Port Jervis School District Proposes $96 Million Budget With Flat Tax Levy

Port Jervis School District Superintendent John Bell at his office in Port Jervis, N.Y., on May 31, 2023. (Cara Ding/The Epoch Times)

Port Jervis City School District Superintendent John Bell has said that his administration proposed a $96 million budget for the coming school year with zero increases in the tax levy.

The recommended tax levy covers about a third of the total budget at a little more than $29 million, a figure that has remained flat for the past three school years.

“We are happy that we can take another budget to the voters with no tax increases for them,” Mr. Bell told The Epoch Times on March 15. “Not every district can pull that off.”

The total proposed budget is an increase of $5 million, or nearly 6 percent, from the current year, largely because of new debt payments for the ongoing middle school capital project.

Most debt payments will eventually be reimbursed through building aid provided by the state.

Inflation and rising retirement and health insurance costs also contribute to the budget bump.

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During the current budget cycle, the district adopted a new practice of maintaining a surplus fund balance within the 4 percent limit set by state law.

The district is proposing to move $11 million out of the fund balance to reserve funds—$10 million alone into the capital reserve—and use another $1.6 million to balance the operating budget.

Those moves are expected to bring the fund balance down to $3.8 million, about 4 percent of the proposed district budget.

The new budgeting practice came after the New York State’s Comptroller’s Office advised the district against piling up unspent revenue above the statutory limit more than a year ago.

The numbers in the proposed budget are not final and are subject to changing conditions. The major uncertainty is that state foundation aid dollars are currently being debated at the state level.

State Aid

The school district has budgeted a conservative estimate of the aid. If the final number is more favorable, the district might end up using less fund balance money than currently planned, according to John Timm, district assistant superintendent of business.

“It is always a moving target, and it is going to move again when I present the budget a month from now,” Mr. Timm said during a school board budget presentation on March 12.

New York state school foundation aid accounts for the lion’s share of the district budget at nearly 70 percent in a normal year, according to Mr. Bell.

The state aid has driven much of the district budget bump in the past 10 years, which has risen by almost half from about $66 million to the proposed $96 million.

In contrast, the district tax levy has increased by only 6 percent over the same 10-year period.

What’s Next

The Port Jervis school board is expected to adopt a budget for the coming year on April 18, and a public hearing on the budget is set for May 7.

District residents will vote on a final school budget, several propositions, and the three-year-term school board seats on May 21.

May 1 is the voter registration date.

In the coming school year, the district will expand college credit courses in high school and honors classes at the middle school and will add volleyball and bowling teams, according to Mr. Bell.