Wappingers superintendent outlines proposed 2025-26 budget, tax-cap calculations and public schedule

Superintendent Dwight Bank outlined the Wappingers Central School District's proposed 2025-26 budget and the district's public engagement schedule in a recorded presentation, and explained how the state tax-cap calculation and state aid timing affect the final levy the board can propose.

Bank said the district's preliminary 2025-26 tax levy proposal is higher than the 2024-25 levy and described it as a 1.50 percent increase compared with the prior year. He said the district's proposed levy would rise from "$190,231,957" in 2024-25 to "$193,094,943" in 2025-26 (figures given by Bank). Bank also said the proposed 2025-26 budget total is $305,851,033.

The superintendent explained the state's tax-cap (tax levy limit) process, saying the state formula uses eight calculation steps that start with the prior year's levy…