As school districts from Montauk to Massena focus on their 2012-13 budgets, the first under a state-imposed tax cap, Bedford’s school chief has some advice: look at 2014-15, too.

And look at the intervening years, Dr. Jere Hochman told the Bedford Central School District board at a meeting Wednesday. “We’re thinking of this as a multiyear strategy,” he said of the administration’s work on the budget, this year’s as well as future ones.

In a PowerPoint presentation scheduled to go up on the district’s web site today, Hochman said that viewing budget decisions from a four-year perspective, especially under the tax cap, would allow the school board “to make timely strategic decisions and to facilitate a transition, where appropriate.” The cap—urged by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and enacted by the legislature last year—limits overall tax-levy increases, nominally to 2 percent, although a number of variables could make the number fractionally higher.

Hochman has projected Bedford’s maximum allowable tax levy increase to be 2.59 percent.

By taking a longer view of the budget that includes, let’s say, cuts in programs the school board could “prepare now for what we project having been preserved [in future years] and what is no longer here.”

While January’s too early for 2012-13 specifics, it’s likely that sharp pencils have already roughly calculated a)the cost of maintaining the district’s current programs and b.) how much the district could spend under a cap-compliant budget.

The cash difference—the total cost of “a” minus the most money that “b” can yield under the cap—is the potential budget gap.

Hochman, who said last month that the board was committed to using $4.4 million of reserves and surplus to close such a gap, reiterated that point in his presentation.

The superintendent had opened the talk with a glance back at three years of what he called a “self-imposed tax cap” that saw increases in levies held under 2 percent. Despite the economies, accomplished through efficiencies and cuts, Hochman said, “we have preserved the core of what the Bedford school district is.” Still, he warned, “very tough decisions” are upcoming.   

Schools seek substitute custodians

The Bedford school district is looking to create a pool of local, on-call custodians, available when district staffers are absent.

Mark Betz, the Bedford Central School District’s assistant superintendent for business, said Wednesday that he's advertising in the Pennysaver to fill the part-time posts. Part-timers, working at a lower wage than the district’s permanent custodians, Betz said, would cost far less than a staffer brought in at overtime rates.

Candidates will be fingerprinted and undergo a background investigation before entering the custodial pool, he said. Betz made his remarks during a presentation to the school board on his office’s activities.