Belleville board rejects proposed 2025–26 budget after heated public comment; monitor may set levy

The Belleville Board of Education voted down the district's proposed 2025–26 budget on a roll-call vote after a lengthy budget presentation and more than an hour of public comment. The proposed spending plan would have increased the school tax levy by 2.93%, which the administration estimated would add about $126 to the average assessed home.

Business Administrator Matthew Palladino presented the budget and said administrators had cut $2.6 million from initial proposals to reach the 2.93% levy figure. Palladino said the administration planned to use $4.5 million from capital reserves, project $675,000 in miscellaneous revenue, and account for $750,000 in additional extraordinary state aid to help offset the levy. "We're 15,000,000 below based on what the state is saying," Palladino said, referring to the state's adequacy calculation.

The budget hearing drew repeated questions from residents about staffing, the cost of planned facilities work, health benefits and prior loan payments the district has completed. Michael Sheldon, a frequent public commenter, urged deeper personnel savings and called on the board to force a hiring moratorium: "If 30 staff members were removed, we would have a $0 tax increase for the next academic year," he said. Several trustees voiced similar concerns during discussion.

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