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Southern Ulster Times, Wednesday, May 1, 2019
Marlboro approves $58.3 million budget
Continued from page 1
The district highlighted the major cost
“drivers” in the 2019-20 budget: Salaries/
payroll/FICA are up by $520,000; Health
Insurance $180,000; Transportation
$55,000; BOCES Services including Special
Education at $480,000; Tech Budget $60,000
and the Facilities Equipment budget by
$20,000. Two areas have decreased: in the
Employee Retirement System [ERS] and
in the Teacher Retirement System [TRS]
by a total of $85,000 and the Debt Service
by $39,000.
Within the 2019-20 budget the School
Board approved several additions that
had been under review for several
months. They added a .2 Speech teacher
for $10,000; a .2 Social Studies teacher-
with the addition of a Sports and
Entertainment Marketing elective – for
$10,000; a Mandarin Chinese course via
the internet at $40,000; additional student
clubs and activities for $8,000; Drama
Production Support for supplies and
rentals at the Middle School for $2,500; a
shared Technology Education teacher for
$100,000; a .4 Physical Education teacher at
the Elementary School for $30,000; moving
3 employees from permanent food service
subs to permanent employees and adding
an additional food service employee at the
High School for $14,000 and including a 1.0
Maintenance Worker by cost sharing with
OUBOCES for Middlehope) for $70,000.
At the May 21 budget vote, residents
will also be asked to vote on the Vision
2020 Capital Project. The district has
stated that this project will, “address
key infrastructure updates, health and
safety issues and spacing improvements
throughout the district.” The district’s
website has numerous charts and pictures
that highlights the entire project.
Vision 2020 is estimated to cost
$19,499,279 but key factors, such as past
debt dropping off, will play a significant
role in making the impact upon residents
negligible. The debt issued for the project
would drop to $16.5 million by the district
using $3 million from their Capital
Reserves and Fund balance. In addition,
the state will aid 85% of the project costs
in a ratio of 70.1%. This will leave the
district paying a debt and interest total of
$7.9 million. This calculates to an annual
payment of $461,741 and ultimately results
in a decrease in overall district expenses
by more than $800,000.
Superintendent Michael Brooks said
the budget process for the following year
actually starts, “with putting numbers on
paper” in November. He said everything in
the budget for next year, “is academically
warranted; from an educational
perspective they are solidly founded and
from a philosophical perspective they’re
in the right direction; adding technology
related classwork and physical fitness
connections. We need kids to be more
physically active.”
Brooks said the maintenance and food
side of the budget services the students
and the maintenance personnel, “keep
our buildings in tip-top shape. They are
all smart positions to put in.”
Brooks promises the district will be
closely monitoring their finances moving
forward.
“We’ll make sure we manage it
very tightly and keep our ship in a good
direction,” he said.
Brooks noted that the addition of
a .4 Physical Education teacher in the
Elementary School will bring the district
into compliance.
Brooks said he has fielded a lot of
questions from the public on the Vision
2020 Capital Project. He said they mostly
wants to know, “what is it you’re looking
to do, how much is it going to cost and is
it going to be a tax burden on me.”
An Open House is scheduled for May 8
at 6 p.m. at the Middle School.
“The public is welcome to come in,
they can see the space and we’ll walk
through the buildings and let them take a
look at things,” he said.
Brooks said the Vision 2020 project
will provide the opportunity to fix the
facilities across the district, “from a safety
and security perspective, from an art and
music perspective, from a technology/
education perspective, from physical
education and athletics; we’re hitting so
many areas for only $19.5 million.”
Brooks said the CEO of Danskammer
has informally promised to pay for a
substantial portion of the public’s annual
cost for the project if the new proposed
power plant is approved and built.
Brooks said the adoption of a school
budget, “is not an event, it’s a process.
It really does take a chain of events to
where you get to tonight. It’s an important
process and you can’t predict the outcome
when you start.”
Town of Lloyd receives sidewalk grant
Continued from page 1
Main Street, Church Street, Vineyard Avenue, Milton
Avenue and Commercial Avenue.”
Supervisor Paul Hansut said the money came from
a state grant through the Transportation Alternative
Program and Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality
Improvement Program.
“It was part of the Governor’s $24 million that he
invested to increase more pedestrian and bike usage,”
Hansut said. “We had basically gone for replacing the
sidewalks in the Hamlet and adding a sidewalk from
Main Street to the library to provide a safe route for the
kids to go after school. Right now if they want to go over
to the Library they have to walk on the road at Elting
Place.”
Hansut said he is hoping to do something at
Commercial Avenue to Vineyard Avenue.
“We’ve got to figure out which side we’re going to
go on but it is also for replacing and repairing all the
crosswalks in the Hamlet,” he said.
Hansut pointed out that Keith Liebolt, the developer
of the Highbridge project, promised to build a sidewalk
from the Rail Trail to Commercial Avenue and connect
with Vineyard Avenue.
“God only knows where that is at; your guess is as
good as mine,” Hansut said. “I don’t know what’s going
on with that whole project anymore.”
Hansut said they are planning to install some benches
and more bike racks in the Hamlet as part of this project.
“The sidewalks in the Hamlet are shot and this seems
like a good opportunity to get some state money to do it,”
he said.
Hansut said the money for this project will be
administered through the Department of Transportation.
“I think that we will probably be breaking ground
this time next year,” he said. “You have to go through the
follow-up paperwork process with DOT and that will take
four or five months to get that done.”
Hansut said he would like to see a sidewalk on Elting
Place done first for safety reasons and he will have the
town’s attorney start the legal work on easements with
several property owners to be ready next year for a new
sidewalk.
“I want to get that in place so when the money starts
flowing we can get going,” he said.
Hansut said he was excited to receive the approval for
the funding and thanked his secretary Kate Jonietz for
shepherding the application through the process.
“The grant was written out of my office, we didn’t hire
anyone to do it and Kate [Jonietz] pretty much wrote the
grant,” he said. “I think it’s a really positive grant and
Kate was happy as it was her first one and we were able
to get it.”
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