MILLBROOK — Superintendent of Schools Lloyd Jaeger presented the 2013-14 draft budget during the Board of Education (BOE) meeting on Wednesday, March 21, at the Millbrook Middle School. “This is not just any budget this year, it is the first year of a new era in New York state school finance with respect to how schools will be funded,” said Jaeger during his PowerPoint presentation. “There are regulations governing the discretion that school boards have and all public municipalities have in the development of budgets for their public.”The New York state tax levy cap is a challenge for all municipalities and school districts in the state this year, however Jaeger said Millbrook is making a budget that will set the foundation for a sustainable future.Millbrook Central School District (MCSD) revenue and resources for students will be defined by the limitations coming from the state level. They are also limited by the ability to ask the public for additional funding, Jaeger said.The superintendent in a budget development overview focused on the external forces that are influencing the fiscal plan. Jaeger said new state tax levy calculation regulations and flat state aid would have a significant impact. In addition there are more state education mandates (SED) than ever before that must be implemented. Those mandates will “include what will be known as the common core curriculum, particularly in language arts and mathematics to begin with, but eventually in all subject disciplines,” said Jaeger. The district is also working to fund and maintain necessary and appropriate human and fiscal resources to invest in. This includes mandated programs, upkeep to facilities and providing increasingly enriched and differentiated 21st century learning environments, said Jaeger. The superintendent said each year when formulating the budget they must begin with the potential revenue.“Governor Cuomo has been very rigorous as a governor in articulating his vision for what state funding there will be for all kinds of programs, including public school,” Jaeger said. “The initial governor’s budget that was announced for Millbrook allocates a $15,000 reduction in state aid for Millbrook in the calculations. There is currently debate going on in Albany about a discretionary approximate $200 million that may be reallocated to public schools in some fashion. I don’t know if that will benefit Millbrook or not.” MCSD expects to see revenue from the Federal Jobs Grant, which expired in 2011-12. The two-year federal grant was voted by the Obama legislation to create and sustain new jobs in the district. Since the grant has expired the district will absorb the staff within the current budget. The tax levy limit calculation is at 2.86 percent generating potential revenue of $603,780.“I am pleased to report that I am going to be presenting a budget this evening that will provide all of our instructional programs and student services and maintain our current staffing levels,” said Jaeger.The draft budget also includes student access to all athletics, retention of current staffing levels and the continuation of all instructional programs and services. The draft budget that Jaeger presented will continue curriculum improvement and alignment mandates, technology integration for students and staff, testing and data analysis with response to intervention, literacy and math focus and building level and data inquiry teams.Jaeger presented a budget comparison of the approved 2011-12 budget compared to the 2012-13, draft budget. The budget increase over the previous year in 2011-12 was $688,399 and 2012-13 is $683,481. The budget-to-budget percent increase for 2011-12 is 2.75 percent and 2012-13 is 2.66 percent. The approved budget of 2011-12, tax levy increase is 3.96 percent increase and the draft budget is a 2.85 percent increase. Making a total budget comparison of $25,686,794 budget for 2011-12 and a 26,370,272, draft budget for 2012-13.Jaeger discussed the tax levy limit calculation impact on the budget.“It’s a part of New York state law, each district has a unique calculation,” said Jaeger. “As one looks at public reporting in the news media otherwise, expect to see each district’s tax levy limit be unique onto itself because of exceptions that can be taken with exclusions. This allows for a tax levy that exceeds or is above 2 percent. The law that was frequently spoken about last year was a tax cap at 2 percent, that’s an inaccurate statement. It is a tax levy limit uniquely calculated by each district.”MCSD’s initial tax levy limit calculation presented in January and February was 2.55 percent with potential revenue of $538,335. Jaeger said MCSD’s actual 2012-13 tax levy limit is 2.86 percent with potential revenue of $603,780.Jaeger said that the MCSD made budget adjustments since the initial January and February draft in a variety of areas, including lower salaries due to four teachers’ retirements, fewer special education students and money saved through capital expenditures.Another highlight is the continuation of the 2011-12 administration. Other highlights include support for the staff and students and programs for technology equipment, Project Lead The Way (PLTW), curriculum and training. “We are in a draft budget stage, said Jaeger. “Our tax levy limit is 2.86 percent we purposing a draft budget this evening slightly lower than that at 2.85 percent. However it is at the board’s deliberation and discretion of our budget development ahead that we don’t have to do that but look at something less.”The board is not required to make any changes to the draft budget. Jaeger said the draft budget presented is lower than previous budgets for the past 10 years. The board will have some time to review the draft budget, and another BOE was scheduled for Monday, March 26, after this paper’s deadline.“We have a very purposeful budget because we are able to renew the commitment and extend the commitment to our evolving program,” said Jaeger. “I think Millbrook is remarkable in that it’s able to be resilient in spite of having multiple years in having lost state aid, but a consistent budget in that for four years in row we’ve had modest, low budget to budget growth for this community while being sensitive to our tax payers.”
