Published: April 17, 2008 11:24 pm            

SCHOOLS: Final budget offered

The Kenmore-Town of Tonawanda School District proposed its finalized budget and offered plenty of good news to go with it Thursday.

With the recently-approved state budget not only maintaining former levels of aid but also increasing funding to the district by more than $350,000, the school board was able to get the tax levy increase down to 3.65 percent.

That figure is down from last year’s 3.76 increase and will raise residents’ tax bills around $1.34 per $1,000 of home value. Keeping the rate low is something the board feels good about, especially considering the tough challenges they had to contend with in this budgetary cycle, said School Board Vice President Lou Reuter.

“For the past few years we have been keeping things like buildings and grounds at their bare bones,” Reuter said. “Every year the budget process becomes more difficult, so I’m exceedingly pleased that the state came through with some extra money.”

Other factors also added to the streamlining of the budget. A reworking of the state C4E requirements that would have required spending part of the district’s state funding to deal with Kenmore East and West’s appearance on New York State’s Schools Requiring Academic Progress list have been changed. Instead of being forced to divert the money into predetermined programs this year, the district will now get one more year to improve the scores.

That doesn’t mean the schools are out of the woods since there are only two months left before the next round of testing, but it does make budgeting this year a bit easier and give the schools some time to address the issues, Superintendent Mark Mondanaro.

“Should we be put on that list next year, there will be some increase in the amount of money we can use, giving us a little more leeway on how we can use it,” Mondanaro said. “How much can we do in the next 60 days to avoid being a SRAP school next year? We’re finding out now.”

The expired Payment in Lieu of Taxes agreement with NRG Huntley, another major budgetary concern, also seems to have been solved, at least temporarily. Although on-going litigation made it impossible for Mondanaro to discuss much of the NRG negotiations publicly, he did say that recent conversations have led him to be confident the $7 million level of funding will stay the same for this year’s budget.

Residents will be able to vote on the $142,463,825 budget, the creation of a capital improvements fund, the sale of the Brighton building and the purchase of 11 new schools buses for the district on May 20.

In a public comment, Sharon Weinfurtner asked that consideration be given to increasing the bussing for middle school and high school students. Her concern was that when her daughter moves from fifth grade to sixth, she will no longer receive bussing directly from home. Recent incidents of children being approached by strangers while on their way to and from bus stops have made such exclusions worrisome, Weinfurtner said.

“When I’m at home my husband and I see buses going by with empty seats on them,” Weinfurtner said. “I need to do everything necessary for my daughter to be safe.”

Weinfurtner suggested that the board look into how much it would cost to get buses to the homes outside the existing service area and offer parents the option to pay for their children to get picked up.

Contact reporter Daniel Pyeat 693-1000, ext. 158.

        

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