GUILDERLAND — School-district taxpayers will be paying less than projected when they went to the polls last May to pass a $92 million budget for this year. Assessments were higher than expected in Guilderland, and Bethlehem recently went through town-wide property revaluation.

“We weren’t counting on that kind of assessment growth for those towns,” said Assistant Superintendent for Business Neil Sanders, referring to an increase of $27 million in Guilderland and $30 million in Bethlehem.

Since towns don’t certify their rolls until the end of June, well after school budget votes, Sanders said, “It’s a real guessing game.”

The school board, by unanimous vote and little discussion on Aug. 19, passed the savings onto the taxpayers.

The lion’s share of the district is in the town of Guilderland where residents will pay $21.84 per $1,000 of assessed value. The assessed value for Guilderland property in the district totals $2.8 billion.  Sanders said the increase in Guilderland was due to a combination of residential and commercial building, including 20 West, the Tractor Supply Store, and an expansion to Crossgates Mall.

Small portions of the district lie in Bethlehem, assessed at $235 million; New Scotland, assessed at $15.2 million; and Knox, assessed at $14 million.

Bethlehem and New Scotland residents living in the Guilderland school district will pay $19.65 per $1,000 of assessed value, and residents of Knox, which has not done a town-wide property revaluation in years, will pay $31.70 per $1,000.

Other business

In other business, the board:

— Learned that the required annual fire inspection turned up “no areas of noncompliance,” according to Sanders;

— Kept lunch prices the same as last year, although a $40,000 loss is projected for the program, which is traditionally self-funded. Sanders said that, when prices increase, participation decreases, and the loss would be over $100,000 if the price were increased. “We hope, if a few things fall right, we can get close to break-even,” he said;

— Approved Northeast Associates in Rehabilitation to provide School to Work support in 2014-15 to students with disabilities and also agreed to services from Parsons Child and Family Center, Housatonic Academy, Upstate Cerebral Palsy, and Crossroads Center for Children;

— Approved internship agreements with the University at Albany Social Welfare Program, the Adelphi University School of Social Work, and the Siena College Social Work Program;

— Approved an inter-municipal agreement with the Rensselaer-Columbia-Greene Board of Cooperative Educational Services to provide internal auditing in 2014-15;

— Approved BOCES classroom rentals for summer school in July and August, and rooms and ancillary services during the upcoming school year;

— Approved the use of pesticides to eradicate poison ivy at the high school, the middle school, and four of the elementary schools — Altamont, Lynnwood, Westmere, Guilderland; the fifth, Pine Bush, doesn’t have poison ivy on its grounds, Sanders said;

— Accepted money from The Faith Takes Family Foundation for the high school’s School to Work program, and from the Class of 1962 for the high school library, and also accepted filing cabinets and desks from HF John Group;

— Awarded a bid for copy paper to Contract Paper Group for $58,388.40, the lowest of four bidders meeting specifications;

— Heard from Superintendent Marie Wiles about opening-of-school activities; the staff starts on Sept. 2 and classes begin on Sept. 4;

— Heard praise from Wiles for a work camp based at the high school in July; 396 students and counselors worked at 49 different sites, helping needy people with home projects. Wiles stressed there was no cost to taxpayers and lauded Clifford Nooney and his maintenance staff as well as lunch Director Linda Mossop and her crew, calling the week “an unmitigated success.” Wiles said of board member Gloria Towle-Hilt, who initiated the National Youth Work Camp at Guilderland, “Gloria was the brainchild”;

— Heard from Wiles that 137 students from Guilderland and Berne-Knox-Westerlo attended the first regional summer school at Guilderland, guided by BOCES. Wiles praised Ann-Marie McManus for her work as summer school principal. The board also named her as the new assistant principal at the high school; and

— Met in executive session to discuss negotiations with the Guilderland Teachers’ Association, to review a contract settlement with the District Office Confidential Personnel; to talk about a person’s potential discipline or dismissal, and to discuss litigation strategy for a tax case.