Expert: Finance Meetings At MCSShould Be Public

MASSENA - Massena Central School officials say that, because their finance committee is discussing personnel and staffing cuts that will need to be made in their proposed 2010-11 budget, the meetings are not open to the media or members of the public.

But that in itself is not a legal excuse to keep the meetings behind closed doors, according to Robert Freeman, executive director of the New York State Office on Open Government in Albany.

Michael LeBire, chairman of the school board's Finance Committee, informed the district clerk last week that he felt it would be inappropriate to open the committee meeting. He suggested the committee would be discussing personnel and staffing issues. His comments came after the Courier-Observer informed school officials they planned to attend the committee meeting.

"Generally speaking, when the issue involves a budget there is no basis for conducting it in executive session," Mr. Freeman said.

For example, he said, if the district's financial situation meant cutting one art teacher in one elementary school, "everybody knows who it is. The issue is not how well or poorly they're doing their job. The issue is how the district decides to allocate public money.

"There would be no basis for conducting an executive session," Mr. Freeman said. "When we speak of cuts, we're talking about positions, not the performance of the people in those positions in the great majority of circumstances."

Massena officials have also suggested that the meetings are not open to the public since they do not involve a quorum of school board members. But Mr. Freeman said the quorum requirements for committees are different than regular board meetings.

The district's finance committee includes Chairman Michael J. LeBire, Julie L. Reagan, Kevin F. Perretta, all school board members, as well as Superintendent Roger B. Clough II and Assistant Superintendent for Business Cynthia M. Yager.

Mr. Freeman said committee meetings are covered by the state's Open Meetings Law if they include two or more school board members.

"The quorum is the majority of the committee's total membership," he said, "not the board's total membership."

Mr. Freeman said, for instance, that while the New York State Assembly has 150 members and a quorum is considered 76 members a committee on education consists of only 15 individuals and a quorum would be eight members.

"That kind of issue arose soon after the Open Meetings Law was enacted in 1977 and it was amended in 1979," he said.

That amendment made changes to the definition of the phrase "public body," according to Mr. Freeman, with specific references to committees or subcommittees of a public body.

"Even if they're talking about money, how to allocate public money, they're talking about the needs of students in the district," he said.

The district's finance committee is scheduled to meet on March 23 to discuss how to pare down a $3.38 million deficit if they left the budget as is without cuts or additions to programs or personnel. That would translate to a 22.99 percent tax levy on their draft 2010-11 spending plan.

The current tax rate is $18.80 per $1,000 of assessed value, and every 1 percent increase in the tax levy raises $147,000.

As a result, they are looking at between 20 and 40 personnel cuts, along with reductions in overtime, substitutes and tutors to bring the tax levy down. The cuts would be made through attrition, such as retirements, and layoffs.

The district is looking at $1.28 million in expenditure increases and $2.1 million in revenue reductions such as property tax revenue, state aid and interest earnings, leaving a gap of $3.38 million to fill.

Board members will review the spending plan on March 25, approve it on April 19 and hold a public hearing on May 6. The annual budget vote is on May 18.