Cornwall Central projects $93.45 million rollover budget, faces roughly $322,000 gap after reserves

At the Cornwall Central School District Board of Education meeting on Feb. 24, budget presenter Mr. Fink laid out a preliminary “rollover” budget for the 2025–26 school year that would carry forward ongoing programs and obligations and show expenditures of $93,448,962.

The district’s projected revenues in the model were about $90,626,690, leaving a nominal shortfall of roughly $2.82 million. After applying the district’s historically used unassigned fund balance of $2,500,000, administrators said the remaining deficit would be about $322,272.

The rollover approach preserves existing programs and obligations rather than adding new initiatives; it does not include “wish list” items discussed previously, Mr. Fink said. The presentation matters because the board must reconcile the gap while staying within the state property tax cap if possible and finalizing a budget for the April adoption and the May 20 public vote.

Key figures and assumptions from the presentation: - Rollover expenditures (2025–26): $93,448,962. - Current-year expenditures (2024–25): $90,260,773 (difference ≈ $3.19 million). - Revenue model (2025–26): $90,626,690, including a 3% property tax levy increase assumed for modeling purposes. - State-aid increase assumed in the model: a little more than $1 million, pending the state’s final aid run. - Typical unassigned fund balance used as revenue: $2,500,000 (historical practice).

“Our maximum available tax levy, based on the tax cap,…