HILLTOWNS — Berne-Knox-Westerlo will soon escape its contingency budget after 70 percent of district voters (556-to-234) approved the $24.7 million budget for the 2025-26 school year — the first from Superintendent Bonnie Kane.

That budget comes with a 3.3-percent tax increase. 

Voters also re-elected incumbents Matthew Tedeschi (556 votes) and Rebecca (597) Miller, who were uncontested.

It’s a return to form for the district after last year’s budget, which went above the tax cap, twice failed to reach supermajority approval (60 percent) with voters, forcing the district into contingency, meaning it could not raise taxes from the previous year’s levy. 

Because it stayed within the cap, the upcoming year’s budget needed only a simple majority to pass. 

Despite the tax increase, the 2025-26 budget is actually slightly smaller than the $24.8 million 2024-25 budget, due in part to staff attrition and restructuring. 

Additions to the budget include a social worker, a school resource officer, and two new special-education programs.  

The new tax rate in each town per $1,000 of assessed value will be:

— $30.47 in Berne;

— $33.28 in Knox;

— $13.05 in Westerlo;

— $25.81 in Middleburgh

— $25.55 in Wright; 

— $18.07 in New Scotland; and

— $30.01 in Rensselaerville.