Education

2014 voters’ guide for North Fork school districts

Oysterponds school board

OYSTERPONDS
Budget: $5.5 million
Estimated taxy levy increase: 1.94 percent
Proposition 1: Establishing a capital reserve fund
Proposition 2: $150,000 window repair project

Total spending is expected to increase by about $164,000, or 3.07 percent, according to district records. The main contributors to those expenses include rising benefit and special education costs, school officials said.

Voters will also be asked to approve two propositions: one that seeks to set up a capital fund budget line and another that would pull $150,000 from reserves for window upgrades. Once placed into a capital fund line following a public hearing, the monies must be spent on building upgrades or repairs. Any leftover funds not spent on upgrades would have to be given back to taxpayers, and residents would have to approve any project that would take money out of the capital fund. A similar proposition to set up a capital fund failed by 12 votes last year.

A separate ballot proposition would allow the district to take an additional $150,000 from the general fund to pay for more window repairs. School board members said the dedicated fund and window repair project would help reduce the school’s overabundance of reserves while addressing repairs at the school.