By LILY BYRNE/Staff Reporter
With less then a month before voters decide the fates of 10 school district budgets in the greater Cortland area, districts have been posting details of their proposed spending plans.
Spending increases range from 3% to 7.4%— with the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting that inflation has ranged from 5% to 8% over the past year. Property tax levies increase from 1.9% to 3%, in some cases as districts use cash on hand or other reserves to defray the increase that property taxpayers must pay.
Districts have until Monday to post details of their budgets for the public to review. Voting across the state will be May 16.
The Dryden Central School District plans a public hearing at 6 p.m. May 2 in the middle-high school library to hear comments on its proposed $46.8 million plan, which increases spending 3.4% and the property tax levy 3.1%.
The proposed budget uses $1.6 million from reserves and $812,00 in cash on hand, or fund balance, to ease the levy increase. The 2023-24 Groton Central School District budget proposal is $25.8 million, a 5.3% increase that carries a 2% tax levy increase, to $6.7 million. It spends 70.9% of that money on programming, with 17.5% going to capital expenses and 11.7% on administration.
The district also will have a proposition on the ballot to create a $2 million transportation reserve fund to buy electric buses. The first two electric buses would cost $1.3 million more than two diesel buses, the board estimates in its budget outline, because the cost of extra batteries, charging infrastructure and other improvements must be included. The buses themselves would cost about $425,000 each, compared with $132,000 for a diesel bus.
The district expects much of the cost will be reimbursed from a $500 million state environmental bond act. The state requires that all school buses must be zero-emission by 2027 and electric by 2035, reports the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.
The $16.3 million 2023-24 proposed budget in McGraw would be a 7.4% increase, but the levy would go up just 1.9%, to $3.4 million.
Tully’s $22.5 million budget plan is up 3%, but the $11 million property tax levy is up just 1.9%.
