OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen Fredonia Business Administrator John Forbes presented the first draft of the 2026-27 school budget at a recent Board of Education meeting.

Business Administrator John Forbes said that last year’s Fredonia Central School District budget was “by far the most difficult” budget he had to come up with over the past decade.

This year won’t be any easier. The district’s initial budget presentation showed a sizable increase across the board from the current year’s figures. Fredonia’s initial budget for 2026-27 shows a total amount of $41,537,240. Compared to the current year, that is an increase of 8.75%.

Significant increases across the board are driving the sizable budget jump. Salaries are up 4.27% from last year, amounting to roughly $19.8 million. Benefits are up 8% at over $8.2 million. Salaries and benefits are projected to total more than $28 million of the $41.5 million budget.

The district is also expecting a major jump in BOCES costs, from just over $4.6 million to over $5.7 million, an increase of over 23%. Contractual expenses are set to increase by 9.9% from $4.4 million to over $4.8 million. The district is also expecting increases in equipment of roughly $170,000 due to putting off some of the necessary equipment purchases from last year’s budget.

A total budget increase of 8.75% amounts to a total dollar increase of $3,343,440. That increase — both in terms of dollars and percentage – is the largest increase in over a decade. The previous high came in 2023-24, when an 8.52% increase amounted to a dollar increase of $2,721,219. In each of the last three years, the budget increased by over $1.7 million.

The average increase from 2016-17 to 2025-26 is 2.45%, due in large part to increases of 1% in 2020-21 and 2022-23, and no increase in 2019-20 and 2021-22.

Many of the figures Forbes presented for 2026-27 are not finalized yet, including state aid, BOCES costs, assessments, and equalization rates. As a result, the tax levy is not finalized yet. However, last year, the district settled on a 1.9% tax increase after voters rejected the initial budget proposal, and with a projected increase of 8.75% for the upcoming year’s budget, another increase is highly likely.

The district’s current tax levy limit for 2026-27 is 2.44%, or in real dollars, $426,340. If the district’s budget is rejected by voters twice, it must comply with the Administrative Cap. As of Forbes’ initial projections, the district is $152,123 under the Administrative Cap.

Forbes projected the 2026-27 budget to receive approximately $14.7 million in Foundation Aid along with $100,000 in Federal Aid. Forbes allocated $750,000 of fund balance to the initial budget projection, but with the district’s fund balance rapidly decreasing year to year, he hopes to pull back from that number in future projections.

One of the ways the district could cut expenses is through staff reductions. After the initial budget proposal was rejected by voters last year, the district was forced to make staffing cuts to reduce the tax increase to 1.9% — the amount already approved to account for Proposition 1 of the district’s Capital Project, titled, “Warm, Safe and Dry.”

If the district were to make staffing cuts in the same manner this year, the cuts could come from the outgoing positions through retirements and resignations. Forbes stated that six instructional positions are open at the moment, including a music teacher, a technology teacher, two math teachers, and two elementary school teachers. Staffing needs and replacements are currently under review by the district.

The district will present its 2026-27 budget twice more over the next month before the official budget hearing is held on May 5. The budget vote and election of Board members will be on May 19.