Proposed Gilford school budget up 1% – Deliberative session is Tuesday

GILFORD — After holding the line on spending last year, with the budget essentially the same as the year before, the Gilford School District is proposing an operating budget of $27,080,583 for the 2022-23 academic year, which represents an increase of $357,000, or 1%, from the 2021-22 budget of $26,723,313.

The district’s deliberative session, at which the budget and other warrant articles will be discussed, will take place at the high school on Tuesday, Feb. 8, at 7 p.m.

Superintendent Kirk Bietler said the budget committee accepted the school board’s budget as proposed, but that it was slightly less than the spending proposal he originally brought to the school board.

“There was some things that were reduced here and there by the budget committee or by the school board,” Bietler said. “We had proposed administratively $75,000 for The Meadows,” but the school board took that figure out of the budget and placed it on the warrant as a special article to allow residents to decide whether they wanted to proceed with the plan.

Bietler said the money would cover the next phase of work at the athletic fields, involving the creation of storage at the back side of the garages. “We need to do some work to get them in shape so that we could use them for storage for different sports activities.”

He added, “We’ve got some big things on the horizon with our capital improvement projects.” He estimated $550,000 would go toward building projects in the future. “There’s a lot of projects in there for our buildings and grounds crews, so we’re keeping up with our facilities, maintaining them,” he said.

The warrant includes an article seeking $200,000 for the School Buildings and Maintenance Capital Reserve Fund in anticipation of those projects. There also are articles to place $82,500 into the School Buildings Roof Maintenance Capital Reserve Fund and $10,000 into the School Buildings Technology Infrastructure Capital Reserve Fund.

Bietler said student enrollment in the district has remained relatively stable in recent years, and stands at 1,119. He anticipates that number to be 1,121 next year.

The superintendent said he and the school board had long conversations about restoring the position of director of grants and curriculum.

“That’s a position that was eliminated, I want to say, maybe three years ago,” Bietler said. “So now we’ve put it back in the budget.”

With some staff retirements on the horizon, the district is planning to reduce two positions: a math specialist would become a K-8 math specialist, and a position at the elementary school would be reduced, he said.

The school board also reduced the figure for out-of-district student placements.

“But overall, I feel very good about where we are with the budget right now,” Bietler said.

The district has received grants to allow it to expand its technology, and has continued on its schedule for the replacement of Chromebooks.

“We’re making sure we have the right technology in the classroom that students and teachers are prepared to use technology appropriately in the classroom or if we’re remote at all,” Bietler said.

Last year, during the pandemic, the district offered a remote option for students, but Bietler said it put a strain on the system.

“It was like having two elementary schools, two middle schools, two high schools, and we’re not offering the remote option this year for parents and students,” he said. “That’s I would say the major change or shift this year. I think we’re doing like everybody else: We’re moving through this COVID experience and trying to learn from different things and learn from other people and try to make it the best possible situation that it can be.”

If voters reject the budget as proposed, a default budget of $26,472,908 would be in place.

After anticipated revenues, the district projects the amount of money to be raised by local taxes to be $16,494,163. All things being equal, that would translate to a 49-cent increase in the tax rate.

“I hope people show up for the deliberative session on Tuesday evening,” Bietler said. “It’s a great opportunity for us to connect with the community and talk about our budget and answer questions that people may have, and try to inform people where we are with our budget — the needs and wants that we have within the school district.”