Huntington school district gets extra aid

The Huntington school district is getting an unexpected boost in state aid for its 2012-13 budget.

Last week, the district was awarded an additional $117,624 in state aid for a total of $11,620,014. At a board meeting Monday night, District Superintendent James Polansky recommended adding the extra money to the budget while returning contributions to reserve funds in the same amount.

The move will ease the burden on taxpayers in case the assessed value of district homes declines, requiring either a tax rate increase or the removal of funds from the fund balance.

Right now, documents show the budget projects a $300,000 decline in assessed valuation, a drop Polansky said could be larger after the town tallies final numbers this fall.

"If we go beyond where we think we're going to be in terms of assessed value," Polansky said Tuesday, "we have that money available to apply fund balance as opposed to raising the tax rate."

The money was part of the nearly $90 million in fresh state operating aid state lawmakers awarded for next year and announced last week.

The district's working budget for 2012-13 is $111,858,780, a 2.59 percent increase over the current budget of $109,037,301. It would bring a 2.89 percent property tax increase and a tax levy increase of 2.21 percent, which does not pierce the state mandated cap because of allowable exemptions.

The working budget includes about $864,855 in cuts. Savings will come from eliminating 11 full-time equivalent positions and some restructuring of the administrative staff. Polansky said no programs and services would be cut.

Susan Tully, a former candidate for the school board who spoke during a public comment session, complained that there are inequities in the distribution of state aid when it comes to the district.

"I just cannot believe that there's not more outrage about the fact that these numbers can be so arbitrary based upon a small pocket of wealth in this district where everyone is getting up and going to work and paying more than their fair share," she said.