Dear Inlet Taxpayers:
I am sure that many of you are wondering why there was a substantial increase on your recent school tax bill, especially in light of the 2011 legislation that imposed the two percent tax levy limit on public school budgets. (This is slightly misleading because according to the Property Tax Cap Formula for the 2014-2015 school year, the Inlet Common School was only allowed a tax increase of 1.46 percent or about $19,000.)
First and foremost the law states that it is possible to pass a budget that exceeds the limit, but a 60 percent super majority vote is needed to override the tax cap. Our budget passed with a 76 percent majority.
The Inlet School Board members and administrative staff are committed to providing our students with a high quality education, yet we are very aware that no one wants their taxes to go up.
It was a difficult decision to increase the budget so substantially, but we felt that it was important in order to maintain our current level of programming.
We have taken steps in the last few years to increase the rigor of our curriculum enabling our students to be able to conquer the challenges they will face in the college and career setting.
We also want to ensure that their time spent at school is meaningful, thus empowering the students to have a love of learning and become lifelong learners.
The single largest line item in our budget is tuition. We pay the Town of Webb Schools (TOWS) a fixed amount per student for our students in grades seven through twelve to attend the TOWS.
The tuition rate is derived from a complicated formula dictated by New York State Education Laws which factors in 87 separate items.
In a nutshell, the state mandated formula dictates the maximum amount that the TOWS is allowed to charge us.
In these tough economic times, everyone is feeling the pinch. Fortunately, TOWS does not charge us the maximum rate, and we are very grateful for that.
In spite of that, the tuition rate went up by two percent, yet we were only allowed to increase our budget by 1.46 percent in order to stay within the tax cap formula limit.
We tuitioned 31 students in grades seven through twelve in the 2013 to 2014 school year; currently we tuition 37 students in grades seven through twelve to TOWS.
This is an increase of $103,200, about 71 percent of the total budget increase.
Additional factors that led to the overall budget increase include salaries, contractual expenses, and health insurance benefits, roughly 19 percent of the budget increase.
Lack of state aid also has a negative impact on our budget. The state legislature increased the amount of aid to school districts this year, but we did not qualify.
In order to qualify for state aid, a school district must employ at least eight full time teachers. To the best of my knowledge, there have never been eight full time teachers at the Inlet School, nor has Inlet School ever received state aid.
I have spoken to Senator Hugh Farley and his aides on several occasions. He was gracious enough to find us $17,000 of bullet aid last year and $5,000 this year, but there is no easy solution to our dilemma.
Unquestionably, our students receive a high quality education, and that is the cost for the investment we all make as taxpayers in our school districts as a nation.
I encourage you to let your voices be heard at our monthly meetings which occur on the second Wednesday of every month. I welcome your input and support.
Sincerely, Christine Holt Superintendent Inlet Common School
