To The Editor,
The East Ramapo Central School District budget increase is 5.56%. On a $367 million budget, that is a substantial amount of money. While the district says there will likely be no increase in the tax levy this year, that statement can be misleading.
This 5.56% increase is not just for one year — it becomes part of the base budget for every succeeding year. Even if taxpayers do not see an immediate tax increase now, this higher spending level will continue into future budgets and could eventually result in significantly higher taxes for residents.
In my opinion, the district should have presented a zero-percent budget increase, which could have led to meaningful tax relief for taxpayers.
Residents still remember when voters approved only a 1% increase several years ago, but the New York State Education Department overrode the vote and imposed a 5.38% increase instead. We later learned that the district reportedly had a surplus of approximately $20 to $30 million, despite claims at the time of a budget shortfall.
That state-imposed increase continues to be built into the district’s budget to this day, meaning taxpayers are still paying for an increase they never approved.
Taxpayers deserve transparency, accountability, and responsible budgeting.
Sincerely,
Kalman Weber
East Ramapo Taxpayers Association
Monsey
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Well said.
I actually disagree. Next year, if they choose to raise taxes to match this year’s budget, it will still be reflected as a 5.56% tax hike. And people can say no to it then. For now, I think we should appreciate the kiddush hashem of the board finding ways to both increase services and save the public from a tax increase…
You don’t understand the way the contingency budget works. The levy and budget aren’t the same thing. Next year even if the voters vote No to an increase in “budget”, they will fall back to contingency budget which will be the same as this years budget, yet it will REQUIRE a “levy” increase since the money they used this years to override the increase is gone.