What Happens if Voters Reject the Huntington School Budget?
If voters in the Huntington School District reject the proposed school budget on May 18, trustees have several options. They can submit the same budget for a revote, place a revised plan on the ballot or adopt an austerity/contingent budget. If residents reject the budget again in a second vote, state law imposes a cap on any spending increase over the current year’s plan.
The budget adopted by the Huntington School Board at its April 19 meeting includes a 3.6 percent increase in spending, attributed in part to significant increases for mandated retirement system costs ($1,350,000), programs for students with disabilities ($481,645), student transportation ($264,598) and employee health insurance ($247,347).
If Huntington is required to operate on a contingent budget next year, trustees would have to cut $3,564,539 from the plan they have placed on the May 18 ballot. Spending would need to be reduced from the proposed amount of $108,786,539 to $105,222,000.
During the budget development process the district reduced possible spending by more than $3.1 million. “The cuts to the proposed budget come on top of millions of dollars in reductions during previous years,” Superintendent John J. Finello said. “If the district is required to operate on a contingent budget for 2010/11, more than $3.5 million in additional reductions will need to be made, reaching into virtually every area of the budget.”
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