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Input sought on 2024-25 school budget Life and health coach returns to Cazenovia
By kate hill Staff writer
On March 20, the Cazenovia Central School District (CCSD) held a community discussion on the challenges facing the district this budget season and potential options to close a $1.85 million budget gap for the 2024-25 school year. The event drew approximately 195 attendees, including students and parents, faculty and staff, and people not directly affiliated with CCSD. During a district presentation, Superintendent Christopher DiFulvio explained that the meeting was organized in response to requests for increased community involvement in the budget process. “I don’t want people to panic,” he said. “[We’ve] had budget gaps that we’ve been talking about at public meetings for several years. At this time, now, we are engaging the community, and I hope we can do this again next year as well.” DiFulvio added that the public input received will help the district provide the board of education with a proposed budget that truly reflects the priorities, values, and expectations of the community. “We are committed to sustaining our excellence and preserving our identity,” the superintendent said. “We’re doing everything we can to retain our high-performing, high-quality staff and to stay competitive. And we know the decisions that we make will have long-term impacts on our students, staff, and community. We are staying true to who we are by aligning our budget with our mission, vision, and goals and our strategic plan. . . It’s of the utmost importance that we continue to be fiscally responsible. We owe it to our taxpayers, now and in the future.”
Budget challenges
DiFulvio discussed the fluid and complex nature of the annual budget process and offered insight into some of the current budget challenges. The budget consists of instructional costs, administrative costs, employee benefits, facilities and operations, special education, extracurricular activities, debt service payments, and a contingency fund. According to Assistant Superintendent/ School Business Official Thomas Finnerty, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s 2024-25 executive budget proposal removed the “Hold Harmless” piece of the state foundation aid formula, resulting in a $614,000 reduction in foundation aid for CCSD. DiFulvio noted that a cut of that amount would dramatically decrease the district’s estimated revenues for the 2024-25 school year. “That is part of the impact that we are
Kate Hill
On March 20, the Cazenovia Central School District held a meeting to seek input on the 2024-25 budget development process. seeing,” he said. “Hold Harmless” is a provision that ensures districts don’t see a decrease in foundation aid funding compared to the previous year. “Previously, the state said, ‘Every year, we’re going to guarantee you this amount of money, regardless of the changes in the student numbers,’” DiFulvio explained. “Even with fewer students, it didn’t matter. However, the governor has now taken that away. So, if fewer kids attend the school, we might lose some funding. We don’t know, and we might not even know until April 8, what our exact amount from the state government will be. That’s why I talk about it being a fluid process. Without this protection, our school needs to be cautious with spending, and there might be less money available, impacting resources like new books and fun activities for kids.” DiFulvio also acknowledged the challenges of rising expenses, such as inflation on goods and services; contractual salary increases; and benefit cost increases.
2024-25 budget outlook
“We have been fiscally responsible as a school district,” said DiFulvio. “The board of education has done an excellent job at preserving money into a fund balance to put us in a fiscally sound position.” The district has already gone through its budget line-by-line and made an estimated $700,000 in position cuts and financial reductions. The following actions are assumed for next year: cutting one foreign language position, cutting one library aide position, cutting one elementary teacher position, cutting one instructional coach position, cutting one academic support position, leveling out all BOCES expenses, cutting $100,000 from the technology budget, and combining athletic teams when it makes sense. The district is also already proposing to use $500,000 in fund balance, which DiFulvio compared to a savings account. Fund balance results from spending less than the district takes in.
“When we spend less, we can take more in, so every year, we will try to underspend our budget,” DiFulvio said. “[Every year], we get one shot; we can’t go back out and ask the taxpayers for more money, so the goal has got to be underspending.” Even with the $500,000 in fund balance and $700,000 in budget reductions, the district is still facing a $1.85 million gap between its expenses and revenue based on the governor’s 2024-25 budget proposal. DiFulvio explained that if the district had reduced its expenditures by zero and assumed no fund balance, the gap would be around $3 million. The district has also implemented a spending freeze on non-essential expenses. CCSD’s calculated tax levy limit for the 2024-25 school year is 4.4 percent. If the district’s proposed tax levy increase is within that limit, a simple majority of voters (50 percent + 1) is needed for budget approval. If the proposed tax levy increase exceeds the tax levy limit, a supermajority of voters (60 percent or more) would be required for budget passage. When discussing the tax levy, DiFulvio remarked that the district’s tax levy increase last year was 6.9 percent. The tax increase experienced by residents, however, was variable and based on many factors. For example, a home assessed at $189,000 in the Town of Cazenovia saw an increase of 5.36 percent or $169.87, while a home assessed at $189,500 in the Town of Fenner saw an increase of 2.93 percent or $106.19.
