SALEM CSD FACING $750k+ BUDGET DEFICIT AFTER AID CUT
By Jim Morris
SALEM - The Salem Central School Board held a Budget Workshop on Tuesday, February 27th after a scheduling conflict forced them to move it up from the first week in March. A mix of faculty and community members made up much of the sixty person audience. The board commented several times during the meeting that they were not prepared for such a large gathering.
Members of the community were upset by the fact that there was a lack of microphones; so that the audience towards the back of the room could not hear what was being said. After roughly thirty minutes, the audience was allowed to move closer to the board in able to hear better.
Another bone of contention was that the board early in the meeting said that there would be no public comment. This did not sit well with a few members of the community. Dr. Mike Mugits made the comment “ leaders do the right thing” meaning that instead of continuing down the same path that they are on, they need to involve the community more. He also made the statement that a year from now he will be running for the board.
Another community member spoke up about the lack of a public comment section, and that it was “ a disgrace to not let the teachers that were in attendance speak at the meeting”. The board ultimately allowed for public comments following their work.
During the workshop the board told the public that they have been monitoring this shortfall for the past few years. There is currently around a $750,000 deficit. The board stated they are looking into different avenues in which they can free up some money to close the deficit.
The board also stated that the Transportation Dept. is in a “critical condition”. They are critically short staffed and the Lead Mechanic and his assistant are having to drive as well as do their daily maintenance on the buses and grounds. This leaves their department very short handed.
The board gave an overview of the current financial situation. The district is looking at a 4.9% budget increase overall which is above the current 2.9% allowable tax levy limit. Staying at 2.9% would only allow a $142,000 increase. The current budget is $18,575,814 which is a 7.24% increase from last year, however projected revenues only total $17,792,842. This is a $782,000 gap. The Health Insurance increase alone for this year was $350,000.
NYS allows districts to carry a 4% fund balance - which is roughly $700-720k in Salem’s district. The 2024-25 budget as proposed currently includes appropriating $700,000 from the general fund for next year. The district would be facing a $1,400,000 budget gap if those funds were not allocated in such a way. Also already appropriated is $255,000 from the district
Employee Retirement Service (ERS) reserves. Typically, business administrator Karen MacGregor explained, the district would want to go back and replenish their reserves but they haven’t been. Last year, the district used $235,000 from ERS and $600,000 from fund balance, those funds are not being replenished. MacGregor said the district is “getting into a cycle that is not a best practice.” She said if the district continues on as they are the district will deplete their ERS reserves in three years. MacGregor said the district could have been facing a $1.7m deficit if they “hadn’t reappropriated a significant portion of the fund balance.” By law the district has to balance the budget.
The district made a fair amount of cuts last year, MacGregor and Superintendent Julie Adams explained - in terms of instructional cuts to programming and increases in section sizes. The district is “getting more limited in where we can reduce” and “now have to dig into what we wanted to do to enhance support programming.”
Some of their proposals to close the gap include removing a planned second nurse, and reallocating funds planned for science textbooks and summer professional development - which would save roughly $382,000 - however the latter would end up increasing the 2025-26 budget by $150,000 which is nearly 2% of the budget alone.
Two elementary teachers are retiring - The district already included some savings via benefit and salary reduction into the budget already but could gain about $185,000 if they eliminate both positions and eliminate AIS math and reading. The AIS teachers would either move back to classroom or the program removal could possibly result in additional teacher position cuts.
MacGregor explained some other savings such as BOCES costs, and retirement service contributions, and said if the board took an additional $25,000 from fund balance and supported the cuts as outlined, the deficit would be at $382,726.
Facing hard decisions on how to find the remaining funds, Adams discussed additional options, though was clear that none of them were popular.
Last year, the board did not touch non-instructional positions. Removing the least senior clerical member staff, custodian, cleaner and teaching assistant would save roughly $311,000.
Pre-K, while not mandatory receives a UPK grant that funds $177,140 of the program. Adams said this is one of reasons the district went from two sections to one this year as the program is close to being fully funded.
If that program was eliminated, so too would be the least senior staff - a reduction of only $22,333. Adams said she is not sure losing the program for that amount of savings is worth what the district will lose foundationally and noted that the district has no other pre-k options.
Class size numbers in elementary are already running in the high 30-low 40s. Moving to one section is impractical. Adams said the district could go from full day kindergarten to two half day programs, a $94,000 savings. Grants are sometimes available for kindergarten programs, so if this item was eliminated, the district would seek that type of funding.
Adams said that as the high school principal “I worked a lot with special area teachers to increase pathways for graduation.” She said that while the district has a robust FFA and a developed Tech pathway, “We have to show we are looking at everything.” Cutting the Ag program would save $144,000, Tech $128,000. Adams said the programs would not necessarily be “all or nothing” but a lot of the savings would be in reduction of benefits. The district eliminated the business program last year.
Members of the community commented that the board should bring it to the people. A number of residents stated that they would be willing to pay the increase in taxes if it meant that they would be able to keep the teachers and programs intact for the students. One parent made the statement that her child called her at work to ask her to go to the workshop because he was concerned about what was going on at the school. Many of the parents that were in attendance agreed.
One of the faculty members spoke about the reading and language programs that the school has, and how they helped her youngest son to get through his school years. She said that it would be a shame to get rid of these programs and teachers. The board had placed the reading recovery teachers on the chopping block last year but it was removed following an outcry from the community.
The Board told the audience that they only received the final state aid numbers last week and had just started working on trying to rectify the situation. They will be working on the budget every other week from this point forward. The board stated that they do not have a lot of answers for the public at this time. Meetings are posted on the district’s website and their Facebook page.