GREENE – Governor David Paterson’s proposed state aid cuts put the burden of balancing the state’s gaping budget deficit on the backs of poor, rural school districts while giving wealthy districts a pass, according to one local superintendent.

“I’m willing to do our fair share to address the state’s fiscal crisis,” said Gary Smith, superintendent of the Greene Central School District. The problem, he said, is that wealthy districts aren’t expected to do the same.

On the surface, it looks like these wealthy districts are shouldering the burden as their state aid reduction percentages are in the double digits while local districts are slated to see cuts in the 3 percent range.

According to Smith, this is deceiving. For these wealthy districts, many of which are located downstate, state aid makes up only a small percent of their total budget.

Smith used East Williston in Nassau County as an example, pointing out the Long Island district’s $48.1 million budget for the current year, of which state aid makes up only 5.6 percent. Paterson’s proposal would reduce their state aid by 12.5 percent, or $337,758, which represents .7 percent of the district’s total budget.

Greene, on the other hand, received more than $15 million in state aid for the 2008-09 academic year, nearly seventy percent of their annual budget. The Governor’s proposed deficit reduction measures would shave 3.6 percent off the district’s aid which calculates out to $551,128; 2.5 percent of their total budget.

“I’m afraid people aren’t realizing this,” said Smith, who has been vocal about the effect Paterson’s cuts will have on his and other local districts.

Downstate districts will have an easier time compensating for the loss in state aid as well, since their tax bases are both larger and wealthier than their rural counterparts. A 4 percent increase in Greene’s tax levy will only generate an extra $231,230, not even half of what they will be losing in aid. The same percentage increase at East Williston would generate more than $1.7 million, far more than they would need to close the gap left by a loss in state aid.

Balancing the budget will be a more difficult undertaking in Greene, where Smith realizes the local tax base is already stretched. Tapping into the district’s reserves will narrow the gap a little further, but still not enough, he said. The district may very well be forced to cuts programs and personnel to balance the budget, no matter how hard they try to avoid it.