School Districts here in Central New York are already looking at budget deficits for next year, and now they're looking at options.

For Tully Central Schools, the plan is to lay out the deficit, which right now is about 7%  (a $1.3 million gap on an $18.2 million budget) to the taxpayers.  Superintendent Kraig Pritts says residents will have to decide what they really want, from the school district.
"If our community says we want to maintain what we have, we want to maintain the opportunities for our students, we can put a pricetag on that and say this is what we believe at this time that this might cost us."

Superintendent Pritts says it's all but certain that Tully, which has the second lowest tax rate in Onondaga County, is looking at a tax increase.  "I don't think that we have much choice," he says.  "Because we want to provide those services to our students that they value and our community values.  But we can't do that with the restrictions that have been placed on us by the government through the tax levy limited and through the continued loss of financial support."

Governor Cuomo has suggested that districts rely on their reserves to help make up the deficits, but in Tully, where they've done that the past couple years already, they point out that the reserves are running thin.   District Business Administrator Tiffany Nesbitt says they're already planning on using a quarter million dollars of Tully's  reserves next year, but that still leaves the $million-plus deficit.

The plan, in Tully, is to hold a meeting for taxpayers next Monday (February 13th) to propose some scenarios and  get a feel for what is important, and what is supportable.  Based on that, the district will re-look at the numbers.  The next  'big date' is March 1, when districts have to declare how much of a tax increase over the 'tax levy limit' (the 2% tax cap) they might propose to voters.