AFTON – On May 18, the Afton Central School District will be asking district residents to approve a budget for the 2010-11 academic year totalling $14,450,939.

The tentative spending plan, which was adopted by the district’s board of education Thursday, represents a $21,821, or .51 percent, increase in spending over the current year’s budget. Taxpayers will be shouldering a larger portion of the district’s expenses, however, due to state aid reductions to the tune of $476,506. Despite efforts to cut costs across the board, the budget proposal will mean an estimated 2.87 percent increase in the local tax levy, according to Superintendent Betty Briggs.

Adding to Afton’s budget woes are increasing expenses in a number of areas. According to Briggs, fuel expenditures are expected to rise by $99,000 next year, and they will also see an $86,000 increase in DCMO BOCES costs due to an increase in the number of students who enrolled in Career and Technical Education courses through the cooperative education center last year. Health insurance costs are also expected to rise by 10.7 percent.

“We have cut in almost every area,” said Briggs, of the district’s efforts to close the gap between revenue and expenses. Specific cuts include one full-time teaching position and three teacher’s aides, as well as the boy’s and girl’s swim teams. The district will also be relying more heavily on grant funding, the superintendent explained. As a result, all travel and conferences except those which can be funded through grants have been eliminated.