Harrison BOE Passes $104.2 Million Preliminary Budget

Harrison school administrators have found the necessary savings to approve a preliminary budget beneath the 2 percent state tax levy cap, applauding a budget that is expected to also maintain class sizes and current programs without layoffs.

The proposed budget, approved Wednesday night, has a tax levy of approximately $93.1 million, up 1.97 percent from last year. The tax levy is the portion of the budget paid by taxpayers. With the final spending plan set at $104.2 million, overall budget-to-budget spending increased 1.07 percent.

The spending plan eliminates 10.4 full-time positions, five of them instructional. Nine teachers retired earlier this school year through a teacher retirement incentive program offered by the district. Only fill four of those spots will be filled, resulting in the five eliminated positions. The district is confident, however, that the drop in teaching positions will not increase class sizes next year.

"We are fortunate this year, we had an anomaly, a downturn in our enrollment, which certainly assisted us in being able to downsize the teaching staff without cutting any programs or class sizes," said Harrison Superintendent Louis Wool. "That was quite fortuitous for us, I'm not sure is we'll see that again."

The rest of the position cuts will be found through a reorganization of the custodial staff that will result in the elimination of 4.4 full-time equivalent positions and the elimination of one administrative position.

In total, the staffing changes will save the district $1.6 million next year, said Harrison Assistant Superintendent for Business Robert Salierno.

In late March the district announced it would need to find approximately $200,000 in savings to create a budget beneath the state's tax levy cap. That savings was found through small-budget items—17 cuts spread across various departments—that accounted for about $144,000 in savings. The district was also helped by a slight up-tick in sales tax revenue, said Salierno.

The board of education had outlined a clear goal for school administrators for the budget—maintain programs and class sizes while staying beneath the tax cap. Board members applauded that success before voting Wednesday.

"We gave you a strong and direct edict at the beginning of this and I thank you for the work," said Board of Education President Joan Tiburzi.

Wool said the budgeting process, which requires your-round planning, again created some difficult decisions. Although he said administrators were able to meet the goals of the board, there were still sacrifices.

"I wish I could say that we are celebrating moving parts of the program forward that we would like to be moving forward," he said. "But this year I'm really proud of the organization for all of its efforts to protect those things that are essential to kids."

The Harrison Board of Education will present the entire spending plan to the public on May 2 and it will go to a vote on May 15.