S-G board to continue budget cuts By MICHAEL LAMENDOLA Gazette Reporter ------------------------------------------------------------------------ SCOTIA - The Scotia-Glenville Board of Education will continue with plans to trim $1 million from an initial $36.2 million budget after a public forum Monday night produced few recommendations on how to reduce a projected 18 percent to 20 percent tax increase. "We are seeking to get it down $1 million and go to a first vote," said board member Pamela Carbone. The revised $35.2 million budget would carry a projected tax increase of between 8 percent and 14 percent, depending on whether $1 million in state aid is restored to the district. The Board of Education must adopt a budget by April 14, and district residents will vote on it May 20. Of the 15 people who spoke, out of an audience of 72, about half asked the board not to make any cuts, four said cuts should be made but indicated no specifics, and the rest asked general questions. One speaker, sixth-grader Cecelia Riccardi-Ross, asked the board to cut the budget to save jobs in the community. She said a "yes" vote on the initial budget would raise taxes so high that businesses would leave and people would lose their jobs. "I have been in Scotia seven years and I don't want to be forced to move," she said. A "no" vote, she said, means no technology or home and careers classes, or few instruments to play in music class. But "your increase in taxes won't be as big. People won't lose their jobs," she said. Speaker Karen Wentworth said the proposed cuts under a contingency budget will eliminate programs "that are critical to the success of a student. The cost we will pay as a community for cutting those programs will be considerable." Speaker Jerry Moore said the board should look at employee salaries and benefits as a way to reduce the budget. "If you're not willing to talk employee salaries and benefits, then you force the decision into a tradeoff between taxes and programs," he said. Board members have already indicated a tax increase in the 18 percent to 20 percent range is unacceptable, as is a contingency budget that would cut programs and services and lay off 30 teachers, aides and support staff. The district would have to adopt a contingency budget after two failed votes. This budget would carry a projected tax increase of between 3 percent and 8 percent. In seeking a compromise between these two extremes, the board asked administrators to cut the budget by $1 million. Superintendent Michael Marcelle told the board Monday night he was halfway to that goal, having made approximately $527,000 in tentative cuts. The cuts would eliminate the adult education program, not fill the academic head of math position and institute an every-other-day cleaning schedule. Also on the chopping block are the school resource officer and social workers. Marcelle will present a full list of reductions at Monday night's Board of Education meeting.