BOE Expects to Adopt New Budget Next Week

As its deadline to adopt a revised budget approaches, the Three Village school board has added a May 29 meeting as it waits for the administration to prepare prioritized options for budget cuts.

The school board is expected to work through the original budget and formally adopt a revised budget at that meeting, which will likely be held in the auditorium at Murphy Junior High, which has a capacity of 507 seats.

Because school officials have opted for a re-vote instead of immediately adopting a contingency budget, they need to make a little over $1.9 million in additional cuts in order to bring it within the 2.99 percent tax levy increase Three Village is allowed by the state.

School board vice president Jonathan Kornreich said school board wants to take its time to carefully consider the options. "We're going to rely on the recommendations of the professional staff," he said.

Whereas the original proposed budget was a $178.6 million proposal, those additional cuts would bring the budget down to about $176.7 million, which represents a 1.2 percent increase in year-over-year spending. The original adopted budget would have yielded a 2.3 percent increase in year-over-year spending – what school officials were already describing as one of the lowest spending increases in more than a decade.

Year-Over-Year Spending Increases Since the Last Failed Budget

*Represents the projected adopted budget.