Senate Bill S3320

                                BILL NUMBER:S3320

TITLE OF BILL:
An act
relating to payments made to the Oswego board of cooperative educational
services for costs of a certain capital project

PURPOSE:
In the event of a contingency budget, this law would permit school
districts in Oswego County to exclude BOCES capital expenses from the
statutory cap. In these instances, the Oswego County BOCES capital
project would be treated in the same manner as other capital expenses
that are currently excluded from the statutory cap under the law.

SUMMARY:
This bill authorizes school districts in Oswego County to account for
Oswego BOCES capital expenses in the capital component of their
district's budget in the event they operate on a contingency budget.

JUSTIFICATION:
When the contingency budget statute was originally enacted, the intent
was to exclude capital and debt service costs from the calculations.
Although Section 2023 of the Education Law provides exemptions for
the construction, reconstruction and other improvement of school
facilities, the law does not include BOCES capital projects.

              

Therefore, according to current law, capital projects for BOCES are
accounted for in the administrative portion of a school district's
budget. In the event of a contingency budget, schools must fund a
BOCES capital project even though the state traditionally reimburses
9099% of the project's costs. In turn, this would force the school
district to reduce expenditures from the administrative portion of
their budget to meet the statutory cap.

For school districts in Oswego County this is a great concern. Several
school districts have recently operated on a contingency budget. If a
BOCES capital project was approved during this time, the impact on
the local school district would have created further financial
challenges and possibly job loss.

This legislation seeks to address this issue for school districts in
Oswego County by allowing the local district to exclude BOCES capital
expenses from their administrative budget in the event they operate
on a contingency budget.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None to the state.

EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.