Budget session focuses on administrators, capital projects

BY KASSARA MCELROY

The second of a series of Board of Education budget discussions took place this week, focused on anticipated administrative and capital costs for the 2023/24 school year.

As a refresher, the proposed budget for the 2023/24 school year totals $130,282,491. That’s a budget-to-budget increase of 4.58%, or $5,703,042, which falls within the allowable tax cap levy of 2.32%. In May, this budget along with the election of a new Garden City Board of Education trustee will be on the ballot for voters.

A bulk of that budget, about 75% or $97,962,256, is related to program or instructional expenses, which the next two board meetings will cover. The rest is made up of capital (~13% or $17,497,537) and administrative costs (~11% or $14,822,698).

Different codes come into play with this portion of the budget. These relate to the District’s various departments, including its BOE (workshops, election expenses, etc.), central administration (salaries, supplies, travel, etc.), business admin (salary, benefits, work-

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“The upgrade work is being done in the rights-of-way the utilities companies hold. In the village this includes atop the telephone poles in residential backyards. Since it is fiber optic it is light on materials and I am told there is no radiation emitted from that,” he

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