Recently,you may have seen signs telling North Shore Schools to "use the money you have!" and advocating a No Vote on the budget. Here are four issues to consider:
1. If the budget fails, a contingency budget by law requires certain budget cut. This year, the district would have to cut about $1.3 million. (See the district's notice here)
2. The law on contingency budgets directs exactly what a district is allowed to spend money on and what it is not. Districts can pay for "...those expenditures deemed to be absolutely necessary to operate and maintain schools." (Source: http://www.p12.nysed.gov/mgtserv/budgeting/handbook/appendixF.html)
3. Much of the money the district has is in restricted reserves where the law dictates what that money can be used for, and it is typically not general budget needs. Plus, all together they represent only 2-3 months of what we need to operate. Personal finance advisors would tell you to save 6 mos income set aside for the unforeseen. (Read more about our reserves here)
4. Without reserves, the cost of operating our schools will increase for many reasons including, as examples, higher workers compensation costs since we cannot be self-insured, loss of several hundred thousand dollars in interest, and increased borrowing costs with the impact on our fiscal stress scores. (More info here: http://www.northshoreschools.org/boe/Budget/2020/0736_001.pdf)
