Yonkers City Council approves school budget

Students in Yonkers can enjoy their summer vacations knowing that programs and sports they participated in this past year will once again be available to them this September. The Yonkers City Council

News 12 Staff

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Jul 2, 2015, 1:10 AM

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Updated 3,465 days ago

Students in Yonkers can enjoy their summer vacations knowing that programs and sports they participated in this past year will once again be available to them this September.

The Yonkers City Council voted 6-1 Tuesday night to approve the budget, which includes the $25 million promised by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

The district will use that money over the next two years with a difference of about $11 million a year being raised by the half-percent increase in sales tax, which will go into effect this fall.

This will close the previous budget gap and enable school to resume with no additional layoffs or cuts to art, music and varsity sports.

Some council members wanted to dig deeper into the budget and restore all sports and arts as well as guidance counselors, but that didn't happen this year.

Over time, they hope the amount of extra money coming into the city will ease the yearly school budget crunch.

Mayor Mike Spano says this is the beginning of fiscal stability. He says there shouldn't be a yearly budget gap with the expected economic growth of the city.