SKANEATELES - After months of looking over figures and fine-tuning spending, the Skaneateles Central School District Board of Education voted to adopt the proposed 2007-2008 budget at its April 3 meeting.
The proposed $26,969,206 budget is a 4.6 percent increase over the previous year's document. Superintendent Philip D'Angelo Jr. said that while the budgets for many areas have stayed the same, the increases can be attributed to several specific sources.
Some of this increase has come from the need for more teachers in the district. With several teachers retiring and an increased importance placed on foreign language education, the district has been looking at ways to fill these voids.
Notably, the retirement of Nancy Graham as a family and consumer sciences teacher has allowed the district to look at new ways to streamline the demands on teachers.
“Nancy has been coming in to teach since she has retired,” D'Angelo said. “And we have a need for a Spanish teacher, so we've created a (full-time) position for family and consumer sciences/Spanish teacher, and hopefully we'll be able to get some interest.”
This new position is budgeted for a salary in the mid-$40,000s, an addition of $25,000 over the current part-time position, D'Angelo said. The full-time teacher's course load would be divided between two classes of family and consumer sciences and four classes of Spanish.
D'Angelo also said that next year the fifth-grade section will expand to include another class, making for a total of six sections of fifth grade as a means of keeping class sizes manageable. This will require the hiring of another teacher at $45,000 salary.
The other area that has seen a marked increase is the district's BOCES budget, which is up 6.8 percent, totaling $1,531,600. Specific areas of the BOCES budget have gone up,
including instruction (a $59,000 increase), handicap services (up $7,200), summer school (a $12,000 increase) and library services (up $4,400).
D'Angelo said that there is also an increase in utilities, which totaled $377,700 in 2006-2007. This year there will be an increase of $50,000, mostly due to the increased cost of natural gas.
Currently, there is an estimated 5.9 percent tax levy, but that is just estimation.
“That is based on current assessments,” D'Angelo said. “This is based on all assessments staying the same and equalization rates staying the same. So that is
difficult to estimate. There could be, say, 10 new houses built that would be beneficial to the taxpayers. So that number could change; we won't really know for sure until we are doing tax bills.“
If the 5.9 percent does hold steady, it would mean a change from $13.38 to $14.17 per thousand dollars of assessed value.
The budget will go before voters May 15.
Some of this increase has come from the need for more teachers in the district. With several teachers retiring and an increased importance placed on foreign language education, the district has been looking at ways to fill these voids.
Notably, the retirement of Nancy Graham as a family and consumer sciences teacher has allowed the district to look at new ways to streamline the demands on teachers.
“Nancy has been coming in to teach since she has retired,” D'Angelo said. “And we have a need for a Spanish teacher, so we've created a (full-time) position for family and consumer sciences/Spanish teacher, and hopefully we'll be able to get some interest.”
This new position is budgeted for a salary in the mid-$40,000s, an addition of $25,000 over the current part-time position, D'Angelo said. The full-time teacher's course load would be divided between two classes of family and consumer sciences and four classes of Spanish.
D'Angelo also said that next year the fifth-grade section will expand to include another class, making for a total of six sections of fifth grade as a means of keeping class sizes manageable. This will require the hiring of another teacher at $45,000 salary.
The other area that has seen a marked increase is the district's BOCES budget, which is up 6.8 percent, totaling $1,531,600. Specific areas of the BOCES budget have gone up,
including instruction (a $59,000 increase), handicap services (up $7,200), summer school (a $12,000 increase) and library services (up $4,400).
D'Angelo said that there is also an increase in utilities, which totaled $377,700 in 2006-2007. This year there will be an increase of $50,000, mostly due to the increased cost of natural gas.
Currently, there is an estimated 5.9 percent tax levy, but that is just estimation.
“That is based on current assessments,” D'Angelo said. “This is based on all assessments staying the same and equalization rates staying the same. So that is
difficult to estimate. There could be, say, 10 new houses built that would be beneficial to the taxpayers. So that number could change; we won't really know for sure until we are doing tax bills.“
If the 5.9 percent does hold steady, it would mean a change from $13.38 to $14.17 per thousand dollars of assessed value.
The budget will go before voters May 15.
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