TICONDEROGA -- Cuts in personnel and programs enabled the Ticonderoga Central School District to propose a new budget with a 4.3-percent tax-levy hike.

Superintendent John McDonald Jr. said budget planning started with an 8-percent tax hike, which the School Board said was unacceptable, and they whittled it down to half that.

"We had to make cuts in staffing, five positions. Modified B sports was cut. We cut $53,000 from the transportation part of the budget."

State aid went up only 1 percent for Ticonderoga, from $6.2 million to $6.3 million.

That all resulted in a $16.6 million budget for 2008-09, up 2.68 percent from $16.2 million this year.

The tax levy -- the amount to be raised by taxes -- will be $8.94 million, a 4.3-percent increase over the current $8.57 million.

CUTS, COSTS

McDonald said they eliminated two teacher aides, a half-time teaching assistant and one full-time and one part-time librarian. One person who retired will not be replaced. That saved a total of $319,000, he said.

The transportation cut means no new school vans will be purchased next year, as had been planned.

The big increases in the budget were for fuel, salaries and benefits, bond debt service and implementing the new State Response to Intervention program, which is designed to better accommodate students with learning disabilities.

Payments on a bond issue approved by voters in 2007 don't start until the 2010-11 school year, he said, so they aren't part of this proposed budget. The $23.87 million building project will add a new High School wing.

No tax rate has been figured for the new budget, McDonald said. The current tax rate is $11.16 per $1,000 of assessment in Ticonderoga and $11.96 in the Hague, Warren County, part of the district.

CONTINGENCY

McDonald said that if voters reject the budget, the district can either vote again or go to a contingency budget. Using the state's formula, the contingency budget could actually be $263,900 higher than the proposed budget, he said.

He said that in the last nine years, the tax levy has risen an average of 6.8 percent a year. District spending has increased an average of 4.8 percent annually.