By CRAIG FREILICH

COLTON – The Colton-Pierrepont Central School Board of Education has scheduled a hearing for May 10 at 5:30 p.m. on the school’s 2017-18 $10,610,000 spending plan.

There is also a proposal that will be on the ballot to appoint a student as a non-voting member of the school board.

The budget presentation is to take place in the cafeteria at the school, 4921 State Rt. 56. Voting on the plan is to take place May 16 from noon to 8 p.m. in the school auditorium lobby.

The spending plan total is the same as in the 2016-17 budget. The district will be raising $7,365,000 from district property taxes, up $55,000 or 0.75 percent.

Some Costs Lower

Some expenditures are lower in this plan than in the current budget, according to Superintendent Joseph Kardash.

The costs for contributions to the teacher retirement fund are down $30,000 or 7.41 percent, from $405,000 in the 2016-17 budget to $375,000 in the 2017-18 plan,

Kardash notes that is due to the improved condition of the state retirement fund for teachers with gains in the financial markets the fund invests in.

The budget cuts $67,000 or 4.92 percent from programs for the disabled, and $2,000 or 13.33 percent from the "Teaching - Special School" budget line.

The needs for those programs "will fluctuate every year" depending on the number of students in those categories enrolled in a given year and their requirements. This year, Kardash said, those requirements are reduced.

Estimated energy costs will also be down, due to better electricity usage control and lower fuel oil prices.

The relative stability of budget conditions did not allow for replacement of any of the staff that had been laid off in recent years. Holding the line on expenses did not allow for that, Kardash said.

Student Member of Board

A proposition on the ballot aims at creating a non-voting seat on the Board of Education.

We're trying to get a student to become an observing member, part of the discussion but not part of voting."

opportunity

"Why shouldn't we be educating while governing?"

The principal will chose that student from among juniors and senior in student government or a member of the National Honor Society.

Capital Reserve Fund

Another proposition would establish a capital reserve fund to be built up over 10 years from surpluses and any other funds that can be applied to it.

“We’re trying to be conservative in the long term. We don’t want to stretch ourselves too thin and find out we won't be funded by the state.”

Kardash says the board is also looking forward and trying to eliminate the need for bonds and loans. Many school districts and municipalities employ short-term loans to carry them through periods of cash-flow deficiencies.

Then only seat on the seven-member board up for election is that of Scott Baxter, president of the board. No opposing candidate has as yet come forward.