New York voters have two constitutional amendments to consider this election. One aims to allow the state’s 57 small city school districts to take on more debt for things like big capital projects. That includes several here in Central New York, from Auburn, Oswego, and Cortland, to Utica, Rome, and Oneida. Cara Chapman tells us why advocates want to raise the districts’ debt limits.
Most school districts in New York state can incur debt that’s up to ten percent of the value of the taxable real estate in their districts. For small city school districts, the state constitution says that number is five percent. Brian Fessler is with the New York State School Boards Association.
"We have seen situations pop up where that debt limit has served as a barrier and forced the district to extend out a project," Fessler said.
He says breaking down big projects into smaller ones can help small city districts stay under their debt limits. But he says that strategy can ultimately cost taxpayers more money over time.
Ballot proposition one asks voters if they want to remove the five-percent debt limit from the state constitution. The legislature has already passed the resolution twice. So now the final step is voter approval.
Advocates tried back in 2003, but it was voted down fifty-four percent to 46 percent.
According to Fessler, the challenges for small city districts have only grown since then. For example, he says they tend to have disproportionately higher student needs and poverty levels.
"So this is another attempt to really continue with the process of providing either statutory or constitutional balance and equity amongst our school districts in the state."
Fessler says the change isn’t about giving small city districts anything extra. It’s about fixing a decades-old constitutional provision.
He says places of all sizes stand to benefit. New York’s small cities range in population from a few thousand people in Sherrill in Oneida County to almost a hundred thousand in Albany.
Fessler says it’s important to support the measure even if you don’t live in one of those small city districts. That’s partly because they educate about one in ten children statewide.
"You never know where you’re going to end up and live and where you might raise a family."
Raising the debt limit isn’t just a blank check for these school districts. Fessler says the same checks and balances will remain in place. Every time a school district wants to take on debt or a capital project, they’ll still have to put it to their voters for approval.
"There's always the check right now appropriately for voters to determine whether or not they support a particular capital project in these districts," Fessler said.
The legislature is already preparing for this ballot measure to pass. It passed a bill in June that would take the next step and raise the debt limit to ten percent.
There is a second ballot proposal. If approved, it would allow the state’s municipalities to exclude debt for sewage facility projects from their debit limits for another ten years.