On Wednesday evening, November 13th, I presented facts and figures that would help our community understand why the Hamilton School District conducted a Merger Study with the Morrisville-Eaton School District. One of the questions that was asked was about the amount of debt that both school districts are presently carrying. My response was "that they are similar," included concepts such as the State Aid ratio, and the amount of money (local share) that is paid by the local taxpayer, along with the amount of debt. In the merger study, SES used the highest possible ratio that an approved project could have received. Neither MECS or HCS has aid that is presently being paid at those rates (95% for MECS and 86% for HCS).
When comparing the amount of debt that both districts have ( as per the NYSED, state aid website), Morrisville-Eaton has 1.55% the debt that Hamilton has. This, however, tells only part of the story. Due to the district's wealth, the amount of aid paid to MECS is different than the amount paid to Hamilton. Both districts have varied aid ratios based on different building projects. MECS and HCS have debt that is aided at different percentages, due to this. Based on the debt service and building aid received by MECS, that was actually reported in their financials for fiscal year (FY) ending June 30, 2011 and FY ending June 30, 2012, it looks if they are getting about 88% of their debt service back in aid. Hamilton has combined debt service aid amount of 76%. Considering all of this, Morrisvile-Eaton actually pays less for their local share than we do, despite the fact that they have more debt. The values are listed below.
I hope this helps to clarify any misconceptions that are out there. Our goal is to give our residents the facts so they can make informed decisions.
Below is the amount of debt that the districts would have at the time directly before the merger (end of FY June 2014):
District Total Debt Service Estimated Building Aid Estimated Local Share
Hamilton $ 7,549,702 $ 5,737,774 $1,811,928
MECS $ 11,710,763 $ 10,305,471 $1,405,292
When comparing the amount of debt that both districts have ( as per the NYSED, state aid website), Morrisville-Eaton has 1.55% the debt that Hamilton has. This, however, tells only part of the story. Due to the district's wealth, the amount of aid paid to MECS is different than the amount paid to Hamilton. Both districts have varied aid ratios based on different building projects. MECS and HCS have debt that is aided at different percentages, due to this. Based on the debt service and building aid received by MECS, that was actually reported in their financials for fiscal year (FY) ending June 30, 2011 and FY ending June 30, 2012, it looks if they are getting about 88% of their debt service back in aid. Hamilton has combined debt service aid amount of 76%. Considering all of this, Morrisvile-Eaton actually pays less for their local share than we do, despite the fact that they have more debt. The values are listed below.
I hope this helps to clarify any misconceptions that are out there. Our goal is to give our residents the facts so they can make informed decisions.
Below is the amount of debt that the districts would have at the time directly before the merger (end of FY June 2014):
District Total Debt Service Estimated Building Aid Estimated Local Share
Hamilton $ 7,549,702 $ 5,737,774 $1,811,928
MECS $ 11,710,763 $ 10,305,471 $1,405,292