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RCS board to consider final budget proposal
The
RCS Board of Education is scheduled to approve on Monday a
final version of the 2008-09 budget proposal to go before
voters on May 20.
The meeting
will begin at 6 p.m. in the high school library/media
center.
The
$41.8 million budget being proposed by administrators would
increase spending by
1.99 percent. If the board opts to apply the
additional state aid put forth in the state budget ratified
last week, the tax levy increase resulting from the proposed
RCS budget would be 2.29 percent, Interim Business
Administrator Dennis Geisler said. Without the additional
state aid, the levy increase would be 2.85 percent.
The spending
and tax levy increases would be the lowest in RCS in the
last five years.
Budget highlights include:
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$213,600
for the first year of a two-year computer
replacement phase-in that would also include
adaptive technology equipment for special education
students. The plan would receive BOCES aid and would
begin an initiative that has been delayed for three
years as a result of budget stresses.
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A $309,750
increase in the fuel budget - up to $589,750 - to
address skyrocketing diesel and fuel costs.
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$8,000 to fund
Advancement Placement exam fees for students
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$20,000 for an
inventory control system that was mandated by the
state audit.
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$90,000 for field
trips.
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$41,478 for an
automated pool cover. The cost of the cover, said
Energy Manager Matt Miller, would be recouped
through saved heating and water costs in 2.5 to
three years.
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Inclusion of
$50,000 in the 2008-09 budget for the development of
a strategic plan for the district. The plan, the
Budget Advisory Committee said, would keep the
district moving towards the same goals even during
periods of change in the administration.
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Restoration of an
elementary teaching position - and the $55,000
necessary for the position - proposed for removal
from the budget as a result of diminishing
enrollment in the elementary schools.
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$27,500
for a part-time social worker at Pieter B. Coeymans
Elementary School to allow RCS to provide
educational services to pre-school students that RCS
must now pay tuition to provide services for.
Additionally, the
budget takes into account significant
savings in a number of areas, including :
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$300,000 in
private tuition costs for special education
students.
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$61,000 in
BOCES data processing costs
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$110,000 in
bus purchase buyout costs
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$300,000 in
payments on a 2003 Teachers Retirement System
incentive
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$75,000 in
construction costs
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$101,000
in natural gas and electricity as a result of
the success of the ongoing energy conservation
initiative in the district.
The budget proposal is also
significantly less than what RCS could adopt in the form of
a contingency budget. A contingent budget, under state
regulations, could increase spending and the tax levy by an
additional $400,000.
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