New Analysis Exposes CRCS Misstatement

COBLESKILL - A new report from the New York State United Teachers has brought information on CRCS’s flawed budgeting process to light.

The analysis, which was released in January of this year, covers an audit of the budget versus actuals over the past three years and states that CRCS has historically overestimated their expenditures and underestimated their revenues.

“The percent difference between actual and budgeted expenditures ranged from 4.5% to 6.6% under budget over the three-year period,” the report reads. “For the three-year period, the district under-spent its budgets by a net total of $7,451,982.”

The report continues to the revenue side, saying “The percent difference between projected and actual revenues ranged from 2.7% to 3.6% over projection and averaged 3.1% over projections for the three-year period. Over the last three years, actual revenues exceeded district projections by a total of $3,916,239.”

The analysis also goes through each of the district’s restricted and unrestricted reserves and points out inaccurate numbers, such as “This district had $3.2 million in a Reserve for State and Local Retirement System Contributions which can only be used for costs associated with the State and Local Retirement System. The district has only budgeted an annual payment of $765,376 to ERS.”

However, one of the most important pieces comes from the report’s summary, which indicates that there is more money than the district seems to let on in budget workshops.

“For the three-year period covered by this analysis, the district had a net operating surplus of $11,368,221 … Of this surplus, $12,495,348 was transferred to restricted accounts. The deficit of $1,127,127 balance, together with $3,711,269 transferred from the unrestricted fund balance and $12 of accounting adjustments, were used during the three-year period to cover the cost of district operations.”

The report’s math is also backed up by Cobleskill resident Garrett Cole, the chief financial advisor for the National Alliance for Direct Support Professionals for the past three years, who similarly compared the district’s budget versus actuals over the last six years.

“The Board paints a grim picture of the district when, in reality, there’s a $3.7 million surplus on average over five of the six years that we have reports for,” Mr. Cole said.

Despite this surplus and the district’s tendency to overestimate their budget, the tax levy has only increased year by year, and this next budget plans to escalate the increase by a further 2.55%.

“Because of this misstatement between what they say and what’s happening, we’re paying more in tax dollars than we need to,” concluded Mr. Cole.

When this discrepancy was brought up at Monday’s CRCS Board of Education meeting by member Jason Gagnon, a vehement opponent of the newest budget, the Board was reluctant to change their numbers or the proposed cuts.

Vice President Dominga Lent spoke to a $2 million number that is used to balance the budget for gaps like these, but did not address the larger $3.7 million that was brought up by a member of the public.

Mr. Gagnon disagreed with the Board’s position, saying “We’re spending two million dollars, and we say it’s not sustainable, but we’re almost making double that back.”

He also alluded to the fact that he is the only Board member with children still in the district. “The mission statement is being disregarded,” he said. “I’m worried that these cuts are going to create an environment where it’s harder to recruit teachers while under-serving our children we have.”

The rest of the Board thanked Mr. Gagnon for stating his opinion, then moved on to discuss other matters, declining to speak further on the discrepancy.