Trumansburg voters to weigh in on $32.1M school budget

Editor’s note: This story was written on April 25, before New York state lawmakers and Gov. Kathy Hochul finalized the state’s budget. The state budget will ultimately determine how much Trumansburg Central School District (TCSD) receives in state financial aid.

Voters will decide on Trumansburg Central School District’s $32.1 million budget for the 2025-26 school year at the ballot box on May 20.

The new spending plan put forth by the district signifies an increase in spending of about $990,000 from last year’s budget, or around 3.2%. 

The district is seeking to levy almost $14.2 million in taxes. For a home in the district valued at $250,000, the tax bill would come out to $3,485, according to a set of slides presented by TCSD School Business Executive and Title IX Coordinator Amanda Verba at the TCSD Board of Education April 8 meeting.

The biggest increases in the budget are found in the district’s “program component.” The program component is one of three — the other two components are administrative and capital. From the 2024-25 school year to the upcoming 2025-26 term, the district expects to spend an extra $1.5 million, approximately, in its program offerings. The upcoming year’s program component will total almost $23.9 million. 

The administrative component also increased by almost $100,000 in the upcoming year. The district expects to reduce its capital component expenditures by almost $500,000 in the ensuing school year.

This year’s budget, Verba said, should be one that brings stability to the district. Last year, business officials, administrators and board of education leaders grappled with a difficult budget that saw reductions in staff and forecasted grim financial times ahead.

“We do know that last year there were some really difficult conversations and difficult decisions that had to be made around planning; it was really driven around enrollment,” Verba said. “We want to make sure this year … to stabilize the experience for our staff and young people, as well as create opportunities in this budget for the ability to meet staff needs.”

According to last year’s budget presentation, the forecast for student enrollment looked bleak, district officials said at the time. 

The lower enrollment projections, they said, could result in a loss of a portion of state aid. But the projections presented by Verba on April 8 showed that the next four years may actually present an uptick in students at TCSD. The district projects to have 996 students during the 2025-26 school year, which will increase to 1,013 the next year, then to 1,023 the year after that and then to 1,044 the year after that. 

Much of the district’s revenue every year comes from state aid, found in the New York state budget. At the moment, the district expects to receive almost $15.3 million in state funding, but that figure is not finalized, as the state budget has not been approved by Albany lawmakers.

“We still don’t have a state budget,” Verba said. “That is out of our control.”

The state budget is due on April 1 but is never negotiated on time by the leaders in the state legislature and the governor. Typically, the budget includes several pieces of legislation and policy initiatives on top of the state’s spending plan, which is ultimately the catalyst for these delays. 

This year, Gov. Hochul has said that she won’t ratify a budget that doesn’t include her policy priorities, which include reforms to the state’s discovery and involuntary commitment laws.

Also at the ballot box is a proposal to buy new buses during the 2026-27 school year. 

Voters will decide on approving the purchase of two full-size propane buses at $209,000 each or around $418,000 total. The propositions include a hybrid student transport for $50,000 and a stake rack/dump truck for $100,000.

The district will host a budget public hearing on May 6 at 5:30 p.m. 

The budget vote will take place May 20 from noon to 8 p.m. at the Ulysses Historical Society. 

Ulysses Connection appears every week in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@vizellamedia.com. Contact Eddie Velazquez at edvel37@gmail.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @ezvelazquez.

In brief:

The Trumansburg Conservatory of Fine Arts (TCFA) will host its Spring Dance Recital May 17 and 18 at the Trumansburg High School auditorium. 

Tickets are on sale now at the following prices:

• $6.00 for single entry
• $15.00 for the weekend pass
• Free for children 12 and under

“Our 2025 Spring Dance Recital will celebrate our ongoing renovations and subsequent inspirational journey,” according to a post on TCFA’s website. “This year is reigniting our passion and love for dance. As our beloved TCFA grows as a monument of community and culture, we will expand and reignite in our beautiful town of Trumansburg.”

More information can be found here:

https://www.tburgconservatory.org/reignited-spring-dance-recital.