Local Assemblymen Propose School Budget Legislation

 Assemblyman George Amedore (R,C-Rotterdam) and Assemblyman James Tedisco (R,C,I-Schenectady-Saratoga) are introducing the School Budget Vote Fairness Act, which will ensure that contingency budgets do not exceed previous budget increases. Amedore said, "When voters go to the polls and reject a budget, they are standing up for their rights as taxpayers. However, many times the budget they are forced to accept does not reflect their wishes and in some cases are far worse; we cannot allow the alternative to be worse than the initial offering. At a time when our economy is not doing so well and taxpayers are cash-strapped, the last thing school boards should be doing is increasing amount taxpayers must pay," Amedore added: "Our goal with this legislation is to give clarity to how contingency budgets should be crafted, in the best interest of the taxpayers."

 On Wednesday, taxpayers from the Schenectady School District, passed their budget by a narrow margin, an increase of five percent. However, had this measure not passed the alternative would have increased taxes by 15.8 percent. Tedisco said, "When a school district must go back to the drawing board and craft a contingency budget, it should be less than the proposed budget,"

According to Tedisco, This bill will close the loop-hole in order to protect taxpayers by mandating contingency budgets to no more than four percent, including the statutory exclusions school district's can raise above the cap. The bill also requires that no increase of expenditures in a contingency budget should be attributable to projected increases or changes in school district demographics. In other words, the more students projected the more money schools can include over the four percent cap.