At its April 23 meeting, the Chatham Central School District Board of Education adopted a proposed budget for the 2024-25 school year. The budget totals $35,428,551 and carries a projected tax levy increase of 2.89 percent, which is under the District’s 3.1 percent limit set by New York State’s property tax cap. Spending is up a total of $1,056259, a 3.07 percent increase from the 2023-24 budget. The District’s conservative budgeting practices, long-term financial planning, and use of reserves and fund balance to offset year-to-year cost increases helped the District keep the tax levy under the cap.
Budget highlights include no cuts to student programming and the addition of Intro to Software Development, Printmaking, Sculpture, and Residential Maintenance & Repair electives at Chatham High School, Lab Aids Cells to Organisms and Fields & Interactions science classes at Chatham Middle School, as well as funding for the new CMS robotics team. Also included in the budget are bus replacement purchases and a small capital project to install exterior security cameras on campus.
In addition to the budget, the Board adopted a separate proposition that would create a Capital Reserve Fund to allow the District to set aside up to $9.5 million over a ten-year period to fund future improvements to its facilities.
Voters can learn more at a public hearing scheduled for May 14 at 6:00 p.m. in the Chatham High School library. Information is also available at https://www.chathamcentralschools.com/page/budget-news and the District will mail its budget newsletter to residents in early May.
Voting on the proposed School Budget and Board of Education Election takes place Tuesday, May 21, 2024 from 9:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m. in the Mary E. Dardess Elementary School gym.