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Chambersburg Area SD presents proposed preliminary 2025-26 budget showing 2% tax-rate proposal and small projected deficit
Summary
District staff presented a proposed preliminary budget for 2025-26 that includes a 2% real-estate tax-rate proposal, projected revenues and expenditures near $201 million and a modest projected deficit the administration expects to close during the budget process.
Tammy Stauffer presented the Chambersburg Area School District's proposed preliminary budget for the 2025-26 school year, outlining revenue and expenditure assumptions and next steps in the budget schedule.
Stauffer said the proposed preliminary budget reflects a 2% increase in the real estate tax rate and projects total revenues of roughly $201 million and expenditures on a similar order. The administration projects a modest deficit of about $453,000 under the 2% scenario and an assigned fund balance of just over $22 million (about 11% of expenditures) by the end of the 2025-26 fiscal year. Stauffer described that outcome as "pretty healthy for where we need to be right now."
Key assumptions and line items noted by Stauffer included a 5.88% increase in salary and benefits driven by contracted salary increases and additional proposed positions; an estimated 10% increase in health insurance premiums (roughly $1.9 million); a modest increase in the PSERS (pension) rate to 34.72 that would add about $1.5 million; and transportation contract increases estimated at about $413,000. The administration also included a capital reserve set at 1%, increased to $3.5 million to build a recurring debt-service line in anticipation of planned capital borrowing.
On revenue assumptions, the presentation used a 1% growth in the assessment base, a 98% collection rate and an assumption that, even without a tax-rate change, growth in assessed value would generate approximately $1.1 million in additional real-estate revenue. Stauffer also noted federal ESSER funds have ended and reflected reductions in some federal programs while adding anticipated grant revenue for Title IV and other federal sources. The administration emphasized that 61% of revenues are projected to come from local sources, about 34% from the state and 3% from federal sources.
Stauffer said the board will consider an opt-out resolution on Dec. 10 to remain within the Act 1 adjusted index (5.3%) and that the board would vote to approve a preliminary budget then; state taxpayer-relief information and county files will be available in May before a proposed final budget and a final adoption vote in June.
Board members asked for clarifications on interest (investment income), timing of interfund transfers, and the relationship between the budget and the district's planned capital program. Stauffer said the district had included interfund transfers previously approved and expects additional transfers into health care, capital reserve and debt service funds totaling about $5 million. She signaled the administration would continue refining assumptions during the spring budget process.
The presentation referenced the Act 1 adjusted index as the statutory guideline for allowable tax-rate increases without a referendum. Stauffer recommended the administration and board continue to work through the assumptions over the next several months before the final budget adoption.
