POPLAR RIDGE -- With just one week remaining before Southern Cayuga Central School District taxpayers go to the polls to vote on a revised 2008-09 school budget, school officials listened to questions and concerns voiced by community members during a public budget hearing Monday that lasted more than two hours.

Voters will get their say June 17 on a proposed budget of $16,373,330, a 2.9 percent increase over last year's numbers, that carries an estimated tax levy increase of 4.47 percent.

The district amended an original budget of $16,448,192 with a tax levy increase of 5.24 percent after voters defeated the proposal May 20.

During the session, the some-40 people in attendance broached subjects such as declining enrollment, alternative energies, converting to a single bus run and long range planning.

Superintendent Mary Kay Worth and Business Administrator Martha Stevermer sought to clarify information received within the last few days regarding a debt owed to the state after hearing several questions from the public.

Last month, the board of education was notified that the district owes the state more than $400,000 from building projects since 2002. Stevermer said the state Education Department overestimated bond amounts for those years, and are now taking back that money through a reduction in state aid.

The district will receive separate bills for each of the academic school years for which the state overestimated; that is, Southern Cayuga will not be paying back $400,000 in one lump sum, she said.

The current debt owed for the next academic year is $182,196, which is a third of the debt owed for the 2002-03 and 2003-04 school years, Stevermer said. For these bills, the district qualified for a three-year payback because it has a low fund balance, or a rainy-day fund. There is no guarantee the district will qualify for this kind of payback for future bills.

For more, read Tuesday's Citizen