There has been much interest and some confusion
surrounding the School budget. I was looking for a direct and
simple answer to my question of "how much do we pay for our School system and
how is that changing from year to year".
I have prepared the tables below to show
figures for the past 4 years using actual dollar amounts as charged to
Mason's taxpayers ("NET cost to taxpayers").
Tax rates are
much less useful for comparisons because they mingle together changes in taxes
raised with changes in property valuation. For example in a town-wide revaluation
if the valuations doubled the tax rate would be cut in half, and the actual
tax dollars raised would remain unchanged.
2009-2010 Actual |
2010-2011 Actual |
2011-2012 Budgeted |
2012-2013 Proposed |
Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
2,537,731 | 2,431,080 | 2,519,112 | 2,546,083 | Operating Budget (less Debt Service) |
5,387 | 442,213 | 435,414 | 435,290 | + Debt Service |
2,543,118 | 2,873,293 | 2,954,526 | 2,981,373 | = TOTAL Budget |
468,089 | 462,502 | 468,224 | 465,219 | - Offsets & revenues |
2,075,029 | 2,410,791 | 2,486,302 | 2,516,154 | = NET costs to taxpayers |
# students: | ||||
26 | 26 | 20 | 20 | Students, pre-k and K |
81 | 89 | 86 | 76 | Students Grades 1-5 |
85 | 81 | 90 | 99 | Students Grades 6-12 |
192 | 196 | 196 | 195 | TOTAL Students Grades Pre-K through 12 |
Numbers provided by Michael O'Neil, Mason School District Business Manager
Figures for 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 are Actual expenses & revenues
Figures for 2011-2012 are Budgeted because the school year is still underway
Figures for 2012-2013 are Proposed Costs and Estimated Revenues as of January 20, 2012
The big jump in 2010-2011 NET is due to start of bond payments for MES expansion & refurb
NET $ | NET % | Operat. $ | Operat. % | Between Years: |
---|---|---|---|---|
335,762 | 16.2 | -106,651 | -4.2 | from 2009-10 to 2010-11 |
75,511 | 3.1 | 88,032 | 3.6 | from 2010-11 to 2011-12 |
29,852 | 1.2 | 26,971 | 1.1 | from 2011-12 to 2012-13 |
NET is the useful "bottom line" value. Operating Budget is calculated
as ALL expenditures except Debt Service, without taking into account any
offsets or revenues, so it is higher than actual operating expenses as
we would normally think of them. For example, increasing the revenues from
our food service would not decrease the "Operating Budget" as defined here,
though it would decrease the NET cost to taxpayers.
Also note that "Offsets & Revenues" includes all income into the
District, including payments for meals, grants, and subsidies such as the
State's share of our principal repayments; a mixture that blurs the line
between
Operating and Debt Service categories.
In short, only use the Operating Budget
figures with a clear understanding of their limitations...