UV budget comes in with 4.4 percent tax increase

NEW BERLIN – With a budget of $19,826,092, taxpayers should see an increase of roughly 4.4 percent, according to Unadilla Valley administrators.

Superintendent Robert Mackey said taxpayers are expected to see an increase in the tax levy, as next year’s budget is “not pretty.”

The superintendent said there were many factors that made this year’s budget a challenge. “We saw a loss of $253,000 in revenue between March 31 and April 11,” he said.

The loss is a mix of less state aid than originally anticipated and less money within the Reading First grant, Mackey explained.

“We have had to do a lot of figuring to make ends meet,” he said.

According to the superintendent, the Reading First program was one of the main factors involved in funding cuts for next year. Mackey explained when the program (grant) was first introduced, it was aniticapted that by the third year it would provide $350,000 in funding.

“In October the estimation lowered to $280,000 and by the end of March the figure we were getting was $78,000,” Mackey said, adding that taxpayers normally have three years to transition into fully funding these state mandated programs. Slowly, he said the budget would sustain the program on its’ own. Now he says that can not be done.