— Matt Cook

BERNE—The Berne-Knox-Westerlo school budget was voted down by district residents Tuesday by a margin of only 17. Westerlo residents, angry about the closing of their elementary school, may have been the deciding factor in the vote.

District wide, 548 people, 49 percent, voted for the $17.6 million budget, while 565, or 51 percent, voted against it, making BKW the only district in Albany County with a defeated budget.

The only candidate for school board, Maureen Sikule, received 745 votes. She will take over John Harlow’s seat in July.

A proposition to buy new school buses passed, 606 to 490, or 55 percent to 45 percent. According to the proposition, the district will use $330,000 to buy buses. Right now, said Superintendent Steven Schrade, the plan is to use the money for two small buses, two medium-sized buses, and two large buses.

The proposed budget called for a tax-levy increase of $481,904, or 5.6 percent. The largest increases are due to set costs like fuel and employee benefits. Also, because the first payment is due on the last bond issue, the district will have to pay $409,759 towards that, causing a huge hike in debt services.

On the budget, Schrade, said he was disappointed. The school board will have a meeting within the next two weeks to decide what to do, he said. The board has three options: accept the loss and adopt a budget capped according to state-set limits, modify the budget and hold a revote, or hold a revote with the budget as it is.

Last year, a $16.6 million budget failed in the first vote by 32. A month later, it passed by 11. This year, however, the budget proposal is so close to the $17.5 million state-capped budget, the board may not bother with a revote, Schrade said.
"It’s an option," Schrade said, "but the board is concerned and I am concerned that a number of residents find a revote somewhat distasteful. They don’t want to aggravate or upset the voters over this."

The proposed budget is only $110,769 over the state-capped spending plan.
"The stakes are not quite as high this year," Schrade said.

In February, the school board voted unanimously to close the Westerlo Elementary School for the 2005-06 school year. The district will save $100,894 with the school closed, and declining enrollment district-wide will allow for the students to be absorbed into the larger elementary school in Berne.
Many angry Westerlo residents continue to oppose the closing. Some have encouraged others to vote against the budget as a way of sending a message to the school board. Signs appeared in the Hilltowns asking people to "Remember the Westerlo School" when they vote.
"I am quite certain that that was a significant factor," Schrade said.

Mary-Jane Araldi, a member of an organized group of Westerlo residents who want to keep the school open, wrote to the Enterprise editor, "The board has not chosen to resolve the issue and instead seems intent on ignoring the community. The only recourse left is the May 17th budget vote, where the community finally has a say on the board’s budget decisions."

Schrade said the school board is not likely to reconsider its decision on the Westerlo school because of the budget defeat.