Mr. Michael Vanyo
Superintendent of Schools


Contacts

From My Desk

This newsletter includes specific information about the proposed 2008-09 school district budget and documents required by state law. If you have additional questions about the budget, please feel free to contact our Interim Assistant Superintendent for Business, Mr. Edward Rhine at 292-6171 or me at 292-6990.

The Board of Education adopted the 2008-09 budget on April 15, 2008 at a regular Board of Education meeting. The public vote on the budget will be held on Tuesday, May 20, 2008 in the High School Gymnasium from 1 p.m. until 9 p.m.

We have been working hard in recent years to provide sound educational budgets, while focusing on fiscal responsibility. The 2008-09 budget is $36,654,645 and this represents a 3.43% increase in spending over the 2007-08 budget. This equates to a 1% increase in the tax levy. Contractual obligations, increased fuel expenses for heating and transportation, an increase in ERS and TRS retirement costs, and increased premiums for health insurance are major contributors to the increase in the proposed budget. We have been able to stabilize tax rate increases in recent years due in large part to the long-term financial plan that we implemented. Your support of our academic programs and budgets in recent years has allowed us to improve our facilities and provide much needed academic support for our students.

Building Project Update

The building project is moving forward and we are expecting to start construction during the summer of 2009. The construction documents must be approved by the State Education Department before any bidding or construction can begin. At this time, the estimated approval time by SED is 25 weeks. According to the SED website, they currently have 80% more projects to review this year compared to last year and they have 1,000 submittals waiting for approval at this time. We are still optimistic that we will be able to send out bids next spring in preparation for summer 2009 construction. We will keep you informed on the progress of the project on our website (www.libertyk12.org).

Last December, the district sent out a Request for Proposal (RFP) for Construction Management firms to work on our project. We received eight proposals in January from some excellent firms and selected three finalists to meet with the Board of Education. The Greenwood Corporation from Cortland, NY was selected to serve as our Construction Management firm during the project. The role of the construction management firm is to work on cost estimation throughout the project and to represent the district on-site during construction. They will also be dealing with contractors to make sure the project stays within our approved budget and is completed on-time.

The architects from Ashley McGraw have been working on the details of the design plans for both the elementary and high school projects. They meet monthly with our Capital Project team and faculty members to get input on the project.