Vote Q&A

Included are responses to some commonly asked questions regarding the Phelps-Clifton Springs Central School District budget and ballot propositions (2025).

What are some of the highlights of this year’s budget?
On January 21, 2025, the Governor released the Executive Budget proposal and state aid runs for the fiscal year 2025-26. The Governor proposed a minimum 2% increase of Foundation Aid as well as several changes to the Foundation Aid formula, including two recommendations from the Rockefeller Foundation Aid Study. No changes were proposed to expense-based aid. Phelps-Clifton Springs was one of many districts that is projected to get a 2% increase in Foundation Aid. While this number is less than the increase in the Consumer Price Index (inflation), the District anticipated this and has prepared over the last few years. This year’s budget-to-budget increase will be the smallest we have seen since the 2021-22 school year. The District has been carefully working with its departments and buildings to look for efficiencies to close some of the anticipated budget gaps as a result of increased expenditure in several areas of school-district operations.

What expenditures are increasing the most?
More than 50% of this year’s budget increase is due to benefits. The two areas in benefits that are impacted the most are healthcare in the Finger Lakes Area School Health Plan which is expected to increase 14.3% and state contributions for the Employees Retirement System which is increasing just over $200,000.

How will the proposed budget affect property owners?
The $47,386,760 budget proposal calls for a 2.00% increase in the real property tax levy. Based on $100,000 assessed value and overall assessments and equalization rates from the 2024-25 school year, residents can expect to see an average increase of the following amounts: $49.40 with no STAR exemption, $36.08 if they qualify for the STAR exemption, or $12.22 if they qualify for the enhanced STAR exemption. Keep in mind that the equalization rates and overall assessments across the seven municipalities will not be released for the 2025 calendar year until this summer.

How are reserve funds being used in the proposed budget?
The District plans to use $809,787 of its reserves to balance the budget. This amount represents a $69,787 annual increase from the 2024-25 budget. The District will allocate $394,787 from the Employees Retirement System Reserve and $20,000 from the Teachers Retirement System Reserve to offset any contributions to the retirement systems. In order to offset certain contractual obligations for retirees in the coming school year, $95,000 will be used from the Employee Benefits Accrued Liability Reserve. The District will also use $300,000 from its Debt Service Fund to offset the local share of capital debt payments from previous capital projects.

What kind of buses is the District looking to purchase and are there any updates with the electric bus mandate from New York State?
To ensure the safety of students and staff the District is working towards a 5-year rotation of school buses as it phases out aging models. In order to achieve this cycle, the District is proposing to spend up to $888,237 out of its 2019 Bus Purchase Reserve Fund and 2024 Transportation Capital Reserve Fund to purchase five diesel buses and one utility vehicle. These buses are as follows: four 70-passenger and one 30-passenger. The state provides 90% aid reimbursement over five years for the purchase of buses resulting in a net cost to the District of $88,824. The 2019 Bus Purchase Reserve Fund is nearing depletion and contingent on a favorable vote in May, will be no longer in use after this year.

Why is funding for the libraries on the ballot?
The District holds the annual appropriations vote for the local libraries in conjunction with the District annual budget vote for efficiency purposes. The funding for the libraries has no impact on the school budget or taxes. Taxes related to the library funding are levied separately from District taxes.

What happens if the budget isn’t approved?
The District has two options if the budget is defeated. It can propose a new budget or the same budget for a re-vote in June. If that budget proposal is defeated, then the District would be required to adopt a contingency budget. Since the District is proposing a 2.00% levy increase there would be a change to the tax levy in a contingency budget, specifically a reduction of $316,882. Items such as non-essential equipment would be removed from the defeated budget along with public use of buildings.

How is the tax levy limit for the District calculated?
State law mandates that an eight-step formula be used to calculate the District’s tax levy limit. This calculation accounts for growth in the local tax base, the rate of inflation, and provides the District with certain exemptions (capital expenditures, retirement contributions, court orders, and judgments). The District may also carry over the unused portion of the tax levy limit from previous years. However, it can be no greater than 1.5% of the prior year’s tax levy limit. The District has $242,950 in carryover from 2024- 25. This coupled with a 1.0172% tax base growth factor and a 2% levy growth factor results in a tax levy limit for the upcoming school year of $16,659,870 for a 5.15% annual increase. For 2025-26, the District is proposing a school tax levy of $16,160,997 representing a 2.00% increase over the previous year. The above increases are based on the 2024-25 tax levy of $15,844,115.