Budget season has begun here at Bainbridge-Guilford.   If you are interested in hearing and learning more about the different areas of the 2024-2025 school budget, information will be presented at each of the Board meetings for the next few months.   

 

We welcome any community members who would like to join us as we move through the various areas of the budget working towards a final spending plan to present to taxpayers for vote in May.  We hope to see you there!

 

Below is the schedule of the budget presentations:

 

January 18 – Transportation & Facilities

February 1 – Athletics & Special Education

February 15 – Tax Cap Review

March 7 – BOCES Services 

March 21 – Budget Progress Update

 BUDGET TIMELINE:

April 4 – Board of Education Adopts the 2024-25 School Budget

 

April 22 – School Board Candidate Nominating Petitions are due in the District Office by 5 PM. 

 

May 7 – Budget Brochure mailed to District Residents

 

May 14 – Voter Registration

 

May 14 – Public Budget Hearing – place TBD

 

May 21 – District Residents vote on the proposed budget

 

A budget hearing for the inhabitants of the Bainbridge-Guilford Central School District qualified to vote at School District meetings will be held in the District Conference Room at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 14, 2024 where there shall be presented the proposed School District budget for the following school year. 

The vote upon the appropriation of the necessary funds to meet the estimated expenditures for the 2024-2025 academic year or for any propositions involving the expenditure of money or the authorizing of levy of taxes, as well as the election of Board of Education members, shall be held on Tuesday, May 21, 2024 between the hours of 12:00 noon to 9:00 p.m. 

 

A copy of the statement of the amount of money which would be required for the next school year for school purposes shall be completed seven days before the budget hearing and may be obtained by any resident of the District at each schoolhouse during the period of 14 days immediately before the annual meeting and election between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., except Saturday, Sunday or holiday, and on the date of the election.

 

Petitions nominating candidates for the office of member of the Board of Education must be filed with the Clerk of the District between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. not later than April 22, 2024. The following vacancies are to be filled:

 

 

Petition information is available on the District website or by contacting the District Office. Each petition must be addressed to the District Clerk, be signed by at least 25 qualified District voters, shall state the residence of each signer, and the name and address of the candidate. Vacancies upon the Board shall not be considered separate specific offices. The individuals receiving the highest number of votes shall be elected to the vacancies.

 

At the annual meeting, voters shall vote upon the annual budget proposition, which shall appear on the ballot in the following form, after such budget has been finalized by the Board of Education.

 

“Shall the Board of Education of the Bainbridge-Guilford Central School District be authorized to expend the sum of $24,292,902 as a general fund appropriation for the 2024-2025 school year and to levy the necessary tax therefor?”

 

The following propositions shall also be voted upon at the same time as the vote upon the appropriation of monies and for Board members: 

  

Shall the Board of Education of the Bainbridge-Guilford Central School District be authorized to purchase two school buses, including incidental equipment and expenses at a maximum estimated cost of $320,000, and said $320,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary, shall be raised by the levy of a tax upon the taxable property of said District and collected in annual installments as provided by Section 416 of the Education Law; and, in anticipation of such tax, obligations of said District shall be issued.

 

Any proposition that is required to be included for vote shall be submitted in writing by means of a petition signed by at least 25 qualified voters, which proposition shall be filed with the Board of Education not later than 30 days before the date of the election as set forth in this notice unless a greater number of days is required by statute. Any proposition shall be rejected by the Board of Education if the purpose of the proposition is not within the powers of the voters or where the expenditure of monies is required for the proposition, and such proposition fails to include the necessary specific appropriation.  The District reserves the right to alter the language of a proposition in order to ensure compliance and conformity with the law.

 

Applications for early mail voter and absentee ballots may be applied for at the District Office. Such applications must be received by the District Clerk at least seven days before the vote set in this notice if the ballot is to be mailed to the absentee voter or the day before the vote if the ballot is to be delivered personally to the absentee voter. Absentee ballots must be received in the office of the District Clerk of the District not later than 5:00 p.m. on the day of the vote. 

 

A list of all persons to whom early mail ballots and absentee voters’ ballots have been issued shall be available for public inspection during regular office hours during each of the five days prior to the election, except Sundays, which are between the hours of 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and such list will also be posted at the polling places at the election of members of the Board of Education. 

 

Military voters who are not currently registered may apply to register as a qualified voter of the School District by requesting to be registered by the District Clerk at (607) 967-6321 or [email protected].  Registered, qualified voters of the School District may apply for a military ballot by requesting an application from the District Clerk at the phone number or email address listed above.  For a military voter to be issued a military ballot, the District Clerk must have received a valid ballot application no later than 5:00 pm on April 26, 2024. In a request for a military ballot application or ballot, the military voter may indicate their preference for receiving the application or ballot by mail, facsimile transmission or electronic mail.

 

 

Personal registration of voters is required for the annual vote, and no person shall be entitled to the vote there at whose name does not appear in the register of the school district, except those persons who registered to vote pursuant to the provisions of Election Law § 5-612. Persons otherwise qualified to vote who voted in any annual vote conducted within four calendar years before the preparation of the register need not personally register for this vote. Members of the Board of Registration shall meet at the places hereinafter designated and each election district as voting places on May 14, 2024 between the hours of 2:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. to prepare the register of the school district for each election district. Any person shall be entitled to have their name placed upon such register in the district in which that person resides, provided that in such meeting of the Board of Registration that person is known or proven to the satisfaction of such members to be then and thereafter entitled to vote at the annual vote for which the registration is prepared. Any person 18 years of age or over, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the school district for 30 days next preceding the date for voting is entitled to register and vote. The register of the school district so prepared shall be filed five days before the date of the vote in the office of the District Clerk, located at 18 Juliand Street, Bainbridge, New York where it shall be open for inspection by any qualified voter of the District between the hours of 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., each day up to and including the day set for the vote, except Sunday. 

 

The descriptions of the boundaries of the school election districts in which the School District is divided are on file and may be inspected in the District Clerk’s Office at 18 Juliand Street, Bainbridge, New York 13733 between the hours of 9 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. The election districts and the place for each election district in which the vote will be held are as follows: 

 

Boundaries – Please refer to the map of Election District No. 1 in the District Office as set forth above. 

Voting Place – Greenlawn Elementary School, 43 Greenlawn Ave, Bainbridge, NY 13733 

 

Boundaries – Please refer to the map of Election District No. 2 in the District Office as set forth above. 

Voting Place – Guilford Elementary School, 138 School Street, Guilford, N.Y. 13780