Greenwood Lake school budget proposed increase 7.8 percent

Greenwood Lake — Voters in the Greenwood Lake School District will decide Tuesday whether to approve the proposed $21,927,191 budget. This is 7.8 percent higher than last year’s budget. Although the final tax rate will not be established until August, the estimate is $148.34 per $1,000 of assessed value. For a homeowner whose house is assessed at $20,000, school taxes would be $2,966.80. Two school board seats are also up for grabs. Incumbents Patricia Bianco and William Kelly are seeking re-election while Ronald Sommer is looking for his first term on the board seven-member board. The budget is broken into programs, capital and administration. Programs is the largest part and includes all costs relating to teachers, textbooks, libraries, computers, transportation and employee benefits. This is increasing $740,844 over last year and is $17,806,122. Capital includes all expenses for school facilities and buses. The district is looking to buy two 66-passenger school buses and two six-passenger Suburbans at a cost of $270,000. Also included in capital is the payment of $1,128,869 for the middle school renovations made in 1998 and 2004. The total capital budget is $2,548,598, an increase of $687,378 over last year. The smallest part of the budget is administration. This covers costs from the Board of Education, central administration, including salaries and benefits for the superintendent, building principals, secretaries, and director of curriculum and instruction, and business staff. The total is $451,429, a change of $61,227 over last year. If the budget is defeated, the board must adopt a contingency budget in the amount of $21,105,011. The tax rate would be $146.27 per $1,000 of assessed value. The home assessed at $20,000 would pay $2,925.40 in school taxes under contingency, $41.40 less than with a passed budget. A home assessed at $30,000 would pay $4,388.10 per year in school taxes, $62.10 less than if the budget passes. Voting will be at the Greenwood Lake Elementary School library from 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. on Tuesday, May 15.