$110M District Budget Goes to Ballot

A $110 million budget is now in the hands of voters, after the Board of Education approved it Monday night for the April 27 election ballot.

The budget went through with eight members voting in favor and one member, Thomas Kinst, voting against it.  The budget cuts no teacher staff or programs and includes plans to replace textbooks and other educational necessities.

The budget totals $110,679,700, with $78,212,946 of the budget coming from local taxes.  The budget itself is a $3,478,817 increase over last year’s $107,200,883 budget, which amounts to an about 3 percent increase. However, the tax levy increases by $1,536,889 —about 2 percent, which is the state cap on tax levies—over the $76,676,057 generated last year.

But county-mandated revaluations should have the tax rate decrease from $2 per $100 of assessed value to $1.45 per $100 of assessed value. Superintendent Jorden Schiff noted that, depending on a resident’s assessment, the tax bill could increase, decrease or remain constant.

While the district typically supplies a median expected increase for the properties in town, the reassessment makes figuring out that increase more complicated, Finance Committee Chairman Greg Gillette said.

“Everyone’s assessment on their property has changed,” Gillette said.  “They’ve all gone up and some have gone up more than others. ... Since everyone’s property values have changed, the town is not able to give us those figures correctly just yet. ... They just don’t have a number that makes sense that we can work with.”

Kinst would have preferred seeing the about $1 million increase state aid the district saw this year go toward tax relief, he said.

“The point that I’m trying to make is that we’re getting an increase in state aid and we’re going to the 2 percent cap,” Kinst said.  “I really would have liked to see some of that go into tax relief. ... The times this year are not a whole lot different from last year.  People are still struggling. The economy is not doing well.  So I go back to the statement that I made, that I would have liked to see some tax relief for the taxpayers.  It’s tough times.”

Other board members noted that, despite the $1 million increase in state aid this year, the state cut about $5 million from the district’s aid for the 2010-11 school year—a decrease of about 19 percent in aid.

“This year’s budget basically maintains what we had after last year’s devastating cuts and gives us a little bit of funding to use for lowering a few class sizes that are just too large,” said Judy Haas, who is running for re election this year.  “The state came through with an additional million dollars, which is a nice contribution, but simply doesn’t keep pace with all of the other cost drivers that we face every year.”

“Even though we do have some state aid this year, it does not allow us to make up the ground we lost last year,” Barbara Sargent said.  “...I would hate for the community to think that, simply because we had some aid, a very small portion of the aid we deserve brought back to Hillsborough that that is a reason not to support the budget.”

In addition, both schools and municipalities saw their levy caps slashed by half, moving from a 4 percent cap to a 2 percent cap.

“This will be the first time I’ll be recommending a budget that goes to cap in a year where we’ve got a state aid increase,” Gillette said.  “...The tax levy cap is just half of what it’s been in past year.  Also, the HEA stepped up to the plate and came up with a great contract that was able to control our costs for the next two years and three months.”

The contract concessions, which amounted to around $3 million in health care givebacks, have the association members entering the state’s health care plan, as well as paying toward benefit premiums in the next two years.

“Last year, there was a lot of talk about the budget, especially in the media,” Board President Steven Paget said.  “Here’s what I heard: teachers have Cadillac plans; teachers don’t pay for their health care; teachers didn’t freeze their salaries, and that’s why we shouldn’t vote for the budget.  Well, this year you can put all that in your pocket because they aren’t true. The teachers agreed to join the state plan. ... Together, the total compensation doesn’t increase the salaries.  It actually goes down.”

At least four Hillsborough teachers, two who are also residents, noted the concessions made by the Hillsborough Education Association in their most recent contract agreement.

“Every person who is involved in the Hillsborough Public School System is vested in the interest of our children,” said Kitty Ward, a third grade teacher from Hillsborough Elementary School. 

“We have consistently done amazing things with little money.  Our greatest asset is our people. ... In the unfortunate event that our budget fails, it is my hope that, with over $3 million in concessions made by our members, that we are able to work together to find ways to balance the budget that does not involve privatization of our core employees.”

“I am proud of the $3 million that the HEA has given in concessions in this next contract that we have,” said Dave Dragani, high school teacher and Deanna Drive resident.

The concessions will allow the district to avoid privatizing 270 jobs held by custodians, maintenance workers, bus drivers, lunch and instructional aides, if the budget passes

“I think everyone has pulled together to put together a budget that, as a board, I would find hard not to support,” said Neil Hudes, negotiations committee chairman.  “It’s a good budget. It’s a solid budget. It provides solid programs in a very cost-efficient manner.”