Staff Writer

ONEONTA — The Oneonta City School District budget proposal just keeps going down.

Recent budget adjustments show a tax levy increase of 5.43 percent, said Superintendent James Piscitelli, with a budget total increase of .15 percent to $24,364,538.

When budget season began last month, preliminary figures showed about a 7 percent tax increase and about a 1 percent budget increase.

The most recent budget reductions, which were announced at the Oneonta Board of Education meeting Wednesday night, come from cutting a BOCES alternative high school program, which will now be created by the Oneonta district, Piscitelli said.

The switch will save the district more than $50,000, he said.

Board members at the meeting, which was held at Riverside Elementary School, also approved the purchase of two buses and a sport-utility vehicle at a cost of no more than $169,444.

District residents will vote on the bus purchase during the general budget vote May 21.

Also at the meeting:

• Otsego Northern Catskills Board of Cooperative Educational Services, or ONC BOCES, Superintendent Marie Warchol presented the 2002-03 administrative budget to school board members.

Board members vote on budget in April, Warchol said, because districts pay for the budget based on total enrollment. The $1,186,076 budget increased 3.8 percent from last year, she said.

"We have been very sensitive to the fact that this has been a horrific year for schools," Warchol said.

ONC BOCES provides special and occupational education programs to 19 area districts.

• Board Vice President Robert Winn told board members that a contractor will come into to high school during spring break to determine why the tile flooring, which was installed in the mid-1990s, in the science wing is buckling.

Winn said moisture from pipes below the floor may be causing the problem, and the original contractors may be at fault.

"Someone made a mistake here," he said. "We should find out who the responsible party is and make sure the cost (to fix the floor) is not on us."

ä Piscitelli told board members that because grant funds have not be renewed, several changes will be made to after-school and summer programs for elementary and middle school students.

At the middle school, Piscitelli said, the after-school program will be continued without bus transportation or snacks for students. Elementary after-school programs will also continue, but also with no bus transportation for participants.

"We'll do the best that we can given the funds we have," Piscitelli said.

The summer program, which used to be in all four elementary schools, will take place entirely in Greater Plains Elementary School, Piscitelli said. Buses will be provided for the students in the morning and in the late afternoon, he said.

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Carolyn Norton can be reached at: cnorton@thedailystar.com or (607) 441-7218.