Jefferson Central School Revote Set For June 18

JEFFERSON - The Jefferson Central School District will be putting out to its community the adopted 2024-2025 budget for a revote on June 18. Voting will occur from noon - 8 p.m. in the lobby area by the school library. A second budget hearing was held on June 11.

The proposed $8,137,820 budget has no reductions in programming, athletics, staffing or extracurricular activities. The new figures are up 5.43 percent over the current budget and project a 3.84 percent increase in the tax levy. It remains within the allowable tax cap.

It was rejected by just four votes on May 21 and school board of education members have made the decision to propose the same budget again.

In an email, Superintendent Tarkan Ceng indicated that if the re-vote is not successful, the district will adopt a contingent budget that does not raise the tax levy, as required by law. "In the event of a contingent budget, some reductions in expenditures will be needed to offset the loss of additional tax revenue. It is important to note that many of our expenditures are necessary to meet state requirements and contractual obligations; these expenses cannot be reduced. Therefore, under a contingent budget, we unfortunately would have no choice but to look at reducing costs that could impact the programming we are able to offer students."