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The proposed budget would raise the tax rate by an estimated 1.53 percent for Greenburgh residents and 0.04 percent for Mount Pleasant residents.
“It's a very benign budget,” school board President B. Joseph Lillis said, adding that additional state aid helped to keep increases down.
The proposed budget is 2.9 percent larger than last year and would raise the tax levy by 1.73 percent. The Board of Education adopted the 2013-14 budget during its Tuesday meeting. A public hearing on the budget will take place May 9, with the budget election May 21.
The proposed budget includes some staffing changes to accommodate class sizes: one teacher and a social worker. The district also approved contracting its Pre-K program staff from the Elizabeth Mascia Child Care Center, which allows the program to be funded by the state instead of subsidized by the district.
Superintendent Howard Smith said some of the major cost drivers this year were health care and retirement costs, but officials were able to keep the budget low by offsetting costs in other non-academic areas. The district will also receive more state aid next year, which helped.
“The gap doesn't go away permanently; it just went away this year,” Smith said.
School officials are also adding two propositions on the ballot to use money it already has in the transportation program. Voters have to approve the measure before the district can receive state aid, Smith said.
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