February 12, 2015
Marathon proposes $17 million school budget
MARATHON — The school district is proposing an approximately $17 million budget that includes no spending increases for the 2015-16 school year.
The district has not yet determined what tax rate will be used to fund the local tax levy, or property tax burden, portion of the $16,913,260 budget, said the district’s business official, Tom Goskoski at a budget forum Wednesday night.
The total budget for the 2014-15 school year also stands at $16,913,260 and has a $3.9 million tax levy, Goskoski said. District officials could decide to increase the tax rate to raise more money in local taxes though that is not yet decided.
Either way, the district would stay under a state-mandated threshold for tax levy increases, which for Marathon is 1.6 percent, Goskoski said.
The current tax rate is $14.85 per $1,000 of assessed property value, he said.
As Gov. Andrew Cuomo has proposed increasing state aid to schools only if the state Legislature agrees to pass Cuomo’s education agenda, the district prepared a budget that reflected no increase in state aid, Goskoski said.
If the state Legislature agrees to changes in teacher evaluations, tenure, certification and preparation, as well as increased support to charter schools, Cuomo has proposed increasing state aid to all schools by $1.1 billion over last year’s budget.
In the 2014-15 school year, Marathon received $11,247,701 in state aid.
The state aid did not include $115,856 slated to come to the district before it was withheld by the state under the Gap Elimination Adjustment. The GEA was passed in 2010 in an effort to balance the state budget deficit by withholding some school aid. The GEA is set to remain in effect for the upcoming school year.
Since the GEA was passed in 2010, Marathon has lost $2.9 million in state aid, Goskoski said.
One bright spot in the district’s budget is a decrease in teacher retirement costs, he noted.
The district is set to save $91,405 on the costs next school year.
The majority of the savings would be used to hire an additional sixth-grade teacher and increase an instructional position from part-time to full-time at Appleby Elementary School, Jonathan Hillis, the school’s principal, said at the forum.
The increased instructional position is intended to help children struggling in a subject, Hillis said.
The rest of the retirement savings are set to be used to purchase academic equipment and to pay for an increase in Onondaga-Cortland-Madison BOCES expenses.
If additional school aid is included in the state budget, Superintendent of Schools Rebecca Stone said the district would consider adding another universal pre-kindergarten class and teacher.
While a UPK class can only include 18 students, 34 students were signed up so far, and a lottery will be used to select the 18 students, Hillis said. The deadline to sign up is Friday.
At the board of education meeting following the budget forum, Stone noted that work on a $5 million district construction project is continuing.
About 14 percent of the project is complete, according to a report from construction managers Watchdog Building Partners of Rochester and King and King Architects of Syracuse.
The large project includes installing a new roof to portions of both the Junior/Senior High and elementary schools, as well as new fire alarm systems at the buildings, Stone said.
A new heating system will be installed in the Junior/Senior High School and, if the weather is not too cold, the first of two boilers is set to be removed in March, she said. Both boilers will be removed by May 15, Stone said.
The project also includes new theater rigging and lights at the Junior/Senior High School auditorium.
At Appleby Elementary School, the main office will be renovated and the phone, public address and clock systems will be upgraded.
Outside lights, a bus lift and columns will all be repaired at the bus garage under the project, Stone said.
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