Middletown leaders outline budget review timeline aiming for Feb. 6 internal milestone
Summary
Finance staff and the interim superintendent said the district began budget meetings in November, will run a five-week review of special requests in January led by Dr. Adley, and expects to have the budget in order for further discussion by Feb. 6, 2026.
Natalie said the district began the budget process in November and is a month ahead of the prior year. She described the process for reviewing core budgets, contractual increases and additional department requests: departments receive a mirror of the prior year's budget, contractual obligations are added, and programs or additional needs can be submitted for review.
"By February 6, we believe that we will have our budget in order at that point for further discussion," Natalie said. She described a five-week January period when each special request and program review will be led by Dr. Adley and attended by district finance staff and department leaders.
Dr. Adley thanked Natalie and her team for the work to date and confirmed the timeline, calling for monthly review of statements with finance staff. The committee discussed logistics for future meetings (including a return to in-person meetings and possibly earlier start times so administrators can attend). Several members indicated a 5:00 p.m. start would work for them.
Board members were invited to request specific line-item detail; staff said they will provide memoranda or targeted follow-ups for members who ask for deeper documentation, including information about the Alliance grant and legacy-program details.
