Monroe-Woodbury presents $236.7 million budget, $16.6 million capital proposition including classroom air conditioning

Superintendent Tracy Norman presented the Monroe-Woodbury Central School District's recommended 2025-26 budget Wednesday, proposing a $236,700,000 general fund budget and a 1.5% tax levy increase.

Norman said the district's recommended levy is well below the state tax cap for the year, which the presentation identified as 3.55%. "The tax levy that we are proposing is 1.5%, which is well below the maximum," Norman said, and the presentation attributed the lower levy largely to an increase in state aid from approximately $88 million to about $94 million.

The recommendation includes Proposition 2, a separate capital authorization of up to $16,600,000 to complement an existing $98,000,000 capital program. District business staff said the plan would use $5,300,000 from the district's capital reserve and borrow the remaining $11,300,000; staff said debt service repayment is expected to be offset by building aid over roughly 15 years so the work would have "no tax impact." The capital work described in the presentation would add air conditioning to classrooms at Pine Tree, North Main and Central Valley elementary schools and install walls and doors to enclose open-plan…