OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen Board of Education members Aaron Marshall and Sheila Hahn look on during public comments regarding the school budget proposal at a recent meeting.

The majority of voters got what they wanted in rejecting the Fredonia Central School District’s proposed 2025-2026 school budget. The district has responded by making even more cuts.

The updated budget proposal for a June 17 re-vote carries a total amount of $38,193,800. That figure is a decrease of $142,205 from the budget proposal that was rejected on May 20. The new budget carries a 1.9% tax increase, down from the proposed 2.59% increase that was rejected.

The initial budget vote was a close result, as voters rejected the budget by a narrow margin of 472-414. The initial 2025-2026 Fredonia School Budget proposal carried a total amount of $38,336,005. That figure was an increase of 5.23% from the previous budget. The new spending increase percentage is 4.85%. The updated tax levy is $17,486,255.

While costs across the board have risen, Fredonia’s new budget proposal for the re-vote amounts to no additional tax impact added to the previously approved 1.9% tax increase approved by voters in December attached to Proposition 1 of the Capital Project. District voters approved the first proposition of the Capital Project by a vote of 980-768, while Proposition 2 pertaining to the music department and Proposition 3 pertaining to athletics were both rejected.

After the budget proposal failed May 20, the district was forced to make more cuts to bring its additional increase — on top of the Capital Project jump — down to zero. Among the cuts were two teaching positions — one high school position that will not be replaced after a retirement, and another staff reduction at the middle school level through reevaluation of needs. The district is also making cuts to its summer school programming in grades K-8. The projected enrollment for 2025-2026 is 1,440 students in grades K-12.

Superintendent Dr. Brad Zilliox spoke to the needs of students and the discussions centered around staffing cuts at a recent budget meeting of the Board of Education on Friday night. Zilliox said, “We do the best we can to bring a proposal that balances those needs, those programs, and those opportunities with the cost.”

If the new proposed budget were to be rejected again in the re-vote, Business Administrator John Forbes said the district would likely need to cut an additional 3-4 positions to reduce the total tax increase to 0%, including the previously approved capital improvements.

“We are hoping to avoid that. We are hoping that we will bring a proposal that will work for everyone,” Zilliox said. “We are really trying to put our students in the best possible position to be successful.”

Mary Deas, a retired Fredonia teacher, spoke to the Board again on Friday night to reiterate her desire for the district to make more cuts. Deas also brought her grandchildren to the meeting, one of which spoke and urged the district to pursue more educational opportunities that do not cost money.

Deas stated that because of the increase to state aid the district will receive this upcoming year, even a 0% tax increase is not low enough in her opinion. She characterized the district as “addicted to spending.”

Voters are now being asked to approve a budget that carries a 1.9% tax increase – which has already been approved in December – in order for the new budget to pass.

“I don’t see it happening,” outgoing Board of Education member Brian Aldrich said. Aldrich later voted against every resolution on the agenda, as he did with every budget related item prior to the vote, for “consistency” in his belief that any tax increase at all is too much to ask for.

Fredonia High School Principal Darrin Paschke, a lifelong Fredonia resident who is set to retire after this school year, emphasized during public comments at the recent budget meeting that the 1.9% increase was already approved by the voters in December. There is no longer an additional tax increase on top of the 1.9% increase that was already approved.

Proposition 1 of the Capital Project contains $22.1 million of prioritized maintenance work for the district. That figure was down from the initial recommendation of $50 million of maintenance work the district initially was urged to address by architects from Young and Wright. Of the prioritized needs, more than $15 million of the maintenance will be done at the main campus, including over $7 million in roofing improvements only pertaining to the most dire areas of the roofs.

The Board of Education voted 4-1 in favor of the new proposed budget, with Aldrich as the only vote against it. Aaron Marshall and Jerry Kinney were absent for the vote.

The Fredonia Central School District 2025-2026 School Budget re-vote will be on Tuesday, June 17, from 2 to 9 p.m. in the high school cafeteria.