Latest News
Greg Fricke and James Boehmer, co-owners of Peggy Mercury in Kent, recently launched their first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts.”
Provided
Fricke and Boehmer are not there to stock their shelves with the same products customers find at standard makeup retailers. They’re there to help customers find what works for them. That usually means asking customers about themselves and learning about their beauty habits, skin, style and the way they like to present themselves. Fricke and Boehmer believe it’s their job to help customers bring out the qualities that suit them and determine what works best for their look.
So much of the Peggy Mercury world is about emboldening people to become more creative, and possibly bolder, versions of themselves. Some of this comes through the store’s creative collaborations with artists, designers and stylists.
It’s part of an ethos that encourages them and their friends to use the shop as a kind of laboratory, trying out new creative experiments without knowing how they might turn out. Whether in fashion, painting, fiber arts or photography, the projects almost always turn out marvelously.
A line of sterling silver charms they sell started as a small project by their friend Nolan Percival. In the beginning, the pieces were for close friends and loved ones. But Boehmer and Fricke encouraged Percival to get a little more serious about the project and create a whole line for the store. Today, it’s one of their top-selling collections.
Classic styles, bold colors, and creative concerts make up the “Imaginary Concerts” line at Peggy Mercury.Provided
“Imaginary Concerts” has the duo taking their own advice.
The project started as a way for Boehmer to connect with his mother, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Taking old concert shirts from his own collection, Boehmer and his mother began cutting out the graphics with the idea that they would make a quilt together. Unfortunately, she died before they could complete the project in 2025. The pieces, which were ready for production, were put on the back burner as Boehmer and Fricke dealt with their loss and the whirlwind of projects that never seemed to cease at Peggy Mercury.
But the harsh winter of 2026 presented an opportunity to take some time and focus on themselves. Part of that meant revisiting and redefining the concert T-shirt project. This time, instead of looking to the warmth and comfort of a quilt, they turned to another passion — fashion.
Taking a page from their own book, they wanted to create something that felt comfortable to them. They took two disparate loves — one rooted in simple preppy style, with clean lines and classic silhouettes, and the other in the nitty gritty worlds of punk rock and pop — and blended them together to create something entirely new. Pulling from the staples of vintage Brooks Brothers and Charvet collections, they applied the graphic elements with bold stitching reminiscent of punk jackets of the ‘70s and ‘80s, but with a much more sophisticated air.
But the remixing isn’t just the pairing of prep and punk. The pieces are not canon. They take liberties with the realities of concert tours, combining one band’s dates with another band’s logos, mixing them all up until the reality is lost and imagination is the only truth.
Shirts from Peggy Mercury’s first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts,” hang on display.Provided
Adding to the mix is an element of perpetual creativity. Art can be messy, both figuratively and literally, and many of Fricke and Boehmer’s artist friends carry evidence of their work on them at all times. As a nod to these tireless creatives, the duo added haphazard splashes of bright color, giving the line an even more distinctive feel.
For them, “Imaginary Concerts” passes the “Peggy Test.” The mythical Peggy Mercury is a fictional figurehead for the company, a character who thrives on creativity and change. The name, much like the clothing line, is a mixture of interests: Mercury is a planet, a deity and an elusive, transformative element, while Peggy is the wonderfully stylish and boundary-pushing Peggy Guggenheim.
Everything Fricke and Boehmer put in their store has to pass this test: Would Peggy Mercury approve? For their first collection, the answer is a resounding yes.
Peggy Mercury is at 9 Maple St., Unit 2, Kent.
Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.
