NEW BERLIN – In order to close an approximate $655,000 shortfall in the 2011-2012 budget, the Unadilla Valley School District announced it will cut 11 positions at the end of the current year.

With just over $700,000 in state aid reductions combined with the disappearance of federal stimulus funds and increasing costs, the district reported about a $1.3 million funding shortfall in planning the 2011-2012 budget.

The UV Board of Education decided to use $909,676 from the school’s $6.1 million reserve fund to help fill the gap. The school had already factored the savings of not replacing eight positions being lost to attrition at the end of the current school year.

The proposed $19,419,244 is 1 percent lower than the current budget and calls for no increase in taxes.

Superintendent Robert Mackey said the district was hoping to close some of the shortfall by asking for voluntary concessions from the Unadilla Valley Faculty Association. The union voted down two of the three measures last week.

The only measure to pass was to permanently freeze a temporary salary reduction for the school’s three sports coordinators, 28 coaches and 41 advisors at 62.5 percent of their fully contracted wage.

The school negotiated the temporary reduction in the wages last year which was estimated to save about $45,200. It’s expected to create a similar amount of savings in the coming budget, explained Mackey. The reduced contract rates will remain in effect until the current teacher’s union agreement expires in 2013.

Mackey claimed the two proposals that failed to pass could have saved the district approximately $170,000 more.

One measure asked union members to pay an increased co-pay for generic pharmaceutical brands from $5 to $10 and from $20 to $25 for named brand prescriptions. The proposal also would restrict the length of time a prescription can be filled and require 90 day prescriptions to have a second co-pay.

Mackey estimated the measure could have saved the district $100,000 in the coming year.