Projected school budget translates into tax increase

by Ralph Schwarz
Niagara Wheatfield Tribune, March 23, 2006

Homeowners in the Niagara-Wheatfield school district will see another increase in their school taxes next year.

In a presentation given to the school board on March 15, District Business Executive Kerin Dumphrey projected the 2006-07 school budget at $57.2 million, an increase of 5.26 percent or $2.77 million from this year’s spending plan. The district currently operates on a $54.34 million budget. Under the projected tax increase, owners of a $100,000 home would have to pay about $50 more in school taxes in 2007.

“We have made the necessary cuts and arrived at a budget with a 2.9 percent tax increase,” Dumphrey said, noting that without accounting for the district’s capital projects, the budget-to-budget increase may be closer to 3 percent, instead of the projected 5.26 percent.

“I think this is reasonable budget,” Dumphrey said. “It’s very, very conservative. We haven’t given anything new to people unless it’s been very necessary.”

Rising Costs

As in the past, the district instructed the respective school principals and department heads to work with rollover budgets in order to keep spending increases at a minimum. Still, rising costs for salaries, health insurance, retirement benefits, gas and fuel, among other expenses the district has only limited control over, increased the overall budget amount. In addition, the district had to account for a $45,000 payment to the new Niagara Charter School, which will open this fall.

The projected 2006-07 budget also reflects anticipated enrollment increases at the Senior High School and Errick Road Elementary School. With current projections expecting the enrollment at the high school to move up by 45 students, the budget includes four full-time and one part-time teaching positions for additional personnel.

“The only additional things that would be in there are new personnel to cover increased enrollment,” said District Superintendent Dr. Judith Howard. “That’s all.”

The district will also take $1 million from its reserve fund to keep the tax increase under 3 percent, Dumphrey added.

“I think this is a budget the voters should support,” he said.

Public To Vote May 16

The school board is expected to vote on the 2006-07 budget during its April 19 meeting. District residents will have the opportunity to comment on the budget during a public hearing on Wednesday, May 3, at 7 p.m. The budget vote is scheduled for Tuesday, May 16.

During the privilege-of-the-floor segment, Sanborn resident RoseMary Warren criticized the school board for setting the public budget hearing so close to the actual voting date.

“The public hearing should be in April instead of May,” she said. “I don’t think that there are going to be any changes to the budget when you get that close. You’re not going to change very much.”

Students Read Poems

Prior to the meeting, fourth-grade students from Errick Road Elementary presented poems they wrote as part of a segment on writing with figurative language.

“I recently identified figurative language as a focal area of writing instruction for all of my students,” said Caroline Kashmanian, a fourth-grade teacher at Errick Road Elementary. “The poems are the springboard for the students’ use of figurative language across other genres of writing. As the students continue to gain comfort in their use of figurative writing, their use of this literary device is appearing more and more frequently in their independent writing.”

The students selected to present their poems that evening included Jessica Brock, Jessica Lamson, Philomena Marinaccio and Justine Stoberl. A fifth student, Anthony Vekich, was ill and not able to read his poem.

“You have every right to be proud of yourselves,” Howard said after hearing the students recite their poems.

“This shows how far we have come as a district,” added school board member Samuel Monin.

Agenda Items

In other business, the school board unanimously voted:

•To approve one addition to the 2005-06 budget as submitted.

•To approve five budget transfers to cover a minor mid-year adjustment to reconcile accounts as submitted.

•To award the bid for a truck with a snow plow to the lowest qualified bidder, Steve Baldo Ford, in the amount of $44,085.

•To approve the action items of granting resignations, retirements, appointments, leaves of absences, and other miscellaneous items for administrative, instructional and school-related personnel, as submitted.

Those items included the leaves of absence of Angela Gedeon, foreign language teacher at Edward Town Middle School, effective Feb. 27 through April 6, and the temporary appointment of Christopher Reed as ELA teacher at ETMS, effective March 20 through June 30.

•To approve three fund-raiser requests as submitted.

•To approve three field trip requests as submitted.