School district deliberative session quiet

Thursday, February 11, 2010

AMHERST – A brief debate over cost of living raises for non-union and support staff and a short discussion on the funding formula for the state retirement system were the high points of a quiet Amherst School District Deliberative Session last Thursday, Feb. 4.

The proposed fiscal year 2011 operating budget was the only article on the warrant, and the session went just over an hour.

None of the roughly 50 people in attendance proposed to amend the article.

The proposed $23.37 million budget is an increase of roughly $156,000, or 0.67 percent, over this year’s budget. It goes on the warrant for consideration by voters at the March 9 elections.

Voters will also elect candidates for open seats, which this year include two, three-year terms on the Amherst School Board and a one-year term for school district clerk.

Should the proposed budget pass, it would mean roughly a 10-cent increase to the school portion of residential property tax bills in Mont Vernon, and slightly less for those in Amherst.

It equates to a nearly $30 increase on the tax bill for a $300,000 home in Mont Vernon, and slightly less than that for a similarly assessed Amherst home.

If voters reject the budget, the district will operate on the $23.01 million default budget, which is roughly $364,000 less than the proposed budget.

Board members pointed to the significant leap in health care costs, which comes to around 23 percent more for medical and 6 percent for dental, as drivers of the proposed budget increase, and a state-mandated 15 percent increase in the district’s contribution to the state retirement system, which administers teachers’ retirement funds.

– Dean Shalhoup