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Katonah-Lewisboro Voters Deciding On $108.7M Budget, Three Other Items

CROSS RIVER, N.Y. -- Katonah-Lewisboro voters will decide on a proposed 2015-16 budget, which includes cuts to spending and the tax levy, along with three other spending propositions.

Katonah-Lewisboro's school board.

Katonah-Lewisboro's school board.

Photo Credit: Tom Auchterlonie

The budget, which is a total of more than $108.7 million, includes a spending cut of more than $2.4 million, or 2.2 percent. The proposed tax levy, which represents the total amount of property tax revenue for the budget, will decline to around $96.2 million, or a cut of 2.8 percent. 

The annual fiscal proposal is the second in a row that has spending and tax levy cuts, district records show. The levy comes in well below a state-mandated cap, which varies each year based on a formula.

The projected tax rates, which determine what people owe per $1,000 of their property's assessed value, varies from town to town. Lewisboro residents are set to receive a 4 percent cut, with Bedford residents slated to get a 0.5 percent increase. Pound Ridge and North Salem residents are projected to see tax cuts of 8 and 6.8 percent, respectively.

The difference in tax rates is due to use of equalization rates, which are used to reconcile differences about how towns assess properties in relation to their market values.

The budget also includes a net cut of six positions, with the total district workforce going from 581 to 575.

The district's budget comes with large reductions in several areas, including state-mandated pension contributions and debt service.

The budget will be accompanied by a trio of referenda. One calls for authorizing the district to spend up to $827,500 for 10 school buses, which would be done with cash. Another is for the creation of a capital reserve fund, which would serve as a savings account for future turf field and track repairs and would have up to $2.5 million. Additionally, voters are being asked to decide on whether to approve $1.975 million in bonds to replace the roof at Meadow Pond Elementary School.

The votes on the budget and other items will be the same day as the school board elections, which are for two seats. The candidates are Marjorie Schiff and Stephanie Tobin, who are incumbents, and Carmen Delessio and Anne Foray, who are the challengers.

The votes are scheduled for Tuesday, May 19, with polling places corresponding to elementary school attendance zones.

Information on the budget and related propositions, which the school board approved at a March meeting, is available here.

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