OSWEGO – The Oswego City School District 2021-22 Operational Budget dominated discussions during the regular Board of Education meeting, Tuesday, April 20 and during a Special BOE meeting on Wednesday, April 21.
During Tuesday’s meeting, the board answered and discussed questions from the public concerning various items included in the budget, while dissecting certain portions of the proposed fiscal estimates in order to unearth any unnecessary items.
Two items occupying major discussions was the addition of one full-time electrician and two Security Resource Officers: one at the High School and one at the Middle School.
OCSD Director of Facilities Dave Crisafulli spoke during the meeting, discussing some of the positive aspects in hiring a Certified Electrician.
Crisafull said some of the biggest problems that occur have to do with the elevators, shifts, and general maintenance, saying he worries about safety and the expenses that come with hiring outside contractors.
“There is a backlog of stuff happening because of the absence of this position. [My recommendation] is to get an electrician. I believe it saves money,” Crisafulli said.
Crisafulli said the district is behind on 185 preventative maintenance work orders at this time – saying each one averages about an hour or more apiece, with the cost of outside contractors doing the work totaling out at $18,000.
“I think it will save us money to have our own person, to be able to fix stuff on time – that would be my recommendation,” Crisafulli said.
Board member Pam Dowd added to the conversation, voicing her concerns about the addition of another employee at this time.
“I’m just a little nervous about adding a new position right now into our budget. It’s not just a position, it’s a salary and its benefits for 20 years going forward in the budget,” Dowd said. “Lets sit on the electrician position – lets not fill it yet; let’s see what happens with contracts [and] let’s see what comes through next year and see if we can’t go into the work with a RFP for one year.”
Dowd said she did not dispute the need of having an electrician on board, but felt uncomfortable adding a $67,000 salary with benefits to this upcoming year’s budget.
The discussion was tabled until the Executive Session, where the board could further discuss private aspects about the issue, thus making a final decision.
Another topic that drew intense discussion was the addition of two Security Resource Officers (SRO); one at the High School and the other placed at the Middle School.
Board member Dr. Lisa Glidden expressed concerns about having SROs in the two schools, alluding to two recent incidents: one involving Daunte Wright, a man fatally shot by a police officer during a traffic stop.
The other incident involved a student at Austin-East Magnet High School in Knoxville, Tennessee, where the student brought a gun into school, firing at officers and wounding the school SRO. The student died when officers returned fire.
“So, I think it was kind of put forward at the last meeting that having an SRO meant you wouldn’t have the shooting in the building. That was based on what happened at the Parkland shooting, and that was on a campus,” Glidden said.
Glidden pointed out an SRO was on campus the day of the Parkland shooting, and the shooter would have known about the SRO’s presence when planning the assault.
“Just from some evidence,” Glidden said. “In addition to my concerns with having armed police, effectively Sheriff’s, in our schools.”
Other members of the board added their thoughts. Board member Lynda Sereno mentioned the safety an SRO brought to her when dealing with angry parents as a building administrator.
“Personally as an administrator, I might have an irate parent that comes into the building that I’ve dealt with before, that is threatening me,” Sereno said. “All I had to do was radio over to the SRO officer at the high school. His presence in my office de-escalated anything that could have happened in that conversation.”
All items on the Tuesday, April 20, BOE agenda were unanimously approved, with exception to the addition of the two SRO personnel. The SRO measure was approved by a margin of 6-1, with Glidden voting no.
To view the meeting agenda, please click here. To view the BOE meeting video, please click here.
During Wednesday evening’s, April 21 Special BOE meeting, the board further discussed different budget measures, narrowing in specifically on the tax rate. The district applied state aid to balance both the budget and to keep taxes low.
Items removed from the budget draft include the following:
- Custodial line – $19,988
- Tax Anticipation Note interest (TAN) – $150,000
- Records help – $10,000
- Election expenses – $2,000
- Unemployment – $250,000
- Early State Retirement reduction (ERS) – $250,000
The original proposed budget amount was $91,841,799, the revised budget now coming in at $91,159,811 with the following items removed.
Elimination of the following items lowered the budget by a margin of 2.9%. The numbers for the 2021-22 year are as follows:
Administrative: $8,490,321, an increase of $208,998 (2.5%).
Capital: $12,038,728, an increase of $27,780 (0.2%).
Program: $70,630,762, an increase of $2,417,578 (3.5%).
Total: $91,159,811, an increase of $2,654,356 (2.9%) from the 2020-21 budget.
The board unanimously passed the 2021-2022 proposed budget. A public hearing and board member elections will take place during the next BOE meeting on May 5 at 5 p.m. The final budget vote and board elections are scheduled for Tuesday, May 18 from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
To view the special BOE meeting video, please click here. To view the special meeting agenda, please click here. All BOE meetings are held the second and fourth Tuesday of every month, the next to be held on May 4, 2021 at 5 p.m.
Discover more from Oswego County Today
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.