Budget FAQs
Budget Summary
On May 16, 2023, ICSD voters approved the 2023-2024 budget of $158,588,080.
Appropriations |
Budget Mailer >>
Budget Presentation Report >>
As part of our year-long budget development process, we have been exploring budget lines since August 2022. For additional information not found on this page, please review our Finance Committee work session minutes or watch recordings of all budget updates presented to the Board of Education. Please also send us your questions and comments using the Let's Talk portal.
Frequently Asked Questions
Updated May 9, 2023
Q |
How are budgets in the Ithaca City School District developed? |
A |
Budgets reflect the amount of funding we think we need to operate the district for the following year. They represent the moment in time in which they are developed. Every budget is built in collaboration with principals, directors, and other stakeholders throughout the year. If a budget developer no longer needs an item within their budget, they will request that the line item be eliminated. If they need a new item or more money added to an area of their budget, they will request that the line item be increased. |
| Most money (except equipment) can be transferred to another area of the budget if needed and not all funds budgeted need to be spent. |
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What do all of the numbers in the budget document mean? |
A |
To understand the components of the budgeting system that school districts in New York State must follow, please refer to the presentation given to the ICSD Board Finance Committee on February 16, 2021 (view the recording on our YouTube channel). |
Q |
What happens if the budget does not receive 50% or more of the votes? |
A |
If voters defeat the school district budget on May 16, a district has two options: resubmit the same proposal or a revised one for a revote on June 20, or adopt a contingency budget. If residents vote down the budget a second time, the district MUST adopt a contingency budget. A contingency budget would have to levy the same amount of taxes as in the current year. The ICSD’s contingency budget is $3,960,852 less than the proposed FY24 budget.
In the School District Budget Notice, you will see the details of the contingency budget. Notice the contingency budget will be in the amount of $154,627,228, decreasing the program component of the budget significantly. If the ICSD adopts a contingency budget, the Board of Education will identify expenditures deemed to be necessary to operate and maintain schools. The emphasis will be on those expenditures considered essential to maintain an educational program, preserve property, and assure the health and safety of students and staff. |
Q |
What expenses would the ICSD need to cut if we went to a contingency budget? |
A |
Contingency expenses include equipment costing over $500, non-essential maintenance, field trips, student supplies, and capital expenditures that are not part of the capital project. Athletics, extracurricular activities, non-mandated transportation, and all non-mandated programs, activities, and purchases would also need to be evaluated and potentially eliminated. Finally, the remaining contingency items to eliminate will be determined in collaboration with the Board and the administration. |
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Is it true that the tax rate is decreasing? |
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Yes. Based on the current total assessed value of our community provided by the Tompkins County Department of Assessment, taxpayers should expect a decrease of approximately $0.43/$1,000 of assessed value in their home for their 2023 tax bills in October. Final numbers will be given to the ICSD in August, and we will then determine the final tax rate. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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What exactly is the New York State tax cap and how is it calculated? Is the ICSD staying within that cap this year? |
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Yes. The ICSD is staying with the tax cap for the fiscal year 2024. | |
| This video created by the Capital Region BOCES provides a very helpful overview of the tax cap, how it’s calculated, and how it affects schools and taxpayers: | ||
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| This resource from the New York State School Boards Association (NYSSBA) provides additional information on the tax cap, tax levy, and tax rates: Q&A: The Property Tax Cap. | ||
| Here is a video that explains school district budgets in 60 seconds or less: | ||
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Q |
How is the district’s budget increasing by 6.47% this year if the tax levy is only increasing by 3.97%? |
A |
The tax levy is the largest part of the district’s revenue and makes up 71.9% of the total real revenue for the ICSD. The additional revenue from the increase in the tax levy will be added to the increase in State Aid, other revenues, and fund balance to meet the contractual obligations of the ICSD, provide exceptional programming, and balance the budget. |
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Q |
Why is the school district always going over the tax cap? |
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Since the establishment of the NYS Property Tax Cap in 2012, the district has gone over the tax cap only twice. In 2015, the ICSD needed to exceed the property tax cap due to the loss of The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) federal funding. In 2022, the ICSD once again faced the loss of federal COVID funding and needed to exceed the property tax cap. In all other years including next year, the ICSD levies taxes within the tax cap formula imposed by NYS, as shown in the table below: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Q |
Why would the ICSD propose a 3.97% tax levy increase in this current economy? |
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School districts have been instructed to use 8% as the current Consumer Price Index (CPI) when assessing increases in their revenue and expenditures. We are levying taxes well below the CPI and also decreasing the tax rate for our taxpayers. In other words, the amount of money that you pay in school taxes is decreasing by $0.41/$1,000 of assessed value. Therefore, you should see a reduction in your tax bill if your assessed value remains unchanged. Below is information about the ICSD’s commitment to controlling your tax rate. As you can see, the 2023 proposed tax rate is less than the rate you would have paid 13 years ago: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| This resource from the New York State School Boards Association (NYSSBA) provides additional information on the tax cap, tax levy, and tax rates: Q&A: The Property Tax Cap. |
Q |
Why are you levying more taxes and not paying for the budgeted expenditures another way? |
A |
School taxes - making up 72% of the revenue of the district - are, without question, the majority of the money that we need to support our expenditures. State Aid is the next largest element at 25% of our revenue and cannot be increased. Other miscellaneous revenue accounts for the remaining 3%. We also continue to use Fund Balance, the district’s savings account, to make up for the remaining loss in federal COVID dollars that are needed to cover expenditures so that the additional burden does not fall onto the taxpayers. |
Q |
Can’t you just decrease the budgeted expenditures instead of levying more taxes? |
A |
