G.C. Board of Education shares more of its budgetary vision

The Glen Cove City School District Board of Education continued its overview of the 2019-20 school budget at the second budget workshop on Jan. 23. Capital and administrative components were discussed by way of a presentation made by Assistant Superintendent for Business Victoria Galante.

During the first half of her presentation, she went over the various facets of the budget’s capital component, starting off with expenditures for custodial and grounds services, both of which saw a slight increase from the 2018-19 budget. Next came the discussion of the refund from real property taxes, or the payment of taxes to various property owners, which will increase from $850,000 in the 2018-18 budget to $1.3 million in 2019-20. According to Galante, the district had been on the lower end of this appropriation for the past two years, but it is starting to creep back up based on information gathered by the district in 2018.

Contrastingly, the bond-principal and interest will be going down from this year into the next.

Two trucks were funded by money from the installment purchase principal and interest a few years ago. Since the trucks are now paid off the distrcit won’t be allocating any funding for that facet of the budget. They will, however, utilize funding into the installment purchase principal and interest if a decision is made to purchase a truck for snow removal.

Galante also said that the board is placing $450,000 for the transfer to the capital fund component, which is used for emergency repairs within the school. This number has remained consistent since the 2017-18 school year.

The capital component has risen from $7.4 million in the 2018-19 school year to just short of $8 million for 2019-20. This is due to the increase in the refund from real property taxes. However, Galante explained, “We have a reserve for that, so really that money does not come out of our budget because we will appropriate that $1.3 million on our revenue side, so it’s a wash.”

The administrative component was the next topic of Galante’s presentation. This covers the district’s expenses regarding the various facets of its administration. It ranges from any expenses regarding the board of education and superintendent, to legal and personnel expenses, to all of the services the district requires from outside entities. None of these will see significant variances from the 2018-19 budget into the 2019-20 budget.

The biggest parts of the administrative component are the curriculum development and supervision of regular school section. The curriculum development covers all the costs which come along with curriculum instruction and coordinators, to which the 2019-20 budget will allocate $2.1 million. The district will allocate $2.3 million to the supervision of regular school, which involves the expenses of all of the district’s administrators themselves.

In total, the budget’s administrative component is set to see approximately $7.3 million in 2019-20, up from 2018-19’s $7.1 million. With all things considered, Galante said, “Things have not gone up that much overall either in the capital or the administrative components.”

She acknowledged the district’s reserves, saying they have consistently grown healthier, which in turn has made the district as a whole healthier. The district always uses its reserves in its budget, she said, as they prevent any unnecessary cuts or layoffs. She said that she believes some of the district’s five reserves could remain untouched during the 2019-20 school year, although the tax certiorari reserve will need to be used to fund the $1.3 million in refunds from real property taxes. The district will also be going into its worker’s compensation reserve because they are self funded.

Discussion at the next budget workshop will include an update of the revenue budget. The gap created by the difference between revenue and expenses will also be discused. This will take place on Feb. 13 at Deasy Elementary School at 7:30 p.m..