The proposed 2025-26 budget for the Springs School district will fall within the property tax cap for the first time in two years.
“The district’s voters have been very supportive of your budget for the last two years in piercing the cap,” said Sam Schneider, the business administrator, at a meeting of the Springs School Board on Tuesday.
“We committed that we are not going to ask them to do that for a third year in a row,” he continued, “and as we’ve discussed, we’ve designed a budget that has stayed within the property tax cap.”
The budget was finalized at $38,411,791, a 1.58-percent increase over last year. Almost the entire budget will be paid for with property taxes, compliant with the tax cap.
There is a question as to how much state aid the school can expect, as the New York State budget has not yet been passed. The district has a projection based on previous years that it has been working from, and Mr. Schneider anticipates that any change will be in the school’s favor.
“Historically,” he said, “the Legislature has improved on the governor’s budget slightly. We obviously don’t see a lot of state aid, so whatever that number ends up being, it’ll be mostly anticipated modestly higher.”
If there is a slight surplus, Mr. Schneider noted, the options the board would have include putting it into reserves or allocating it to next year’s levy. “We have to see what the number is before we get too invested in this conversation,” he said, “but you have several options.”
The entire budget, line by line, is on the district’s BoardDocs, accessible from the Springs School’s website. The board voted unanimously to adopt the budget later in the meeting.
The next step will be a budget hearing on May 13 at 7 p.m., when the public will be able to address the board. Nancy Carney, the district superintendent, will be at the next Springs Citizens Advisory Committee meeting to present the budget and answer questions.
Also on the ballot for Springs is the reauthorization of the repair reserve fund. If passed, it will be funded by excess balances and money that are in the current repair reserve fund.
Another proposition is a tuition increase for East Hampton High School, which will also be on the ballot in the other districts that pay tuition for students to attend the high school. The contract is for five years, and the tuition will increase by 1.8 percent in years two, three, and four, and 2 percent in year five.