1%.
“There are definitely some places where we would’ve liked to grow our staff but can’t do so because we want to stay within that [1% tax] framework,” Zumbolo said.
The rate falls more than two percentage points below Broadalbin-Perth’s 3.02% state-mandated tax cap. Overall, $160,000 would be added to the existing $16,540,000 tax levy.
Of $25,000,034 projected in total revenue, sources vary from state transportation aid ($2,434,676) to local funds ($1,595,358). The lion’s share of revenue is expected to come from state foundation aid ($13,369,928).
The foundation aid formula has been in place since 2007. Gov. Kathy Hochul at the beginning of this year’s budget cycle intended to remove a provision which prevents annual reductions in such aid. However, this request was never put into the final spending plan passed on April 20.
“It’s still not an overall increase — not a tremendous help — but it was definitely good to get us back to the status quo on foundation aid,” Zumbolo said.
Zumbolo said that the district tapped some savings as a result of the state lowering the poverty threshold for free school lunches from 40% to 25%.
The rest of Broadalbin-Perth’s proposed budget — $2.3 million — will come from the fund balance, which consists of leftover revenue. In recent years, the district has pushed to get unassigned fund balance dollars under 4% in order to comply with state standards.
“The advice I would give as a 20 year business administrator is to return dollars in the form of appropriated fund balance for revenue, return the money to the taxpayers, but don’t do it wholesale,” he said. “Do it in phases in such a way that you’re not going to get to a point where you don’t have enough fund balance to help fund your budget.”
Part of the fund balance covers debt accrued from the last $40 million capital project, which began in 2016. It was completed last year.
This year, the Broadalbin-Perth Board of Education put a new $37,845,000 capital project proposition on the ballot. Such funds would cover the following:
- Door, window and roof replacements.
- New weatherized elementary school playground surfaces.
- New crosswalks and sidewalks.
Athletic facility upgrades, including artificial turf at the softball and baseball fields and reconstruction of the old track around Patriot’s Field.
- Renovation of the Margaret Robin Blowers Auditorium.
- Vocational classroom expansion.
Building aid is forecasted to cover 81.3% of the project and capital reserve funds, $500,000, according to the district. Taxpayers will foot the 18.7% of the new project in the 2026-27 academic year. For a homeowner with a property at a value of $100,000, this could result in a tax increase as high as $33.
Broadalbin resident Mark Bohne has criticized such spending plans, arguing that the “inflated” price tag is detrimental to the local tax base and irresponsible given downward enrollment trends.
“The cost to the taxpayer eliminates local growth by siphoning-off financial resources from the rest of the community,” Bohne wrote in a letter to the Daily Gazette Family of Newspapers. “High taxes push business development away.”
Last year, the school budget passed 478-204, as well as a new capital reserve fund, 479-202. That line can be filled with up to $10 million over the next nine years.
Voters, 519-160, also approved a proposition to allow the district to purchase three buses, a large sports utility vehicle and two vans. This year, the school board has put up another $539,238 proposition for vehicle replacements.