District staff reviews governor's preliminary budget and tax-cap impacts ahead of budget calendar
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Summary
District officials briefed the board on the governor's preliminary budget (foundation aid up ~4%, proposed UPK increase to $10,000 per child), tax-cap constraints, pilot revenue mechanics and a preliminary $113 million tax-levy projection; staff emphasized timing and continued analysis.
Don Keegan, speaking for district finance staff, gave a preliminary briefing on the governor's budget proposal and the district's tax-cap and levy projections, stressing that the numbers are early, subject to change and will feed into the district's forthcoming budget schedule.
Keegan said foundation aid was rising in the governor's proposal and underscored the proposed increase in UPK support. "Right now, in our situation, we're getting up to about $6,000 per child in UPK funding. The governor is saying that she wants to raise it to $10,000 per child," Keegan said, while noting how local enrollment and provider arrangements will affect how much aid the district actually realizes.
Keegan walked through aid categories (foundation, excess cost for high-cost special education, hardware/textbook, transportation, BOCES), said some governor's estimates (excess cost) may be understated in the initial proposal and described how building aid estimates produced by the district's fiscal advisers exceed the governor's initial figure.
Explaining the tax-cap calculus, Keegan noted the statutory 2% tax-cap constraint and local inflation pressures above 2%, and walked voters and board members through components that will affect next year's levy: operations, the local share of voter-approved capital projects and pilot revenue changes. Keegan gave an early tax-levy estimate of about $113,000,000 next year (about a $5.5 million or 5.14% increase from the current levy), attributing roughly 2.3% to ongoing operations, 2.6% to capital local share and a small share to pilot adjustments.
Keegan also emphasized expenditure-side pressures: health insurance increases (estimated 6.5%–10%), energy costs after a cold winter, and pension contribution expectations (slight ERS increase; TRS expected to fall). He told the board the district is drawing down some reserves used during the pandemic-era ARP/CRRSA period and that those are finite resources.
Keegan noted Micron's pilot payment likely will not be made in 2026'27 and therefore was excluded from the district's preliminary tax-cap calculations. He reminded the board of the budget calendar: building-principal budget meetings next week, an initial detailed budget presentation on Feb. 23, proposed budget adoption by Apr. 20 and the budget vote on May 19.
Keegan cautioned that figures will change as the governor's proposal is finalized and as state filings (for excess-cost stacks and building-aid determinations) are reconciled. "These numbers will shift a little bit, and we'll keep you posted as we hear more," he said.