NEWBURGH- Voters in the Newburgh Enlarged City School District will return to the polls on Tuesday to consider a reduced budget proposal after the district’s initial budget was defeated by just 95 votes in May.
Newburgh’s school budget was the only Orange County school budget to fail this year. For the past nine years, the district hasn’t requested a tax levy increase from voters.
The revised budget proposes a 2.48 percent increase which is 1.3 percent less than the district’s tax cap. The revised budget to be considered by voters represents an increase of $9 per year per $300,000 of assessed property value.
The proposal to be considered by voters does not include any additional staff layoffs and does not increase class sizes. It does, however, make reductions to conference and administrative expenses.
If voters reject the revised proposal on Tuesday, the district must implement a contingency budget. Under a contingency budget, the district would have to cut an additional $4.2 million which could include layoffs and program reductions.
