AUBURN -- The Auburn Enlarged City School District Board of Education will have one less member sitting at the table until July.

Rather than hold a special election or appoint someone, the board Tuesday decided to wait until the May 19 election to fill a vacancy on the board. Terms on the board begin in July.

Fred Cornelius, who served on the board for more than two years and would have been up for re-election in May, resigned his seat effective Jan. 31 because he will soon be moving out of the district. The board approved the resignation during its Jan. 13 meeting.

Board member Michael Stearns said it would take too long for the board to host a special election or form a committee to search for and appoint a new board member. By the time those options were accomplished, he said, it would be time for the statewide election.

"If this was back in October, November, December, it would be a different story," he said. "My take, let the voters decide."

The last time the board had a vacancy was in 2005 when Rosie Oaks-Lee stepped down more than a year before her term expired. Sam Giangreco, now the board's vice president, was appointed to fill her seat. He said the process from interview to appointment took quite a while. He served for 13 months before running for his first complete term.

"It's lengthy and it could be costly," he said of the process, "and I don't think we need someone right now and to spend that much money."

In addition to the cost, board member Joe Leogrande had another reason for waiting until May.

"I think we should leave it vacant until the election in May and let the people decide," he said,

In other news:

* Superintendent J.D. Pabis and Business Administrator Marianne O'Connor discussed the 2009-10 budget in broad terms and gave the board a little more direction.

Using zero-based budgeting, the district is looking at everything it needs to fund to operate efficiently and provide students with a quality education. Officials are also keeping into consideration its tax base and the economic strain the community is feeling.

Under Gov. David Paterson's preliminary budget proposal, Auburn is in line to lose more than $1.4 million in state aid during the 2009-10 academic year. According to O'Connor, for Auburn -- which is currently operating under a state-mandated contingency budget -- to pay its bills for the next fiscal year, the district needs to find $3.5 million.

Pabis said the budget the district will propose, which will not reflect any increase in expenditures from this current year, will be well within the 4 percent property tax cap proposed by the New York State Commission on Property Tax Relief and will also be under the contingency budget cap.

The district is looking at increasing class sizes, reducing the number of school resource officers in school buildings and maintaining the present structure for field trips, athletics, bands and extra-curricular programs as ways to keep costs down. In addition, the high school may move to a nine-period day to offer students more educational opportunities.

District leaders will also continue to look at support staff levels and investigate the possibility of consolidating some behind-the-scenes operations with other districts.

* Mike Ferro, owner of Reva Rollerdrome, donated $1,000 to Genesee Elementary School.

"Every year we try to give back to the community and the schools that support us so well," he said.

* The next board meeting is slated for 7 p.m. Feb. 24 at the Auburn High School library.