Schools

As Chappaqua BOE Passes Budget, Tension Over Taxes & Spending

Trend is relatively recent, Mester says.

As the Chappaqua Central School District Board of Education adopted its 2010-2011 budget to send to the voters at its April 20 meeting, it had gone through in the latest of recent meetings facing the ire of a portion of the district's constituents who attended.

Concerns ranged from the rate of the long-term rise in the budget, to the affordability of property taxes.

The budget that will be sent to the voters on May 18 will have a 2.32 percent tax levy increase and a 1.90 percent spending increase. When broken down to a town-by-town level, New Castle residents will see a 2.32 percent increase in the rate of $1,000 per assessed valuation, while Mount Pleasant residents who are in the district will see a large increase of 12.31 percent. John Chow, the district's superintendent for business, explained at the recent meeting that this is due to the equalization rate, which is used because the two towns have different assessment values. The equation comes to the full taxable value, which is close to the market value of property, according to Chow.

Find out what's happening in Chappaqua-Mount Kiscowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The two biggest pieces of the budget are salary (53.7 percent) and benefits (20.3 percent). which collectively figured in the minds of a number of residents who turned out.

"I feel as if I'm living on an island, oblivious to a surrounding sea of a desperate economy. I think I hear violin music and I've been looking for Nero," said Betty Weitz, Chappaqua, at an April 13 school board meeting explaining taxes in the budget, according to NCCTV footage.

Find out what's happening in Chappaqua-Mount Kiscowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Weitz was concerned about the budget rate increase, and wanted to know how many administrative positions were being cut, to which the superintendent responded that they operate with a lean staff. She also argued that homes will not be saleable.

Steve Walsh, a Chappaqua resident with six kids - three still in the district - noted how expensive it was to live in the area, and cited concerns about the budget's rate of increase long term.

"I mean, You'd be crazy to move into Chappaqua unless you had kids," he said at the tax details meeting.

Judy McGrath, a Chappaqua with two children who graduated from Horace Greeley High School in 2004 and 2007, was concerned at the April 20 meeting about the budget's long-term increase, and felt that the escalating costs were unsustainable. 

"You almost feel like you are being economically irresponsible to stay here," she said, while also noting that she loves Chappaqua, but that the situation makes her said.

McGrath also explained that she was unhappy the district was not using more reserves in its budget than allocated, which she referred to as "our money," meaning the taxpayers.

One resident came up to the podium and asked the school board members details about their involvement with the underfunded portations of the employee healthcare and pension. He also called for the board to put out a white paper on the retirement obligation. Superintendent David Fleishman explained to the man that the district is mandated by the state for its pension involvement.

 Some at the two meetings came to support the district. One woman in the district worried about the education quality, and also felt that she did not see places where they were wasting money.

Andrew Schwartz, a Horace Greeley junior, supported the school board at the April 20 meeting, and explained that he had been to several meetings where they talked about the budget pieces, in response to sentiment about transparency. 

John Ehrlich, a Chappaqua resident with a son who graduated and is now in college, came to the April 20 meeting and supported the board for its work. He also came to suggest another way of raising revenue: soliciting donations from Greeley alumni. 

The trend appears to have unfolded within the past two years, as the economic climate has gone downhill.

In discussing turnout at the meetings, Jay Shapiro, a board member who is not running again this year, noted at the April 20 meeting that people who were showing up were not there in previous years, with the exception of the last one.

Jeffrey Mester, president of the school board, expressed similar remarks in an interview with Patch, noting that the trend had been within the past two years. He also said that last year there were people concerned about the impact of the district's zero-percent budget increase, for fear that it would hit academic programs.

One board member, Gregg Bresner, defended the board's action for the past two years at the April 20 meeting, using a slideshow presentation to demonstrate the roll over of costs from the past two years. He explained that, had the district not done anything over the past two years, the budget and taxes would have gone up more. 

Bresner also blasted the state for its role and mandates.

"Albany is, I really consider it an invasion on our district," he said, explaining the impact of mandates.

Residents will have a chance to voice their opinions once more before May 18 at tonight's school board meeting, which is at Horace Greeley at 8:15 p.m.

Editor's Note: Board member Gregg Bresner was initially referred to as "Gregg Lesner." This has since been fixed.


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