Schools
Yorktown Adopts School Budget, Maintains Programs, Cap Limits
Yorktown schools are receiving a total of $878,000 in state aid, of which board members are giving $353,000 back to the taxpayers to reduce the tax rate.
Yorktown school board members adopted Monday night a $93,992,000 spending plan for the 2013-2014 school year.
The originally proposed tax rate increase of 2.52 percent will now drop down to 2.17 percent in Yorktown after school district officials announced the district has received an additional $878,000 from the state.
The $93.6 million budget, approved by the board, represents a 1.97 percent increase from this year’s budget. The tax levy, the portion of the budget funded by property taxes, is a 2.15 percent increase over last year's tax levy, Assistant Superintendent of Business Tom Cole said. The allowable tax cap is 3.74 percent, Cole said.
Taxpayers will have a chance to vote on the 2013-2014 Yorktown Central School District's proposal on May 21.
Since receiving the additional state aid money, school district administrators said they are giving $353,000 back to taxpayers to reduce the tax rate. The rest of the $525,000 will be used to offset the following costs:
- $155,000 of "lost revenue" from a French Hill Elementary School tenant.
- $130,000 for salaries and benefits for special education teachers. The district has been made aware of new students to the school district with special education needs.
- $130,000 to be put into a contingency fund for elementary school teachers for potential student enrollment increases that may arise from a new 26-unit development that is being built across from the Staples Plaza in Yorktown and will open in the fall. School officials said they believe that development might have some impact on school enrollment.
- Restorations of 2.4 positions worth $40,000 each – an English language learner position and an enrichment position in the middle school.
- $30K for additional evaluation services to comply with an unfunded mandate.
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