Rockland school budgets: Voters head to polls

From Pearl River to Stony Point, Rockland County voters are heading to the polls Tuesday to consider school budget plans that were carefully crafted to stay below the state's tax levy cap.

"Every district in the county has had a struggle," said Mary Jean Marsico, superintendent of the Rockland Board of Cooperative Educational Services, regarding the budget process.

Across the state, school district leaders are saying they have felt challenged to create strong educational plans that face budget realities in post-recession New York. In Rockland County, educators state flatly that taxpayers are fed up with tax increases.

"I've seen school board members struggling with what is the right thing to do for the kids in their buildings and for their public," said Deborah Gatti, president of the Rockland County School Boards Association. "No one wants to be out there over their tax cap limit."

While four wealthy school districts in Westchester are asking voters to override the cap -- a step that requires approval by 60 percent of the voters -- none in Rockland will. In fact, the Ramapo, Nanuet and Clarkstown school districts are proposing budgets that spend millions less than what is allowed under the state's tax cap.

The cap law limits tax increases to about 2 percent a year, with generous allowances for costs beyond a district's control, such as pension and health care costs. Statewide the average proposed tax hike this year is 3.1 percent.

Clarkstown Central Schools Superintendent J. Thomas Morton said his school board members didn't think the community would support a budget with a 4.3 percent tax increase, which is what the cap law allows his district. The board came up with a proposal that calls for a 2.9 percent increase.

"Basically it forced us to reduce the budget by $2 million," Morton said. "That's a significant cut, but if the budget didn't pass, we'd be cutting $13 million."

Nyack Public Schools Superintendent Jim Montesano said his board worked to keep programs, while trimming other expenses to come in about $360,000 below the tax cap limit.

"The board made a lot of difficult decisions in trying to reduce their costs," Montesano said. "But they were mostly not in instruction."

Some districts reported major investments of time in the budget process. Officials in the Ramapo district said the district held 13 budget meetings, finally crafting a budget that calls for a 1.99 percent tax levy. The proposal would cut the equivalent of 60 positions, including social workers, teachers and aides.

The East Ramapo district's proposal -- the district has been wrestling with multimillion dollar budget deficit this year -- cuts more than 60 positions. The district's proposal is at the state tax levy limit.

Kalman Weber, president of the South East Ramapo Taxpayers Association -- a group that has in the past lobbied against the district's budget -- said he was satisfied with this year's proposal.

"The money just isn't there," Weber said. "It's a disaster cutting these programs but they have no choice."

School leaders generally declined to make any guesses about how their budgets would fare on Tuesday. Across the state, the vast majority of school budgets pass each year. But budgets in distressed communities can fail.

In Rockland County in 2012, only the East Ramapo district's budget was rejected at the polls.

"I've learned never to make predictions in terms of what the outcome may be," Montesano said. "You just really never know."

Here are the Rockland school district budgets up for a vote on Tuesday:

• Clarkstown: Spending up 7.9 percent, tax levy up 2.9 percent

• Nanuet: Spending up 3.3 percent, tax levy up 1.1 percent

• North Rockland: Spending up 2.4 percent, tax levy up 3.6 percent

• South Orangetown: Spending up 4.2 percent, tax levy up 3.5 percent

• Nyack: Spending up 3.9 percent, tax levy up 2.9 percent

• Pearl River: Spending up 3.1 percent, tax levy up 3.5 percent

• Ramapo: Spending up .7 percent, tax levy up 2 percent

• East Ramapo: Spending up 9.4 percent, tax levy up 3.1 percent