OCSD Presents Preliminary 2021-22 Budget During BOE Meeting

OSWEGO – The Oswego City School District’s 2021-22 school budget was the main topic of discussion during Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting, March 16.

 

Superintendent Dr. Mathis Calvin III, along with OCSD Executive Director of Business and Finance Nancy Squairs, presented the preliminary plan for the upcoming year for board members.

Calvin said the budget was crafted to reduce minimal impact on tax payers, while maintaining flexibility, emergency planning, and cash flow availability in lieu of state aid shortfalls.

“As you know, on March 11, the President signed the $1.9 trillion COVID Relief Bill. And what this means to school districts across the state is still pretty vague; we’re not sure of all the details and what this means, but what we know is that there is some funds, that hopefully will be coming into districts pretty soon,” Calvin said. “So, as you can see, the bill has a lot of items to it, and now we’re just waiting on the full rollout, so we will better understand what that means at the state level, and how that actually demonstrates at the local level.”

Calvin also addressed the management and utilization of the money, presenting caution so as not to make the district monetarily vulnerable when Federal funds are no longer available.

Preliminary numbers for the 2021-22 budget came in at $91,152,531; an increase of $2,647,076 from this year’s 2020-21 budget at $88,505,455, with an overall tax increase of 1.35%.

A monetary breakdown of the three-part budget consists of the following:

• Administrative: $8,471,636
• Capital: $12,154,326
• Program: $71,136,237

The Administrative budget costs include the Superintendent’s Department, Finance, Personnel, administrative curriculum salaries, department budgets, legal fees, district administrative budgets, etc.

The Capital Budget costs include Debt Services and all facilities, with the Program Budget costs including daily undertakings such as, teaching and learning, student activities, student programs, etc.

Another section of the budget includes a bus proposition for the purchase of new vehicles, the estimated cost not exceeding $1,125,00. The proposal includes the following:

• Two 30 -passenger Bluebird Microbus gas buses
• Two 65-passenger Bluebird Vision gas school buses
• Three 64-passenger Cummins/Diesel Thomas C2 buses
• Three 64-passenger Detroit/Diesel Thomas C2 buses

In the course of the budget’s creation, current tax cap calculations allow for an increase of up to 4.99%. The districts recommendation is for a lowered adjustment of only 1.35% to limit taxpayer burden. A public hearing will be held on April 5, with a deadline for Board adoption by April 25.

Information on voting in new OCSD Board Members and the 2021-22 budget are as follows:

• School board candidate petitions are due by 5 p.m. on April 28.
• Last day for voter registration is May 4.
• Public hearing will be held on May 4.
• Absentee Ballot applications must be received by 4 p.m. on May 11.
• Budget newsletters will be mailed out on May 12.
• Absentee ballots must be received by 5 p.m. on May 18 by the District Clerk.
• In-person voting will be held at the following sites:
  • Scriba Fire Station
  • Paul’s Church
  • Elim Grace Church
  • Oswego Town Hall

Other items discussed during the BOE meeting include school reopening information, a brief update on the Capital Project, along with an update on the STAR Intervention Screening Report. All agendas items were passed. To view the agenda, please click here.

All OCSD BOE meetings are held the first and third Tuesday of every month, the next meeting being held on April 6 at 5 p.m. All meetings can be viewed on the districts WBUC YouTube channel. missing or outdated ad config

Print this entry