Hartsdale, NY - The Greenburgh Central 7 Board of Education has scheduled a revote on the proposed 2011-12 schools budget for Tuesday, June 21, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., at Woodlands High School, 475 West Hartsdale Avenue, Hartsdale.

The decision was made during a special public meeting on May 19. The Board had the option to adopt a contingency budget or schedule a new vote for the budget, which was within five votes of passage on May 17. The contingency budget would also have negative impacts on the community, while having no impact on the tax rate increase, which would remain at 5.8 %, since the both budgets are about the same size.

Superintendent Ronald Smalls said “The adoption of a contingency budget entails strict state Education Department regulations, which impose constraints that are very specific and would have a negative impact on our students and our community.”

As part of a contingency budget the district would be forced to eliminate after-school and extracurricular transportation. Capital projects including the implementation of a modern district-wide telephone system and the renovation of the Woodlands library would have to be dropped. All outside organizations would have to pay a fee for the use of buildings and fields. The district would also have to review private and parochial school transportation to determine non-contingency budget items.

The proposed $57.4 million budget preserves programs, services and personnel, while reducing spending by $1 million and holds budget growth to 1.84% despite growing costs and falling revenues.

The budget was developed through an extensive and transparent budget process, during which the Board closely examined expenditures on a line by line basis. The process included four public workshops in March that familiarized the community with the budget and sought their input. In addition, budget presentations were made to key community groups. The Board of Education also held several public meetings to discuss different parts of the budget.

In order to hold the line on growth in the budget, the district will cut more than $1 million in spending on supplies, equipment, contract services and capital transfer from the 2010-11 budget.

Largely driving the growth in expenditures are mandatory “step” increases in staff salaries, retirement costs and benefits, all of which add more than $1 million to the budget and are beyond the district’s control.

The district also expects revenue to fall in the areas of state aid, sales tax and interest earnings. In addition, property assessments continue to decline. Property valuations in the area are down 1.7 % from last year, totaling 4 % in the last three years.

Updates are available at www.greenburgh7.com.