Savannah‑Chatham budget presenters lay out FY26 choices: vacancy factor, fund balance, millage and ROI review

The Savannah‑Chatham County School District finance team on Tuesday laid out revenue projections, planned reductions and options for the fiscal 2026 budget, asking the board for guidance on whether to use fund balance, reduce the millage rate or reallocate program investments.

Superintendent Dr. Watts opened the presentation by saying the team was balancing multiple pressures: “we continue to be driven by purpose, guided by our priorities, and obviously, we want to be anchored in the responsibility we have to students, staff, and the community.” The slide presentation that followed quantified the tradeoffs staff will bring back to the board in June.

The presentation matters because the district is projecting a large general fund budget and several sizable uncertainties — a missing final property tax digest, an unclear federal funding outlook and a growing gap between budgeted salaries and actual pay when positions go unfilled. Staff asked the board whether the district should preserve a larger fund balance as insurance, reduce the millage rate to return money to taxpayers, or invest additional dollars in programs and compensation.

Staff said the general fund projection shown to the committee is about $665 million in revenues, a year‑over‑year increase of roughly $45.9 million driven primarily by local digest growth (a $36.9 million local increase was modeled under a 10% digest growth assumption) and a preliminary state increase of roughly $9…