Island Dispatch, 2004-03-05

              Island DISPATCH Resident Dances for Children's Hospital Page 7 Corporate Bowl Kicks Off Page 11 The Farmer's ' Almanac predicts: Cold, Snow Showers Is /'.' right? Check the weather on pg 2 Foundedl944 • Complete Community Coverage Ph0ne:(716)773-7676 • lay (716) 773-7190 • K-Mail: MTNcwsd'tlmail.com 59 Years As the Voice of Grand Island Award Winning Newspapers The Official Newspaper of the Town of Grand Island and the Grand Island School District Vol. 59 No; 51 March 5. 2004 24 Pages Plus American Profile $1.00 GI School Board gets an earful on proposed budget by Amanda Glowish Will extra curricular activities such as music, art and athletics have to be cut from the Grand Island School District budget? That was one of the questions on everyone's mind at the Board of Education Public Forum meeting on Monday. "Cutting a program, whether art, music, athletic or whatever - you're shutting doors for children," said Jenna Meyer, a junior at Grand Island High School. Grand Island's school budget for the 2004-05 school year is estimated at $41,475,288 which would be about a $4 million increase over last year. State mandated retirement contributions and health insurance premiums plus liability insurance, energy and utilities are all contributing to the increasing budget expenses. On top of this, Gov. George Pataki's proposed budget would leave Grand Island receiving approximately $38,000 less in state aid. Although the district is facing a major budget increase, they can not rely on much assistance from the state. "This leaves the local property owners to shoulder the burden," Superintendent Thomas Ramming stated. The Impact In order to balance the school budget, the revenues have to equal the expenditures and the district can never spend more than the publiepublie approves. The revenue side of the budget comes from state aid, sales taxes, bank account interest and property taxes. If the 2004-05 budget is approved, the impact it will have on a house assessed at $100,000 will be $476 per thousand."As much as no one wants to see increases, I think we have to be realistic and ask what are our kids worth? People are paying more than that for cable TV in their home (over the course of one year). Our children are worth a little more," said Mary Kulak, a mother of four children in the school district. On the other side of the spectrum, if the budget isn't approved, about $4 million dollars will have to be cut. Factors such as utilities, retirement funds, salaries and insurance rates are all "fixed" costs and can not be cut from the budget. The board will have no choice but to cut certain school programming and the students will be the ones to suffer."When people say 'cut things' but don't cut things that will affect programs. I don't know how to respond to that because that is what we do. We provide programs for kids," Ramming said. "We continually reexamine our mission, our priorities, our goals and how we are spending our money so that everything is aligned. Yes, we are going to look at cuts ... but it is very difficult to look at and not touch upon people or programming because that is what we provide. If we're not providing that service, then we're failing you." District Mission The mission of the Grand Island Central School District is to foster academic growth, personal growth Klocks to chair St. Patrick's Day dinner Jo and Paul Klock will chair the annua! St. Patrick's Day Dinner set for Saturday, March 13, starting at 7 p.m. at the Knights of Columbus Hall, located on 1841 Whitehaven Road. For a nominal charge, all attendees will be treated to a dinner featuring corned beef and cabbage, as well as music and entertainment by Irish Dancers. Reservations are necessary and have to be made by Monday, March 8. For more information call 773-2539. Shown in the above photo (left to right) are St. Patrick's Day Dinner committee members (front row) Sarah and Marilyn Szczepanski, and Jo and Paul Klock; (back row) Joe Diebold and Brian Mongielo. 38th annual Citizen of the Year banquet Paul and Tammy Irving named GI Chamber Business Persons of the year This year, the Grand Island Chamber of Commerce has chosen both Paul and Tammy Irving, owners of Grinders Skatepark and Cataract Customhouse Brokerage, as Business Persons of the Year. Paul, from LaSalle, and Tammy from Sloan, were married in 1988, moving their family (Shaughn, 12 and Mary, 10) to Grand Island from Niagara Falls in 1993, Having established Cataract Customhouse in 1988, and maintaining offices at both the Lewiston Bridge and the Peace Bridge, it was an easy decision for them to decide on Grand Island as their new home. As the Customs Brokerage Import/Export business grew, it was necessary for them to find a "Main Office," whereby several locations were looked at, but once again Grand Island was the choice. In 1997, they purchased the office building at 2094 Grand Island Blvd., to set-up shop. Currently Cataract Customhouse Brokerage has 24 employees, eight of which work out of the Grand Island offices. Second Venture Their second business venture, Tammy and Paul Irving, owners of Grinders Skatepark and Cataract Customhouse Brokerage, are being recognized as the Grand Island Chamber of Commerce' Business Persons of the Year. continued on page 9 , continued on page 9 , mBM I SIBW SPlPwl» Mf Celebrating Hometown Life Vgg^^mMtmV At a Glance I EjMm I [ Swing Night II | at 'Rockin' the Ratt' J Featuring Leslie Byers " I and the Jazz Cats I . ■ • 5 p.m. 1 Castellani Art Museum ; j Niagara University I Wednesday j Corporate Bowl 2004 i Grand Island High School 1 7 to 10 p.m. 1 Preliminary rounds 1 For a complete listing of area events, visit NFP's Web site at www.wnypapers.com F7!HTT7tPT1l1 Find out everything you need to know about Cg( " WmT!Tm$fi$m Niagara Frontier Publications of Events ■■■■■■■■M Get everything from company history to advertising information <=;ateS Island Dispatch'Grand Island PennySaver«Niagara-Wheatfield Tribune •Lewiston-Porter Sentinel 6a?a9e ciaSs(-ffedS www.wnypapersMm a#83£^