Pictured is Gowanda School Business Administrator Barb Smith.

GOWANDA — Business Administrator Barb Smith fought through an illness to share a budget update with the Gowanda Board of Education at its recent meeting via videoconference. The Gowanda Central School District is proposing a tax levy increase of 1.2% for the upcoming year’s school budget, with a total budget increase of 2.1%.

The tax increase of 1.2% is the same increase as a year ago when the district proposed a budget just over $39 million. This year, a 1.2% amounts to an increase of $65,080 to the tax levy.

The 2025-26 budget had a total increase of more than $1.3 million (3.8%) from the previous year. This year’s projected increase is $814,010, bringing the total budget amount to just shy of $40 million.

=The current operating budget, which voters approved last year, was supported by a tax levy of roughly $5.4 million of the $39 million budget. This year, after a total budget increase of 2.1% again surpasses the tax levy increase of 1.2%, the district is projecting an appropriation of $835,350 to cover the difference between overall revenue and expenditures.

Smith called the timing of this year’s budget “strange”, with unsettled contracts with both instructional and non-instructional groups. Smith also highlighted health insurance increases ranging from 11.5% to 13%. Smith originally budgeted for a 10% increase, and plans “to revisit that.” Smith also noted that there is “a lot going on with Special Ed.”, with more placements expected in the coming years.

The Board of Education will rule on its budget proposal on April 1. If approved, the public will vote on the budget in May.

The budget vote will also contain a proposition with the intent to create another capital reserve fund to support a future project. The district is transferring the funds in its current capital reserve account to address its ongoing improvements. The district’s $44.5 million Capital Project proposal passed in December.