Salem, Northville, Berne-Knox-Westerlo boards to meet this week after failed budget votes

School boards in three districts will meet this week to discuss next steps after their budgets were defeated at the polls earlier this month.

Salem

The Salem Board of Education will meet Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the auditorium.

In the May 21 election, 58.59% of residents voted in favor of the district’s $18 million spending plan. However, because the district was proposing a budget that exceeds the tax cap, it needed approval of 60% plus one vote.

Because of the tax cap formula, the district’s cap has been negative for the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 school years. It was set at 2.9% this year, which means the amount of revenue that could be collected in taxes was a little under $5.1 million.

The district was seeking a 6.96% increase in the tax levy for a total levy of $5.29 million. School officials said in the budget newsletter that they are facing inflationary costs as well as increases in health insurance, contractual salary costs and program costs.

The school budget revote will occur on June 18. If the budgets fail again, the district will be required to adopt a contingency budget that has no increase in the levy. 

Northville

The Northville Central School District Board of Education in Fulton County will meet at 5 p.m. on Tuesday in the board conference room. 

They were also seeking to over the tax cap. However, only 59.7% of people voted in favor.

NewsChannel 13 has reached out to school officials for follow-up comment about their budget.

Berne-Knox-Westerlo

The Berne-Knox-Westerlo Board of Education will meet to discuss their school budget on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the elementary school cafeteria.

Nearly 59% of voters approved the district’s $26.3 million spending plan. However, because the district was exceeding the cap with a 5.09% tax levy increase, it failed to meet the supermajority to pass.

Most school budgets passed statewide.