The annual School Budget Vote and Board of Education Election takes place Tuesday, May 20, 2025 from 9:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. in the Mary E. Dardess Elementary School gym.

At its April 8 meeting, the Board of Education adopted its proposed budget for the 2025-26 school year. The budget totals $36,317,609 and carries a projected tax levy increase of 3.66 percent, which is at the limit set by New York State’s property tax cap. Spending is up a total of $889,058, a 2.51 percent increase from the 2024-25 budget. 

This budget cycle, the District had to overcome an approximately $1.4 million year-to-year budget gap caused largely by a significant reduction in school aid from the state, steep increases in health insurance and prescription plan premiums, a rise in special education costs, and inflation.

In order to balance the budget, the District reduced staffing by the equivalent of 12 positions to match declining student enrollment, cut two bus runs to match declining ridership, reduced contracted BOCES support staff services, reduced spending in the area of supplies and field trips, and applied $573,953 in unallocated fund balance. Staffing reductions were made through attrition (retirements/resignations) wherever possible. As it has in recent years, the District also applied $1,341,600 in allocated fund balance to further offset year-to-year cost increases and lower the tax levy to the level set by the tax cap. 

Budget highlights include no loss of programs, a continued rich assortment of opportunities for students, the addition of an Intro to Agribusiness elective at Chatham High School, support for universal pre-k, and two bus replacement purchases. The budget also includes a small capital project to improve the bus garage’s fuel storage system. 

Voters can learn more at a public hearing scheduled for May 6 at 6:00 p.m. in the Chatham High School library and the District will mail our annual budget newsletter to residents in early May.

• Final Budget - April 8, 2025

• Transportation, Benefits, Debt Service, Special Ed., Cafeteria , Reductions - March 25, 2025

• PreK 2025-26 - March 25, 2025

• Instructional, Library & Cafeteria - March 11, 2025

• Admin & Operations, Prop. Tax Cap, Action Items - February 25, 2025

• Projected State Aid - February 4, 2025

• Chatham CSD 2025-26 Educational & Program Budget

• Chatham CSD NYS School Report Card

• Chatham CSD NYS Financial Transparency Report

• 2025 Property Tax Report Card

• Legal Notice of 2025 Budget Vote & Board Election

• Potential Budget Reductions - March 25, 2025

• CCSD Capital Reserve Plan - Adopted December 2024

Chatham CSD needed to make spending reductions in order to balance the 2025-26 budget.The District used a combination of staffing and program adjustments, efficiency measures, and other cost saving initiatives to make $945,563 in budget reductions. School officials based reductions on a decline in student enrollment and program needs, which allowed the District to make cuts but still maintain its current programming/opportunities for students and meet all state mandates. The District utilized retirements/resignations to reduce staffing where possible. Spending reductions include:

Personnel (- $699,548)

2 elementary teacher positions

1 elementary teaching assistant position

1 elementary teacher aide position

1 middle school AIS teacher position
2 middle school teaching assistant positions 

1 middle school teacher aide position

1 high school social studies teacher position

1 high school special education teacher position

1 high school teaching assistant position

1 high school teacher aide position

Transportation (- $70,000)

The transportation department consolidated bus runs to match declining ridership, resulting in the elimination of two bus runs. 

Contracts (- $115,575)

BOCES data entry service reduced from three units to two units

BOCES network engineer position reduced from full time to part time (0.6)

BOCES health & safety service reduced from one day per week to as needed

BOCES curriculum coaching

Other Efficiency Measures (- $60,440) 

Supply budgets reduced by 5%

Curriculum tools not impacting student progress/not utilized were eliminated
Spending on field trips was reduced

Chatham CSD uses fund balance and reserve accounts to reduce year-to-year increases to the tax levy. Using reserves and fund balance in this manner is part of the District’s long-term fiscal plan to provide for the financial stability of the District. 

The District used $1,341,600 in allocated fund balance and an additional $573,953 in unassigned fund balance to help close the year-to-year budget gap and hold the tax levy increase at the limit set by the tax cap. 

Fund balance is a reserve similar to a savings account; when District expenses are less than expected, or revenues are higher than projected, money remaining at the end of the year is held in the fund balance. The District utilizes fund balance each year as revenue in the next year’s budget to minimize spending cuts and hold down tax increases.

District officials will use other reserve accounts as necessary to cover revenue in areas where costs commonly fluctuate, such as retirement, health insurance, unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation, and tax certiorari. 

