West End Faces 7.43% Ossining School Tax Hike

Residents of New Castle's West End who live in the Ossining school district could see a projected 7.43-percent tax rate increase under the proposed 2013-14 school budget. This is in contrast to projected rate hikes of 3.49 percent for Ossining residents and 5.07 percent for the district's Yorktown residents.

The tax rate, which represents what people owe per $1,000 of assessed property value, has been a contentious point for West End residents in recent years. The gaps in the tax rates are the result of an equation called the equalization rate, which is used to reconcile differences in how the towns assess their properties. 

In absolutely dollar amounts, the projected rate increases, per $1,000 of assessed value, are $8.64 for New Castle, $13.91 for Ossining and $45.68 for Yorktown.

One potential source of relief from the gap could come if New Castle and Ossining each conduct townwide property revaluations. Both municipalities are part of a larger group of Westchester County communities that are considering sharing a vendor for the process, although New Castle's town board has yet to decide whether the town should proceed. Speaking before a group of West End residents in 2011, Thomas Frey, whose firm, Frey Appraisal & Consulting Services, did a revaluation study for New Castle, said that both towns doing revaluation together could help with the problem.

In doing revaluations together, New Castle and Ossining could each assess their properties at the same percentages of their market values, or entirely at their full-market values, which would neutralize the effect and role of the equalization rate.

In recent years, New Castle applied to New York State for a what is called a segmented equalization rate, where only properties in the Ossining school district, rather than on a townwide basis, would be used for the school taxes equation. The town was generally not successful in its efforts. 

The proposed school budget, which will be up for a vote on May 21, totals $110,433,452 and includes reductions in teachers aides, modified sports and no replacement deputy superintendent.

The Ossining school board recently voted to send the budget to the voters.

"We have discussed this at length for months," school board President Bill Kress stated at the board's April 23 meeting. "There is nothing in this budget we haven't discussed at numerous meetings throughout the year, especially at the mini lessons."

Kress and his six board colleagues unanimously voted to adopt the budget at the meeting, which, with a 3.4 percent tax levy increase, keeps the district belows its allowable 3.56 percent increase under the state's tax cap.

The tax levy represents the total amount of tax revenue that can be collected. The levy is subject to a cap on its annual increase while no cap exists for tax rates.

The budget's total figure also represents a 3.61 percent increase over the current academic year's budgeted expenditures.

"We stayed within the cap and we are still offering a tremendous amount in the budget," Board Member Graig Galef stated. "There are still unbelievable things in the budget."

View the full budget document here.

Board members hailed the 2013-14 budget process as a lengthy and thorough affair that included community input throughout.

Despite that, financial restrictions left the district with a final product that was less than ideal, the board said.

"We had to find creative solutions and...they are compromises," noted Vice President Dana Levenberg. "This is not what we wish we could do in a perfect world, but what we feel we had to do."

Said Superintendent Raymond Sanchez, "These were not easy decisions and they weren't decisions that we wanted to make alone."

And when community members rejected a memorandum in mid-April that would have cut back on a number of bus routes, the board had to consider alternatives to the approximately $413,262 it estimated saving if the measure had passed.

Under the adopted budget, the modified sports program will no longer be interscholastic. Instead, seventh and eighth graders will compete internally through "intrasquad scrimmages."

While Galef wondered if in the future the board should "proactively" reach out to groups affected by the budget, "As a PTA leader, I have addressed the board many, many, many times about modified sports," Beth Sniffen said.

Sniffen suggested the district consider future grant monies be allocated to the modified sports program.

Other proposed cuts include 1.5 full-time equivalent enrichment positions, a reduction in $337,00 in transportation costs and a 0.5 full-time equivalent health teacher at Ossining High School.

"There's a lot of shared sacrifice in this budget," said Board Member Frank Schnecker, who warned against the "dramatic implications" if it does not pass on May 21.

___

Sanchez and Assistant Superintendent for Business Alita Zuber will present the budget on Friday, May 10 at 6:45 p.m. at Park School in Spanish.

The official district budget hearing is Tuesday, May 14 at Roosevelt School. The annual district budget vote and Board of Education election is Tuesday, May 21 from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the Ossining High School gymnasium.

Patch Editor Tom Auchterlonie contributed to this article.