SALEM CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT budget workshop flags bus purchases, insurance increases and EV uncertainty

SALEM CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT officials presented a draft budget at a recent workshop that staff said shows a large apparent increase driven largely by transportation reclassification and higher insurance costs.

Presenter said the district organizes the budget into capital, administrative and program components and that staff would not walk every line in the packet. Staff described the packet as a draft with several pending quotes and cautioned the numbers could change. "Preliminarily, they are seeing a 22% increase in our HRA plan and a 7% increase in our PPO plan," the Staff member said, noting most employees are on the HRA option.

The capital component is higher this year in part because the district moved bus leases from the program component into debt service after audit feedback. Staff said the district plans to purchase two full-size (65-passenger) buses and buy out a final lease on a 35-passenger bus that expires in June; those moves and the lease reclassification materially increased the capital line on paper. Staff summarized the draft as showing a 22.69% increase overall but said that without the transportation reclassification the net increase would be closer to 0.6%.

Presenter and staff raised timing and infrastructure concerns around electric vehicle (EV) mandates. The Presenter said an EV‑fleet study should be finished by the end of the school year and warned that the district’s current bus‑garage infrastructure could support only about two charging stations without a capital project. "If we lease buses this year on a 5 year lease, if we weren't ready to go 100% EV, we can't purchase these buses," the Presenter said, describing scenarios in which a hybrid fleet or state waivers for rural districts could be necessary.

Staff also described program‑budget increases: recovering funds for professional development, summer materials and textbooks after several years of reductions, and planning for a full SRO (school resource officer) salary pending grant outcomes. Staff noted previous use of ARP funds for some purchases that affects future-year lines and said several debts (including a 2008 EPC project) will drop off next year, which should ease some future pressure.

On administration, staff said the administrative component is projected to rise roughly 9.39%, mostly driven by health‑insurance cost increases. The packet also includes modest new lines such as an estimated $3,000 for tax-bill mailing and a proposal to contract a public-information person for one day per week; staff noted that some of those costs are "aidable" and return partial revenue in subsequent years.

No formal motions or votes were recorded in the transcript. Staff scheduled the next budget workshop for Feb. 25 to review the program budget, projected revenue and the tax‑cap levy limit and said final insurance and vehicle numbers should be available at that meeting.

The budget workshop included repeated cautions that several figures were preliminary, that insurance numbers remain subject to change based on consortium calculations, and that EV‑mandate timing and infrastructure needs could alter vehicle procurement plans.