Schoharie Central School District residents voted on Oct. 2 to approve propositions to allow the district to establish reserve funds for purchasing school buses and making repairs to district buildings and related equipment.
The district is now allowed to set aside money drawn from its general fund and/or budgetary appropriations, after meeting annual obligations, for each of the dedicated reserve funds. Interest will continue to be earned on reserve monies, and state aid will not be affected.
Proposition 1: Establishment of a Capital Reserve Fund for School Bus Purchases, which was approved by a vote of 104 to 56, authorizes the district to create a reserve for a term of 10 years of up to $1 million to cover the direct (cash) purchase of school bus vehicles. Monies can be transferred from the general fund to the reserve fund, where they can accrue interest until used. Providing the district with the option to use cash for school bus purchases in place of, or in addition to, borrowing will reduce the amount of bus purchases to be financed and the associated debt service costs.
Proposition 2: Funding of Repair Reserve Fund, which was approved by a vote of 104 to 57, allows the district to appropriate $200,000 from the general fund and/or budgetary appropriations for a reserve fund to pay for building repairs, improvements or related equipment that occur beyond annual or regularly scheduled repairs. The repair reserve fund will be separate from the capital project reserve fund approved by district voters in May 2018.
“District residents are asked to vote each May on a proposed school budget and various propositions as part of the democratic process that gives them a say in how their taxpayer dollars are spent,” said Schoharie Central School District Business Administrator Sarah L. Blood. “Rather than wait until next May, we held the vote in October on the propositions for the school bus purchase reserve and building repair reserve so that those funds could be established before then, allowing us to make best use of available money.”