BY MATT LINDSEY
North Country This Week

CANTON – Canton Central School is presenting voters with a 2020-21 budget that is more than $700,000 less than last year, including the elimination of its school resource officer position.

The budget adopted for voter consideration is for $31,032,033, according to CCS Superintendent Ron Burke. This represents a decrease of $702,166 from the current year’s budget of $31,734,149.

The tax cap and proposed tax levy increase is 1.96%, Burke said.

Those running for three open seats are incumbents Patrick Hanss and Danny Thomas. The third seat does not have a declared candidate.

The budget vote and school board election will occur through absentee ballot only, on Tuesday, June 9.

In the proposed budget for 2020-21, the district has already eliminated four positions for a combined savings over $230,000. The positions not funded for 2020-21 include the human resources coordinator, the school resource officer and two vacant cleaner positions.

“A number of families will find it troubling that the district has presented a budget that eliminates the school resource officer,” Burke said.

The contract with the Village of Canton requires that the district reimburse the officer’s full salary and benefits. For this school year, the cost is over $100,000.

“I share this information not to point fingers at the Village of Canton nor to attempt to negotiate more favorable terms in the press. In fact, there is a strong level of cooperation between the village and the district,” he said.

He added that both entities face economic uncertainty and are making hard decisions. “I remain hopeful that this is a role that we can collectively find a way to save,” the superintendent said.

“The budget crisis facing New York State has required that we fine tune our budget,” he said. “With the New York State budget passed on April 1, if the state’s revenue falls more than 1% below the estimated amount, schools can face mid-year reductions in state aid. Given the economic impact that the pandemic has had on our state economy, it is hard to imagine a scenario in which we do not realize a reduction in state aid.”

Burke said that on a number of occasions, the governor and his director of budget have spoken of a 20% reduction in aid.

If this occurs, he says CCS will utilize its entire fund balance for 2020-21 and would still be short over $30,000. Moving forward to the following year, 2021-22, Canton would then face a deficit of $2,143,025 and have no available fund balance.

“In a better scenario, we might see ‘only’ a 5% reduction in state aid,” Burke said. “This reduction allows us to end the 2020-21 school year with a $1.8 million fund balance to be applied to the following year. However, even with that fund balance, 2021-22 would experience a nearly $300,000 deficit.”

Burke said, “it is clear that for long-term financial stability, actions need to be taken to eliminate the gap between revenue and expenses.”

He said school officials continue to make plans for further reductions in expenses for the next school year so that the district can avoid significant staff reductions in 2021-22.

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