Eldred budget workshop focuses on school safety, doors and fiber upgrade as board readies April 28 vote
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Summary
At a budget workshop, the Eldred Central School District reviewed roughly $20 million in revenue and prioritized safety upgrades — favoring a hybrid of unarmed security plus an aide, metal gym/vestibule doors and a fiber upgrade — while delaying bleachers and holding truck purchases pending inspection and quotes.
Caleb, who described himself in the meeting as the district’s “fiscal guy,” told the board the district’s budget for the year is roughly $20 million and laid out a set of one‑time and recurring choices the board must finalize when it votes on the budget April 28. “This year is up to $199,401. It's gonna be $20,000,008.47 $8.88. That's how much money we're getting from the state, so that's what we can spend,” he said.
The workshop focused on how to use roughly $308,000 of discretionary and project funds, with only about $88,000 available for recurring annual expenses. Caleb outlined transfers already planned — $100,000 to the capital projects fund, about $40,000 to a special‑aid fund for extended school‑year special education and a $230,000 transfer involving the cafeteria fund to restore its balance and repay the general fund.
Board members and building staff spent most of the time weighing staffing and physical‑security options. The district received a quote of roughly $50,400 a year from Atlas Security for an unarmed, contracted guard and a quoted cost of about $68,000 a year for an armed guard. As an alternative, the district could hire school aides or monitors; Caleb put the estimated cost for one aide at $27,075 (based on $17/hour across the school year). “If we do one aid and one unarmed guard, that puts us at 77,” a board member summarized during the discussion.
Administrators urged prioritizing specific projects that address immediate safety needs: replacing a non‑locking GRM vestibule with metal storefront doors (an alternate quote of about $25,000 vs. a full replacement near $76,000) and proceeding with a network (“spider”) upgrade at the junior–senior high for improved connectivity (a vendor quote discussed was about $68,000). Several board members described the $25,000 door fix as a clear safety priority and a reasonable use of capital funds.
The group agreed to defer noncritical items: new bleachers (quoted near $125,000) were removed from the near‑term list, and truck purchases were put on hold pending inspection and additional quotes. Administrators will bring back a set of clear scenarios, with cost comparisons (e.g., two aides vs. a guard+aide hybrid, door options, fiber upgrade) for the April 28 meeting.
Next steps: staff will gather additional quotes for trucks and doors, refine civil‑service‑compliant job descriptions for any aides/monitors, and present budget scenarios in the board packet ahead of the April 28 vote.
