The entryway at Fredonia Central Schools.

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

As a result of the failed budget vote on May 20, the Fredonia Central School District will hold a re-vote on Tuesday, June 17.

In order to meet the state-mandated timeline for a re-vote, Fredonia will hold a special meeting for the presentation of the 2025-2026 School Budget on Friday, May 30 at 6 p.m. in the High School Library.

The meeting will be held Friday in order to have enough members of the Board of Education present to vote to adopt a new proposed budget for a vote on June 17. Friday was the only available date prior to the next meeting of the Board on June 3 to hold the meeting.

The 2025-2026 Fredonia School Budget that was rejected carried a total proposed amount of $38,336,005. That figure was an increase of 5.23% from the previous budget.

In 2021-2022 and 2022-2023, the Fredonia School Budget increased just over 2% each year due to rising costs and salaries. Last year, that figure jumped to 8.52%. The proposed increase this year was still more than 5% higher than last year’s amount, even after the 8.52% jump.

Fredonia is one of just over 20 school districts across the state that requires a re-vote after its budget proposal was rejected by voters. The margin of the vote was narrow, as 472 voters said no, compared to 414 who said yes.

With a 65% tax increase in the village of Fredonia combined with an already approved 1.9% tax increase tied to Proposition 1 of the capital project from last winter, voters said an additional 0.69% tax increase on top of that was too much to stomach.

All eyes will be on whether or not Fredonia makes substantial cuts. One cut that has been suggested through several board meetings was electing to not replace an outgoing staff member. The latest edition of the budget proposal already featured substantial equipment cuts.

The Board still plans to hold regular meetings on June 3 and June 17, in addition to Friday’s meeting and the June 17 vote.