Webster's school board votes Tuesday on the tax warrant, with bills due out next week

The Webster Central School District Board of Education is scheduled to vote Tuesday on the 2026-27 tax warrant. The warrant sets the school tax rates. The district's presentation says the bills carrying them go out next week. The meeting starts at 5 p.m. at the District Office, 119 South Avenue.

The public comment period is scheduled for 6:05 p.m., at the end of the meeting and after the votes. The board's policy says speakers should register with the district clerk by noon Tuesday. That deadline passed. Someone who did not register may not get to speak. Comment on the student code of conduct comes earlier, at a 5:05 p.m. public hearing. The agenda does not say whether the registration policy applies to that hearing. The district clerk can confirm: 585-216-0001. Fuller instructions are below.

Three different numbers get called the school tax, and Tuesday's packet carries all three.

The levy is the total dollar amount the district collects. The proposed levy is $131,771,231.

The rate is charged per $1,000 of assessed value and differs by town. The district taxes property in four towns across two counties. For property in the town of Webster that lies within the Webster school district, the proposed 2026-27 rate is $29.566322 per $1,000. That is up 3.01 percent from $28.702192.

The bill is what an individual owner pays. It depends on that owner's assessment and exemptions, not on the district-wide figures alone.

In an Aug. 13 memo to Superintendent Brian Neenan, Assistant Superintendent for Business Brian Freeman wrote that "equalization rate drops continue to be the most significant factor influencing year-over-year tax rate fluctuations across all towns." Webster's equalization rate falls from 48 percent to 43 percent for 2026-27. A lower equalization rate means assessments sit further below market value. The New York State Office of Real Property Tax Services, not the school district, sets equalization rates.

A Webster home whose assessment does not change would see its school tax line rise about 3 percent before exemptions. The presentation includes a Webster row for a home assessed at $250,000. It shows $7,175.55 last year and $7,391.58 this year, an increase of $216.03. That row describes a home assessed at $250,000, not one that would sell for $250,000. At Webster's 43 percent equalization rate, a $250,000 assessment corresponds to roughly $580,000 of market value. That conversion is the Ledger's arithmetic on the district's own equalization rate (not directly from the district).

STAR is New York's School Tax Relief program, which reduces school property taxes for eligible homeowners. STAR savings shrink separately. The district's slide lists Webster's Basic STAR amount at $448, down $49 from $497. Enhanced STAR falls to $1,285 from $1,391, a decrease of $106. Enhanced STAR is limited to households where at least one resident owner is 65 or older. It also carries an income limit. For a household that receives STAR, the smaller STAR amount and the higher rate both push the bill up.

The presentation also warns the board that Tuesday's numbers may not be final. It says last-minute assessment changes may force rates to be recalculated. In that case, it says, "the new rate on your tax bill may not match what was approved tonight."

A code of conduct hearing at 5:05 p.m., a vote at 5:15

The agenda schedules a public hearing on the 2026-27 student code of conduct for 5:05 p.m., with 10 minutes allotted. It schedules the motion to approve the same code for 5:15 p.m. The code is proposed, and it is not adopted unless that motion carries. Dr. Robert Chalwell, the district's Assistant Superintendent for Achievement & Student & Community Engagement, is listed on the agenda as presenting both.

The packet does not include a redline. The document attached to the agenda is the complete 2026-27 code with nothing marking what changed. The presentation that would list the revisions is a scanned file whose text could not be extracted.

The Ledger compared the proposed code against the 2025-26 version in the board's Aug. 19, 2025 meeting packet. Three provisions appear in the proposed code and do not appear in that earlier document.

Artificial intelligence enters the discipline section in the proposed version. It lists among forms of academic dishonesty the "unauthorized use of artificial intelligence ('AI') technology or tools." The word "artificial" does not appear anywhere in the 2025-26 document.

The proposed dress code adds protective hairstyles. Its text says nothing in it limits students' ability "to wear certain protective hairstyles (including but not limited to braids, locks, and twists) or to wear their hair in a particular texture." Parallel language is added to the code's definitions of discrimination and harassment.

The proposed code also adds a reporting duty on building principals. It states that the Building Principal or a designee "must notify the appropriate local law enforcement agency of those Code violations that constitute a crime and substantially affect the order or security of a school as soon as practical, but in no event later than the close of business the day" they learn of the violation. None of that language appears in the 2025-26 document.

The code of conduct comparison above is targeted at the discipline, dress and reporting provisions. It is not a complete list of changes. The Ledger also did not separately confirm that the Aug. 19, 2025 document it used as the baseline is the version the board adopted.

Also on Tuesday's agenda

The agenda puts the 2025-26 reserve transfers ahead of the warrant vote. Freeman's Aug. 10 memo asks for that order, stating the transfers "must be completed before setting the tax warrant for the 2026-27 fiscal year." He recommends transfers totaling $6.25 million. The largest is $3.75 million into the 2026 Capital Reserve Fund. The board approved estimated transfers for 2025-26 on July 6. Tuesday's item is the final version of that action.

Two policies come to the board for a second reading: Policy 6410 (Acceptable Use, Personnel) and Policy 7241 (Student Directory Information). The board approved first readings July 6. Neither takes effect unless Tuesday's motion carries.

How to be heard Tuesday

Tuesday's agenda has two comment opportunities. The public hearing at 5:05 p.m. is limited to the code of conduct, and it is the only one that comes before the vote on the code. Neither the agenda nor the code of conduct states whether the noon registration requirement covers that hearing. The requirement appears in the board's visitor speaking policy, which governs the 6:05 p.m. comment period. The district clerk's office can confirm which applies, at 585-216-0001.

Visitor's speaking time is scheduled for 6:05 p.m. and runs up to 40 minutes. It falls at the end of the meeting, after every vote on the agenda, including the tax warrant. The policy says anyone wanting to speak should "register with the district clerk by noon of the meeting day." That registration closed at noon. The policy sets speaking time at 3 to 4 minutes per speaker.

The meeting is at 5 p.m. Tuesday in the second floor Professional Development Center at the District Office, 119 South Avenue. It is livestreamed at websterschools.org/boemeetings. Scheduled adjournment is 6:45 p.m. The district clerk is Heather Murphy, at 585-216-0001 or heather_murphy@webstercsd.org.

AI tools were used in drafting and research.