May 17, 2002 By Ted Boscia 3 min read

JEFFERSON – Property owners in the Jefferson-Morgan School District can expect the 89.6-mill tax rate to remain the same for next year after the board of directors adopted a tentative budget for the 2002-03 school year Thursday. The balanced proposal approved by the board allots $9,998,317 for expenditures and revenue and shows a $10,856 cost per student.

According to business manager Michael Conte, the millage rate has remained at 89.6 “since at least 1999” and no new taxes were incorporated into next year’s budget.

“We went through a number of budget meetings and met several times on this,” Conte said.

“Without cutting education, we have been able to hold that rate once again this year. We have very little discretion within the budget with what we can do because of certain contractual and legal mandates.”

Conte added that next year’s plan does not compromise any existing programs, but he did not believe any new educational programs were planned.

He said that new programs are difficult to institute because a large percentage of each year’s budget is devoted to recurring, fixed costs, such as salaries, pensions and insurance.

Under the tentative budget, the bulk of the money would be distributed to elementary, secondary and special education.

“I think education has been (Superintendent Charles) Rembold’s priority since he came to the district,” said board member Frank Burich.

In other business, the board announced a position for a speech and hearing teacher, after they voted in January to drop Intermediate Unit 1 as the district’s service provider.

Rembold said the district could not advertise for the position until it cleared several administrative and contractual hurdles with the IU.

He called the move a “huge savings to the district,” and through an in-house program, he said, it comes at almost no cost to the district.

“In addition to the savings, we’ll be able to save on administrative costs,” Rembold said.

He added that by filling the position independent of the Intermediate Unit, the district would be eligible to collect money from insurance companies for services rendered.

In another matter, directors chose to rehire NovaCare as the district’s provider of athletic training services for the next three school years, at a cost of $11,000 in 2002-2003, $12,000 in 2003-2004 and $13,000 in 2004-2005.

They also agreed to accept bids for the International Fireball class sailboat constructed by a group of students three years ago.

Rembold said the proceeds from the sale would be reinvested in the class.

“It’s a good thing for the district to do,” he said. “We can allocate the proceeds right back into the program.”

Before adjourning, the board conducted the following business:

– Agreed to a public sale of equipment, vehicles and obsolete materials. “We have a lot of old equipment that we believe people may be interested in through public sale,” Rembold said. He said that the measure also would rid the school grounds of many unwanted items.

– Accepted the 2002-2003 tentative budget for the Greene County Vocational-Technical School.