The South Butler School Board approved the Butler County Area Vocational-Technical School 2017-18 proposed budget Wednesday at its monthly meeting at Knoch Middle School.

The vote was 8-0.

“South Butler has a long history of supporting vo-tech and sending students to vo-tech,” said school board solicitor Tom Breth. “This is just a great example of supporting vo-tech by approving this budget.”

The total budget, including the budgetary reserve, is $5,115,573. This includes $2,230,876 for employee salaries, $1,765,603 for employee benefits, $477,675 for supplies and $259,991 for equipment.

The salaries went up by $53,136, while employee benefits went up by $80,300. Equipment costs went up by $26,783.

“I know (vocational-technical teachers) have a new collective bargaining agreement that was put into place,” he said. “That included wage increases for the instructors so that would have been a factor in the budgets. Then obviously health care costs and pension contributions go up, and the ordinary expenses of the facility tend to increase.”

The school district’s contribution to the budget is about $466,597, which is 4.4 percent more than it was last year.

South Butler School District business manager Paul Slomer commented on the increase.

“Part of what we pay to vo-tech is based on the number of students who participate,” he said.

Breth said the Slippery Rock and Karns City school districts also have approved the budget, while the Moniteau School District will meet later this month.

The Butler School District also approved the budget.

For the budget to pass, five of the nine school districts that send students to vo-tech must approve it. In addition, each of the nine members of the seven school boards vote individually for a total of 63 votes.

A majority is required from those votes.