Creative ways to save money |
On Board Online • November 5, 2012
By Paul Heiser
Staff Writer
Is your district looking everywhere it can to save money and run more efficiently?
Adam Haber, a board trustee for the Roslyn school district on Long Island, has some cost-savings tips that his district has tried or considered. At NYSSBA’s Annual Convention, he presented them in an educational seminar on creative ways to save money.
The bottom line: everything is negotiable, and working together with other districts when possible is better than going it alone.
For instance, Roslyn refinanced its debt and saved nearly a quarter of a million dollars in the process. The district had a $3.175 million bond with nearly five-and-a-half years remaining. Simply by renegotiating the terms of the bond, the district was able to lower its interest rate from 4.39 percent to 2.28 percent, saving $238,000.
Haber is a big advocate of cooperative purchasing as well. His district borders six other districts in Nassau County, and they have found great success in creating an ad hoc bidding unit to purchase goods and services more cheaply.
Haber cautions about hidden fees in the cooperative bidding process, though. For example, Roslyn bought five new high-end printers for roughly $62,000. However, there was nearly $6,000 in extra charges for such items as an attorney financing fee, project management and coordination, and a 2 percent receiving and inventory fee.
Another purchasing initiative undertaken by Roslyn involved buying toner refills rather than new printer toner cartridges, which cut their annual costs in half, from $80,000 to $40,000. The district is now in the process of implementing a health care plan modeled on Indiana’s Consumer Driven Health Care system. The plan gives all employees a $3,000 medical savings account to purchase health care. Any unused portion of the account may be rolled over into the following year, so the plan holder accumulates cash savings for being a savvy consumer of medical care.
The plan has cut Indiana’s health care costs by 35 percent. Other initiatives that may save districts money include:
Going paperless. In Roslyn, all school board packets are done on iPads, saving the district about $20,000 per year. One session attendee mentioned his district started using BoardDocs, a NYSSBA-sponsored solution that helps reduce the time spent producing board packets by up to 75 percent. The district has also explored using online textbooks, which saves money and keeps content up to date.
Energy performance contracts. Upgrading lighting and HVAC can be a significant money saver, which in turn helps to finance upgrades.
Missing tax revenue. School district boundaries sometimes cut through property lines so that part of a property is in one district and the other part is in another district. For example, there are 100 properties in Roslyn that are divided between Roslyn and another school district. Conducting an analysis of the property taxes paid by property owners may reveal that a district may not be receiving the tax revenues it is rightfully due.
Cooperative busing. New York State mandates that all residents who send students to schools outside of the districts must receive free busing. For example, Roslyn spends $40,000 per year to bus two girls to a private yeshiva in Queens. If a bus from one district must travel through another district to get to its destination, why not pick up kids along the way and split costs 50/50?
Roslyn conducted a pilot program with East Williston and North Shore to do just that and saved about $50,000 per district in the process.
Foundations/endowments. This may be out of reach for some districts, but a university-style endowment in which districts raise donations from businesses, alumni, and community members may help fund worthwhile programs, such as sports, music and the arts, which otherwise would come out of a district’s general budget.