UTICA — Hedging its bets, so to speak, the North Fork school board on Monday passed a resolution to place the renewal of the 1 percent earned income tax on the November ballot. The money from the levy is used for the daily operations of the district.
Treasurer Jack McDonald told the News on Tuesday the district remains in fiscal caution, but finished the fiscal year in somewhat better shape than expected. Special education costs were down, he said, and revenues a little higher than anticipated, mostly due to the earned income tax.
McDonald said the earned income tax money is vital to the district. “If we didn’t have the income tax last year,” he added, “we’d be $1.2 million in the hole.”
If the earned income levy passes in the special August election, it will be pulled from the November ballot.
Regarding personnel, the board accepted letters of resignation from high school assistant principal/activities director Nicholas Elam and high school family and consumer science teacher Lauren Bergman. Christina Wilbur was employed to serve as vocational agriculture instructor, Charles Smith as high school science teacher and Peg Carpenter as high school guidance secretary.
