Stephentown Notifies BCSD Of Interest In Elementary School Property

by Thaddeus Flint
“We are really interested, definitely,” said Stephentown Town Supervisor Larry Eckhardt to the Berlin School Board at Tuesday’s School Board meeting.
[private]Eckhardt had come to the meeting to say that Stephentown would like to one day own the empty Stephentown Elementary School and its grounds – well, more the grounds. “Stephentown is in an enviable spot,” explained Eckhardt, “We don’t need another building” – especially a building so large and so in need of repairs. “The building becomes this big mill stone around our necks and probably the School Board’s neck as well,” pointed out Eckhardt. “I’m not sure the Town can afford it even if you can give it to us for free.”
Instead, the Town would like to concentrate on spending its money on making the grounds into a Town park. The playing fields could be improved. “We used to have an over-thirties soccer club,” said Eckhardt, “but I think they are all over forty now and have given up.” Well, the youth commission could still use them. Some jogging trails might also be put in. “Jogging on Route 22 isn’t a lot of fun,” said Eckhardt. Nothing is set in concrete, but Eckhardt wanted to let the Board know that “this is an opportunity that residents [of Stephentown] don’t want to see lost.”
Too Late?
Residents might have been a little bit more enthusiastic in their school when it was about to be closed, mused Board Member John Nash. “What concerns me is the enthusiasm now that was missing four years ago,” said Nash.
Now might be too late. With the District possibly plunging into a budget abyss, every penny is probably going to be needed. How much was Stephentown planning to pay for the property? “We are asking you for low or no-cost opportunities,” said Eckhardt, who seemed to be leaning more toward the no-cost option and some community service hours.
“Giving away these buildings doesn’t make sense,” said Nash, “I advocate placing these buildings on the market.”
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Stephen Young said he had been contacting some property appraisal firms to get an idea of how much it would cost to find out how much the buildings are worth. A mid-level type appraisal would run around $1,500 per building. “Before we can move on we need to know fair market value,” said Young, “The tax record value is out of line with reality.”
The Board voted unanimously to authorize spending up to $3,200 on appraisals, although Board President Gina Goodermote and Board Member Bev Stewart were not present.
As far as Stephentown’s wish to open a park, Nash was unable to see how the District as a whole will benefit from what Stephentown would be getting. “I’m hearing a lot from other people in other towns saying what about us,” said Nash.
The pointlessness of a resident of Grafton wanting to jog in a park thirty minutes away in Stephentown seemed to underscore what many residents see as a basic problem with the District itself – it’s geographically too big. Nash said people come to look at homes in Grafton. They find out their kids will have to sit on a bus for half an hour to get to kindergarten. They get back in the car and go to look for homes somewhere else. Eckhardt said the School Board might want to work at redrawing District lines then. “These are districts put together from when everybody drove around in a horse and buggy,” he said.
As far as Stephentown Elementary is concerned, the park there would be open to all area residents, not just residents of Stephentown. Even if the Town could not afford to use the building immediately, “We aren’t going to turn around next week and sell it off,” said Eckhardt. In fact, keeping the property off the market and out of private hands was what Stephentown would like to achieve first. “Losing it at this point might be a loss forever that we can’t recover from,” said Eckhardt.
Increased Tax Levy Looming
While the School Board thought about that, the District’s Business Manager, William Burke, outlined how the 2012-2013 budget was developing. Burke seems to be leaning toward an increase in the tax levy for next year. The State has capped tax increases at 2%. An eight step formula has been sent to school districts so they can figure out how much their 2% really is. Berlin’s 2% is 3.009%. “This is not to say that the Board is increasing taxes by three percent,” noted Burke. The Board could increase the levy by 2% and have the extra 1% roll over to next year. Or they could increase the levy to anything they wanted to as long as 60% of voters approve it come May. If residents vote down a budget the Board can either try to agree on a new one or go to a contingency budget which would have a 0% tax increase. If that happens there would likely be some very difficult decisions to be made since last month Burke was projecting a $600,000 deficit if all things remained the same.
Burke explained to the Board that his work on the Budget so far has resulted in an expected increase in spending for Operations and Materials of $142,000. This is mostly in some renovations and for some new cleaning equipment. Non-instructional salaries would go up around $9,000. The budget for Transportation would likely fall by about $51,000. Burke does not feel that gas prices will significantly increase even though almost everyone else seems to think they will. “We heard the same thing last year,” said Burke, although he allowed that “gas is a true guess.” With Board approval two new buses would be purchased for around $107,000 total, though these would be 65% State aidable. Even with the new vehicles, the District’s fleet would be decreasing as three older buses would be retired. According to Burke, the District could see some revenue from the old bus sales as there is an active market in online sales for used school buses. The District’s Business Office budget is also projected to decrease by almost $40,000, with close to $16,000 of savings coming from a hoped for decrease in lawsuits. “To be honest though,” said Burke, “legal is a tough number to project.” [/private]