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Susquehanna Community School District Directors wrapped up the 2011-12 school year with their 7 to 7:30 p.m. meeting on Wednesday, June 20. While School Board members Steven Stanford, Evelyn Cottrell, Jason Chamberlain, Amanda Cook, Holly Kubus, Martha Stanford, and Clay Weaver were meeting, spring faded into history and summer arrived, right on schedule, at 7:09 p.m. As with the season’s passage from spring to summer, approval of the $13,471,586 “final budget” welcomed the expectation of the new school year, while relegating the previous $12.95 million budget to history. Board approval was unanimous, with the caveat Lori Canfield and Carol Jackson did not cast votes due to their absence from the meeting. So, it’s a wrap.

Well, almost. While SCSD is required to pass a final budget by June 30, and has done so, the state can‘t boast that it has already made its June 30 deadline. Under the 2011-12 SCSD budget, the state provided approximately 67% of the school district’s revenue. Under the 2012-13 SCSD budget, only 65% of the school district’s revenue is projected to come from the state. The district has used the most conservative budget estimate of what state aid will be received - to be on the safe side. By using this strategy, the district has made assumptions based on the governor’s budget proposal, rather than the more generous counterproposals still being debated in the Senate. Should the state’s final budget include some of the more generous funding provisions in Senate bills, SCSD will not have to tap any of its reserves to handle a projected shortfall of $43,000. That final detail in the district’s budget will only be known when the state’s FY2013 budget is signed, sealed, and delivered.

Beautification doesn’t come easy. It takes a lot of elbow-grease. This truism is just as applicable in Lanesboro as in any other of the fair municipalities in Susquehanna County. Lanesboro Boro Council was scheduled to meet on Tuesday, June 5, but the meeting was postponed until 7 p.m. a week hence. Present at the June 12 meeting were Council President Todd Glover, and council members Jason Fissel, David Glidden, Dale Rockwell, and Colleen Y. Wilkes. Others present for the meeting were Mayor Chris Maby and Secretary/Treasurer Gail Hanrahan, as well as five boro residents Council members absent were Dan Boughton and Regina Dilello. Also absent from the meeting was this reporter, who was covering the Susquehanna Depot Boro Council meeting which was scheduled for the identical time and date. What follows is composed from the meeting’s agenda, draft (unapproved) minutes of the meeting, and interviews of the principals involved.

After approval of the minutes for the May 1 boro council meeting, correspondence to the boro was read. The first letter was from Endless Mountains Visitors Bureau, requesting that the boro donate $0.10 per person, with the number of people based on 2010 census data. Council discussed the matter, but the consensus reached was to NOT make a donation, principally because no provision had been made for such donation in the boro’s budget.

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