Despite winning 51.5% approval, the Pine Plains Central School District’s $40.78 million budget failed to pass on Tuesday, May 19. The 2026-27 spending plan, which exceeded the 3.4% allowable district tax cap by 1.03%, received 458 yes votes and 432 no votes — falling short of the mandatory 60% supermajority required to pierce the tax cap.
Following the budget’s defeat, the Board of Education met on Tuesday, ratified the results, and agreed on the next step: The district will prepare a revised budget that comes in at or below the cap.
“Hard conversations are necessary,” Superintendent Brian Timm said at the meeting.
According to Timm, the new budget will require $290,569 in additional cuts. The board is expected to review the proposed reductions at its Tuesday, May 26, meeting. A public hearing on the amended budget is scheduled for June 9. Timm said that during this hearing, officials will address community feedback, detail the reductions made to hit the tax cap, and specify which items will be cut under a contingency budget. Voters will decide on the revised plan in a June 16 revote.
“If the new budget we present to the public were to fail, we will need to reduce it further, in the amount of $945,789,” Timm said. “[Business Official] Laura [Rafferty] and I will provide some options with associated dollar amounts attached. Certainly some [cuts] will no doubt be unpopular.” Timm said any contingency decisions are the sole responsibility of the school board.
The spending plan voters rejected on Tuesday was more than $2 million higher than this year’s budget, a 5.34% increase that district officials attributed to rises in employee health premiums, transportation costs, and BOCES fees.
Turnout in this year’s budget vote was far higher than in recent years. A total of 890 voters cast ballots on the 2026-27 spending plan, more than double the turnout for either of the previous two budgets, both of which passed. The 2024-25 budget drew 391 votes, with 285 in favor and 106 opposed, while the 2025-26 budget drew 396 votes, with 294 in favor and 102 opposed. The surge came amid ongoing uncertainty surrounding district consolidation and in a year when the district asked voters to approve a budget above the district tax cap, raising the threshold for passage beyond the simple majority needed in the previous two years.
While the budget failed, voters approved the purchase of two 71-passenger school buses and three 35-passenger school buses totaling over $750,000, and elected incumbent Jim Griffin (541 votes) and newcomer Amie Buehler (516) to the board, over Brooke Brown (460).
The school board will release details on the June public hearing and budget revote after its meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 26, in the Stissing Mountain High School library.