AUBURN - Approval of modest spending increases budgetwide, along with anticipated state aid will dictate whether the Auburn Enlarged City School District can maintain a trendline of a 4- to 5-percent tax levy increase.

School board members were reminded Tuesday night the clock is ticking and they have four weeks to come to a consensus on a nearly $58 million projected budget.

Prior to hearing a budget presentation by business manager Mary Ann O'Connor, the board heard the superintendent's synopsis of the March 7 budget review, during which superintendent John Plume emphasized unavoidable increases in fuel costs and health benefits, as well as a rise in the district's debt service costs.it.

For more on this story, read Wednesday's edition of The Citizen.