KEENE VALLEY — A reduced version of Keene Central School’s proposed 2025-26 budget will go before voters again after the over-the-tax-cap $9.3 million version failed in May.
The new vote is from noon to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, June 17, on a pared down $9.1 million spending plan that that is at the state’s 3.03 percent tax levy cap for the school district.
The tax levy in the budget is $7.37 million, a reduction from the $7.51 million version that voted rejected. That one would have had a 4.65 percent tax levy increase and needed a 60 percent supermajority to pass. It received a 54 percent yes vote, 215 yes to 185 no.
Superintendent Dan Mayberry said he and the School Board pared $138,589 from the original budget by eliminating a teaching assistant position by attrition and taking out some special health insurance to save $59,450.
The school will buy fewer supplies, software and textbooks, and the school has a reserve fund for unemployment insurance it can use if needed, so that budget line for $3,000 was eliminated.
The school is also refining a new position it hoped to create for a library and media specialist to save some money.
Because this budget is at the tax cap it needs only a simple majority to pass, Mayberry said.
He said they tried to reduce spending while preserving student programs, so the impact on the educational process was minimal.
“That was the mindset,” he said.
The election will be held at the main entrance to the school in Keene Valley.