HFCS Sets Tax Rates

by Alex Brooks
The Hoosick Falls School Board approved an overall tax warrant of $9,153,005, and set tax rates for the upcoming school year at its meeting on August 8.  [private]Grafton is $217.58 per thousand, an increase of 2.02%, Hoosick is $67.93 per thousand, an increase of 1.99%, Petersburgh is $31.72 per thousand, an increase of 3.03%, Pittstown is $27.78 per thousand, an increase of 1.51% and White Creek is $28.87 per thousand, an increase of 2.3%.
Moving Money
The Board approved closing one tax certiorari reserve and reducing another, which brought a total of $130,900 back into the General Fund, but they also established a new tax certiorari reserve of $242,000 in response to the Furon Company’s Notice of Petition, so there was a net outflow from the General Fund to tax certiorari reserves of $111,100.
The Board approved a reduction in the TPA Reserve of $107,500, and a reduction in the Teacher Retirement Incentive Reserve of 98,500, which brought a total of $206,000 back into the General Fund. TPA stands for Terminal Pay Allowance, which is cash given to teachers upon retirement for unused sick time. Business Manager Pam Hatfield said the District calculates every year what its liability could be for such payments triggered by retirements, to determine how much they need to keep in the reserve funds.
The Board approved funding the existing Capital Fund with an additional $140,000 from the unreserved fund balance in preparation for a Capital Project planned for next year.
Capital Project
School Superintendent Ken Facin presented the Board with a detailed scope of work for the proposed Capital Project, involving extensive renovation of classrooms, bathrooms, locker rooms, mechanical systems, lighting, technology networks and the Bus Garage. The documents were prepared by Clark Patterson Lee, the District’s architects for the project.
The entire thing came to about $21 million, but Board President Greg Laurin said he thinks the District should be shooting for a Capital Project in the neighborhood of $10 million, so a process of prioritizing is beginning.
A preliminary schedule presented with the scope of work envisioned firming up the scope of work this fall, holding a public referendum in January, doing detailed design work through next spring and having the State Education Department review it during the fall of 2014 so it can be put out to bid in February of 2015 and contracts awarded in March of 2015.
Number 1 In Class C
Facin said that on August 4 The New York State Sportswriters Association awarded the Kerr Cup for Class C schools for overall excellence in all sports to Hoosick Falls. Facin said he thought there are about 300 schools in Class C, so being number 1 is a remarkable accomplishment.
Facin was also pleased to say that the District’s Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment, Pat Dailey, has entered the Doctoral Program at Sage.
New Piano
Facin said the piano in the auditorium is in desperate need of replacement, and he said there has been some savings in the area of testing which could potentially offset the cost of a new piano. He asked the Board if he could have the music department seek prices for a new piano to be presented for their approval later, and they agreed to move forward with research on a piano purchase.[/private]