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Forestville ready for school budget vote

FORESTVILLE — Voters in the Forestville school district will be voting next week on the proposed 2018-19 school budget, a proposed capital improvement project, a transportation proposition of one bus and a four-seat board of education member election.

The proposed budget, approved by the district’s board of education, is set at $12,787,393 and is divided into three sections: administrative ($1,726,750), capital ($2,420,381) and program ($8,640,262).

The administrative portion seeks to address the following areas:

¯ Board of education

¯ District office and business office operations

¯ Building administrators’ office operations

¯ Technology personnel

¯ Tax collection

¯ Central printing, mailing and data processing

¯ Legal, auditing and liability insurance

¯ BOCES administration

The overall increase in the administrative budget from last year is notched at 2.08 percent.

The capital portion of the budget seeks to address the following areas:

¯ Maintenance, grounds and custodial labor and benefits

¯ Building equipment, supplies and contractual services

¯Utilities and telephone

¯ Debt service — principal and interest payments

The overall increase in the capital budget from last year is notched at 2.4 percent.

The program portion of the budget seeks to address the following areas:

¯ Instructional wages, benefits, equipment and supplies

¯ Counseling, nurses, libraries, physical education

¯ Special education

¯ Instructional support — BOCES

¯ Music and athletics

¯ Transportation

The overall increase in the program portion of the budget is notched at 1.4 percent.

The proposed budget is expected to be funded via state aid ($7,295,377), reserves/fund balance ($1,358,190) and a local tax levy ($3,878,588).

The tax levy is $84,420 or 2.22 percent over the prior year’s amount.

The $3,080,000 capital improvement project seeks district-wide renovations to both the middle/high school (at 44 percent) and elementary school (at 56 percent).

Improvements include the following:

¯ Roof replacement at the middle/high school facility

¯ Science upgrades at the middle/high school facility

¯ Parking lot upgrade at the middle/high school facility

¯ Emergency generator installation at the elementary school facility

¯ Heating and ventilation replacement/upgrades at the elementary school facility.

There will be no additional tax impact with the capital improvement project as 86 percent of the project will be funded via state building aid and 14 percent will be funded via capital reserves.

The bus replacement proposition is requesting a 30-passenger school bus with wheelchair lift. The district will receive state transportation aid to fund the bus at approximately 85 percent over the next five years.

The cost of the purchase is not to exceed $71,000.

The board of education election candidates vying for four seats are:

¯ Michelle Merritt

¯ Carol Woodward

¯ Michael LoManto

¯ Sylvester Cleary

¯ Debra A. McAvoy

Voting will be held on Tuesday, May 15 from 1 to 8 p.m. at the high school Hornet lobby.

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