Published: May 13, 2008 03:11 am            

BARKER: School district finds a way to achieve a viable budget

BARKER — The Barker School District had to find a way to fill a hole known as the 2008-09 school year budget.

That’s how Superintendent Roger Klatt presented the proposed budget Monday to the Barker community. The $19,863,640 budget, a spending increase of 4.55 percent over the current budget, calls for a 6 percent tax levy increase. Tax rates in the town of Somerset could rise about $1.13 per $1,000 of assessed land value, while residents in Hartland, Yates, Newfane and Ridgeway could see an increase of 91 cents per $1,000.

Klatt called the budget process a “wait and see” plan, meaning some of the details had to be figured out before a budget could be put together. At first, the budget called for a tax levy increase in the double digits.

“We were uncomfortable with that,” Klatt said.

The hole deepened with a $863,931 increase in operating costs and the AES payment in lieu of taxes agreement. The PILOT took another $1.6 million from the district. Klatt said the district was also waiting to see if student enrollment would remain stable. The proposed budget’s expenditures created a big hole for Barker to fill.

“To fill that hole we needed a partnership with the residents and whatever we could do to fill it,” Klatt said.

Although it was a lot less than the governor proposed, Barker still received $494,931 in state aid. The district also benefited from a bill state Sen. George Maziarz sponsored which got the district another $1.3 million. Taxpayers would be chipping in with $3,571,858 in the tax levy, which is the amount of money from taxes needed to fund a school district. Lastly, Barker cut back in a few areas.

“We wanted to tighten our belts while avoiding job losses and not hurting the students,” Klatt said.

With a dip in enrollment, Barker is cutting the third grade down to three sections instead of four. Also the district will not be replacing a teacher on special assignment position, which Klatt said was a savings of about $100,000. Some students enrolled in programs at Orleans/Niagara Board of Cooperative Educational Services would be brought back to the district for additional savings.

Klatt also introduced a second proposition that will go before the public with the budget vote. It is a proposed capital project of about $1. 5 million and it comes at no additional cost to the taxpayer.

The project will be paid with cash so to avoid debt and will use state EXCEL and building aid to fund it. The project will be for necessary repairs and no cosmetic upgrades Klatt said. Improvements would be made to ventilation, heating and cooling, the parking lot and the roof. The roof was starting to leak in some areas.

The tennis courts will also be upgraded, but that is because of an anonymous donor who gave the district a check for $50,000.

The EXCEL aid is a state grant for improvements, while the building aid is reimbursement for the money a district spends on improvements. Barker would receive about 76 cents for every dollar it spends.

“This is the best way to do it,” said business administrator William Leardini. “It’s our money and we’re bringing it back.”

Barker will hold its election for open school board seats with the budget vote from noon to 8 p.m. May 20, at the Herbert F. Ludwig Fine Arts Hall at Barker High School. The school is located at 1628 Quaker Road, Barker.

Contact reporter Joe Olenick

at 439-9222, ext. 6241.

        

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