Contingency Budget Means Large School Cuts
If voters in the Huntington School District reject the proposed school budget on May 15, trustees have several options. They can submit the same budget for a revote, place a revised plan on the ballot or adopt an austerity/contingent budget. If residents reject the budget again in a second vote, state law imposes a freeze on any increase in the property tax levy, without any exemptions.
The budget adopted by the Huntington School Board at its April 16 meeting includes an increase of 2.59 percent in spending. If Huntington is required to operate on a contingent budget next year, trustees would have to cut $2,078,203 in proposed spending, including $697,857 in equipment from the plan they have placed on the May 15 ballot. Spending would need to be reduced from the proposed amount of $111,858,780 to $109,780,577.
"By law, a contingency budget places a firm cap on the administrative budget component," Superintendent James W. Polansky. "Nonetheless with a required total reduction of that magnitude, it would be necessary to make significant cuts to all three budget components – administrative, program and capital."
A contingent budget would also result in community organizations approved to utilize district facilities paying the full cost of such use. Such a budget would result in an estimated tax rate increase of 0.67 percent.
The state's property tax cap law limits Huntington's increase in the property tax levy to 2.21 percent. During the budget development process several instructional and non-instructional positions were eliminated as a result of administrative reshuffling and scheduling and staffing efficiencies.