Southeastern Greene holds tax line
MAPLETOWN – Property owners in the Southeastern Greene School District should anticipate the same tax bill next year as the one they received this year, after the school board approved a tentative 2002-03 budget Wednesday that holds the 91-mill tax rate. The measure passed 7-1, with board member Leonard Novak voting against the plan.
Board member Gary Moser noted that the millage has remained the same for “at least five years,” and he credited business manager Leonard Corazzi for his “prudent spending.”
“Part of the reason we won’t have to raise it is due to our sizable fund balance,” Moser said. “Last year, we had the largest fund balance in the history of the school district. We have a real watchdog (Corazzi) upstairs.”
The proposed spending plan amounts to just under $9.5 million, which is about a $500,000 increase from last year’s budget.
“It is an increase,” superintendent James F. Burns said.
“All budgets tend to go up every year,” he added.
Moser indicated that the tentative budget will not reduce any existing programs and the focus is once again on education.
Directors would not disclose further information about the budget because Corazzi, who maintains the budget, was sick and unable to attend Wednesday’s meeting.
In other business, the board commissioned Hayes Design, Inc., to conduct a feasibility study of district buildings and grounds, at a cost not to exceed $16,880.
One of the objectives of the study will be accessibility to school grounds for disabled students and visitors, board member Denny McIntire said.
“They’ll study the feasibility of existing buildings and see what they need for improvement,” McIntire said.
“Construction (of a new building) might be a possibility, if they find it is not feasible to renovate existing buildings.”
McIntire noted that the group was not directed to examine the plausibility of constructing new facilities, however.
In February, Brenda Hall, a woman with two children in the school district, threatened the board with a lawsuit if they did not correct problems with accessibility for handicapped students.
Burns indicated at that time that Hayes Design had already begun a feasibility study for the district last fall.
However, McIntire said Wednesday that the board’s most recent action combines those two studies.
“This is a feasibility that covers the Americans with Disabilities Act,” McIntire said, in response to Hall’s concern.
“Instead of paying money for two separate studies, we decided to incorporate them into one.”
In personnel matters, the board approved the hiring of Dwight DeCarlo as an instructor for the 2002 summer driver education program, which was reinstated in 2001 after a long absence from the school district.
Additionally, directors accepted the resignation of Brenda Spruill, a business office secretary, and hired William Zawislan as a special education teacher, effective with his release from his current position with the Intermediate Unit 1.
Two months ago, Zawislan resigned from his position as a special education instructor at Mapletown High School.
Zawislan will teach elementary students, allowing another special education instructor to transfer to the high school level.
The decision to rehire Zawislan passed 7-1, with board member Terry Ganocy voting against it.