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Maryvale budget provides tax relief
By John J. Hopkins Times
Although the 2007-08 academic year budget will rise by nearly $700,000, taxes are projected to drop 86 cents per thousand dollars in the Maryvale School District under a spending plan approved Monday by the Board of Education.
The $32,325,512 spending plan presented by Superintendent Gary L. Brader represents a $683,941- or 2.2 percent- hike from the current fiscal year.
Despite the hike, additional financial aid from New York State and teacher retirements allowed the district to lower the tax levy, which is the amount of the budget that is paid via local school taxes.
The tax levy is projected to drop by $478,200 to $14,749,450. Maryvale property owners can plan on a tax rate of $26.38 per $1,000 of assessed valuation, almost a full dollar less than the $27.24 per thousand collected last year.
Brader said that "quite a bit" of the tax levy reduction is linked to additional financial aid in New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's budget. The budget provided approximately $1.3 million more for Maryvale, but Brader pointed out that some of the money had arrived earlier in the form of grants.
Still, the difference was nearly $950,000 more than was included in the 2006-07 academic year budget.
The 2.2 percent hike in spending is below the 3.84 percent contingency hike allowed by state law.
Board members appeared pleased with the final budget. President Kristen Finn complimented Brader on his work.
"You did a very fine job," Finn said.
Brader highlighted 14 changes to the budget since he presented it to the board at its previous meeting in March.
Major decreases in spending were noted for teachers' salaries at both the primary and secondary teaching levels.
Four additional retirements in kindergarten through sixth grades allowed Brader to reduce the budget by $198,172. At the seventh through twelvth grade level, three retirements resulted in $148,629 of additional savings.
A speech teacher's retirement helped cut another $49,543 out of the budget.
There are also additions to the budget, including $49,905 the district will spend to purchase calculators for its middle school and high school students. The calculators were recently mandated by the State Education Department.
"Hopefully it's a one-time expen- diture," Brader said. "But...things get lost. We'll try to get people to be responsible for that, but I guarantee you there will be money spent on an annual basis to replace (some calculators)."
The district will also allocate $40,199 to replace equipment related to the music program. Brader explained that the purchases include not only new instruments, but also chairs and risers. An additional $12,650 will be set aside for instrument repairs.
The district's commitment to music extends to the intermediate school, where $1,147 will be spent to provide every student with recorders. Brader said the district hopes every student will eventually be able to read music and play the simple woodwind instruments.
The budget also provides $7,500 for coaches for modified boys and girls track and cross-country teams.
"This is in anticipation of expanding the modified sports program," Brader said. "We know they're being requested and there's enough (interested) kids."
At the primary school, the district has budgeted $8,280 to purchase computer tables.
Overtime for the custodial staff is expected to jump because of the district's capital improvement project. Brader budgeted an additional $34,500 for overtime expenses.
"We will need to have our custodians working more overtime as rooms and entire wings of buildings are moved around," Brader explained.
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