School Budget Information

The school budget can be confusing. In an attempt to minimize misinformation, here are some facts:

• Our Fiscal Year runs from July 1 through June 30. We are currently near the end of FY14. The budget we are considering is for FY 15, which will begin July 1, 2014 and will run through June 30, 2015.

• In FY 15, our property taxes will, once again, be increasing. Pending approval, the property tax levy will increase by $990,562 over FY14’s levy.

• The total requested FY15 general fund budget, including schools, is $53,863,035. Schools represent $28,148,496 of this amount, while the rest of city government represents the remaining $25,714,539.

• The school budget is not being cut. Pending approval by the city council, I have recommended, and the school committee has endorsed, an increase of $800,000 over last year’s budgeted amount to $28,148,496.

• In spite of this, we are still faced with a funding gap between forecasted school costs and the $800,000 budget increase. This gap is about $330,000. This is because the cost to run our school system will increase by about $1.13 million next year over this year.

• No one on the school committee has accepted the inevitability of the gap, and all are committed to reducing it. To that end, committee members are working hard on several fronts in order to close the $330,000 gap, including:

• Advocating for increased state funding to Amesbury’s schools. Over the last 15 years, annual Chapter 70 funding has decreased by about $1,000,000 while the annual cost to run our schools has increased by about $10,000,000.

• Asking school principals and administrators to aggressively pursue ways to reduce costs in order to work within the confines of the $800,000 increase in the $28.1 million budget (a reduction in costs of $330,000 would require a 1.2% reduction in school spending).

• Continuing to explore sources of additional funding to close the gap including increasing the city’s contribution.

• The school funding gap is not a new problem. We face such gaps almost every year, primarily driven by ever increasing state and federal mandated spending requirements. Last year’s gap was over $900,000.

I am not happy with the program reductions that school principals and administrators have recommended to close the $330,000 gap. Neither am I happy with the nearly $1,000,000 increase in property taxes that will result from the FY15 budget. However, we have two long standing problems – chronically underfunded schools, and extremely high property taxes - that are at cross purposes. In other words, fixing one makes the other worse.

As much as I would like to fix both of these problems in my first few months in office, if we are to balance the needs of our entire community, it can’t be done.

Therefore, my approach in the short term is one of shared responsibility. Taxes will go up, thereby increasing the burden on our already overtaxed citizens. However, our schools are being asked to share the burden. They will receive the bulk of the revenue from the increased taxes, and most of the amount they have requested, but they may fall short of the full amount needed to cover their increased costs.

I have consistently said that turning our city around will require a long term focus. My plan is and has been to increase revenue from new commercial and industrial sources thus reducing the tax burden on our homeowners. The revenue generated from these sources will play a substantial role in alleviating our annual dilemma of balancing the needs of our taxpayers and our schools.

I ask for the help and understanding of all of our citizens. Specifically I ask that everyone acknowledge and understand the validity of the points of view of those with whom they may disagree. Without such mutual understanding, we have no hope of resolving our long standing differences.

Ken