OV budget voted down again

SOUTH OTSELIC – For the second year in a row, residents of the Otselic Valley School District voted down the school’s proposed budget, making OV again the only school in the county to have its budget defeated.

The proposed OV budget called for an increase from $7,819,634 in 2006/2007 to $8,178,842 for the 2007/2008 school year. Although the increase in spending was relatively small, at 4.59 percent, because of the small, rural nature of the district, the increase in spending would cause a tax levy jump of 5.77 percent. Voters turned down the budget Tuesday by a margin of only 33 votes, 170 to 137.



Last year, the results were similar, with voters turning down the budget by a margin of 31 votes, 134 to 103.

At a budget meeting held two weeks ago, Superintendent Larry Thomas explained that the board of education was responding to concerns expressed by voters the previous year, who claimed their biggest concern was keeping the tax levy increase to a minimum. Thomas explained that in an attempt to do so, the school had cut three teaching positions and two members of the support staff.

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Reader Response

3 comments on this story

vocalmom
May 16th, 2007 at 11:08 am
I think most taxpayers would support the budget if it were fair. Asking for increases in administrative salaries is disgraceful when there are cuts being made. This budget was voted down on principal, not dollars.
It is a shame that we are losing teachers because of a budget shortfall.Staff who were offered retirement packages should think about the students and accept what they were offered. And in the future, staff who are not doing their jobs should be dismissed before it's too late to do anything about it.
It's time that the school be run like a business. There is no other job that will accept poor employee performance without taking action.
Thistle
May 16th, 2007 at 10:50 am
An $8M+ budget to produce at most 30 diplomas a year from OVCS translates to $272,000 per diploma. At that rate, a business would cease to exist almost instantly.

The district is a good district, but is too small to be efficient in the current New York tax climate. The state can gorge itself on the tax payers accross the entire landscape of the state more easily than a local school district can accross its supporting community. It is time to begin a consoladation plan.

As another indicator, my generation is now retiring at a rate faster than what can be replinished in the workplace--escpecially in the engineering fields. A lot of the boomers are going on fixed income and do not want to be run off the land they worked a life-time for. There has to be some relief for, or compromise with those paying the taxes.

As a previous seven-year menber of the OVCS board, I realized all of the above nearly 20 years ago. Now the time has come. If you want the best for your children, then integrate them into a school system that has the economic horsepower to give them the ecducation they will need to compete in global economy.
timwendi
May 16th, 2007 at 9:26 am
If the administration didn't get so much of the money maybe there would be some left for the students and teachers. We will continue to vote no as long as the money continues to be sent foolishly.This is ridiculous !!!!!!
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