By Darrell Halen
A $53.5 million operating budget, money to plan for a high school renovation
and a new contract with teachers and other professionals are among the Salem
School District warrant articles voters will see this year.
The district’s deliberative session will start at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb.
7, at Salem High School. There, voters can discuss and debate these spending
measures. Voters will decide the fate of each warrant article when they go to
the polls on Tuesday, March 11.
One topic that could generate debate is whether voters should approve spending
$1,511,000 for architectural and engineering plans to renovate Salem High School.
The renovation project has an estimated price tag of $41 million, and the preliminary
work would provide a better defined price.
The school board is asking voters to authorize spending the money for the architectural
and engineering plans, and would use impact fees to cover $250,000 of the cost.
The Budget Committee, however, is not recommending the article.
Advocates of the proposed renovation say the project is needed to improve and
expand the 42-year-old school, which suffers from numerous deficiencies and has
been pushed to capacity.
Some Budget Committee members, however, said they would prefer to address the
issue after Windham students leave the school.
Also on the warrant is an article to put $600,000 into a reserve fund to pay
for renovations to the high school. The money is a penalty that Windham is paying
to keep its students at the school an extra year, after Windham delayed the opening
of its own high school.
The $600,000 article, which the budget committee is not recommending, will be
null and void if the $1.5 million for architectural and engineering plans is
approved.
The proposed operating budget for 2008-09 is $53,539,584, of which $29,707,595
goes to salaries.
The budget also includes $9,412,708 for employee benefits; $2,342,468 for supplies
and materials; $421,730 for equipment, furniture and fixtures; and $7,354,795
for various purchased services, such as pupil transportation, equipment repairs
and printing.
The warrant also includes a $100,000 deficit appropriation for the school district’s
current budget, representing the cost of special education tuition for out-of-district
placements, and a $198,197 article to address deficiencies identified in a 2005
facilities audit, which includes replacement of fire panels, roofing, windows,
HVAC units and paving.
Five other warrant articles each provide increases in pay and benefits in accordance
with collective bargaining agreements between the School Board and worker unions:
$31,830 to secretaries; $29,120 to food service workers; $83,601 to aides; $47,233
to custodians; and step increases totaling $404,284 and increases in salary and
benefits totaling $730,897 to members of the Salem Education Association, which
includes teachers, nurses and student services specialists.