Referendum tax rate slightly higher than estimated for NA-FC Schools

At the board’s Monday meeting, deputy superintendent Brad Snyder told the board that the DLGF told them to raise the estimated rate of .1937 by a few hundredths.

“We submitted that to the DLGF as part of our due diligence routine,” Snyder said. “They came back and basically said they would prefer, and it’s really a mandate, that they want that rate stated at .2004, or 67 hundredths higher.”

In an email Tuesday, Snyder said the administration’s metric of the impact on a homeowner with a property assessed value at $135,000 — about $120 annually — the difference with the new rate requested by the DLGF would be “negligible” at about $4 more a year

He said the district’s reasoning with the .1937 rate was to anticipate some growth in the assessed valuation of properties across the county. The DLGF came back and told them to avoid assuming any growth in the values and keep them essentially flat, slightly raising the estimated rate.

But he said the final number won’t get determined until they get ready to pay back the bonds they’ll take out for the construction projects with the referendum in 2018. He said if assessed values climb higher than they anticipated, the rate will go farther down than their original estimate. If they take a big hit, however, it will go higher than the DLGF’s preferred number.

CLEANING ADDENDUM

The board voted in favor of part of an addendum to its custodial contract with Facilities Management Services Inc., but against another suggestion.

Snyder said after realizing a savings from the natural gas lines installed for Floyd Central High School, the administration began thinking about how to use that funding elsewhere. After talking with FMS, he said the school system thought creating retention incentives for custodial employees could benefit the schools.

He said administrators suggested giving employees a $700 bonus around November of every year to give them a boost to stay with the district. He said that’s about the time of year big companies in the area begin advertising pay rates of $12 or $13 an hour, which usually prompts some of those employees to leave.

Snyder also said leaders suggested adding staff members at Floyd Central and New Albany high schools. He said the elementary and middle schools have a high level of cleanliness, but administrators and FMS thought the high schools could be a little cleaner.

Board President Rebecca Gardenour said while she understands teachers enjoyed having the same custodians year after year, she’s not sure a bonus is something the district should pay.

“I think they miss that relationship with their custodians, because we’re never going to have it, that’s never going to come back again,” Gardenour said. “I’m not against continuing the outsourcing. If we need more people at the high schools, I understand that. I just have a real problem with giving money to a company for their employee retention. To me, that’s not our problem, that’s theirs.”

The board voted unanimously to add custodians at the high schools, but held a separate vote for the retention bonus. The vote came in 2-5, with D.J. Hines and George Gauntt voting in favor of the measure. Gardenour, Jessica Knable, Jan Anderson, Donna Corbett and LeeAnn Wiseheart voted against.

MORE MEETINGS?

The board further examined the possibility of moving to two meetings per month.

Jan Anderson, board member, said it’s difficult to change the schedule of board members for the rest of the meeting cycle, especially in the middle of a school year when they’ve already made obligations. She said in the past, board members have had the ability to add a meeting in any given month by consensus.

“I don’t think we’ve ever had a problem when a second meeting is suggested as to our having a problem looking at our calendars and saying we can on this day or we can’t do it this day, and then we mutually agree, and then we do it,” Anderson said.

Wiseheart said she had hoped to put a schedule out for a second meeting to make it easier on board members, and also give them the flexibility to cancel it if nothing is added to the agenda.

“The flexibility is still there to change the date if you will,” Wiseheart said. “The reason I brought this up is that we have a policy book that has not been updated, we have policies that are outdated. We have two main roles as school board members to build and create policies, and make sure what we have is good and updated, and review the budget.”

Superintendent Bruce Hibbard said board meetings aren’t the time to change the policy book. He said in the 28 years he’s worked in public education, boards have always created committees to review policy, who then present their findings and suggested changes to the board afterward.

Wiseheart brought up the subject of teacher evaluations as an example of something they might discuss at the extra meeting. They decided to add that to the discussion items for the following scheduled meeting March 9.

The board voted to keep one meeting a month, but grant themselves the flexibility to add a meeting if they need to further discuss a particular subject. The vote came in 6-1, with board member D.J. Hines opposing.

After the meeting, Hines said the board already had the ability to add a meeting, and had exercised that power in the last several years.

STAGING IT ALL

For the first and last time in years, the boardroom table was placed on stage risers for Monday’s meeting.

Gardenour said she had heard concerns from meeting attendees in the past about not being able to see the board members clearly, since they were seated at the same level as the audience.

Mark Boone, former board member, spoke during the public comments portion of the meeting against the risers, noting they have to pay staff to install and uninstall the risers before and after each meeting. He also said it presents a safety concern for those on the stage and the people they bring up to recognize.

Anderson said she had a concern about whether it was a good idea, especially if they were going to recognize someone bound to a wheelchair. The stage had no ramps or stairs for audience members to use.