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Croton SD Asks Voters to Approve Use of Savings

This article was modified after it was published, to clarify a quote.

CROTON-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. – Croton-Harmon School District officials will ask voters to use $3.3 million in capital reserve funds toward renovating bus circles, the transportation building and the high school auditorium on Jan. 24. As the ghosts of recently failed school bonds loom, the vote highlights the nervousness of school board officials to ask for any kind of capital improvement, even if they already have the money.

“What we have is a community who thinks we’re crying wolf all the time. ‘Things are horrible, things are horrible,’ and we fix things. And people say, ‘Oh you cried wolf, it’s not that bad.’ Wouldn’t it better for us to say things are bad and it turns out better, than we say ‘It’s okay,’ and the blank hits the fan?” said Karen Zevin, Croton-Harmon Board of Education president, regarding the spring budget vote.

Asking voters’ permission to use the fund is essentially a legal formality; the district is not actually borrowing any money. Nevertheless district officials remain cautious about the topic, emphasizing that the district is not borrowing money, the $3.3 million expenditure will not in any way affect taxes, and that the money cannot be used for any other purpose than building improvements.

“We have to ask the voters to use this money, we have to get permission to use the savings account,” said Zevin.

“The vote on Jan. 24 is very significant to the district,” said Edward Fuhrman, Croton-Harmon Schools superintendent. “Make sure people learn about this. I worry about complacency.”

Many districts have recently asked their constituencies to borrow for capital projects. The Hendrick Hudson School District went back to the drawing board after being turned down by voters for a $25.1 million capital improvements project bond by a margin of nearly two-to-one. The Rye School District also failed to pass a $19.9 million bond, and the Ossining School District failed to pass a $69 million bond in 2011, and is now eyeing a $41.6 million bond.

Many districts have also criticized the state tax cap, which school district’s say is harder on them than municipalities. Because school districts pass budgets by popular vote, they must receive a 60 percent supermajority to pass any budget which overrides the 2 percent tax levy cap.

“I consider the tax cap a sound bite. ‘Oh, well I’m doing something for my constituency, I’m helping them manage their tax dollars.’ Well, that’s not true,” said Zevin.

Croton-Harmon School District officials said they may be forced to lay people off this year because many costs besides labor are fixed or rising.

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