Fredonia Central School district residents did not need to hear the news from state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli to know of the troubling fiscal plight. Since a meeting in December, the district has been well aware of its money problems that will become more apparent as the 2026-27 budget gets pieced together.

On Thursday, DiNapoli issued his Fiscal Stress Monitoring System for the year ending June 30. It was up to 31 from 22 districts in fiscal stress the prior year.

“In recent years, pandemic-related federal funding as well as increases in state aid have provided districts with significant financial support,” DiNapoli said. “With much of the relief funding having been spent, the number of school districts in fiscal stress has returned to pre-pandemic levels this year. As districts continue to adjust to these conditions, officials should make every effort to ensure budgets are structurally balanced to avoid fiscal problems going forward.”

That is exactly the case for Fredonia. Once additional aid came, thanks in part to the COVID monies, new hirings were taken on with not a lot of thought about consequences.

But that is the problem with free money. It is very easy to spend, but tough to manage once it is gone.

Last month, the board learned the unassigned fund balance is 2.32% of the succeeding year’s budget. In total, as of June 30, the district has $887,915.98 in unassigned fund balance.

That is incredibly worrisome for a school that had trouble getting its 2025-26 budget passed last June in a second vote. That led to a discussion that is never comfortable.

“One of the things that we discussed is looking at departments,” said Laura Napoli, a Certified Public Accountant at Bahgat & Laurito-Bahgat. “This is going to be tough. It’s not easy. You have a property tax cap, so you’re limited in what you can raise in property taxes. … You have to look at decreasing expenses.”

Tax-funded entities never like making reductions. They, almost always, pass on expenses to the property owners.

That, as always, is a punishing path on the community.