fbpx
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
    • Get Home Delivery
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Customer Support
    • Submit A News Tip
    • Where’s My Paper?
  • Manage HV1 Account
Hudson Valley One
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
Hudson Valley One
No Result
View All Result

Saugerties Central School District will ask for voter approval on a $66,426,716 budget

by Crispin Kott
April 27, 2022
in Education
0

The Saugerties Central School District (SCSD) will ask for voter approval on a $66,426,716 budget for the 2022-23 school year, a decrease of $110,249 from the 2021-22 spending plan. Since presenting a draft budget in mid-March, the district has also reduced the tax levy increase from 2.7 percent to 2.36 percent. 

“Overall, the budget is less than it was last year,” said the SCSD’s Business Manager Jane St. Amour during a meeting of the Board of Education held on Tuesday, April 19. “I believe it’s only increased about $1.1 million over the past four years, which is an average increase of about $281,000 a year.”

During the meeting, Superintendent Kirk Reinhardt said the budget proposal adhered to the district’s goal of keeping taxpayers in mind while addressing the needs of Saugerties students. 

“We do have an obligation to be fiscally responsible, but we’re also adding a tremendous amount of programming,” Reinhardt said. “All the electives that are being added at the junior-senior high, a lot of those electives are student-driven. These are classes that the students want to take. We know the world that they’re entering, so the fact that we can be fiscally responsible to our community and continually add programming, that’s our job.”

The budget was put together with the understanding that state aid was likely to decrease because of a drop in building aid, which corresponds with a reduction in debt service on the expense side. Between last month’s projection and last week’s presentation, the drop was around $3,000 less than anticipated. But state aid overall will fall by $1,365,999, or 5.8 percent, over the 2021-22 total of $23,537,616. 

But some elements of state aid are projected to increase in 2022-23, St. Amour said. Foundation aid is estimated to rise from $16,002,807 to $16,537,054; transportation aid should jump from $2,000,968 to $2,309,298; and high cost aid from $387,990 to $444,406. The decreases are primarily found in BOCES aid ($1,332,395, a drop of $450,338) and building aid ($305,207, a decrease of $1,634,298). The building aid decrease is due to the final payments on previous facilities projects in the district. 

The most significant increases are seen in BOCES administration and a forthcoming capital project, bumping the district’s share up from $957,126 to $1,292,639, a 35.05 percent jump. 

Other increases include a 26.3 percent rise in technology costs to $1,467,294; a 10.35 percent increase in Board of Education and central administration costs to $1,807,826; and an 8.82 percent increase in sports and extracurricular expenses to $608,009, which is partly down to the addition of athletic chaperones. 

With the closure of Mt. Marion Elementary School at the end of the 2021-22 school year, the SCSD will remove the salaries of one principal, five elementary teachers, three special education teachers, one physical education teacher, the equivalent of 9.5 full time teaching assistants, one typist, and 2.5 monitors, a total savings of $1,188,533. 

“This is based on salary alone for these specific positions…It’s not the total savings, it’s just the salary savings,” said St. Amour. “Some of these are through retirements or resignations.”

Thanks to a pair of federal COVID-relief stimulus packages — the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSAA) and the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) — the district will be able to cover the costs of two response to intervention teachers, two multi-tiered system of support teachers, one reading specialist, one dean of students, two literacy coaches, two math coaches, one credit recovery specialist, one director of curriculum and instruction, one accountant, four teaching assistants, one custodial worker and one social worker. 

At the elementary level, the district is hoping to add one full-time librarian, one full-time reading instructor and one full-time teacher in grades 5-6. At the secondary level, they are looking to add a language teacher, a teaching assistant with a focus on special education and two full-time teachers with a focus on business and technology. 

Superintendent Reinhardt said the specificity of the additional staff came from the public and meetings of the Governance Committee. 

“One of the district goals is all students be at or above grade level when they leave grade 3,” he said. 

Part of that is ensuring elementary class sizes remain at or below 30 students. 

“The contract does say 30 for grades 5 and 6,” Reinhardt said. “This year we had two sections of 28 or 29. One of our goals, if we can afford it, is to have all of our class sizes be 25 or smaller throughout the entire district next year.”

