BY RYAN O’CONNOR

The 2007-08 Bow School District budget represents a 5.38 percent increase over the last fiscal year.

Duane Ford, the district’s business administrator, said the operating budget will increase $1.2 million from $22,279,235 to $23,477,770 for the upcoming school year, if approved by voters.

School board member Pansy Bloomfield said the increases stem primarily from personnel contracts and benefits and energy costs.

Though there were requests to ease overcrowding at the high school, Bloomfield said the board is confident it could overcome increased student population with few new hires.

“It’s a pretty straightforward year with no big surprises,” she said. “We were able to get the middle school renovations out of the way last year, so we’re using this year to take a breather. What’s on the warrant is pretty short and sweet.”

According to Bloomfield, the budget committee requested an increase of a little more than 7 percent, but the school board is determined to further reduce taxes associated with the district’s budget.

“There appeared to be increases coming in on both the county and town side, so we tried our best minimize the tax impact on the town,” she said.

The district, using projected revenue and current assessed property values, anticipates an increase of $1.30 per $1,000 assessed property value, or $390 on a $300,000 home. The increase includes the statewide school tax as well.

The current tax rate is $20.08 and could go up to $21.38 next year.

 But Ford said taxes will be less once final numbers are set.

“I’m confident that the district will return money, and assessed values in town will go up, which will further reduce it,” said Ford.

There will be three warrant articles asking voters to return unspent money to capital reserve funds and the remainder be used to offset the tax rate.

“We didn’t really focus a lot on (the increase),” said Ford. “We focused on expenditures and presenting a good budget to the budget committee, and they were very receptive to it.”

Budget committee member Dan DeVasto said the committee is happy with the school board’s presentation and content with the increases.

“We reviewed it and most of the increases are contract related. We discussed it and basically accepted it and approved it the way it was,” said DeVasto. “We feel it was a pretty tight budget this year and they did a real good job of sharpening their pencils. Most of the increases were over and above anything we had control over.”

The district will also ask taxpayers to approve the first year of a five-year bond to purchase a new school bus. The 2007-08 cost will be $15,750.

“It’s just a standard warrant article, similar to what we’ve seen in the past in terms of bus replacement,” said Ford. “Five-year leases are what we’ve done in the past and there is an escape clause, which is required.”

Although the school board has yet to approve its warrant articles, the district will also ask voters to approve a new vocational agreement with the Concord School District for the next 20 years.

There is no specific dollar amount to be approved, but the agreement will cover 25 percent of tuition costs, and the state will pay the remaining 75 percent and transportation charges.
Currently, the district sends 35 vocational students to Concord.

Moreover, the board will ask residents to rescind a $240,000 bond, which was approved at the 2003 School District Meeting, to install a new heating system in the eighth-grade wing at Bow Memorial School.

The bid came in higher than expected, said Ford, so the district never sold the bond. Instead, the board allocated the costs in last year’s approved improvements to the middle school, including a new heating, ventilation and air conditioning system.

Ford said the district is placing all information on its Web site to ensure residents are well informed.
“The town report comes out after the School District Meeting, so we’re placing all information on the our school district meeting on the Internet,” said Ford. “We’re just trying to allow people to get familiar with that information, which will still be included in town report, but we’re trying to get that information out there now for townspeople to access before our meeting.”

An itemized proposed operating budget is posted on Bownet.org. More information will be forthcoming on warrant articles as they are approved by the school board.

The budget committee and school board will host a public hearing Friday, Feb. 9, at 7 p.m. in the music room at Bow Memorial School.