SOUTH OTSELIC – Otselic Valley Central School District voters will have one last chance to weigh in on the district’s proposed 2011-2012 budget at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Otselic Valley Junior-Senior High School, 125 County Route 13A, South Otselic.

Tomorrow night’s annual budget hearing will address the district’s projected tax levy increase of 1.53 percent; the movement of the fifth and sixth grades from the OVCS Elementary School to the Junior-Senior High School; state aid cuts of approximately $321,000 and the natural growth of the budget due to contractual obligations, increased insurance costs and rising fuel prices. The overall budget gap is estimated at $500,000.

According to the OVCS Board of Education, the proposed 2011-2012 budget includes a reduction of $18,366 – or .21 percent – as compared to last year’s budget of $8,923,487.

To continue to meet the educational and instructional needs of both students and staff while limiting the financial burden on taxpayers, OVCS Superintendent Richard Hughes said the district has continued to refine its budgeting process. Every function within the district was analyzed according to need and cost, he added, including programs, operations and maintenance, transportation, food service and BOCES services.