Penn Yan school budget up 1.3 percent

PENN YAN—The Penn Yan Central School District’s 2014-15 proposed budget includes a $422,710 increase in total expense from the current year’s budget. The proposed spending plan, to be voted on May 20, has $33,071,307 in total proposed spending, up 1.3 percent from the prior year. This results in a total property tax levy to be raised of $17,272805, a nearly 2.5 percent increase from the current year’s budget. The maximum allowable tax levy increase is 2.67 percent.
The budget contains an overall $302,474 reduction in state aid for the district from last year’s aid. The district will be using an additional $200,000 in reserves for the employee retirement system (ERS) along with an additional $200,000 in reserves for tax reduction.
The district’s proposed budget sees both increasing and decreasing numbers under their expense column. The largest changes in expense from the 2013-14 budget include:
• A $466,109 increase in general education instruction to $11,711,025.
• A $236,043 increase in employee benefits to $7,898,981.
• A $161,145 reduction in debt service to $4,229,755.
• A $155,099 reduction in special education instruction to $3,405,145.
The district’s central administration costs will be increasing by $32,913, while the clubs and athletics expense will contribute an additional $17,496. While the district will be seeing a $38,000 increase in insurance and BOCES administration costs, they will also see a decrease in transportation costs by $51,646.
The district released a graph showing 35 percent of the total budget goes toward general education instruction, with 10 percent dedicated to special education instruction. Health insurance benefits make up 24 percent of the budget, while construction and debt service amounts to 13 percent of the budget. All other categories such as operations and maintenance, transportation, administration, athletics and insurance amount to less than 10 percent of the budget each.
The vote on the 2014-15 budget will be held Tuesday, May 20 from noon to 8 p.m.