Greene tax increase: Zero

GREENE – Greene Central School District residents won’t see an increase in their school taxes this year thanks to new state aid.

The 2007-2008 school year budget calls for an 8.92 percent raise in spending, but estimates the tax levy to hold steady at 27.9 percent of revenue. The proposed school budget totals $20,744,140.

Last year, the Greene Central School District’s budget was $19,045,295. The prior budget asked for an increase of 9.3 percent in spending and had a 5.3 percent tax levy increase.

Comparatively, this year’s budget is offering .38 percent lower increase in spending from last year’s budget and the tax levy remains the same. All together, the new budget would include an overall increase of $1,698,845.

“This year we had a 14.2 percent increase in state aid, which has allowed us to plan a very fair budget without any tax levy increase,” Greene Superintendent Gary P. Smith said. Smith said the increase in aid was because the district has a low capacity of resources. “We have no program cuts or less teaching staff, in fact we were about to increase a number of programs for our students,” he said.