AFTON – On May 17, the Afton Central School District will ask district residents to approve a budget for the 2011-12 academic year totaling $14,724,301.

The tentative spending plan, which was adopted by the district’s board of education on April 21, represents a $273,362, or 1.89 percent, increase in spending over the current year’s budget.

Members of the school community will have the opportunity to learn more about the proposed budget at a hearing at 7 p.m. Thursday in the old high school gymnasium. This is a change of venue for the meeting, which was initially slated to take place in the school’s auditorium.

“This has been the most difficult budget year since I became a superintendent,” said Superintendent Betty Briggs.

According to the administrator, the district faced a $1,461,910 budget gap. Closing the gap required a number of cuts, including the elimination of 6 instructional and 4 non-instructional positions. While four of these positions were vacated due to retirement, it was not an easy decision for school leaders.

“It is very difficult to cut positions, since in a district our size any cuts make a tremendous impact on students,” Briggs said. She said she hopes some of these positions will be restored to part-time or in full as the district continues to look for ways to cut costs.