Locust Valley reviews $96.4 million spending plan, tax-cap calculation and capital projects; Proposition 2 will use reserves

Locust Valley Central School District officials on Wednesday presented the third budget briefing for the 2024–25 fiscal year, describing a $96.4 million proposed expenditure plan, a tax-levy increase calculated at 2.7% under the state tax-cap formula and a capital-improvement package that will be funded from the district’s capital reserve and placed on the ballot as Proposition 2.

The presentation matters because the spending plan determines staffing, curriculum additions and capital work while the tax-levy calculation limits how much property-tax revenue the district may request from homeowners under New York State’s tax-cap framework.

Karen Horzewski, who led the budget presentation, said the district’s current-year expenditure budget is $96,400,000 and that salaries and benefits account for about three-quarters of that total. “Of the $96,400,000 budget, $88,000,000 comes from the tax levy,” Horzewski said, summarizing the district’s primary revenue source and the central numbers used in the tax-cap computation.

Horzewski walked the board through the components of the tax-cap calculation cited in the presentation: the…