W. Babylon Draft Budget Up 2.5% From Last Year

West Babylon School District will look to increase its budget just over two-and-a-half percent as the second draft puts the total budget for the 2013-2014 school year at $98,677,021.

The increase from the current 2012-2013 budget is just under $2.5 million, as the district takes on more expenses in the form of unaided state mandates.

The district said it will look to raise the tax levy just below its maximum allowable limit of 3.67 percent, bringing in a total of over $66.5 million to the district's budget.

Unlike the neighboring Babylon School District, West Babylon expects to see an increase in state aid, according to the proposed budget released by Governor Andrew Cuomo earlier this year. The district said, in a presentation earlier this month, it expects to see $26,691,749, a 1.71 percent increase from the previous year's state aid.

State aid accounts for a major portion of the West Babylon School District's budget – 27.28 percent – and has taken a large hit over the past five years. During the 2008-2009 school year, West Babylon received over $30 million in state aid before cuts slashed nearly $5 million over three years before slowly increasing during the past two year's budgets. West Babylon, however, has only recovered $448,585 of the total lost.

Despite seeing less aid than in recent years, the district's presentation noted West Babylon will be able to continue to maintain many of its programs, including a nine-period day at the junior and senior high schools, all sports clubs, full-day kindergarten, electives and continue to update district technology before state mandates kick in during the 2014-2015 school year.

The district will present a third drafted budget to the public on April 2 at West Babylon High School at 7:30 p.m. The school board will adopt a new budget on April 26 and it will go to the public vote on May 21.