Lew-Port's 2025/26 district budget set at $55.8 million, no impact on programming

The proposed $55.8 million Lewiston-Porter Central School District budget will see an increase of 2.1% and Superintendent Paul Casseri said student programming would not be impacted.
'We're maintaining every program from year to year,' he said this week.
The tax rate residents in Lewiston and Porter would have to pay has not been set yet, as they are still waiting on information from town assessors.
The superintendent noted most of the increases came from contractural obligations like salary, benefits, and fuel costs. Eight positions were eliminated as part of reducing costs.
In a presentation before the district Board of Education on April 7, the budget had increased by $1.15 million. That increase would be funded by $31.15 million in real property taxes, a 2.71% increase which is the state cap, $19.3 million in state aid, a 1.65% increase, and $2.41 million in other revenues, a 12.31% increase.
The district, however, would contribute $2.5 million of appropriated fund balance, a 21.9% decrease. Casseri said it is not a good financial practice to continue using funds to balance the budget like that.
Taking into account total expenditures to cover all the administrative, program, and capital costs, the district still had a $350,000 budget gap. Funds from the district's reserve for the Teachers' Retirement System will be used to cover the shortfall.
Casseri explained this fund is open-ended in how it can be used, which is mainly for when the district has a significant amount of retirees. More than $300,000 is still there.
State aid is up by $313,702, though Casseri says the amount they get has not changed much over the past three years. That is due to declining enrollment, with the district losing 25% to 30% of its student population over the past 20 years, and the state considering it a low-to-average need district that is not as economically disadvantaged as other areas.
Budget areas with significant changes compared to last year include:
• Central services at $4.165 million, a 23.5% increase
• Special items at $659,347, a 50.6% decrease
• The office of finance at $629,024, a 17.8% increase
• Administration and school improvement at $1.27 million, a 25.2% decrease
The BOE adopted the budget at that meeting and a full version will be made available to the public starting April 29. A public hearing for the budget will take place at the BOE's May 12 meeting, with the district-wide vote on it taking place May 20.

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