Valley Looks At Possible 2009 Budget Numbers

July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.


AKRON - With 2008 nearly half over, the Tippecanoe Valley School Board began looking at the 2009 budget Monday night.

The school board looked specifically at the Capital Projects Fund and Bus Replacement Plan Monday. The CPF includes infrastructure and equipment needs and utility services.

Superintendent Dr. Daniel Kramer told the board, "This is just a draft at this time."[[In-content Ad]]Brad Hagg, Valley's technology director, talked to the school board about the technology items in the CPF.

"Over the last 10 years we have done technology, things have gone well," Hagg said. During those years, he said, he came to the conclusion that the core mission of the technology department is to make a difference for the kids and make the teachers' and administrators' jobs easier so they can be more productive in what they do.

"Our job here is to serve everyone else, and that is the heart of why we're here," Hagg said.

With the technology, each school is on a four-year replacement cycle. The middle school is done by itself one year, with the high school done in another year because they are bigger buildings. The other four buildings are divided into two separate years. The middle school's technology is being updated this year, with the high school to be updated in 2009, Hagg said.

The board then reviewed the capital projects school by school.

The Akron CPF tentatively includes total building acquisition, construction and improvement, $309,500; total purchase of equipment, $3,500; utility services, $62,021; maintenance of equipment, $9,000; and technology, $13,000. The total for 2009 is estimated at $397,021.

Capital projects for Burket Educational Service Center totals $51,374 for 2009. The majority of the CPF for Burket is estimated utility services of $20,674.

Under Mentone, Hagg said there was nothing new. He said they didn't list the fiber optic line to Mentone, but the need to get it is still there.

"When the wireless goes down, it goes down," said Hagg. "It's not at a critical point yet."

The total for Mentone Elementary's capital projects is $106,021, including $62,021 for utility services.

The middle school's capital projects total an estimated $195,368 for 2009, with $103,368 for utilities.

Next year will be the replacement year for the high school. Of the estimated $647,190 in capital projects tentatively budgeted for the high school for 2009, $397,190 of that is for technology, including $150,000 for computer replacement. Utility services are estimated at $165,390.

Total expenditures for the administrative building for 2009 is $809,400, with $500,000 budgeted for emergency allocation.

"I like it being in there," board member Hal Hoffman later said of the emergency allocation dollars.

Bryan Murphy, board member, asked what constituted an emergency to use that money. Kramer said he believes it is anything the board calls for it to be that they didn't foresee.

One of the line items is $6,500 for a parental notification system. Hagg said they haven't established how they're going to use that yet, but there are two to three good vendors out there they are looking at carefully before they purchase a system. With a system, Hagg said it's possible they could call 1,000 people a minute, and call the entire school corporation in about two minutes.

Hoffman asked Hagg how he feels about the security at the high school.

Hagg said they have video coverage of all the areas of the school, but the way it's covered is probably not the best. If he could do it over again, Hagg said he would prefer to have more fixed cameras rather than cameras that pan and zoom.

The transportation's capital projects budget also was reviewed. Totaling $26,000, most of that budget was for cameras, radios and a $3,000 steam cleaner. Other items included software maintenance, inservice training and computer maintenance and repairs.

"I think everything in there is probably self-explanatory," said Kramer.

Assistant Superintendent Brett Boggs briefed the school board on the bus replacement plan. The plan is for a 15-year cycle from 2008 through 2023. this year, two spare buses will be replaced, with two replaced in 2009.

"There are 38 buses there if you don't count the top two (in 2008)," said Boggs.

Some of the bus replacements may be changed, but "other than that, we're pretty much just following suit," said Boggs.

AKRON - With 2008 nearly half over, the Tippecanoe Valley School Board began looking at the 2009 budget Monday night.

The school board looked specifically at the Capital Projects Fund and Bus Replacement Plan Monday. The CPF includes infrastructure and equipment needs and utility services.

Superintendent Dr. Daniel Kramer told the board, "This is just a draft at this time."[[In-content Ad]]Brad Hagg, Valley's technology director, talked to the school board about the technology items in the CPF.

"Over the last 10 years we have done technology, things have gone well," Hagg said. During those years, he said, he came to the conclusion that the core mission of the technology department is to make a difference for the kids and make the teachers' and administrators' jobs easier so they can be more productive in what they do.

"Our job here is to serve everyone else, and that is the heart of why we're here," Hagg said.

With the technology, each school is on a four-year replacement cycle. The middle school is done by itself one year, with the high school done in another year because they are bigger buildings. The other four buildings are divided into two separate years. The middle school's technology is being updated this year, with the high school to be updated in 2009, Hagg said.

The board then reviewed the capital projects school by school.

The Akron CPF tentatively includes total building acquisition, construction and improvement, $309,500; total purchase of equipment, $3,500; utility services, $62,021; maintenance of equipment, $9,000; and technology, $13,000. The total for 2009 is estimated at $397,021.

Capital projects for Burket Educational Service Center totals $51,374 for 2009. The majority of the CPF for Burket is estimated utility services of $20,674.

Under Mentone, Hagg said there was nothing new. He said they didn't list the fiber optic line to Mentone, but the need to get it is still there.

"When the wireless goes down, it goes down," said Hagg. "It's not at a critical point yet."

The total for Mentone Elementary's capital projects is $106,021, including $62,021 for utility services.

The middle school's capital projects total an estimated $195,368 for 2009, with $103,368 for utilities.

Next year will be the replacement year for the high school. Of the estimated $647,190 in capital projects tentatively budgeted for the high school for 2009, $397,190 of that is for technology, including $150,000 for computer replacement. Utility services are estimated at $165,390.

Total expenditures for the administrative building for 2009 is $809,400, with $500,000 budgeted for emergency allocation.

"I like it being in there," board member Hal Hoffman later said of the emergency allocation dollars.

Bryan Murphy, board member, asked what constituted an emergency to use that money. Kramer said he believes it is anything the board calls for it to be that they didn't foresee.

One of the line items is $6,500 for a parental notification system. Hagg said they haven't established how they're going to use that yet, but there are two to three good vendors out there they are looking at carefully before they purchase a system. With a system, Hagg said it's possible they could call 1,000 people a minute, and call the entire school corporation in about two minutes.

Hoffman asked Hagg how he feels about the security at the high school.

Hagg said they have video coverage of all the areas of the school, but the way it's covered is probably not the best. If he could do it over again, Hagg said he would prefer to have more fixed cameras rather than cameras that pan and zoom.

The transportation's capital projects budget also was reviewed. Totaling $26,000, most of that budget was for cameras, radios and a $3,000 steam cleaner. Other items included software maintenance, inservice training and computer maintenance and repairs.

"I think everything in there is probably self-explanatory," said Kramer.

Assistant Superintendent Brett Boggs briefed the school board on the bus replacement plan. The plan is for a 15-year cycle from 2008 through 2023. this year, two spare buses will be replaced, with two replaced in 2009.

"There are 38 buses there if you don't count the top two (in 2008)," said Boggs.

Some of the bus replacements may be changed, but "other than that, we're pretty much just following suit," said Boggs.
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