Bethlehem board reviews 2026–27 budget plan proposing 2.6% tax-levy increase; voters to decide May 19

District finance staff presented the final review of the 2026–2027 Bethlehem Central School District budget and the items that will appear on the May 19 ballot.

The presenter summarized that the district began budget development with an initial gap of roughly $4.1 million between revenues and expenditures and, after deliberations and adjustments, reduced that gap to about $1.9 million. The board elected to apply approximately $1.1 million from the district's undesignated fund balance to help close the gap. The total proposed appropriations for 2026'27 were presented as $119.8 million, up from $116.6 million in 2025'26.

On the revenue side, the presenter identified four large streams: real property taxes ($75.9 million), payment-in-lieu-of-taxes ($3.9 million), state aid ($35.1 million) and other revenues (about $3.7 million), with the $1.1 million fund-balance allocation bringing revenues in line with appropriations. The presenter noted currently available state budget proposals show an additional 1% in foundation aid beyond the executive budget, and that legislative proposals in both houses had increased foundation aid by another 1%, which would yield about $560,000 more in state aid in the district's scenario; the presenter cautioned state deliberations are ongoing and the district may need to adjust later if final aid differs.

The presentation recommended using the full allowable tax-cap authority for 2026'27, producing the proposed tax-levy increase of roughly 2.6%, which was shown as a $1.9 million year-to-year levy increase. The presenter explained tax-rate estimates are constrained by incomplete preliminary assessment information and noted the tax-rate impact will depend on town-level assessed values and equalization rates; using available data the presenter estimated a school tax rate of $22.86 per $1,000 assessed value in the town of Bethlehem (about a 2.4% change) and $23.24 per $1,000 in New Scotland (about a 5.7% change), equivalent to an estimated $53 increase per $100,000 assessed value in Bethlehem and $125 in New Scotland.

The presenter also reviewed district reserves: as of June 30, 2025 the district reported roughly $37.4 million in reserves; by March 2026 that balance declined to about $20.7 million after commitments for capital projects approved by voters. The district displayed a multi-year projection showing structural deficits under conservative assumptions (tax-levy limits and modest state-aid growth) and explained capital and operational planning will be needed in coming years.

Voter propositions set for May 19 include the operating budget, a bus proposition to acquire nine diesel buses at a not-to-exceed $1,633,239 (the presenter said state aid will offset roughly 64.5% of that cost over five years, producing an estimated net district cost of about $580,000), the library operating budget, and multiple Board of Education and library board seats. The timeline includes a public hearing on May 8, a meet-the-candidates event May 13, and budget voting on May 19 (7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the high school gym).

Board members thanked the budget staff and department heads for conservative preparations; questions focused on the architect contract amendment that rose with expansion of the capital project (architectural fee of 7.25% applied to an increased construction component) and on planned uses of reserves. The board moved and approved the recommended budget actions on voice votes at the meeting for placement on the May ballot.

Next steps: the public hearing on the proposed budget is scheduled for May 8 and the district will present the budget to voters on May 19.