To help the Board of Education in its decision-making, administrators have looked at district finances to determine how much a construction project would cost the local taxpayer.

Using $100 million for their estimates, what they found is that many factors would help minimize the local cost of a construction project, including:
• New York State aid: The state would fund about 66 percent of a building project, reducing the local share of a $100 million project to about $33.7 million.
• The district will be retiring debt from 2005 until 2011, which would partially offset the cost of a construction project.

“The Board of Education and ultimately voters will determine the size of our construction project,” said Assistant Superintendent for Business Matt Bourgeois. “But financially, this is a good time for the district to take advantage of retiring debt and available state aid. The district has an opportunity to make infrastructure, instruction and technology improvements across all grade levels and schools.”

Estimated local cost of a $100 million project
Taking into account the retiring debt, the estimated tax increase for a $100 million construction project on a home assessed at $100,000* would be approximately: $1 in year 1; $19 in year 2; $49 in year 3; and $26 in year 4.

Based on these annual tax increases, the estimated total cost (for the owner of a home assessed at $100,000) over the 23 years needed to pay off the $100 million construction project would be about $1,619, or an average of $70 per year.

(These estimates do not include tax increases due to normal operating budget changes. In the past 10 years, tax increases have averaged 4.6 percent in Niskayuna.)

*Taxable assessed value (after application of the equalization rate and standard STAR reduction)


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