HFCS Nears Final Budget With Tax Levy Increase At 2%

by Alex Brooks
The Hoosick Falls School District’s budget for next year is getting near its final form now that the State Budget has been passed. The District learned this week that it will get $133,000 more in State aid than had been expected before, bringing the total increase in State aid for operating expenses to just under $350,000, which is an increase of almost 4.5% over the current year.
[private]The amount from the fund balance to be applied to next year’s budget will still be larger than last year. It will probably be in the neighborhood of $465,000 higher, an increase of about 26%. The danger of using more from the fund balance is that if you go back to the original amount in the following year you have to reduce expenditures by the same amount.  But Business Manager Pam Hatfield said there are some one time costs in this budget that will not need to be in the following year’s budget. Some of the one time costs mentioned were curriculum work to transition to the new “Common Core” standards, implementing the teacher evaluation system and hiring an architect to plan an energy efficiency capital project.
Hatfield arrived at the March 29 Budget workshop with a larger figure in the budget for heating oil because forecasts of oil prices for next winter are trending higher. This led to a good deal of discussion about the difficulty of budgeting for oil heat and diesel fuel for the buses because the price of oil is so volatile. Hatfield said she is budgeting for 60,000 gallons of heating fuel at $4.50 per gallon. She hopes that is a safe and conservative number, but the combination of a cold winter and a spike in oil prices could overwhelm any budget. District Schools Superintendent Ken Facin said he thinks the only real solution is to look at a system that runs on some other fuel. He said he had spoken to NYSERDA about a geothermal system and learned that it can be a very cost effective solution. He said the Cobleskill School District has one already installed, and he will be visiting there next week to see how it is working for them.
Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds, Paul Baker, said propane gas is $1.75 per gallon right now, delivered, on State contract. A gallon of propane fuel has a little less heating value than a gallon of oil, but it’s still a much cheaper alternative, and the future cost of gas is expected to grow much less than that of oil. Facin said the District will look into that and any other alternatives. He mentioned a school that heats with wood chips, as one example.
Total spending in the latest budget for next year is slated to increase by about $1 million, which is about 5%. About $350,000 of that will be supplied by additional State aid money, about $175,000 by a 2% increase in the tax levy and the rest by an increase in the amount of fund balance applied.
Energy Efficiency Project
Facin talked about a project that the facilities committee is contemplating which is to do a capital project aimed at reducing the District’s energy expenses. Elements of the project might include more efficient lighting fixtures, a new heating system or a photovoltaic electrical generation system. The District would receive State aid for a significant portion of the project, and the idea would be to design the project so that the energy savings would pay for the District’s share of the capital cost.
The Board passed a resolution authorizing an RFP to hire an architect/engineer to help design the project.
Athletics
Brett Lamy outlined two new initiatives his department will be undertaking next year. One is to incorporate training from the Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) into the sports programs. PCA is a national organization dedicated to helping local coaches foster a positive, character building, youth sports experience. They encourage what they call “double goal” coaching – one of the goals being winning and the other being to give the kids a positive learning environment.
Lamy also said that the school sports program will be adding a new initiative next year dealing with concussions. All student athletes will get baseline testing at the beginning of the year, which helps doctors to evaluate the severity of concussions should they occur in sports events. All the coaches will be trained in concussion awareness so that they can spot a problem and have a doctor examine the athlete before he or she goes back into competition.
Superintendent Ken Facin added that this is an excellent program used by both Willliams College and RPI. He said the school doctor has the final say on whether a student athlete can play or not.
Technology
The high point of the Technology presentation by Mr. Breese was that the District will install 34 new Smart Boards, which brings the total number in the District to 85. There is a smart board in almost every classroom now.
Buses
The District plans to buy four new buses and a new maintenance truck in the upcoming year. Hatfield said that after trading in the District’s current 2001 maintenance truck on a new F-350, the purchase can be paid for with money from “stagnant accounts” that need to be closed out.  The four buses will be two 65 passenger buses, one 35 passenger bus and an 8 passenger Suburban with a plow that can be used for light plowing in addition to transporting students. The total cost of the four buses will be $291,500. This will be paid with a 5 year bond. The bond payments are met by 87% State aid and an existing bus reserve fund. There is no impact to the taxpayer from these purchases.
Other News
• The Business Office is switching to a new kind of software called WinCap. Business Manager Hatfield said it is slightly more expensive, but she feels it will save time and be more efficient.
• There is a routine audit of the school’s books in progress. It will be going on until the middle of April.
• Facin said he had received five calls from families outside the District who are interested in enrolling their kids as tuition-paying students.
• The Board approved renewal of the annual agreement between the District and the Hoosick Falls Soccer Club to allow the School’s soccer teams to use the Soccer Club’s fields. The District will pay $5,500 for the use of the fields this season. This is $500 higher than last year because the School teams will be starting a month and a half earlier than they did last year. Facin said, “It’s a great relationship and a great situation for us.”
No Pink Slime
Laurie Gormley asked how the School District is reacting to the controversy about the meat additive called “pink slime.” This is a product made from fatty bits left over from other cuts of meat, processed to remove some of the fat. A beef patty might contain 10% or so of this additive. The USDA, which supplies much of the school’s beef (at extremely discounted prices), will offer meat patties next year that do not contain the additive, known to the industry as “lean finely textured beef” and to critics as “pink slime.”
Both Facin and Hatfield said the District will choose meat patties without the additive when they are available next fall, but they are convinced that the patties being served now are perfectly safe.  The patties without the low-cost additive may cost a bit more.
It appears that the product may not last in any case. McDonald’s, many grocery chains and other large buyers of beef patties are refusing to buy burgers with “pink slime” in them. The main producer of the product has closed three of its four processing plants where the additive was made.[/private]