MIDDLEPORT — The Royalton-Hartland school district’s proposed $36.9 million budget for FY 2026-2027 is going to a public hearing Wednesday. The status quo spending plan calls for a 3% increase in the school tax levy.
The budget funds all existing staff positions and all programs for students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade, school business administrator Jessica Landers said.
The budget foresees a year-over-year total spending increase of $2.1 million (6.23%). Landers said the biggest drivers of the increase are a 30% ($800,000) rate increase in the Genesee Area Healthcare Plan for employees, and spending on school safety infrastructure upgrades (for which the district obtained a federal grant that will cover about 75% of the estimated $300,000 tab).
The projected FY 2026-27 tax levy is $11.9 million. The year-over-year levy increase, $348,000 (3%), is below the state-set cap, 3.77%.
The public hearing on the spending proposal will be held at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in the high school media center. It’s in advance of the May 19 public vote on the budget, school board members, two capital spending proposals and Royalton Hartland Community Library’s 2026-27 tax levy.
This year four school board seats are supposed to be filled by election but there are only two candidates on the ballot, incumbent trustees Nicholas Mark and Brian Sullivan, according to district clerk Jenna Snell.
Nine-year trustee Carol Blumrick’s term of office expires June 30 and she is not running again. Darnell Gray, who was appointed to fill resigned trustee Jason Wilhelm’s seat through May 19, did not submit paperwork to get on the ballot, and there is one year remaining on Wilhelm’s term of office. After the election, Snell said, the board will decide whether to appoint new trustees or hold a special election.
The additional May 19 ballot propositions are:
• Authorize the purchase of a new plow truck, at an estimated maximum cost of $90,000, using up to the same amount in the district’s Vehicles, Machinery and Equipment Reserve Fund.
• Authorize the purchase of up to 200 Chromebooks with cases and eight cleartouch panels, at an estimated maximum cost of $150,000, using up to the same amount in the district’s Technology and Security Equipment Reserve Fund. The equipment is for high school and middle school use.
• Authorize increasing the Royalton Hartland Community Library tax levy to $126,264. The current-year levy is $123,148.