Included in the 2025-26 budget is a small capital project to connect a large existing fuel storage tank (currently used for heating oil) to the bus garage’s fuel pumps and repurpose a smaller tank (currently used for diesel) for the heating oil. Swapping these tanks would better match the volume of fuels required from each and reduce the frequency of diesel deliveries needed to supply our transportation fleet. The project would not exceed $100,000 and does not increase the 2025-26 budget because money for small annual capital projects like this one was built into the budget in previous years. Completing these upgrades as a capital project provides significant savings to local taxpayers because Chatham CSD is entitled to approximately 50 percent state aid on capital projects, meaning the District would be reimbursed for approximately half of the cost of this project.

If voters do not approve the budget on May 20, the Board of Education can either put the same budget or a revised budget up for vote on June 17, or adopt a contingency budget. If the budget is again defeated on June 17, the Board must adopt a contingency budget.

The NYS property tax cap law holds the contingency budget tax levy increase at 0 percent, meaning the District can only levy the same amount of taxes (or less) as it did in 2024, regardless of cost increases. However, all state mandated programs, whether funded by state aid or not, are required to be retained. A contingency budget also prevents spending on new equipment and limits public use of District facilities.

These regulations mean that in a contingent budget, the Board would need to make $1,124,980 in cuts to the budget proposal. The District would be required to remove any purchases of new equipment from the budget (except where safety is concerned), including replacement buses, and would have to consider program reductions, including cuts to instructional and non-instructional budgets.

Contrary to popular belief, the NYS property tax cap does not cap tax increases at 2%. Instead, schools must use a state formula each year to determine how much they can increase their tax levies by without having to seek a higher percentage of voter approval for the budget. This threshold may be different each year and must be determined by the District and submitted to the state by March 1st.

For 2025, Chatham's maximum allowable tax increase is 3.66 percent.

If the year-to-year increase of the District’s tax levy is at or below the number determined by the cap, a simple majority (50% + 1) of voter approval is needed to pass the budget. If the budget proposal carries a tax levy increase above the cap, a super majority (60%) of voter approval is needed for the budget to pass. More information on the NYS Property Tax Cap is available on the NY State Education Department Website.       

The tax levy is the total dollar amount that is raised by annual property tax to fund the budget. It provides a major portion of the funding for the budget; the other major source of funding comes from state aid.

Fund balance is a reserve similar to a savings account; when District expenses are less than expected, or revenues are higher than projected, money remaining at the end of the year is held in the fund balance. The District utilizes fund balance each year as revenue in the budget to minimize spending cuts and hold down tax increases.

Voters who wish to vote early by mail may submit an application to vote by mail-in ballot.

Voters who are unable to vote in person on May 20, 2025 may submit an application to vote by absentee ballot.

Applications for early voting/absentee ballots will be available starting Friday, April 25 from the District Clerk in the Superintendent’s Office. The last day to submit an application for an early voting/absentee ballot is Tuesday, May 13 if the applicant wishes to receive the ballot by mail, or Monday, May 19 if the applicant wishes to receive the ballot in person.

Early voting/absentee ballots must be returned to the District Clerk no later than 5:00 p.m. on the day of the vote, Tuesday, May 20, 2025.

For more information, contact Deborah Pottenburgh, District Clerk, at 518-392-1501 or pottenburghd@chatham.k12.ny.us.

To be eligible to vote you must be:
• A citizen of the United States 18 years of age or older
• A resident of the Chatham Central School District for a period of 30 days or more directly preceding the date of the vote
• Registered to vote with either the School District or the Columbia County Board of Elections

April 30, 2025 from 2:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the MED Lobby

May 14, 2025 from 4:00 – 8:00 p.m. in the MED Lobby

• Board Adopts Proposed 2025-26 School Budget

• Budget Update - February 10, 2025

• RIGR Recommends Changes to School Aid - December 12, 2024

Information about candidates running for the Board can be found on our Board of Education Election Page.

The Chatham Central School District budget for the 2024-25 school year 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. Learn more about the 2024-25 budget...

2024-2025 Budget Information
2023-2024 Budget Information
2022-2023 Budget Information
2021-2022 Budget Information
2020-2021 Budget Information
2019-2020 Budget Information
2018-2019 Budget Information
2017-2018 Budget Information
2016-2017 Budget Information
2015-2016 Budget Information
2014-2015 Budget Information
2013-2014 Budget Information
2012-2013 Budget Information
2011-2012 Budget Information
2010-2011 Budget Information
2009-2010 Budget Information

Questions or comments about the budget?

Email them to budget@chatham.k12.ny.us