BERNE — A long-time veterans’ advocate says, “BKW is leading the way towards the highest possible maximums”  among school districts locally.

At its meeting Monday, the Berne-Knox-Westerlo board of education voted  unanimously to reward veterans who live in the school district  for their military service by more than doubling the amounts they can deduct off their home’s assessed value, thereby reducing considerably their school tax bill.

Ed Ackroyd —a Vietnam vet, Hilltown resident, and former board members who has lobbied for going to the highest possible level of maximums — said the move was “a step in the right direction.” He said that he believes that, among Capital Region school districts, only Green Island is at the highest level.

The move by the board came after long consideration at previous meetings and after it heard public comment — pro and con — at its October meeting (online at AltamontEnterprise.com).

Since 2013, the state Alternate Veterans’ Exemption has authorized school districts to decide — the choice is theirs — whether to give veterans who served during wartime a break on their property tax by allowing them to reduce  their home’s assessed value by  a level selected by the district from the state’s  ascending scale of 14 levels.

With Monday’s decision, BKW has moved up to the eighth level, more than midway up the scale.  Each level has three maximums: one for service in wartime, an additional amount for service in a war zone, and a third additional amount for becoming disabled while in service.  Until Monday’s decision, BKW was at $12,000/$8,000/$40,000. It is now at $27,000/$18,000/$90,000.  The $90,000 deduction from assessed value is additionally awarded to veterans who are 100-percent disabled as a result of their military service.  A veteran rated to be 50-percent disabled would qualify for an additional  $45,000 deduction.

District Superintendent Timothy Mundell saluted the board. “They’re to be commended,” he said, “for their diligence and thoughtfulness….They found their way to somewhere in the middle.”

He also said that all districts should be supporting a proposed measure working its way through the state legislature that would have the state pay for the exemptions. Now the burden falls on taxpayers  who do not qualify for the exemption. Their taxes go up.       

Ackroyd said that, after Monday’s  meeting, a disabled veteran approached him and said, “This is fantastic, I can start looking for land and a home now.”                                

Good news from lead testing                           

The building housing the district elementary school may be over 80 years old, but the board learned that results of testing for lead in water  have been received, and they’re good. Of 70 water outlets tested, only one showed lead levels exceeding the state-required action level of 15 parts per billion.

The lone exception, Mundell reported, was a utility sink in a sixth-grade classroom that had once been used for science classes. The plumbing to the sink is being redone to remedy the problem.

Results from testing of outlets in the high school building are expected in a few weeks.

Projects ahead?

Speaking with The Enterprise, Mundell outlined the process going forward toward a possible capital projects bond issue in 2017.

He said a building-condition survey in 2015 identified needed infrastructure improvements, particularly in  mechanical systems and  especially in the elementary school, which was constructed in the 1930s.

After a facilities plan is developed by the district officials working with the district’s architect, the board will probably review and decide what it wants done, “probably  by February or March,” Mundell said

The biggest-ticket item on the list might  be replacing the boilers that heat the elementary school, “one of which is on its last legs,’ he said.