The Moore Norman Technology Center Board of Education approved a nearly $34 million budget for fiscal year 2009-2010 Thursday evening.

The budget is essentially the same as last year, with no new programs and only one new position created, Superintendent John Hunter said at the board’s regular meeting.

The budget is the district’s best guess at what revenues and expenditures will be for the coming year, said Roger Adair, director of finance. The actual revenues from ad valorem taxes will not be determined until September, he said.

“This way, we start July 1 with what we feel are our appropriations for the year,” Adair said.

The total budget of $33,894,983 includes $24,849,983 for the general fund, $8,445,000 for the building fund and $600,000 for the financial aids fund.

The amended budget for fiscal year 2008-2009 that the board approved Thursday was $34,407,000. The projected budget for the next year is a little smaller because Adair is very conservative in his estimate of ad valorem taxes, he said. Low interest rates also have reduced revenues for MNTC, he said.

“That’s where we’ve taken probably our biggest hit in funding,” he said of interest rates.

The MNTC board also voted to allow the district to solicit bids for the Educational Services remodeling project.

The office space will be remodeled for about $175,000, funds that will come out of the district’s building fund.

Director of facilities Jerry McConnell said he will begin soliciting quotes this coming week. If all goes well, he said remodeling will begin in mid-July and be completed around Thanksgiving. The employees currently in those offices will relocate to another part of the campus in July, he said.

In other business, the board approved an agreement to participate in the Oklahoma Electric Cooperative wind power program at the South Penn campus.

MNTC already participates in a similar program to pay a surcharge for wind power with Oklahoma Gas and Electric at the Franklin Road campus, Hunter said.

“We’re not going to be a big player in creating (wind power) technicians — we’re in the wrong part of the state — but we can be a player in creating demand for wind technicians,” he said.

The OEC program will cost MNTC $2,400 for one year.