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BEDFORD, N.Y. Bedford school bus drivers, other transportation employees and their families crowded the bleachers at Fox Lane Middle Schools Little Theatre Wednesday night. They showed up to express their opposition to Bedford Central School District's proposed budget cuts that would leave 37 people unemployed.
Superintendent Jere Hochman presented what was the first of the 2012-2013 budget talks. He explained how the school plans to prioritize the cuts, which have been made more aggressive this year because of a new tax cap law that limits tax levy increases.
At the school board meeting that night, Hochman presented three levels of cuts affecting personnel, program funding and amenities. These cuts were designed to adjust the proposed $121,628,623 budget, up 2.23 percent from last year, to the introduction of this new property tax cap rule. The three levels of action were described as doable, dramatic and drastic.
Reorganizing transportation represents one of the doable cuts, the superintendent said. The districts five-year contract with Chappaqua Transportation is up at the end of the year. Hochman announced that his recommendation to the board is to move on using only a contractor, which would save an estimated $4.7 million over five years.
At the moment, drivers and other transportation workers employed by the school district handle a third of the schools transportation needs. If the district signs up with Towne Bus Corp. as it plans to do when its contract with Chappaqua runs out, 37 employees will be made redundant.
Hochman expressed regret over this choice and noted that although necessary due to the current budget situation, it was still a very difficult recommendation to have to make.
He said, these are the drivers, the mechanics, the folks in the office that are in many cases the first ones to greet your child in the morning and the last to ones to say, dont forget to do your homework at the end of the day.
The floor was then opened to comments from the audience. Mary Lou Cavaliere, president of the CSEA, the union representing the drivers, proposed that employees be given a one-year transition period instead of being laid off when the school year ends on June 30.
This is not a time to be unemployed competing with so many others who are unemployed as well, said Cavaliere.
Budget talks will be held every Wednesday night throughout March. All discussions are open to the public and will be broadcast on BCSD-TV. The budget vote will be held on May 15.
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