5120 School District Budget Hearing

2010 5120

Non-Instructional/Business Operations

SUBJECT: SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET HEARING

Notice of the date, time and place of the annual budget hearing will be included in the notice of the Annual Meeting and Election and/or Special District Meeting as required by law.

All School District budgets which are submitted for voter approval shall be presented in three (3) components: a program component, an administrative component, and a capital component; and each component will be separately delineated in accordance with law and/or regulation.

The Board of Education will also prepare and append to copies of the proposed budget a School District Report Card, pursuant to the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education, referencing measures of academic and fiscal performance. Additionally, the Board of Education shall also append to copies of the proposed budget a detailed statement of the total compensation to be paid to various administrators as enumerated in law and/or regulation, and a Property Tax Report Card prepared in accordance with law and Commissioner's Regulations.

All budget documents for distribution to the public will be written in plain language and organized in a manner which best promotes public comprehension of the contents.

Dissemination of Budget Information

Copies of the proposed annual operating budget for the succeeding year may be obtained by any District resident. Such a request shall be fulfilled at least seven (7) days before the budget hearing at which it is to be presented. Copies of the budget shall be prepared and made available at the School District offices, at any public library within the District and on the School District's website if one exists, during the period of fourteen (14) days immediately preceding the Annual Meeting and Election. Additionally. the Board will include notice of the availability of copies of the budget at least once during the school year in any District-wide mailing.

Budget Notice

The School District Clerk shall mail a School Budget Notice to all qualified voters of the School District after the date of the Budget Hearing, but no later than six (6) days prior to the Annual Meeting and Election or Special District Meeting at which a school budget vote will occur. The School Budget Notice shall compare the percentage increase or decrease in total spending under the proposed budget over total spending under the School District budget adopted for the current school year, with the percentage increase or decrease in the Consumer Price Index from January first of the prior school year to January first of the current school year.

The Budget Notice shall include a description of how total spending and the tax levy resulting from the proposed budget would compare with a projected contingency budget, assuming that such contingency budget is adopted on the same day as the vote on the proposed budget. Such comparison shall be in total and by component (i.e. program, capital and administrative), and shall include a statement of the assumptions made in estimating the projected contingency budget.

The Notice shall also include, in a manner and format prescribed by the Commissioner of Education, a comparison ·o f the tax savings under the basic school tax relief (STAR) exemption and the increase or decrease in school taxes from the prior year, and the resulting net taxpayer savings for a hypothetical home within the District with a full value of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) under the existing School District budget as compared with such savings under the proposed budget.

The Notice shall also set for the date, time and place of the school budget vote in the same manner as in the Notice of the Annual Meeting. The School Budget  Notice shall be in a form prescribed by the Commissioner of Education.

Notice of Budget Hearing/Availability of Budget Statement: Education Law Sections 1608(2), 1716(2), 2003(1). 2004(1) and 2601-a(2) Election and Budget Vote:

Education Law Sections 1804(4), 1906(1), 2002(1), 2017(5), 2017(6), 2022(1) and 2601-a(2)

Budget Development and Attachments:

Education Law Sections 1608(3), 1608(4), 1608(5), 1608(6), 1608(7), 1716(3), 1716(4), 1716(5), 1716(6),

1716(7), 2022(2-a) and 2601-(3)

8 New York Code of Rules and Regulations (NYCRR) Sections I00.2(bb), 170.8 and 170.9

Adopted: 10/13/09