“Beware the Ides of March.”

March 15, 2002

“Beware the Ides of March.”

-- Spoken by the Soothsayer to Julius Caesar in Shakespeare’s play “Julius Caesar”

Greetings from Wayne Central School District. Below are some items of interest.

Letter to the Board:

Wayne Central School Taxes - I put together the information below to provide some insight about our tax situation.

In 1993, the assessment on the Ginna power plan was $531,544,881. Last year the assessment was $167,775,869. If the assessment had remained constant over these last eight years, we would be giving our taxpayers a hug tax decrease instead of increase. Such has been the tremendously negative effect of the Ginna agreement on our taxpayers. Our school has worked hard to contain costs, but how can you make up such a deficit?

The table below shows current tax rates per thousand on true value. Even with Ginna our taxpayers are getting a great deal.

School District	Rate per thousand	Tax bill for a $100,000 house	Tax bill with a 16.8% increase
Gananda	$23.39	$2,339
Marion	$22.31	$2,231
Newark	$20.69	$2,069
Sodus	$23.78	$2,378
Williamson	$21.04	$2,104
Webster	$18.99	$1,899
Bloomfield	$22.12	$2,212
Victor	$19.64	$1,964
Wayne	$18.06	$1,806	$2,109

As you can see even with the decline in assessment our taxes are the lowest around. As I said last year we can be the cheapest district or the best district but we can’t be both. Even if we were to increase our taxes by the full 16.8 and these other districts had no increase, our taxes would still be lower than 7 of 9 districts.

c) The enclosed article on the Greece School taxes gives further credence to our taxes being relatively low. The article notes that Greece’s current rate is $20.77/thousand and is expected to rise to $22.82.

2. Policy Governance - Four county is having a workshop on Tuesday April 2^nd regarding policy governance. I have heard great things about this from both Board members and superintendents. I’d like to suggest we attend this as a group. There is further information under the “events” section below.

3. Pouring Rights - I have completed negotiations with Pepsi and Coke. Pepsi was willing to provide us with $11,000 a year for pouring rights. Coke was willing to give us $23,000. I held an additional session with coke and they agreed to up the amount to $25,000 per year. That should just about pay for the local share of the all weather track. I will be presenting the entire proposal to you at our next meeting.

4. Neighboring Substitute Rates – Enclosed is the chart you requested regarding substitute rates for area school districts. Please note that Wayne bus driver rate is very comparable with the other districts.

5. Search - The sheriff’s (drug-sniffing) dogs were brought in twice this week. The initial sweep indicated no drugs on the premises. The high school decided that by bringing in the dogs a second time in a week, they may catch someone feeling “safe” from being searched again in the near future. There was one hit with the confiscation of drug paraphernalia in the possession of a high school student.

6. Events -
March 15-16 – Jr. Sr. High All County Instrumental Music Festival @ Pal-Mac
April 2 – Four County School Boards Meeting – Club 86 Geneva
“What Works” Policy Governance presented by Bloomfield CSD & Newark CSD
“High Schools that Work” presented by Wayne-Finger Lakes BOCES
5:30 social – 6:30 dinner – 7:30 program
Dinner selections: Strip Steak; Club 86 Chicken; or Cheese Ravioli w/Marinara
Please let Lori know if you are interested in attending
April 5, 6 & 7 – Middle School Musical Performances of Pirates of Penzance – HS Aud

7. Correspondence:
a. Greece Taxes Article
b. Substitute Rates Chart

Greece School taxes may jump 9.9%

Written by D& C staff writer Lauren Stanforth

[this is a retype of that article which appeared in the Friday, March 15, 2002 Democrat & Chronicle]

Greece – Residents in the Greece central school district could see a tax increase of almost 9.9 percent for the 2002-03 school year, mostly because of reduced state aid, according to Superintendent Steve Walts.
The biggest chunk of missing aid: $5.2 million in building funds that won’t come to the district for 18 more months.
“When you have to make up a $5 million shortfall, that’s a huge impact to taxpayers.” Walts said.
The change comes courtesy of a new state law that stretches out state aid payments on building debt over more years. But the law also requires that state aid be delayed for 18 months on new projects – in this case, Greece’s $119.5 million building project.
Greece is predicting an overall decrease in its state aid from 42 percent of budget last year to 39 percent this year. Other districts across the state are facing the same challenges with flattening or reduced state aid.
“I don’t remember a time in my history when the aid has been under 40 percent,” said Keith Imon, assistant superintendent for education technology and public information.”
Under Walts’ proposal, taxes wou8ld go from $20.77 to $22.82 per $1,000 assessed valuation. A homeowner with a $98,000 house with a basic STAR exemption would pay $139,40 more in taxes. The same homeowner with an enhanced STAR exemption would pay $98.40 more.
The proposed $154 million budget is a 3.5% increase from this year’s budget. Walts said most department officials had to put a cap on all spending. Last year’s spending went up 7.2 percent and cost residents a 3.8tax increase.
What doesn’t cap in Walts’ budget is salary and benefit costs - - costs set at the bargaining table when contracts are negotiated. Wages and benefits increase 5.5 percent in Walt’s budget, from $109.9 million in 2001-02 to $116 million next year.
The district has also increase transportation by about $1 million to purchase 26 buses.
The Board of Education is scheduled to vote on adopting Walts’ budget April 9. A public hearing will be held May 14; residents vote May 21.

2001-2002 Substitute Rates

District

Canandaigua

Gananda

Newark

Pal- Mac

Victor

Webster

Wayne

Position

Teacher

$67

$65/75/80

$66

$70

$83

$65/75/100

Nurse

$15

$15.38

$70

$76

$65

Teacher aide

$6.89

$6.15

$5.15

$8.00

$6.50-8.50

$5.85

Teaching Assistant

n/a

$6.00

n/a

$7.37-9.05

$5.85

Monitor

$5.15

$6.15

$5.15

$6.75

$6. - $8.

$5.50

Typist

$6.89

$8.09

$6.00

$9.50

$7. - $8.90

$5.85

Receptionist

$6.89

$6.15

$6.00

$9.50

$7. - $8.90

$5.85

Bus Driver

$10.00

$9.23

$9.59

$10.44

$10.00

Food Service Helper

$6.15

$5.15

$6.90

$5.60-7.50

$5.50

Tutor

n/a

$22.00

$13.50/hour

Gananda teacher rate increases after set # of days.

Newark sliding rate based on # of days and whether a retiree

Webster's ranges reflect education and experience