AuSABLE FORKS — The AuSable Valley Central School District Board of Education’s $37.9 million proposed budget for 2024-25 will come in under the state tax cap.

The district is proposing to spend $37,910,680 in 2024-25, a 3.85% increase from $36,506,950 in 2023-24. According to budget documents, the increase is due to program, administrative and capital cost increases, with the biggest increases in staffing costs and benefits.

The district proposes using $1,134,000 from its reserves to fund the budget, as well as a combined more than $20 million in state and federal aid. Just under one half of the budget will be funded by taxes. The district proposes to levy $16,185,000 from district taxpayers in 2024-25, which is $540,000 more than this year’s budgeted levy of $15,645,000. This 3.45% increase is below the state’s assigned tax cap for the district for 2024-25, which was 3.51%.

Tax rates will be around $13.92 per $1,000 in assessed value, according to budget documents. Under this proposed tax rate, someone with a home assessed at $300,000 in AVCSD would pay around $4,176 in school taxes. These tax rates are estimates until they are finalized in August.

The district’s budget newsletter, viewable at “http://tinyurl.com/282tsedz”>tinyurl.com/282tsedz, said that the district is “moving into some fiscally challenging times.”

“It has been our focus to maintain existing programming and services for our students. It is important to balance maximizing learning opportunities for all students while being fiscally responsible,” AVCSD Superintendent Michael Francia wrote in the newsletter.

Under Gov. Kathy Hochul’s executive budget proposal, which would’ve changed the formula for school foundation aid, AVCSD was set to lose $179,020 of its foundation aid, a 1.3% decrease from previous years. Hochul’s formula changes were ultimately scrapped by the state Legislature in its enacted budget, and AVCSD’s foundation aid was restored. The district ended up receiving almost $13.2 million in foundation aid for 2024-25, up from $12.5 million for 2023-24. AVCSD School Business Executive Ted Sill said Wednesday that this is still $90,000 less than the district anticipated receiving in foundation aid.

Francia told the Enterprise in February that, as foundation aid and federal aid dwindles, the district is going to have to look at cutting parts of its budget.

“More money is going out than you have coming in, and it leaves us with some tough decisions,” Francia said. “We’re constantly in a cycle of having to cut … in order to have a balanced budget.”

While AVCSD’s proposed budget is ultimately higher than this year’s, some areas would see spending decreases. Most notably, the school library budget would be more than halved, from $177,400 this year to a proposed $88,024 next year. The guidance and attendance budget would also see an almost $100,000 reduction, from $798,586 this year to a proposed $693,172 next year. Sill said that these reductions are due to staff retiring.

Hochul has said she intends to revisit the foundation aid formula next year.

AVCSD’s budget hearing will be at 6 p.m. on May 13 at AuSable Valley Middle-High School in Clintonville. The school budget vote is from noon to 9 p.m. on May 21 in the Middle-High School cafeteria.

One school board member will be up for re-election on the ballot. Incumbent Emily Reynolds Bergh is running unopposed for another three-year term.

Three school board seats will be on the ballot. Incumbents Jenna Beauregard and Aubrey Bressett are both running for re-election unopposed. The third seat is contested by candidates Lee Pray and Kenneth Bruno Jr.