Finalized
BKW adopts $19.3M budget



BERNE — Anticipating a fall vote for building renovations to its high school, the Berne-Knox-Westerlo Board of Education voted unanimously last week to adopt a $19.3 million budget proposal for 2007-08, a 4.1-percent increase over this year’s budget.

Though the proposed tax-rate increase for the district isn’t as low as last year’s, the $19.3 million plan represents the lowest spending increase since the district’s 2000-01 contingency budget.
"I’m not sure that there’s much more that you could cut from this budget," said School Board President Joan Adriance.

If the budget is approved by voters on May 16, it will increase the tax levy 4-percent.

This year, Berne residents paid $26.40 per $1,000 of assessed value; Knox residents paid $28.43; New Scotland, $18.48; Middleburgh, $26.07; Wright, $22.42; Rensselaerville, $28.00; and Westerlo residents paid $1,811.96.

Westerlo has not undergone revaluation in decades so many properties are valued at a fraction of their worth.
"We’ve tried to trim the spending and get as close to last year’s tax levy," Superintendent Steven Schrade said during a budget workshop. This year, the school tax levy went up 2.4-percent over the previous year. "Even with the low rate of expenditures," he said, "the reason we can’t meet [it] is because this year’s projected state aid is not as great as last year’s."

The district expects $8,149,249 in state aid, an increase of $329,552, or 4.2-percent over this year’s. BKW Business Administrator David Weiser said the increase in state aid is partially due to a fire-alarm project earlier that generated $67,353.

If the budget is voted down in May, the district’s contingency plan, with a state-set cap, would be only about $50,000 less than the proposed budget. If a budget is defeated, a school district can do one of three things — put the same budget up for a second vote, put a reduced budget up for a vote, or move directly to a contingency plan. A second budget defeat requires the district to use a contingency plan. If the district moves to a contingency plan, cuts would include: equipment, student supplies, community use of buildings, and salary increases.

Although BKW has had difficulty passing budgets in past years, the 2006-07 budget was approved on the first vote last spring. Passing the district’s 2007-08 budget in May has been one of the board’s goals, revisited at many school board meetings.
"Looking at it in the most simple terms"we’re only voting on about $50,000," said School Board Vice President Edward Ackroyd during a budget workshop. "Do we want to ask the voters for more"" he asked.

Voters, Schrade said, will be asked for more in the fall when they will decide on building renovations.

Renovations to the high school, driven by the Help Americans With Disabilities Act, were first presented in December by architect Karl Griffith of Cataldo, Waters, and Griffith.

The district is looking at three different plans, which could cost taxpayers anywhere from $2.3 million to $3.7 million.
Board member John Harlowe called the budget "very tight" and "very prudent," with the anticipation the district will be doing a required building project in the fall.

Expenditures

The lion’s share of costs are for salaries and benefits, largely set by contracts regulated with the school board.
The proposed budget includes added special education programs; the district transports some special education students out of the district. The programs would keep autistic students within the district. Schrade said that a classroom in the elementary building could be converted to a "self-contained" room similar to one in a BOCES program.
"Our district has more out-of-district placements than any other school in the Capital District," Schrade said.

The budget adds a foreign language program in the elementary school, which adds a part-time teaching position. Schrade said current staff could also be used to help teach the program; the language has not yet been determined, he said.
The Parent Teacher Association has been holding an after-school foreign language program on Wednesdays, which, PTA leaders said in February, "has outgrown itself."

Schrade said two 30-minute periods, rotating on a six-day cycle, could be allotted for each elementary class.

The budget also adds a part-time AIS/English teacher for both schools. Two college-level Advanced Placement courses — biology and art history — will also be added to the high school.
The district entered into an inter-municipal agreement with BOCES for $7,800 for an internal auditor, which is now required by the state. Weiser called the inter-municipal agreement the "cheaper approach" than the district finding an auditor on its own.
To meet requirements set by the Government Accounting Standards Board, the district also entered into a contract with BOCES for $20,800, which, Weiser said, is "a start-up cost." He said he expects the costs to decrease in the future after the programs have been in place.
The budget shows a $24,000 decrease in the cost of the school’s lunch program. The program, Weiser said, "is starting to see some increased efficiency."

Health insurance increased 9.6-percent, and retirement benefits increased approximately 8.5-percent.