South Colonie Central School District residents voted Thursday, Oct. 23, to add seven school buses at the cost of $634,000 to their existing fleet, but they rejected the construction of a new press box at Colonie Central High School to replace the existing one which, according to state regulators, does not meet safety standards.
According to Director of Communications for the South Colonie Central School District John Noetzel, the votes were 893 in favor of the buses, 868 against; and 805 in favor of the press box, 929 against.
Board of Education President Tim Ryan said the votes at the Veeder Elementary School polling area, a section of the district that borders the Town of Niskayuna, were 3-to-1 against the press box.
I think that those residents were expressing their frustrations with their [school tax bills], said Ryan.
Several Niskayuna residents who live within the South Colonie Central School District boundaries were shocked this September when they received their school tax bills, which showed they owed several hundred dollars more than what they paid the previous year. This was the result mostly of the Town of Niskayuna conducting a full-assessment evaluation on all houses in the town, while the Town of Colonie’s assessment is only at 67 percent of full value.
Colonie town officials have said the town simply does not have the resources to conduct a townwide full-assessment evaluation at this time.
Also contributing to the higher-than-normal Niskayuna tax bills were several tax certiorari lawsuits that were won by businesses in the town, shifting the tax burden to residential property owners. Ryan said that, although there was nothing the school district could do for those homeowners, he could understand their frustrations.
The bus proposition, which did pass, calls for five 66-passenger school buses to be purchased at $103,500 per vehicle; one 24-passenger/two-wheelchair bus to be purchased at $107,500; and one seven-passenger Suburban transportation vehicle to be purchased at $34,000.
The district will receive an estimated $25,000 trade-in value on the buses that are currently owned by the district but will be taken out of service.
Officials said the district will be eligible to receive state aid that would be borrowed over a five-year period for up to 55 percent of the purchase, which would bring the district’s net cost down to $317,396. For homeowners in the South Colonie Central School District, the tax impact will be as follows (per $1,000 of assessed value): Colonie homestead, $0.025070; Niskayuna homestead, $0.016477; Guilderland homestead, $0.020321; Colonie non-homestead, $0.028384; Niskayuna non-homestead, $0.018934; and Guilderland non-homestead, $0.023780.
As for the rejection of the press box, district officials had originally managed to extend their ability to use the box until Nov. 22, after state officials informed the district that the press box was not up-to-date with fire regulations and standards. However, after that date, use of the press box will be strictly prohibited.
The new press box would have cost about $149,000.
According to Noetzel, the district had set aside funds that would pay for the press box during last year’s budget, however, he said, the construction of the new press box needed to come to a public vote due to state regulations about new construction.
Noetzel also said the district could have chosen to refurbish the current building, but from a cost-savings perspective, had decided to move forward with plans for a total reconstruction. Now that the vote has failed, Noetzel said the district will continue to pursue that, and other options.
`It’s not the end of the world,` said Ryan. `We’re disappointed. I think, in retrospect, there were probably a couple of things that could have been done differently.`
Ryan said the district could have made it more clear to the public that construction of the press box would have been an unfunded mandate by the state and that the state was shutting down, what he called, `a perfectly useable building.`
Ryan also said that perhaps the district should not have referred to the building as `press box,` but instead as a `multi-use athletic facility` seeing as it is used for many purposes, including being the electrical powerhouse for the scoreboard at Colonie Central High School athletic games.
The next election in the district will be for the 2009-2010 budget in May, according to Ryan. Ryan said he hopes by then everything will be settled in the minds of the Niskayuna residents, as well as the economy, so that voters’ will be able to feel confident about what voting on proposals that require some spending of money. Already, Ryan said, the Board of Education has been looking at each and every line of the upcoming proposed budget, making sure to save as much money as possible.
`It’s going to be a tough fight,` said Ryan. `We’re looking at holding the line on everything this year.“
