New York State Association of School Business Officials. Voters Approve 81% of Budgets in June Re-vote. Advancing the Business of Education

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Voters Approve 81% of Budgets in June Re-vote Three Districts Face Contingency Budgets for 018-19 Founded 1948 New York State

1 Voters Approve 81% of Budgets in June Re-vote Three Districts Face Contingency Budgets for Founded 1948 New York State Association of School Business Officials New York State Association of School Business Officials Advancing the Business of Education June 0, 018

2 On June 19, 16 school districts presented their budgets a second time for approval by voters. Voters in each of these districts had failed to pass their budget proposals during the first budget vote in May. Three school districts saw their second budget proposal defeated and will be required to adopt contingency budgets with no levy increase for School districts with defeated budgets in the May vote have the option of holding a second vote or going to a contingency budget. If they hold a second vote, they can propose the same budget or offer a new one. If the budget is defeated in the second vote, the district must adopt a contingency budget with restrictions including keeping the previous year s levy. In addition to the 16 re-votes, the Eldred school district held its first round of voting, because severe thunderstorms during the May vote had left the school unable to complete voting. The Eldred vote was successful. The school districts that held re-votes are listed in Figure 1. Of the 16 budget re-votes in June, six were in Western New York and four were in the Hudson Valley. Two of the three defeated budgets are in Western New York, Ripley and West Valley, while the third is East Ramapo in the Hudson Valley. Figure 1. School districts with defeated budgets in the May vote District Name Region Did May budget proposal require overriding Tax Cap? Brewster CSD Hudson Valley No Clymer CSD Western Region Yes East Ramapo CSD Hudson Valley No Eden CSD Western Region Yes Fort Edward UFSD Capital District No Gowanda CSD Western Region No Johnstown City SD Mohawk Valley Yes New Rochelle City SD Hudson Valley Yes North Bellmore UFSD 1 Long Island Yes Ripley CSD Western Region No Stamford CSD Southern Tier Yes Uniondale UFSD Long Island No Valley CSD Hudson Valley No West Valley CSD Western Region No Westfield CSD Western Region No Westport CSD North Country Yes = Defeated Budget 1 North Bellmore s May budget proposal complied with the Tax Cap, but citizen-initiated transportation proposals on the ballot would have pushed the levy increase over the Tax Cap, requiring the district to meet the 60 percent threshold. These proposals did not appear on the June ballot. New York State Association of School Business Officials Voters Approve 81% of Budgets in June Re-vote 1

3 Seven districts that held June re-votes had initially proposed budgets that required a 60 percent supermajority approval for an override of the tax cap, and only one proposed a second budget requiring supermajority approval. Johnstown City had a negative tax cap of -.5 percent, but its second budget proposed raising the tax levy 3.7 percent. Voters approved the Johnstown City budget. Figure shows the proposed tax levies in May and June as well as the levy limit for each district. Twelve districts reduced their levy increase, including one that proposed to slightly decrease the levy next year, while four kept the same levy proposal from the May budget. After budget defeats in May and June, East Ramapo, Ripley, and West Valley will adopt contingency budgets for Figure 3 (next page) shows the number of June re-votes, passed budgets, and contingency budgets since the implementation of the Tax Cap. Between May and June, voters passed 99.6 percent of school district budgets. However, as our analysis of the May vote shows, voter turnout has been consistently declining. In May, turnout fell 10 percent over last year and was down more than 35 percent from 10 years ago. Figure. Proposed levy changes in May and June budgets District Proposed levy change in the May budget Proposed levy change in the June budget Change between May and June Levy limit (Tax Cap) Brewster CSD.%.% 0.00%.% Clymer CSD 1.90% 4.0% 8.70% 4.0% East Ramapo CSD.89%.89% 0.00%.89% Eden CSD.00% 0.46% 1.54% 0.46% Fort Edward UFSD 6.14% 0.00% 6.14% 6.14% Gowanda CSD 1.98% 0.00% 1.98% 1.98% Johnstown City SD 4.90% 3.70% 1.0% -.50% New Rochelle City SD 3.89%.3% 1.66%.3% North Bellmore UFSD 3.40% 3.0% 0.0% 3.40% Ripley CSD 6.67% 6.67% 0.00% 6.69% Stamford CSD 4.7%.7%.00%.7% Uniondale UFSD 0.99% -0.07% 1.06% 3.8% Valley CSD (Montgomery) 4.09% 3.11% 0.98% 4.35% West Valley CSD.00%.00% 0.00% 4.65% Westfield CSD.00% 1.50% 0.50%.0% Westport CSD 9.98%.4% 7.56%.4% = Defeated Budget New York State Association of School Business Officials Voters Approve 81% of Budgets in June Re-vote

4 Figure 3. June re-votes and approved budgets, * * June Votes Approved Budgets Contingency Budgets In both 013 and 016, one of the school districts with a defeated budget in the May vote chose to go directly to a contingency budget, rather than hold a re-vote. New York State Association of School Business Officials Voters Approve 81% of Budgets in June Re-vote 3

5 The following staff contributed to the writing and production of this report: Deborah H. Cunningham, Ph.D., Director of Education and Research Andrew VanAlstyne, Ph.D., Deputy Director of Education and Research Joel Tirado, Education and Research Coordinator A publication of the New York State Association of School Business Officials 018 NYSASBO. All Rights Reserved. For use of NYSASBO data or analyses, please use the following source citation: SOURCE: New York State Association of School Business Officials, Albany, NY 105, [Date of Release], Contact: Michael J. Borges, Executive Director New York State Association of School Business Officials (NYSASBO) 453 New Karner Road, Albany, NY New York State Association of School Business Officials Voters Approve 81% of Budgets in June Re-vote 4

Ninety-nine Percent of School Districts Expect to Stay Within the Property Tax Cap

Ninety-nine Percent of School Districts Expect to Stay Within the Property Tax Cap March 2018 Introduction On March 1, the law requires school districts to submit to the Office of the State Comptroller