Minutes April 8, 2015

Date:

April 8, 2015

Time:

7:30 p.m.

Place:

Ed. Center

Present:

Board of Education
Karen Visser, President
Alyson Gardner, Vice President
Victoria Tipp
Warren Messner
Jeffrey Mester

Staff Members
Present:

Dr. Lyn McKay, Superintendent

Mr. Eric Byrne, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction

Mr. John Chow, Assistant Superintendent for Business

Mr. Andrew Selesnick, Assistant Superintendent for Leadership Dev. & HR

Theresa Markley, District Clerk / Adm. Asst. to Superintendent

Visitors Present:

Representatives of the Chappaqua PTA, school PTAs, building administrators, faculty, and other interested citizens.

President Visser called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. Warren Messner moved to enter into Executive Session to discuss negotiations. Alyson Gardner seconded. The motion passed unanimously. At 7:40 p.m. Warren Messner moved to adjourn Executive Session and reconvene public meeting.

Pledge of Allegiance - led by Vice President Alyson Gardner

President Visser welcomed our guests from Putnam/Northern Westchester BOCES:

Assistant Superintendent for Administration John McCarthy, Student of Distinction Kevin O'Brien, and Kevin's teacher, Deb Ashley

John McCarthy noted that approximately twelve of these awards are given out each year from the student population of 1200. He introduced Deb Ashley who provided some background on Kevin such as his amazing knowledge in environmental science and his internship at the Greenburgh Environmental Center. Kevin sees problems and jumps into solve them. He cares about making this world sustainable and healthy and towards that end, has been able to complete some college credits as part of the Vision Program. Kevin spoke to his goals and the value of the internship program. President Visser thanked them for coming and thanked his parents.

Jeffrey Mester, a member of the BOCES Board explained that he usually deals with administrative issues and he thanked Kevin for sharing is student accomplishments. He also mentioned that he had attended the Service Award Dinner to promote the many services that PNWBOCES provides and noted the gift that was produced by a student, a small plaque with a wheel, "Service and Innovation through Partnership - We can do that."

President Visser asked Assistant Superintendent for Business John Chow to continue with his presentation.

Presentation:

Revenue / Tax Rates / Contingency

John began with the superintendent's proposed budget of $117,901,688 for an increase of .89%. He reviewed the proposed revenue sources and general fund revenues. People are buying more and the sales taxes have increased. The district finalized a contract with the Town that will save us money on building and grounds usage of facilities. John explained the large categories of revenues with a comparison over last year. Because we are getting less building aid, we are actually allowed a larger tax cap of 2.3%. The district uses two equalization rates: Town of New Castle is a minus -1.67% and Town of Mt. Pleasant is .62%. Total estimated tax assessment for the Town of New Castle is .003 and Town of Mt. Pleasant is 1.22%. He pointed out that the district has no control over tax rates, only control on budget and tax levy. He also noted that this is the first year the Veterans Tax Exemption went into effect. John also explained how the Contingency budget is reached and will go over the Budget Notice next week after the budget is adopted. He also explained the proposition for renovating the Horace Greeley cafeteria and purchasing new equipment using cafeteria lunch funds that will not increase or have any effect on budget, but voter approval is needed to authorize construction of any project over $100,000. He also explained that the cafeteria lunch funds cannot be used for anything else but the cafeteria.

The board thanked the administrators for keeping the program and moving forward with innovative programs.

1.

Information Business Affairs

2.

Organization

Questions and Comments

3.

Approvals

4.

Recommended Action: Personnel

5.

Recommended Action: Other

6.

Facilities

President Visser announced that there will be a Facility Meeting on Friday, April 9, at 7:00 a.m.

7.

Financials

8.

Communications

9.

Notice of Future Meetings -

10.

Adjournment

At 8:57 p.m. Jeffrey Mester moved to adjourn the meeting. Alyson Gardner seconded. The motion passed unanimously.