The Mahwah Board of Education on March 5 reviewed the revenue side of a proposed $83 million preliminary budget for the 2025–26 school year and discussed using a state health-benefits waiver to cover rising employee-health costs.

Mr. Lamb, a district staff member who presented the budget, told the board the district is planning a tax levy of about $73,000,000 and a total operating budget of roughly $83,000,000. He said New Jersey’s 2% tax-levy cap still applies but that a health-benefits waiver would permit the district to increase its levy by roughly 1.49 percentage points (about $1 million) to cover expected health-benefit increases. “For next year’s budget, there’s no bank cap available, but there is a health waiver adjustment available,” Mr. Lamb said.

The nut of the presentation was how the district proposes to balance contractual obligations for health benefits, reserves, and capital needs without making large, immediate cuts to student programs. Mr. Lamb said state aid to the district is “just over $5,000,000,” federal grants are being budgeted conservatively at about $600,000 next year (a 15% conservative reduction from current-year receipts), and a special-education Medicaid (SEMI) reimbursement amount provided by the feds is expected to be about $8,700.

Board members heard that the district plans to reduce reliance on its budgeted fund balance, which was about $3,300,000 in the current-year budget. Mr. Lamb said the proposed preliminary budget would lower the budgeted fund balance by roughly $450,000. The presentation also showed planned withdrawals from reserves: $200,000 from emergency reserve applied toward health-benefit increases, $300,000 from maintenance reserve for upkeep, and $800,000 from capital reserve for two projects identified for the coming summer — a walk-in freezer for the high school cafeteria and roofing and a rooftop unit at Joyce Kilmer (JK) school.

Mr. Lamb emphasized the district’s multi-step timeline: further budget presentations on appropriations and program details are scheduled for March 26 and April 9, with the public hearing and final approval set for April 30. He described the staged presentations as a transparency measure so the public and board can see revenues first and appropriation details later.

Board members thanked the finance committee and business office staff for the work on the numbers. The board moved and approved the items on the evening’s agenda that included the new-business budget items (roll call taken; motion approved), and the schedule remains as presented.

The budget presentation did not include final tax-rate calculations; Mr. Lamb said those will appear with the appropriation slides at later meetings. The board will vote on a final budget at the April 30 public hearing.