NORWICH – Faced with a gap of roughly $3 million between revenues and expenses – in addition to substantial cuts in state and federal aid – the Norwich City School District enlisted a retired administrator and educator to draft a long-range report on their financial situation.
Superintendent Gerard O’Sullivan – who first met Dr. Richard Timbs of Bernard P. Donegan Inc., several years ago – said one of the school board’s 2011 goals was to come up with a three- to five-year financial plan, aimed at providing some long-range perspective. Timbs’ long-term planning report and presentation early last week were covered under a service contract the district has with Bernard P. Donegan Inc. as a financial consultant, according to Deputy Superintendent Rob Wightman.
While the ultimate fate of districts all across New York state remains in question, Timbs said, in his opinion, Norwich has done a commendable job weathering the financial storm to date.
Reading from a 50-page document he’d assembled from information provided him by the school district, Timbs constructed a detailed history of exactly how and where money was spent in the past and where the district could be headed in the next few years during Monday night’s school board meeting.
Even with the district’s combined administrative costs, hard-hitting, unfunded state mandates and other increasing costs – increases in pension contributions of $230,778 and health insurance premiums of $382,561 among them – Timbs said the district’s efforts appeared quite economical.
“You obviously tried to hold the fort on tax increases, which is rare these days,” said Timbs, who added the real property tax levy had remained “pretty flat” between 2007 and 2010, at $9,891,811 and $9,881,832 respectively.
Timbs did warn, however, that even with the district’s attempts to stay sound, some pretty massive cuts are coming its way. Within two months, he said, schools throughout New York state may well see the loss of between 5,000 and 6,000 teaching positions.
Wightman said it’s all about right-sizing the school district the best way possible without being too overzealous when it comes to cuts to programs and staff.
