ELDRED — There's an aphorism that says, “a rising tide lifts all boats,” and it's an idea that correlates improvement in the economy and how it benefits all involved.

This might be the case with the Eldred School District as the Highland Compressor Station—owned by the Millennium Pipeline Company and is part of a larger natural gas pipeline system connecting compressor stations along the east coast— goes “online” and is added to the town's tax roll in 2019.

After learning that the compressor station will be going on the tax roll in April 2019, Eldred School District Superintendent Dr. John Morgano and Eldred School District Treasurer Caleb Russell knew they would not need to exceed the tax cap for this year.

In February, the preliminary budget sought to exceed the tax cap and raise the tax bill by 4.9 percent. This rise in taxes would have caused some residents in the Eldred School District to lose their property tax relief credit.

The credit is given to residents if their school district stays within the two percent tax cap, according to the New York State Department of Finance.

This year, residents will instead see a decrease in their tax bill once the compressor station is on the tax roll, which will bring in additional tax revenue to the school district.

“I cannot justify recommending extending the tax cap if we don't have to this year, because of the compressor station now being on the tax roll,” said Dr. Morgano during a March 14 school board meeting.

Instead, Dr. Morgano recommends to increase the budget by only 2.3 percent.

According to Dr. Morgano, the district would have to wait for the final assessment of the $61 million-plus compressor station. Dr. Morgano says the final evaluation can be anywhere between 25 to 50 million. Either way, he said, the district does not need to exceed the tax cap.

Furthermore, Dr. Morgano said the best case scenario is that an additional $750,000 from the taxes of the compressor station would come into the district. “If it were half that, it would still be more than the $283,000 we were looking to raise with taxes,” said Dr. Morgano.

Instead, Dr. Morgano said that residents would only see a decrease for this year. Next year in 2020, the tax bills will go back to what they were before the reduction in 2019, plus an additional two percent.

With this change in the budget, residents will no longer be in danger of losing their property tax credit for 2019 or 2020.

“Whatever the increase assessment from the compressor station is would be the amount we can increase without affecting everyone's tax bill next year,” said District Treasurer Russell.

According to Russell, the budget will be tight and would need to be adjusted to keep it under the tax cap.

To make the new budget work, there will be no increase in the superintendent's salary, but all other contract salaries will increase by two percent.

Furthermore, the “blacktop project” will be held off for a year and expenses would be kept low—at .1 percent. This and other adjustments will keep the budget at the two percent tax cap.

Russell presented an example at the March 14 school board meeting on how much of a decrease a Highland resident would see.

If a house is assessed at $100,000 for the 2018-2019 taxes, then they would see a reduction of $73.00. The following year, the taxes would return to the 2018-2019 amount, plus two percent.

Eldred School District Board President Carol Bliefernich said, “We are very happy we will not extend the budget and [are grateful for] the hard work of Dr. Morgano, Russell and the board.”

For more information on the Eldred School Budget visit, www.eldred.k12.ny.us

Morgano contract extended

The Eldred School District Board voted to extend Dr. Morgano's contract during the March 14 school board meeting, at the request of Dr. Morgano, for another five years without a raise in his salary.

“We are so blessed to have this man, who won't leave until he gets the job done,” said Bliefernich. “He would not take a raise, even if it's in his contract. We are like his mission.”

Dr. Morgano said, “I am not going anywhere. If I do, it will be on my terms. I will not take a raise. How can you fire someone and take a raise? I won't do it. I'd rather give other people a raise. I am going to finish this.”