BRUNO ANNOUNCES AN ADDITIONAL $400,000 FOR TROY SCHOOL DISTRICT -- TAX HIKE COULD BE REDUCED TO 10%

Monday, May 20, 2002

Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno announced today that he has secured an additional $400,000 in state aid for the Troy School District and that Superintendent Armand Reo and Troy School Board President Clem Zotto have agreed to propose to the school board that the estimated school property tax rate increase be reduced from 20 percent to 10 percent.

These funds are in addition to the $5.7 million increase in state operating aid and other financial assistance included in the budget for Troy schools. Troy school officials had proposed reducing a potential property tax hike from 40 percent to 20 percent by using the bulk of the $5.7 million.

"Troy school voters will be asked to vote on a budget tomorrow that could have resulted in a tax increase that was still too high," Senator Bruno said. "I'm pleased that district administration officials have agreed to pursue using these additional funds I have secured to further reduce a proposed property tax increase to a more manageable level."

After meeting with Reo, Board President Zotto and others this afternoon, the school officials agreed to propose to the school board that the additional $400,000 in state aid, along with remaining funds from prior year school aid claims that Senator Bruno secured in the budget, to reduce the property tax increase to approximately 10 percent for the next school year.

"This is a far cry from the 40 percent tax increase originally proposed and I strongly encourage the board to support Superintendent Reo and adopt the lower increase," Senator Bruno said.

The additional $400,000 in aid comes from money set aside for fiscal stabilization grants in the 2001-02 state budget for school districts with needs that are not fulfilled by aid obtained through the school aid formula. Other changes announced last week would allow the district to bond out a $16.5 million accumulated deficit over ten years to help close the shortfall that has built up over recent years.

The 2002-03 state budget includes $3.9 million in new operating aid for Troy. In addition, provisions in the budget will allow the Troy School District to access the Municipal Bond Bank to speed up payment of $1,787,924 in prior year school aid claims that are owed the district, that when added to the operating aid, produces $5.7 million in new assistance.

[BIOGRAPHY] [DISTRICT MAP] [PHOTO GALLERY] [LEGISLATION] [CONSTITUENT SERVICES] [YOUR OPINION COUNTS] [GUESTBOOK] [PRIVACY POLICY] [SENATE INSIDER] [CONTACT INFO] [HOME/NEWS]