I guess it's time......

Things have been pretty quiet since the former Superintendent departed.

The BOE went with a head hunter for $20k to get Superintendent candidates. I felt BOCES offered a free service and we should take advantage of it.

The BOE went with a salary range for the new Superintendent of $155,00 to $170,000. Again I said no because you can always go up with your offer but in schools, you can never go down. We had 22 applications, many from much lower paying districts. Now we can't offer less.

Finally, at the last BOE meeting, I became very affraid.

First, there was the camera put up in the Transportation Break room. It was put up over the Christmas break while no one was around. I really thought we were past this kind of behavior with the departure last spring. I really hope this was an isolated incident.

Second, I am affraid of what the BOE of the next few years would be doing if  they listen to this Administration.


We saw a presentation of debt service outlook for the next 4 years. This is what it looked like:

Capital Bond Debt

 Year       Total Debt (Payments)      State Aid             Net Local Share
                                                                                                       (levy amount)
12-13      $6,505,608.00                 $6,217,407.00         $288,200.00
13-14      $5,145,658.00                 $5,593,548.00          ($447,890.00)
14-15      $2,673,964.00                 $3,818,967.00          ($1,145,003.00)
15-16      $2,675,464.00                 $2,636,442.00           $39,022

Next year 12-13 we are almost even on Capital Debt payments vs State Aid

The following year 13-14 we are at a net gain relative to cash flow. And the following year we come out of the woods. The woods prior incompetent boards sent us into.

What scared me? The recomendation that we dive into more debt! The result? We may never get the benefit of the incoming state aid payments being greater than the outgoing debt service. We have BOE members who are interested.

Another thing to look at is the decrease in debt service from 13-14 to 14-15. Just about a $2.5 million decrease. With $250,000 being the number for 1% increase in taxes, do the math.

Look at it this way. If the budget amount remained the same, we will be required to actually spend $2.5 million less in 14-15 than in 13-14. We would be able to put money in the bank, pay cash for improvements, take some off the tax levy, open a mistakenly closed school, the options are endless. Only if we don't start borrowing again.

Decreased taxes to benefit the community and not be teetering on the brink of disaster based on shrinking state aid? What a great idea!

What did some of the BOE say? Lets get started.

I will be voting NO.

Ps. Are there any candidates looking at this year?