Removal of Small City School Districts From Special Constitutional Debt Limitation
What you will see on the ballot:
The proposed amendment to Article 8, section 4 of the Constitution removes the special constitutional debt limitation now placed on small city school districts, so they will be treated the same as all other school districts.
Proposal Summary:
This constitutional amendment removes the special debt limit for small city school districts. Debt limits would be established in state law for all school districts.
A small city school district is one that includes at least part of a small city. A small city is a city with less than one hundred twenty-five thousand people.
The State Constitution limits how much debt a small city school district can incur. Their debt cannot be more than five percent of the value of taxable real estate in the district. There are exceptions for certain expenses. Other school districts are not subject to a constitutional debt restriction, but have a different debt limit provided by state law. State law says their debts cannot be greater than ten percent of the value of taxable real property. If this Constitutional Amendment passes, small city school districts would be eligible to have the same debt limit as other school districts enacted via legislative action.
If this Proposal Passes:
Small city school districts would be eligible to have the same debt limit, enacted through statute, as other state school districts.
Public Solicitation for Comment
From August 25 through September 13, the Campaign Finance Board ("CFB") solicited the public for statements supporting and opposing the passage of each ballot proposal. The CFB solicited statements through the NYC Votes website, community outreach, and social media. No responses were received.