The total budgeted expenditures are increasing by 6.47% from the current year to the next year. This increase allows us to maintain the programs that we offer and meet the contractual obligations that we have with all of our bargained agreements with our unions. Decreasing the current budget by 1% would mean that we would need to cut services, supports, and positions in the amount of $1.6 million, which could have significant impacts on our school community members. |
Q |
Why don’t we just stop our work on the Capital Project and use that money to pay for other things? |
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Debt service represents the amount of principal and interest that we pay on funds that we’ve borrowed to pay specifically for maintaining and renovating our buildings. Please note that many parts of the capital project have already been bid on and awarded. If these parts of the project were delayed, it would increase costs significantly. |
Q |
Would you please provide some details about teachers’ salaries? |
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The Ithaca Teachers Association (ITA) is currently working under a contract that is settled through 2025 and provides the following salary increases to all members: | ||||||||||||
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Q |
How is the district addressing the recruitment and retention of teachers and staff? |
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Please view the March 7th Board of Education Human Resources Committee work session for a presentation by the ICSD Assistant Director of Human Resources, Gladira Velázquez Cruz. |
Q |
Will there be a reduction in Educational Support Professionals (ESPs)? |
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The budget supports an increase of ESPs, specifically several teacher aide positions throughout our buildings. It is important to note that ESPs are aligned with IEPs and 504 Plans. As students’ IEPs/504s change, we will see increases or decreases in the number of ESPs. |
Q |
Would you please speak to the salary level that the superintendent receives? |
A |
The ICSD has 12 instructional buildings and four non-instructional buildings brimming with over 1,200 employees and nearly 5,000 students. This will be Superintendent Brown’s 13th year leading the district. |
Q |
What changes did we make to the BOCES budget? |
A |
The budget reflects the maintenance of existing programming, including slots for our students and families to enroll in Possibilities, Lighthouse, Career and Technology, TST Regional Alternative School, and Turning Point. The ICSD will no longer be a part of the payroll services in the CBO but will instead manage that as part of our administration team in the ICSD Business Office. Our administrative fees are substantially increased by TST BOCES, and this was explained at the March Finance Committee Meeting, found here. |
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What is included in the Contractual Services line items? |
A |
"Contractual Services" are funds budgeted to contract with certain service providers, such as repair companies, software/hardware companies, staff developers, and specialists, to support district operations. Contracts that we enter into are listed on Board Reports. |
Q |
Is it true that supply money was cut in the budget? |
A |
No, funding for supplies was not cut when developing the budget for next year. Supply funds have increased by $186,012, or 10.91%. |
Q |
Is it true that equipment funding was cut? |
A |
No, funding for equipment ($1,175,377) was not cut when developing the budget for next year. Funding for equipment has been increased by $230,912, or 24.45%. Equipment is used for items that cost over $500/item and cannot have funding transferred into it, as is done with other budget lines that need additional funding. Equipment requests are directly submitted by department leaders and building principals. These requests are based on year-round conversations with staff and reflect the needs of the adults and students. Funding amounts fluctuate each year based on those needs. |
Q |
It looks like there are increases in Athletics. Would you please explain? |
A |
Athletics is one of the areas of our district that needs equipment and supply funding to address health and safety needs, as well as to replace items that have reached the end of their useful life. The supply funds cover sports medicine items, uniforms, branding efforts, food, and all supplies needed for our student-athletes across all secondary buildings. Much of the equipment funding will be used to address volleyball standards replacement, a new scoreboard at Sweet Field, backstop replacements for both baseball and softball, a replacement golf cart to support Athletics staff, and a new football sled. |
Q |
Would you please give more details about the non-instructional staff as those line items seem to be increasing significantly? |
A |
Our non-instructional are often our unsung heroes of the district and are receiving robust salary increases due to the recent settling of their contract. Non-instructional staff include but are not limited to teaching aides, bus drivers, custodians, nurses, clerical staff, grounds crew members, and maintainers. There are nearly 500 employees that make up the non-instructional lines, and this number will continue to grow as needed to meet the needs of our students. |
Q |
Would you please give more details about line items that relate to substitutes? |
A |
The substitute salary code is included in the 2110 Instructional lines. Hundreds of people serve as substitutes for the ICSD and support our young people when our teachers need to take a day off, as well as for extended and long-term placements depending on the leave taken. |
Q |
What does the increase in English as a New Language (ENL) funding mean for the ICSD? |
A |
Like special education, the district takes our responsibilities to students needing ENL support very seriously and analyzes the required services necessary to meet the needs yearly. |
Q |
How does this budget support the social-emotional learning (SEL) and mental health (MH) needs of our students? |
A |
The budget supports all current staff as well as the continuation of several SEL- and MH-related positions created last year, such as six Mentor TAs and two Engagement Specialists at the secondary buildings, and two additional social workers. The budget also maintains our partnership with BOCES programming, as well as our partnerships with organizations that offer services to our students and families. We continue to review needs by building and to increase mental health positions as needed due to the flexibility this budget allows. Finally, we will continue our commitment to integrated, culturally responsive social-emotional learning through sustained RULER implementation. |
Q |
How does this budget connect with Learning Forward ICSD? |
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Learning Forward ICSD is our approach to teaching and learning in our district and focuses on four key tenets:
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Q |
Is it true that there’s no professional development happening in the ICSD? |
A |
We are deeply committed to offering high-quality professional development to our educators, focusing on the work of Learning Forward ICSD. The budget includes significant increases to support our micro-credentialing program for members of the Ithaca Teachers Association (ITA). |
Q |
I notice that there is $19,411,767 listed in the Administrative budget. Is that all going to fund administrators’ salaries? |
A |
No. New York State requires all school districts to separate their budget into three categories: Administrative, Program, and Capital. Below is the chart that shows how the ICSD budget is broken into these categories. The rows include salary, supplies, contractual, equipment, and any other types of expenses related to that budget function. |
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