By Michelle Kim
GOFFSTOWN – Residents can expect a school operating budget of $34.8 million and only a few other articles to be on the table for this year’s upcoming Feb. 4 deliberative session of the school district meeting.
The 2008-09 proposed operating budget of $34,822,651 represents a 1.2 percent increase over the 2007-08 operating budget and is less than 1 percent over the default level. The Budget Committee cut about $50,000 from the School Board’s original proposal.
“It’s a bare bones budget. We did everything we could do to level fund from last year,” said School Board Chairman Keith Allard.
SAU 19 Superintendent Darrell Lockwood described it as one of the lowest budget increases he’s seen in 10 years.
“The School Board and Budget Committee worked hard,” he said. “They recognize the economy is struggling. They recognize people’s real estate tax is the largest tax they have.”
At the same time, said Lockwood, the board tried to be fair and build a budget that covered the district’s needs.
If approved, the operating budget would increase the local school portion of the property tax rate by $1.10 per $1,000 assessed property value, or 7.52 percent. The default budget would increase the local school tax rate by 90 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value, or 6.15 percent.
Allard said the majority of the increases in the budget were contractual obligations or costs that were beyond the district’s control, such as utilities and fuel prices.
Some of the increase includes hiring additional paraprofessionals for special education and a new guidance director, a position required by state standards once a district reaches a certain size, according to Lockwood.
The operating budget and articles were presented by the Budget Committee at a Jan. 10 public hearing, attended mostly by committee members, administrators and a couple members of the public.
During the hearing, Lockwood mentioned the uncertaintes in the level of adequacy funding Goffstown might receive next year, which could greatly affect tax rates.
A meeting for the public with state representatives and lawmakers, has been tentatively scheduled for Feb. 18 according to Allard, and may shed some light on the direction of legislation affecting education.
Besides the articles for the operating budget and the election of School Board positions, voters can expect two articles on renovations to the Bartlett Elementary School. The first article would appropriate a total of $816,000 for phase I of the renovations, with $600,000 taken from the Capital Reserve Fund created for the renovations and $216,000 from school impact fees.
The phase I renovations include adding a teacher workroom, redesigning and relocating the adminstrative office, refurbishing the heating and ventilation system, updates for Americans with Disabilities Act compliance, upgrading the emergency electrical systems, and expanding the technology infrastructure.
The second article would deposit $300,000 into the Capital Reserve Fund for phase II of the project, slated for the 2012-13 school year, according to Ray Labore, SAU 19 business administrator.