Assistant Superintendent for Business Mitch Ball told the Gates Chili Central School District public budget hearing that the district is proposing a $139.8 million budget for 2025-26, a 4.85% increase over the current year, and will place three propositions before voters on May 20: the annual expenditure budget, a $2.4 million bus purchase, and creation of a capital reserve for future bus purchases.

Ball said the budget is intended to “maintain our current programming and staffing,” add academic intervention services and student behavioral supports, and incorporate new security tools and transportation costs. He told the audience the district used a modified zero-based budgeting process and sought administrative efficiencies to shift savings into classroom and student supports.

The budget presentation identified several large cost drivers: salaries and benefits (about 66 cents of every dollar), increased employer retirement-system costs, higher projected operations and maintenance spending, pupil services and transportation. Ball said those buckets alone account for about $5.4 million of the overall increase; instructional-cost growth was described as about $5.6 million. The district listed security upgrades — including a staff emergency app called Tap and additional cameras and software — among capital and operations items being carried into next year’s plan.

Ball emphasized uncertainty in state aid and county sales tax receipts. He said New York’s state budget had not been finalized and that if the district does not receive anticipated state aid it could use appropriated fund balance and reserves set aside for such contingencies. Ball noted the district expects to rely less on reserves overall and cited a target of about 4% of the budget for reserve use; the current estimate for next year’s appropriated fund balance is about $1.7 million (down from about $2.9 million carried into this year).

On taxation, Ball said the statutory tax levy limit (the “tax cap” enacted in 2011) for Gates Chili is 2.42%; the district plans a 2.24% levy increase that stays below the cap. He noted a portion of the levy change results from expiring PILOT (payment-in-lieu-of-taxes) agreements and said approximately $315,000 of revenue will shift from PILOT receipts back onto the tax rolls as assessments return to taxation. Ball described that effect as reducing the district’s effective tax-rate increase to roughly 1.96–1.98% for local taxpayers, though the district was awaiting updated assessment rules from the Town of Gates to calculate an estimated true-value tax rate.

State aid is a major revenue source in the proposal, comprising roughly 45% of district revenue in the presentation. Ball said the district anticipates an increase in foundation aid after the state used an updated poverty metric in its formula; he reported an estimated total state funding figure of about $62.6 million in the slide deck. The district also plans a continued shift to some services purchased through BOCES to leverage higher aid recoveries for those expenditures.

The three propositions Ball described are: approval of the annual expenditure budget (required each year), a bus purchase proposition to replace roughly 13–15 buses at a $2.4 million gross cost (with an estimated net district cost after state aid of about $646,000), and a proposition to create a capital reserve to fund future bus purchases so the district can avoid bonding costs and related interest and issuance fees. Ball said a long-range plan tied to the reserve could reduce district borrowing-related costs by about $200,000 on average over an eight-year period if voters approve the reserve.

Ball also announced, prior to the candidate forum following the hearing, that Jamar Elliott has withdrawn his candidacy for the Board of Education; the anticipated ballot includes Tanya Sierbanovsky, Andrea Mincella and Dr. Christine Brown Richards. He told listeners the public vote would be May 20 from 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the Spartan Field House and pointed the public to the district’s vote portal for more documents and presentations.

No formal board motions or votes on the propositions occurred at the hearing; the propositions will be decided by public vote on May 20. Ball described next steps: continued public information sessions (additional presentations scheduled May 6 and May 13), publication of budget documents on the district website, and the May 20 polling date.

For more information, Ball directed attendees to the district’s election web page and to the posted budget documents. The public budget hearing concluded with time for questions and a candidate forum scheduled immediately after.