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Only about ten people showed up for a Lansing Central School District budget hearing Monday.  Superintendent Stephen Grimm presented the $24,377,906 budget that property taxpayers will be asked to approve next Tuesday' (May 18th) vote.

"If you look at last year's presentation I had 'achieving excellence' and 'planning for the future,'" Grimm said.  "Now with the economic fiscal state we're looking at preserving excellence.  That's been our focus.  How do we preserve what we have with the decreased revenue we are getting?"

The gist of the presentation was that Lansing was well along the road to getting its financial house in order.  Long term fiscal planning, close monitoring of spending, judicious use of reserves, and sensitivity to property owners who are already being overtaxed has all contributed to that.  Grimm noted that all those factors have led to Standard & Poor elevating the district's bond rating from A to A+, and Moody's raised Lansing's rating from AA to AAA.

But forces outside the control of the district have resulted in a revenue loss of $1,343,364 for next school year that precipitated cuts of more than 15 positions, including the equivalent of 5.2 teachers.  Included in that figure are cuts of $804,767 in state and federal aid, and a $528,000 reduction in revenue from an agreement with AES Cayuga, Lansing's biggest taxpayer.

Grimm characterized this year as providing the 'perfect storm of revenues.  But with revenue losses drastically impacting next year's budget and further anticipated losses in the coming years, he said that budgeting in the next several years will be particularly challenging.  While he said there is a plan for using reserves over a five year period through the 2012-2013 school year, that the danger is that once reserve money is spent, it is gone, like using money from a savings account for daily living.

"It's the perfect storm of revenue loss," Grimm said.  "And we're in the boat."

Enrollment is currently at 1257 students, up a little bit from last year, and faculty and staff comes to about 275.  Grimm summarized cuts that are anticipated, and said that layoffs will be finalized in a timely manner.  He noted that of the 5.2 teacher-equivalent positions, two would be lost by attrition, one accounted for by a leave of absence, and a fourth because of a retirement.

Community member Jim Eyster expressed outrage that the AES Cayuga PILOT agreement was renegotiated so the district will lose about a half million dollars in revenue instead of the originally agreed upon gain of $300,000.  He quoted a report showing AES's performance and revenues for the year, and suggested that district officials be as much a part of new negotiations that begin this Spring.

Grimm replied that he intends to be at every meeting, and the district has hired a consultant with expertise in industrial assessment to go along with him.

Grimm said that Lansing is known for excellence, and that is worth preserving.  But he noted that the ways in which the district achieves excellence will have to be adjusted to new fiscal realities.

"We're known in Lansing for academic performance," he said.  "We're either number one or two in every category of academic achievement in the area.  Our performing arts and music performance is also in the top.  We've had students place state-wide and nationally in both performing arts and visual arts.  Athletic performance is also second to none in many areas.  We battle for first place in the IAC league, and we're always contenders for Sectionals and States.  We really have the trifecta here, with academic performance, the arts, and athletics."

The meeting ended with School Board President Anne Drake introducing the two candidates for two open board seats, David Dittman, running for a second term, and Christine Iacobucci, a former board member who is running to fill Michael Cheatham's seat on the board.

Aside from the resolution to approve the budget, voters will be asked to approve the purchase of two 66-passenger school buses and one 7-passenger Suburban school bus at an estimated cost not to exceed $275,000.  Despite the legally required wording of the proposition that says the district is authorized to levy the amount, Grimm said there will be no additional taxes for the bus purchases.

"There are no additional taxes needed for this," he said.  "It's part of debt service funds.  Many times when we retire debt there is more money in the funds than we need to repay the original debt.  We can reutilize that money by putting it in the capital reserve, or for busses.  In this case we're not tagging on something extra.  We're reusing debt service.  We get aid back on them as well.  We know we have money to pay for those busses for the next five years without asking for more money."

On Tuesday voters will be asked to approve the budget, to elect two school board members, and the busses.

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