East Ramapo seeks voter OK for budget with 0% tax levy; warns of fiscal squeeze

SPRING VALLEY − East Ramapo voters will be asked June 20 to pass a budget plan that would freeze the tax levy − and lower their property taxes − after the district's original 2023-24 plan, with a 1.99% tax levy increase, failed by 45 votes on May 16.

But even a 0% tax levy increase appeared controversial.

At a June 6 school board meeting, nearly 200 people showed up, many public school parents who said their children's education was being sacrificed because voters refused to fund the public schools. Most walked out halfway through the meeting to protest what they saw as inaction by the board and to demand more intervention by the state Education Department, which currently has monitors installed in the district.

Several speakers questioned if board members were doing enough to champion the budget plan in their wards.

The district educates 10,500 public school children, with a growing number of kids who are recent immigrants joining the schools. East Ramapo also provides mandated services, such as transportation, for about 35,000 children who attend private schools, mostly yeshivas that serve a growing Orthodox and Hasidic Jewish population.

The school board comprises six men who critics say champion concerns of the private-school community over public-school kids, and three women who have direct connections to the public schools.

After the district's latest budget defeat was announced at a May 16 school board meeting, the room fell silent.

"Unfortunately this is not the result we wanted to hear," board President Shimon Rose said. "We're all very upset."

The second budget proposal, at at $295.6 million, cuts about $3 million in spending, mostly for playground and certain building repairs.

Any tax hike 'a gamble'

A budget passed by voters with a 0% tax levy change is not the same as a state-imposed contingency budget.

“Even at a zero, an approved budget allows you to administer your district in a way where your hands are not tied constantly," Superintendent Clarence Ellis said during a May 30 special board meeting.

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According to the New York State School Boards Association, a contingency budget plan restricts the following: outside use of school buildings and grounds, unless fully reimbursed; extra building repairs and capital expenses except in emergencies; and new equipment purchases, unless there's a safety or emergency need.

Ellis' comments came in response to Trustee Harry Grossman, who questioned the benefit of paying for a revote, estimated to cost $100,000, on a budget plan that holds the tax levy flat. Grossman said he could support a tax levy increase that still could provide a tax cut to individual homeowners.

After a budget vote fails, state education law allows districts to either go straight to a contingency spending plan or offer the same or altered budget to voters one more time. If the second round fails, a contingency budget is mandatory.

With seven board members in attendance May 30, six voted to put up a new plan; only Grossman voted against.

At the June 6 meeting, members of the public blasted the very idea of the district − with already stretched resources and under the eye of state-appointed monitors − again having to operate under a contingency plan.

Ellis called any attempt to raise the tax levy "a gamble" that could force the district into contingency if voters reject another budget plan.

String of budget defeats

East Ramapo has operated under contingency budgets several times in recent years, including this academic year.

The idea of seeking a property tax levy hike this year in the second go-ground was ill advised, Ellis said May 30. “We did that last year,” he said.

After more than 20% of voters in May 2022 rejected a spending plan with a 3.9% tax levy hike, the district put up a plan that carried a 1.63% tax levy increase. The voters said no again, this time by a 2-to-1 margin.

This isn't the first time the district has put up a 0% budget plan with no tax levy increase. In 2021, just before Ellis arrived, a 0% budget was passed. He said May 30 the move gave him leeway over spending when he took over.

This year's first vote was closer than most. Support for the spending plan was strong in areas where public-school families live; the plan was heavily rejected in most wards where many families use private schools.

The vote was close only in Ward 4, which encompasses the greater Chestnut Ridge area and is represented by Rose, with the tally 257 for the plan and 275 against.

Turnout overall was low − only 3,774 voted.

A deficit looms

The repeated rejection by voters of spending increases has degraded the district's fiscal position, state-appointed monitors for the district have warned. If voters continue to reject even modest property tax increases, a recent letter by the monitors stated, East Ramapo faces up to a $44 million deficit in five years.

Meanwhile, the district has been cutting tens of millions from the budget over the past two years to compensate for the loss of federal COVID pandemic aid that's running out.

The 0% tax levy increase was achieved by cutting $3,074,356 out of the initial spending plan.

Even with a freeze to the tax levy, East Ramapo's budget would increase 15.28% over last year.

Natalie Espinal, interim assistant superintendent for business, said development in the area has added more properties to the tax rolls. Likening it to sharing a pizza, Espinal said the cost goes down when eight people share a pie, compared to four people.

At the June 6 meeting, Espinal said that under the revised budget plan, homeowners in the Ramapo section of the district could see their school property taxes dip by about 1.4%; Clarkstown homeowners' school tax bills could drop by 9.2%; and Haverstraw homeowners could experience a nearly 5.5% school tax decrease.

The June 20 budget re-vote takes place from 7 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.; voters cast their ballots in their wards. Find polling locations here or at https://www.ercsd.org/Page/11890.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: East Ramapo warns contingency budget restrictions hurt district