By THOMAS LUCKIE III

OGDENSBURG -- The school budget vote for the Ogdensburg City School District’s 2018-2019 budget will take place on Tuesday, May 15 at the Edgar A. Newell, II Golden Dome at Ogdensburg Free Academy.

Voting will run from noon until 9 p.m. and be held exclusively at the Golden Dome. The district plans to have signs and staff present at Grant C. Madill Elementary School to direct voters to the Golden Dome, if necessary.

The proposed budget for next school year totals $45.2 million on the expenditures side, which marks a $300,000 decrease from the current school year’s budget.

On the revenue side, the proposed budget’s tax levy increase of 2.58 percent stays within the tax cap, which the district has never exceeded since its inception.

Superintendent Timothy Vernsey cited health insurance savings as the primary driving factor behind the decrease in expenditures at Monday’s Board of Education meeting.

Vernsey also pointed out that the proposed budget includes no cuts to student programming across all grade levels.

“This budget does still provide students with a quality education, a quality extra-curricular selection of activities and I think it’s a good budget to put forth before the taxpayers,” Vernsey said.

“The administration has worked very hard and I appreciate all their efforts,” Board President Ronald Johnson added.

Aside from the annual school budget vote, the ballot will also include an Ogdensburg Public Library referendum to be decided by voters. The referendum seeks an additional $75,000 in appropriated annual funds for the library.

During the school budget vote last May, district voters approved an annual appropriation of $50,000 for the library. Should this year’s referendum also be approved, the total would increase to $125,000 annually until modified by a future vote.

The ballot will also include the option to write in a candidate for a seat on the Board of Education for a five-year term, as no formal petitions were submitted to the district by the deadline.

In order to participate, voters must be a United States citizen 18 years of age or older and a resident of the Ogdensburg City School District for 30 days prior to the election. Voters are encouraged to bring proof of identification and residency to the polls.

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