Mount Vernon board adopts $272.2 million 2025–26 budget with 3.3% tax levy increase

Mount Vernon City School Board on April adopted a $272,206,615 budget for the 2025–26 school year and transmitted the required property tax report card to the state, approving a 3.3% increase in the district tax levy that Superintendent’s office staff said would fund contract settlements and preserve programs.

Assistant Superintendent for Business Jose Formosa, who presented the budget, said the plan is intended to create “a path to sustainability” after the district posted multiyear operating deficits and drew down fund balance. "When we started the year, we knew it was going to be a challenging year with the way things were trending fiscally," Formosa said during the board meeting.

The nut of the plan: the district used reorganization savings and expense reductions to close an expected gap and present a $272.2 million spending plan rather than a roll‑over budget that would have approached $289.1 million. Formosa said the adopted budget aims to preserve pre‑K, athletics, after‑school programs and arts offerings while accounting for multiple contract settlements that will be due when bargaining units reach the end of their current contracts.

Why it matters: Formosa told the board that the district’s fund balance dropped from roughly $33 million in 2019 to about $6.9 million at the end of 2024, and that reserves stood at approximately…