During the presentation, St. Amour identified various district reserves and estimated fund balance, particularly a capital reserve of $1,022,482. The budget proposal includes an increase of $1,209,488, which would bring the capital reserve up to $2,231,970, and closer to a district goal of $10 million. 

“This would be used for future capital items,” St, Amour said. “This money would be there if we needed it to accomplish everything that we set out to accomplish with this capital project if pricing came in in a way that would allow us to do it right away.” 

Reinhardt said the district would continue to focus on its reserves. 

“They’re still not funded where they need them to be, we know that,” he said. “We do have a plan for all of our reserves.”

The SCSD will hold a budget hearing at Saugerties High School on Tuesday, May 10. Voters in the district will determine the fate of the budget on Tuesday, May 17 with polls open at all four elementary schools from 6 a.m. until 9 p.m.

Tags: members
Thank you for reading Hudson Valley One. We rely on your support to continue providing local, substantive news. Please check out our subscription options to keep local journalism alive in the Hudson Valley.
- Geddy Sveikauskas, Publisher
Previous Post

New Paltz voters will be asked to support a $68,999,093 budget on May 17

Next Post

Saugerties planners approve six-lot subdivision near Glasco Ponds

Crispin Kott

Crispin Kott was born in Chicago, raised in New York and has called everywhere from San Francisco to Los Angeles to Atlanta home. A music historian and failed drummer, he’s written for numerous print and online publications and has shared with his son Ian and daughter Marguerite a love of reading, writing and record collecting.

 Crispin Kott is the co-author of the Rock and Roll Explorer Guide to New York City (Globe Pequot Press, June 2018), the Little Book of Rock and Roll Wisdom (Lyons Press, October 2018), and the Rock and Roll Explorer Guide to San Francisco and the Bay Area (Globe Pequot Press, May 2021).

Related Posts

Local school districts respond to possible cuts in state funding
Education

School budgets cruise to approval

May 18, 2022
SUNY New Paltz prepares for two weekends of smaller, in-person commencement ceremonies
Education

SUNY New Paltz celebrates commencement May 20-22

May 17, 2022
Saugerties and Ellenville students compose a collaborative poem called Behind the Mask
Community

Saugerties and Ellenville students compose a collaborative poem called Behind the Mask

May 11, 2022
Local school districts respond to possible cuts in state funding
Education

A roundup of local school budget proposals

May 11, 2022
Dr. Darrell Wheeler takes the reins as SUNY New Paltz’s post-pandemic president
Education

Dr. Darrell Wheeler takes the reins as SUNY New Paltz’s post-pandemic president

May 10, 2022
Onteora announces Valedictorian, Salutatorian, Principal’s Award Recipient
Education

Onteora announces Valedictorian, Salutatorian, Principal’s Award Recipient

May 10, 2022
Next Post
Saugerties contractor works towards correcting previous building violations

Saugerties planners approve six-lot subdivision near Glasco Ponds

Please login to join discussion

Trending News

  • Bubbe’s Deli opens in Gardiner’s former Mountain Harbor 1.7k views
  • The moon is down in Central Hudson 768 views
  • Village of Saugerties planners hold public hearing for Dragon Inn 443 views
  • Uproar in New Paltz over plan to abandon green electricity 372 views
  • Ryan and Molinaro run for Congress, Gallagher available to move up 357 views







Latest HV1 Podcast

Weather

Kingston
◉
59°
Fair
5:30am8:14pm EDT
Feels like: 59°F
Wind: 3mph SW
Humidity: 93%
Pressure: 29.73"Hg
UV index: 0
FriSatSun
81/61°F
97/66°F
93/59°F
Weather forecast Kingston, New York ▸

Ulster County COVID-19 Active Cases

Subscribe

Independent. Local. Substantive. Subscribe now.

×
You have free article(s) remaining. Subscribe for unlimited access.
View Subscription Offers Sign In
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
  • Manage HV1 Account

© 2022 Ulster Publishing

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Contact Us
    • Customer Support
    • Advertise
    • Submit A News Tip
  • Print Edition
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
    • Where’s My Paper
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Log In

© 2022 Ulster Publishing