District might seek voters’ OK to beef up capital reserve fund

BOICEVILLE, N.Y. » The Onteora school district expects to seek voter approval to add $10 million over 10 years to a capital reserve fund for projects identified in a building conditions survey.

Assistant Superintendent Monica LaClair said during a videoconference meeting of the Board of Education on Tuesday that the district’s capital reserve account has shrunk from about $6.8 million to $636,219.

“That’s because we did the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) project ... [that] did not require us to ask the taxpayers for any additional monies,” LaClair said.

“That is one of the reasons we’re looking to do another capital reserve [addition],” she said. “As we’re doing the building conditions survey, we can start funding another reserve so we can look to pay for some of those facility needs out of that.”

If the Board of Education decides to put the capital reserve issue before voters, it would be on the ballot this coming May, along with the district’s 2021-22 budget proposal and school board candidates.

The current budget, as currently drafted, totals $59.3 million, which is about 2.5% larger than the 2020-21 spending plan, and calls for generating $45.6 million through property taxes, an increase of 1.78%.

The budget presumes $9.82 million in state aid to the district, which would be 5.8% more than was received for 2020-21.

The budget calls for using about $1.7 million in reserve funds for various capital improvements at the district’s four school buildings.