Waterloo school district voters next month will get another chance to approve a 2023-2024 school budget.
Meeting in special session Thursday night, the Waterloo Board of Education voted to resubmit a budget with a reduced tax rate following Tuesday’s rejection by the voters of the $50.1-million-dollar spending plan that carried a tax levy rate of 1.75 percent.
The school board will cut $32,000 in spending. The new budget raises taxes by 1.5 percent. Only board member Andrea Bennett voted against the new budget increase. The amount to be collected from taxpayers is $11.4-million-dollars.
Board of Education President Ellen Hughes says the board cut more from an already tight budget.
The board went into executive session to discuss adopting a contingency budget which would have meant cutting school staff, possibly charging for use of school property, and deferring routine maintenance. The board instead agreed to offer another budget to the voters.
The new budget will be just under $50-million dollars because Governor Kathy Hochul’s new state budget cut $217,000 dollars in state aid to the district after the board had approved the $50,164.414 budget for the district-wide vote.
School officials will now design a new newsletter to mail to district residents.
A public hearing on the new budget will be held on June 6th. The budget vote will be held on June 20th.
Waterloo was one of four districts, out of 675-statewide, where voters rejected their school budgets.
