Published: April 27, 2007 09:55 pm      

BARKER: School budgeting riddled with uncertainty

SOMERSET — At the top of the yellow “things to do” notepad in Steven J. LaRock’s office, the first item is the budget. It is nearly May and LaRock still can’t cross that item off.

The Barker Central School District superintendent has been working with the school board and Business Administrator Debra Coder to finish the 2007-08 school budget so it can be presented to the public. Unfortunately, not all of the numbers have been filled in.

“There are a lot of things happening that are not in our control because of the (payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement),” LaRock said. “There is confusion with the special legislation and state aid’s 25 percent cap and knowing if the loss from the PILOT can be made up.”

With those variables still unknown, the board of education has opted to hold the line with an $18.9 million budget, the same number taxpayers voted on last year. The decision to choose the status quo was made to prevent residents from taking on more of a tax burden.

LaRock said it will cost $595,000 more this year to cover required expenses such as utilities, transportation and teacher salaries. Additionally, the district may have to make up $1.3 million, the estimated property tax loss that Barker will suffer if AES Somerset is taken off the tax rolls this summer.

The coal-fired power plant approached the Niagara County Industrial Development Agency last fall, asking for a PILOT as “tax certainty” for its existing coal-fired power plant as it promised to bid on the chance to build a clean coal plant under former Gov. George Pataki’s Advanced Clean Coal Initiative. The plant lost out to NRG Huntley in the Town of Tonawanda.

Before the PILOT was signed, officials in the Town of Somerset, Barker district and Niagara County estimated the school would lose $23.5 million over the life of the 12-year PILOT.

LaRock said he is looking to make up $1.9 million in the budget through personnel and program cuts and possibly an increase in local property taxes. At this point, the board has not decided how it will keep spending at last year’s level.

Earlier this year, LaRock notified 24 teachers, teacher’s aides and assistants that they might not have a job next year, but specific cuts are not yet written into the budget.

“We’ve had some retirements, which helped,” he said. “We’ve had one resignation. We won’t be filling a couple of vacant positions.”

LaRock, who is slated to retire at the end of the year, does not know whether his own departure will save the school district money. He said generally new hires makes just about as much as their predecessors because of increasing demands on superintendents.

The board won’t make an official decision on which staff and programs will be cut until LaRock has a better idea how much state aid he can get. As of Friday afternoon, he was still waiting on numbers from state Sen. George Maziarz, R-Newfane.

“In light of this PILOT and the fact that the plant will come off the tax roll, the district will appear to be much poorer in calculations of state aid,” LaRock said. “We need aid to bridge the gap in the reduction of revenue in the PILOT. In the state aid bill, the cap on foundation aid is 25 percent. No one can get any more than that. We’re very restricted on special legislation unless the legislation removes the cap.”

Both Maziarz and Assemblywoman Francine DelMonte, D-Niagara Falls, earlier introduced special legislation to increase state aid for Barker. State aid is determined three years in advance, which means the pending removal of AES Somerset off the tax rolls won’t be taken into account immediately unless the state takes special action.

So far next school year, Barker is supposed to receive about $4.8 million in state aid before Maziarz’s legislation aid kicks in. Maziarz said his bill would net about $400,000 more in state aid for the district — a figure LaRock contends could be $300,000 higher if the increase cap was removed.

“Because his special legislation didn’t recognize (the cap), we’re not going to get the aid we need,” LaRock said. “George did not do what he has been saying he would do.”

None of the numbers are final yet. Maziarz said the state Assembly had some issues with the proposed legislation because members felt they didn’t know the PILOT’s effects on the district next year.

Lawsuits against the PILOT are still in court. Judge Richard C. Kloch Sr. has called for a factual hearing over aspects of the lawsuits brought by the school, Town of Somerset and Niagara County, but a new date has not been set.

A date is set for the presentation of the budget to the public. At 7:30 p.m. May 7 in the high school auditorium, residents will be able to get more up-to-date information. A stable tax rate and the exact amount of property tax revenue still might not be known, though.

Last year, Town of Somerset residents paid $16.04 per thousand in school taxes. If voters reject the budget, a contingency budget of $19.7 million could kick in. However, LaRock said, there have been more “yes” votes on the budget each year because of a reduced tax levy.

“Our theme has been quality education at a reasonable cost,” LaRock said. “I think people have accepted that we will do the best we can do with the academic program.”

LaRock countered previous criticisms from AES Somerset, who has said the district’s per pupil expenditure is abnormally high for a rural school district.

“In rural communities, if it happens, it happens here,” LaRock said. “It’s a very important quality of life issue. We do whatever we can to embrace our community and give our kids opportunities.”

The district also offers advanced classes, even if classes are small. LaRock said his high school students still have to compete with students from larger districts for colleges, scholarships and jobs.

“Rural education is not cheap,” LaRock said.