Batavia board holds public hearing on 2026 budget; plans $14 million transfer to capital projects for "warm, safe, dry" work

The Batavia Board of Education held a public hearing on the district’s 2026 budget Wednesday and reviewed proposed fund transfers that would move $14 million into the capital projects fund to support one-time building improvements, district staff said.

Tony, a district staff member who presented the budget update, told the board the district plans to transfer $10,000,000 from the education fund and $4,048,000 from the operations and maintenance fund into the capital projects fund to support the district’s ‘‘warm, safe, dry’’ capital program. ‘‘Overall, we're doing a $14,000,000 transfer from operating funds into our capital projects fund,’’ the presenter said. He described a planned fund-balance draw of roughly $9,900,000 for the fiscal year and noted that the district is using reserves and operating revenue to pay for one-time capital work.

The presenter said the fund-balance draw is planned and not a structural deficit: ‘‘This is for our warm, safe, dry. We're spending some of the money essentially in our bank account to improve our schools on one-time expenditures. This is not a structural imbalance. As a matter of fact, we'll pay off all of our debt in 2026. We'll be completely debt free by January,’’ he said.

Staff forecasted that the district’s tax rate portion imposed by the school board will drop by about 10% next year; presenters clarified that a lower school tax rate does not guarantee a lower total tax bill for homeowners if property valuations or other taxing bodies change. ‘‘The tax rate that is imposed by the school board will go down the rate, not necessarily the overall bill,’’ the presenter said.

Staff warned of revenue pressures ahead. Presenter Tom, a district staff member, and others told the board they expect losses of roughly $1,200,000 this year in state categorical reimbursements — funds that help reimburse transportation and special-education costs — because the state is fully funding the evidence-based funding formula but has not increased reimbursement pools for those categorical items. Tom said the instability of federal aid (Title and Medicaid flows) and rising operating costs put additional pressure on the forecast. The presenter added the district does not expect a significant federal-impact hit in 2026 but said effects could appear in 2027 and beyond.

Other budget details presented to the board included: - The district projects a $9.9 million change in fund balance for the fiscal year (spending about $10 million more than revenue). - The district expects to transfer $10,000,000 (education fund) and $4,048,000 (operations & maintenance) to capital projects for the warm, safe, dry plan. - Enrollment is expected to remain roughly stable this year after years of decline; staffing is projected to increase slightly to about 703 FTE and average class size remains near 23. - The district forecasts paying off all debt by January 2026.

Board members asked procedural and timing questions; no members of the public came forward to speak at the hearing. The presenter said the final budget will return to the board for approval at the August meeting and that staff would notify board members when the substantially complete budget is available for review.

Because this meeting was a public hearing on the draft budget and planned fund transfers, the board took no approval action on the final budget at the meeting. Staff said they will refine assumptions and model financial-profile metrics (for example, fund-balance percentage and days cash on hand) before asking for formal adoption.

Ending: Staff framed the current budget as a planned use of reserves to complete essential capital repairs without issuing new debt; the board scheduled final consideration for its August meeting and will receive a revised budget and financial-profile projections then.