Budget season opens: Monroe‑Woodbury projects higher transportation costs, state aid uptick and a 3.55% tax‑levy cap ceiling

Patrick Cahill, assistant superintendent for business and management services, told the Board of Education on Feb. 19 that the district is beginning its public budget process with several cost drivers and revenue changes to watch.

Cahill highlighted transportation as the largest near‑term pressure: the district is projecting roughly a 12% year‑to‑year increase in contract transportation costs, amounting to about $1.5 million. He said the proposed budget includes the purchase of 10 buses, which increases that capital line by roughly $710,000; Cahill said bus prices have risen from about $125,000 five years ago to roughly $200,000 today.

On benefits, Cahill said health insurance premiums were expected to rise about 2.5 percent for next year. On retirement contributions, the Teacher Retirement System (TRS) employer rate was forecast to fall to about 9.6 percent while the Employees' Retirement System (ERS) employer contribution would rise slightly (a blended rate noted around 18 percent).

Cahill reviewed county and statewide items that affect revenues. He said Orange‑Ulster BOCES capital costs will peak in the upcoming budget year at about $1,660,000 but should phase down thereafter. The district holds about $2.2 million in a debt‑service reserve that leaders plan to use to offset debt service in the near term.

On state aid, Cahill presented the state aid run showing a projected increase in total state aid for the district of about $5.8 million (a projected budget‑to‑budget increase of roughly 6.6 percent), and he gave a working projection that the district could budget about $94.6 million in state aid for the coming year. He cautioned that aid runs are projections based on district submissions and that final numbers can change.

Explaining the New York tax‑levy cap, Cahill walked the board through the formula and the district's carryover from prior years. With the cap's exclusions (capital, certain BOCES items and other allowable deductions) and the district's carryover, the maximum allowable levy for the coming year was presented as $136,033,529, equivalent to a 3.55 percent increase over the prior year; the district's working examples assumed a lower levy scenario for planning.

Cahill also discussed budgeting techniques the district will use to balance revenue and appropriations, including the use of reserves, debt‑service reserves and any available surplus to moderate levy impact. He proposed reducing a prudence adjustment he had built into the current year’s state‑aid hedge from roughly $2.7 million to about $955,000 for next year, reflecting improved state aid projections.

Cahill closed with a calendar of budget milestones: the tax‑cap calculation on March 1; instructional budget presentations beginning March 5; the superintendent's recommended budget in early April; board adoption by April 24; public hearing May 7 and the district vote on May 20.

No formal board vote was taken on these projections; the presentation was an informational kickoff to the public budget process.