Cornwall Central board presents $92 million budget, seeks voter approval May 20

Board of Education member Bridal Carty, joined by fellow board members Christian Bernelli and Christine Diaz and district leaders, presented the Cornwall Central School District’s proposed $92,000,009.86 budget for the 2025–26 school year and urged voters to approve it in a May 20 election.

“This budget would preserve all of our current programs, make important investments to student safety and early childhood education, while keeping our tax increase consistent with surrounding school districts,” Board member Bridal Carty said.

The nut graf: The board adopted a budget that would raise the district’s tax levy by 2.75%, below this year’s tax-cap limit of 3.08%, and would use nearly $2.5 million in fund balance to reduce the local tax impact. The proposal includes recurring spending for a full-time safety monitor, a full-time early intervention support teacher (split between Cornwall on Hudson and Willow Avenue Elementary), 20 additional universal prekindergarten seats, and a raise to uncertified substitute pay; it also proposes a one-time transfer to capital to install a districtwide lockdown and emergency notification system. Voters will also see a proposition to authorize creation of a new $5,000,000 capital reserve fund.

Key figures and drivers: The proposed spending level totals $92,000,009.86, a roughly $2.7 million increase from the prior year. The district projects a tax levy of nearly $54 million to fund the budget; the levy increase would be 2.75%. District leaders said roughly $2.4 million of the increase represents a…