SCHOOL BOARD FACES SOME GRIM OPTIONS HOW TO AVOID 12.5% TAX HIKE?(Local)

Byline: Daniel Gold Staff writer

The same grim figures were trotted out, and the same alternatives discussed.

But Shirley Barnard gave life Tuesday night to the tough choices the Albany School District faces as it tries to shrink a projected tax increase from a record 12.5 percent.

"I can't see how I can afford a $14 raise per $1,000," Barnard, a 65-year- old retired state worker living on a fixed income, told the Albany Board of Education. "That means I have to give up something, what I don't know. And I don't intend to go back to work.

"How do you expect senior citizens to absorb this?"

"I don't think any board member intends …