Lancaster Central outlines early 2025–26 budget: buildings, buses, benefits and state aid

The Lancaster Central School District held a budget work session to review early proposals for the 2025–26 fiscal year, with administrators presenting projections for buildings and grounds, transportation, employee benefits, debt service and preliminary estimates tied to the governor’s state-aid proposal.

Ms. Phillips, a district staff member who led the presentation, said the figures shown were “not the final budget for any of these things. We're still very early on in the process.” She said departments have submitted requests and the administration is making adjustments as additional information about revenues, staffing and programs becomes available.

Why it matters: The items discussed—facility upkeep, bus replacement and rising benefit and utility costs—together represent large portions of the district’s spending and will influence the tax-cap calculation and the district’s formal budget proposals later in the season.

Buildings and grounds: operations and equipment needs

District facilities staff noted heavier winter snow removal and rising utility costs. Mike Grunyarski, director of facilities, described the buildings-and-grounds operation as a workforce of 97 employees maintaining more than 1,000,000 square feet of building space and 332 acres of land. He said the department handles routine maintenance, custodial services, groundskeeping, vehicle and equipment upkeep, and emergency response.

The administration proposed a 5.45% increase in the operations and maintenance budget (about $468,000) at this stage, driven in part by contractual salary increases for support staff and rising utility rates. Ms. Phillips explained the district participates in a gas-and-electric consortium to moderate costs but said winter weather and increased tariffs approved by the New York State Public Service Commission have pushed costs higher.

For mai…