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KINGSTON – Wyoming Valley West School Board on Wednesday night approved a tentative budget for 2011-12.
The $63.3 million spending plan is strictly preliminary, Business Manager Joseph Rodriguez said. The board must adopt a budget by June 30.
The board had to approve a preliminary budget this week by law because it intends to increase taxes above a 2 percent limit imposed by the state under Act 1. The district’s final tax proposals are rarely as high as their preliminary ones, but Rodriguez warned early that preliminary estimates called for an increase two to three times above the limit.
The district can exceed the limit only if it applies for and receives exceptions from the state.
In other business, board President Joseph Mazur confirmed the State Street Project would begin “as soon as the frost line thaws.”
The $28 million project calls for more than doubling capacity at State Street Elementary school, to about 1,200 students, and closing Main Street Elementary in Plymouth and Pringle Elementary in Kingston, both built in the 1920s. State Street Elementary was constructed in 1978.
Roughly half the project is being funded with a 20-year loan that is almost interest-free through the federal stimulus law, according to Mazur. The district will issue a bond to cover the remainder of the cost.
The board approved the appointment of Stevens and Lee as bond counsel for the project, at a fee not to exceed $5,500, to be paid from bond proceeds
The board also approved using Access funds – part of the state’s Medical Assistance insurance program – totaling $14,440 to purchase AIMSweb, a computerized system for managing and monitoring progress of Individual Education Plans, which are mandated for all special education students.
What’s next
The district must adopt a 2011-2012 budget by June 30.