On May 17, Arkport Central School District residents approved the district’s $13.5 million budget proposal and elected one board of education member.
Voters approved:- An $13,523,602 budget for the 2022-23 school year that increases spending by $1,553,956 (12.98%) from the current year and carries a 1.92% tax levy increase: 147 yes; 63 no;
- Authorization to purchase one passenger vehicle not to exceed $60,000: 169 yes; 63 no;
- Authorization to enter into a five-year lease for one 66-passenger school bus at a cost not to exceed $140,000: 169 yes; 38 no; and
- The election of Jenny Swarts to the Arkport Board of Education. She will begin her term on July 1.
The spending plan continues all current student programs and services, including mental health and other student supports added in recent years. Budget additions for next year include one elementary special education teacher and one Spanish teacher that will be shared between elementary and high school grade levels.
The approved budget also includes funding that will support the district’s return to a self-operated food service program instead of a contracted food service program to regain better control over the cost and quality of the food the district provides. More information about this food program will be sent home to families in June.
Spending increases are attributed to contractual salary raises, employee benefits, capital project payments and the additional instructional positions listed above.
Additionally, voters selected Carol S. Burns and Patty Amidon to serve on the Arkport Public Library Board of Trustees and authorize the district to levy and collect $36,572 in taxes to support the public library’s services and offerings.
New York state education law allows libraries to place a funding proposition on school district ballots and requires school districts, at the libraries’ requests, to levy and collect taxes for libraries.
The libraries are separate legal entities from the school district, with their own funding and budget. The amount of the tax levy collected by a school district for a library remains the same each year until the library requests a proposition to change that amount.