Back-To-Back Clarkstown School Budget Discussions

The Clarkstown Schools’ Budget Outreach Committee meets Thursday from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. to discuss line items in the proposed 2013-2014 budget. The meeting is open to members of the public. The Budget Outreach Committee meeting was rescheduled from Monday evening due to inclement weather. The committee meeting will be followed by the board's budget workshop starting at 7:30 p.m.

Superintendent Dr. J. Thomas Morton introduced the $195,821,000 budget to the school board last Thursday.  Morton stated the draft budget maintains staffing levels and all current programs. Almost $11 million of the overall $13 million increase from this year’s budget is attributable to costs that the district cannot control such as pensions and health benefits which are required by the state. 

The rest of the increase comes from recommended improvements to school security with a price tag of $1.8 million and 12 new school buses costing $992,000 to replace older buses in the district’s fleet.

The proposed budget would increase the property tax levy by 4.3 percent and would probably require using $9 million from the district’s reserve funds.  Assistant Superintendent John LaNave said $3 million to $4 million of this year’s budget of $180,931,141 might not be spent. The budget introduced last week is higher than the initial budget discussed in February. 

A second Budget Outreach Committee meeting has been scheduled for Tuesday, April 2 at the Felix Festa Middle School from 7 to 8:30 p.m.