Dr. Bradley Zilliox says state aid is helping many districts.

With the Fredonia School Board of Education setting their tentative budget at $31,295,067 for the 2021-22 school year, the only thing they have to do now is wait to see if it is approved by the public. The vote for budget approval will be held on May 18 from 2 to 9 p.m. in the high school cafeteria.

The budget also features a tax levy of zero percent, which while the school board is proud of, President Brian Aldrich knows that for the long term, the levy of zero percent is not sustainable. “I’ve said it several times and I’ll say it again, that is not sustainable and that is not something we will be able to do every year,” he said. “I don’t want taxpayers to expect zero percent every year.”

In order to be able to vote on the school budget, you must be an American citizen of 18 years or older by the day of the vote, and you must have legal residency of 30 days or more in the Fredonia Central School District on the day of the vote.

The school budget is not the only thing voters will be deciding on that day. The School Board of Education Election is also on the ballot. As the race stands now, two full, five-year terms of office are up for grabs, as well as a one-year term of office. Current sitting board member Courtney Gullo is on the ballot, with Aaron Marshall, Jillian Domenico, Marieanne Fabiano, and Sheila Starkey Hahn also on the ballot.

“The two with the most votes will get the five year terms, and the one with the third amount of votes will get the one year term,” Aldrich said. “The one with the most votes will continue on until the first of July.”

Leading up to the election, the League of Women Voters of Chautauqua County will host a Meet the Candidates forum for those up for election for the Fredonia Board of Education. The meeting will be held on May 12 at 7 p.m., but will not be a live event for the public. The meeting will be posed on the Fredonia school website the next day. Those who would like to submit questions for the candidates can email them to lwvwmtc2020@gmail.com or call Fredonia District Clerk Christine Slagle at 716-679-1581, ext. 2701. More information on the event can be viewed at www.fredonia.wnyric.org.

Last month, the district discussed the process for putting the spending plan together. “The initial predictions for next year’s budget were not favorable,” said Superintendent Dr. Bradley Zilliox. “But all districts in New York state ended up with increased funding from both state and federal sources.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many issues for everyone, including the Fredonia school board. The financial ramifications and fallout of the pandemic was not lost on the Board when the budget was being discussed.

“We understand that this year has been difficult on our entire school community in a variety of ways,” Zilliox said. “The economic impact to our taxpayers was not lost on us when preparing next year’s budget. Instead of potentially using the additional funds for programming we may not be able to sustain over the long haul, we have used this money in part to ensure a zero percent levy increase.”

Zilliox said the additional funding allowed Fredonia to maintain the zero percent increase, but that may not be possible in years to come. Fredonia’s increases over the last three years were zero, 1%, and zero, but the long-term sustainability of the low increases does not seem likely.

“The Fredonia taxpayers have a long history of supporting our school budget and looking out for our student’s best interests,” Zilliox said. “Part of our mentality as a district with the additional aid is to return this generosity to our community. We look forward to continuing our partnership with the community in the future as we continue to build fiscally responsible budgets for our school district.”

Over the last seven years of Fredonia budgets, five of them have not increased to the tax cap. Aldrich noted that is a testament to the work of Business Administrator John Forbes.

“Out of those seven years, we have added significantly to our reserves,” he said, “which is a tribute to Mr. Forbes and his diligence in making sure we’re not spending unneeded funds.”