District 220 readies higher levy, budget cuts

Barrington Unit District 220 officials Tuesday began preparing for both potential revenue increases and significant budget cuts.

Even as board members estimated a property tax levy of $107.8 million that's 4.03 percent higher than last year's, they also steeled themselves for a fourth consecutive winter of slashing the budget due to other financial uncertainties.

While emphasizing that they didn't know yet how much budget cutting they'd have to do, board members directed Superintendent Tom Leonard to identify $3 million of potential cuts to consider during January and February.

During the same time period this year, the board considered a list of $4 million in potential cuts to programs and staffing but only exercised about $2 million of them.

The panic that was caused among theater students, gifted program participants and the Barrington High School hockey team made the process a painful one for all concerned, even though these programs made it through the cuts largely unscathed.

New Board Member Joseph Ruffolo said avoiding another such panic is a priority for him. He doesn't want the list of potential cuts to be unnecessarily long just to allow the board to pick and choose in comfort.

The recent uncertainties in the rate of inflation, economic growth and the timeliness of state funding payments are the reason for the cuts.

Before this year's $2 million in cuts, $2.4 million was cut in 2010 and $1.4 million in 2009. Each year's choices make the next year's even more unattractive, board members say.

Even though the budget isn't set until the fall, the law requires teachers and staff to be notified of potential layoffs in March. Not all the financial facts board members would like to have are necessarily available then, and there's a risk of cuts being too conservative or not deep enough.

Board Member Tim Hull said he'd be ready to consider dipping a little more into reserves next time, rather than making deep cuts an annual tradition.

The old process of setting a levy higher than is expected to be collected so as not to miss any new construction is also sometimes questioned in these economic times.

“I think the challenge we have is the challenge we've always had,” Board Member Nicholas Sauer said. “Our expenditures rise so we need our tax base to rise.”