NEW ROCHELLE, NY — Residents this week approved the City School District of New Rochelle’s proposed $270,381,160 budget for the 2018-19 school year that stays within the state tax cap. The plan preserves programming and includes funds for several positions and safety measures.
The vote was 1,757-1,004. The results remain unofficial pending their formal adoption by the Board of Education on Tuesday.
The cap on the increase in the tax levy – the amount of money to be raised by property taxes – was 2.231 percent. The budget kept the increase to that level by cutting $3.4 million from the tax levy that was included in the $272.8 million budget that voters rejected in May.
The tax levy in the now-approved budget is $209,002,162. That is an increase of $4,560,520 over the levy of $204,441,642 in the 2017-2018 budget.
“This budget will serve the District well,” said Superintendent Dr. Brian Osborne. “By allocating resources responsibly, the budget preserves our programs, provides for necessary additions and also protects the fiscal health that we have worked so hard to improve in recent years.”
The newly adopted budget carries an estimated tax rate of $785.72 per $1,000 of assessed value. That’s an increase of $21 per $1,000, or 2.75 percent. The current rate is $764.72 per $1,000. The tax bill for a home assessed at $16,000, the city average, will be an estimated $12,571.52, an increase of $335.95. Such a home has an estimated market value of $695,000.
All necessary programs, faculty and staff positions currently in place for this school year are maintained in the proposed budget. It adds four school counselors at New Rochelle High School, one in each house. It also adds teaching positions to address pressing student needs. They include 2.1 English as a New Language teacher FTEs (split among Albert Leonard Middle School, Isaac E. Young Middle School and William B. Ward Elementary School); three special education teachers (one each at New Rochelle High School, ALMS and IEYMS); and one special education teaching assistant and one special education aide (both at the high school).
A sum of $200,000 is included for additional safety measures recommended by the Task Force on Reducing Violence in the Lives of Children and Youth and for recommendations that will come from a security assessment being conducted by the global firm Guidepost Solutions.