Potential budget options
There are four ways to close the $1.85 million gap: cutting expenses further, increasing revenue through the tax levy, using fund balance, or doing a combination of those options. “At this point, tonight, I just want the people in the community to know that all options are on the table,” said DiFulvio. “What you see are merely proposals, and we are asking for your input.” Budget l Page 11
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Cazenovia native Nancy Mitchell recently returned to Cazenovia, where she is offering her professional life and health coaching services out of the Atwell Mill at 132 Albany St. By kate Hill Staff Writer Nancy Mitchell, a certified professional life and health coach, recently returned to her hometown of Cazenovia, where she is now offering her services out of the Atwell Mill at 132 Albany St. Mitchell has been helping clients redesign their lives and live up to their full potential through her practice, Bold Beginnings Coaching, for the past seven years. She works with clients going through life transitions, such as job changes, marriage, divorce, parenting, caregiving for a loved one, becoming an empty nester, and grieving a loss. Her specialty is in working with motivated clients who feel overwhelmed, scattered, and in need of focus and positive forward movement. “A life coach is a professional who guides indi-
viduals in identifying and reaching their personal and professional goals,” explained Mitchell. “Through supportive and goal-oriented sessions, life coaches help clients to explore their aspirations, overcome any blocks or obstacles in their way, and develop strategies to reach their goals and achieve success.” Before starting her coaching career, Mitchell spent 25 years as an elementary and preschool teacher. She was first introduced to life coaching about eight years ago when she was going through a divorce and parenting her two children, who are now 19 and 23. “[Seeing a life coach] had such an incredibly positive impact on how I navigated the years during that time that it inspired me to get certified and become a life coach myself,” Mitchell said. She first earned her Coach l Page 4
Award-winning podcaster facilitates optimistic conversations on aging By kate Hill Staff Writer
For more than six years, Cazenovia resident and psychotherapist Nicole Christina has been using her multi-award-winning podcast, “Zestful Aging,” to spread the message that aging is about growing better, not just older. The interview-format podcast is heard in 106 countries and can be found on all major podcast platforms. It is also streamed on WCNY/Community FM. Guests include filmmakers, writers, advocates, poets, musicians, scientists, athletes, and entrepreneurs,
many of whom are top experts in their fields. “[The through line is] optimism as we age,” said Christina. “I want to challenge the narrative of decay and decline. In fact, many people over 60 report that they’ve never felt happier. It’s important to navigate the challenges as well as the joys. It’s a balancing act. Living with zest is the basic theme.” Christina has over 30 years of experience in psychotherapy. Her private practice specializes in anxiety, depression, grief, food and body issues, and positive aging. She tried out podcasting at the suggestion of her technical assistant, who
was helping with her online courses and suspected her personality would make for a good podcast host. “The next day, I took my laptop to my meditation retreat co-leader Vicky Lane’s house,” Christina recalled. “She’s a New York State fishing guide and volunteers with women who are recovering from cancer. We had led a fly fishing and meditation retreat together in Chittenango. While we were talking, I knew I wanted to do more [interviews]. It felt effortless and wonderful. I’ve never looked back.” She decided to focus her podcast on aging to help address topics repeatedly brought up by her clients. “I was noticing that my psycho-
therapy clients were asking questions that were also on my mind,” she said. “[They asked things] like, ‘What’s next?’ ‘How do I want to spend the rest of my life?’ ‘What’s important to me?’ ‘What might retirement look like?’” As of March 18, Christina had released 367 interviews with 20 more waiting to be aired. The podcaster said a particularly memorable episode was with python elimination specialist Donna Kalil. “People love the story of riding shotgun with python hunter Donna Kalil in the Florida Everglades,” Christina said. “Her mission is to remove the invasive Burmese python
Volume 214, Number 13 The Cazenovia Republican is published weekly by Eagle News. Office of Publication: 35 Albany St., Second Floor, Cazenovia, NY 13035. Periodical Postage Paid at Cazenovia, NY 13035, USPS 095-260. POSTMASTER: Send change of address to Cazenovia Republican, 2501 James St., Suite 100, Syracuse, NY 13206.
cornell in the community: National Nutrition Month.
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history: Years Ago in History.
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Nicole Christina because they are eating all the mammals. I was down in Florida playing tennis in the National Senior Games and asked if I could shadow her. It was quite an adventure. If you have a Podcaster l Page 4
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Editorial ��������������������� 6
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