Pine Plains will put up budget unchanged for revote

PINE PLAINS - Voters in the Pine Plains school district will be asked a second time to approve a $25.89 million budget that was rejected at the polls Tuesday.

The spending plan projects a property tax levy of $17.14 million, an increase of $1.66 million, or 10.76 percent. Overall spending in the proposal is up would $1.34 million, or 5.47 percent.

Voting will be from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Stissing Mountain High School on state Route 199, the Elizaville Fire Station on Columbia County Route 19; and the Stanford Town Hall on state Route 82.

Trustees adopted the proposed budget for a second vote without changes at a Board of Education meeting Wednesday.
District Superintendent Linda Kaumeyer said the district will have to adopt a contingency budget if the plan is defeated on a second ballot. The contingency budget, she said, would limit spending to $25.36 million, an increase of $814,365, or 3.32 percent, and would set the property tax levy at $16.87 million, an increase of 9 percent, or $1.39 million.

"There are certain mandatory items in the equipment area that are removed from all contingent budget in public school districts," she said. "At this point, based on the calculations and research we have done, when all those mandatory things are removed there will be further decisions that (trustees) will have to make as to other cuts that would have to happen."

Items removed from the budget under a contingency plan would include bus replacements and athletic, maintenance and transportation equipment, she said.

A public hearing on the budget is scheduled for 7 p.m. June 4 at Stissing Mountain High School.