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Massena Central finance committee chair predicting tough 2018-19 budget process

Posted 1/11/18

By ANDY GARDNER MASSENA -- The Massena Central Board of Education finance committee chair predicts a tough budget year, but he says it’s too early to tell exactly how things will play out. …

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Massena Central finance committee chair predicting tough 2018-19 budget process

Posted

By ANDY GARDNER

MASSENA -- The Massena Central Board of Education finance committee chair predicts a tough budget year, but he says it’s too early to tell exactly how things will play out.

“We’re not expecting it to be a great budget year,” finance committee chair Loren Fountaine told the board at their Thursday meeting. “When the state’s $4 billion in debt, it’s hard to imagine we’re going to see a big increase in educational funding.”

He said the board is anticipating “running at a deficit budget” and it’s “not going to be a year where we’re going to be adding a lot of things. Hopefully going to be retaining what we have.”

He hopes they will get enough aide from the state to get by, since Gov. Andrew Cuomo in his State of the State Address said he “wanted to get money to schools in need,” Fountaine said.

The current Massena Central budget totaled about $52.6 million and called for just under a 1 percent increase to the tax levy.