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Port Jervis presents $103 million budget proposal with 0% tax-levy increase
Summary
District business officials presented a proposed $103 million 2025–26 budget that keeps the tax levy flat while warning board members that rising health, retirement and inflationary costs make continued zero increases unsustainable.
Port Jervis City School District officials presented a proposed $103,000,007 budget for 2025–26 that preserves a 0% tax-levy increase while reflecting a year-over-year spending rise driven largely by borrowing, benefit costs and retirement contributions.
The budget framework shown March 11 by Assistant Supervisor of Business John Tim keeps the tax levy flat but increases total spending, in large part because of planned capital borrowing and higher personnel-related costs. Tim said the districtproposal remains a rollover budget that meets contractual obligations and that the board will be asked to adopt a formal proposed budget next month.
Why it matters: District officials said previously deferred cost pressures are resurfacing. Health-insurance premiums and employer-paid benefit costs have risen, retirement-system contribution rates are climbing and the districtfaces new debt service tied to planned capital work. Those factors, Tim told the board, make maintaining multiple years of zero tax-levy increases increasingly difficult.
Key details - Proposed budget total: approximately $103.0 million (presented as the rollover proposal). - Tax levy: 0% increase proposed for 2025–26. Tim said the districthas an "allowable" levy increase of about 6.18% (roughly $1.8 million), which it is not using this year. - State and federal aid: Tim said projected state and federal aid in the proposal is higher than the prior year (he cited about $5.5 million in additional state and federal aid in the draft). - Use of reserves: The presentation described continued use of fund balance in the rollover model; Tim said he had reduced a previously estimated use of $2.9 million to a lower figure in the proposal. - Cost drivers highlighted: health insurance (district-paid premiums rising from roughly $5.5M to $7.4M over recent years, per the presentation), increased ERS/TRS retirement contributions (presented as 16.5% for ERS and roughly 10% for TRS on payroll), inflation and transportation/special-education costs. - Workforce and staffing notes: Tim said many employees are at or near top step on salary schedules; he reported 13 employees currently eligible to retire and another roughly 12 eligible in the following three years, which he said produces potential "breakage" savings but also hiring and benefit trade-offs.
Timeline and next steps - Tim asked the board to adopt the proposed budget at its April meeting and noted the district will hold a public budget hearing on May 6 and place a budget proposition and board seats on the May 20 ballot. Tim said the official state foundation-aid numbers will be clearer in April and he may adjust the proposal based on final aid figures.
What board members said Board members asked clarifying questions about assumptions for state aid and the sustainability of repeated 0% levy years. One member said multiple years of flat tax levies while inflation and benefit costs rise is "unsustainable" and urged the board to consider the long-term fiscal picture.
Ending District officials said they will provide more-detailed line items and updated state-aid figures at the April meeting and encouraged public review during the May budget-hearing process.
