Carmel Schools Seek 0.74% Tax Increase

By Rob Sample

The Carmel School Board unanimously approved a $147 million budget for the 2025-26 school year – a 3.9 percent or $141 million increase from the 2024-25 budget – during its April 8 meeting. This equates to a property tax increase of 0.74 percent.

Ken Silver, assistant superintendent for operations and human resources at the district, attributed the spending increase to persistent inflation, currently pegged at 2.99 percent, as well as pay increases mandated by collective bargaining contracts and gradual step increases throughout the workforce.

He described the new budget as a “right-sizing” measure that aims to correct a recent history of over- and under-budgeting in calculations done by previous school boards and administrators.

“We had a great deal of tumult, in part because of miscalculations, understated revenue, and overstated expenses,” said Silver. “We ended up with almost $6 million left over one way or the other.”

Most recently, the last budget erred on the sum of state foundation aid the district would receive – which ultimately was $1.2 million more than expected. The district also received $1.6 million more than it anticipated in interest earnings.

“That, combined with a cut of some 20 staff members, resulted in a reduction in the budget of over $3 million,” explained Silver.

The excess went into the district’s reserves – $1.7 million of which is proposed to use on capital projects in the upcoming year. That represents about 4 percent of the $26 million currently in the reserve fund.

Silver noted that the new budget also responds to a growing demand for a variety of student services, particularly for children with special needs.

“We’ve done more for our children that have special needs than has ever been done before,” he said. “We’ve increased student offerings for children to have better opportunities now and in the future.”

Among the new items proposed for 2025-26 are: school resource officers for the middle and high school, a middle school dean of students, more bus monitors at the middle school, more bathroom monitors at both the middle and high schools, and long-term substitute teachers based in each school building.

“We also want to add an office assistant – one that can respond to student and family calls and facilitate calling home for students at George Fisher (Middle School),” said District Superintendent Erin Meehan-Fairben.

Other proposed expenditures include new air-conditioning units, the leasing of large school buses and the purchase of small ones, and a variety of repairs at the high school. Those include bleacher repairs in the gymnasium, upgrading the baseball field, and repairs to a side-entrance stairway.

In the classroom, the dual-language curriculum will be made consistent from kindergarten through eighth grade. A social/emotional curriculum is also being introduced, and the district is enhancing its STEM programs.

“We’re also looking at how we can expose students to more career and technical education opportunities,” said Meehan-Fairben.

Among these will be a new Service Academy that emphasizes preparation for law enforcement, fire safety, and forensics careers. The district plans to seek some funding for the academy from Putnam/Northern Westchester BOCES.

The district expects to receive about $41 million in aid from New York State, although the exact number is still unknown because the state has yet to finalize its own budget. The district also anticipates $1 million for prekindergarten programs – a sizable jump from 2024-25.

In addition to the new initiatives, he highlighted a host of cost-cutting measures the district has recently put into place. For instance, when a vacancy for an assistant principal became available at the middle school, the district hired a dean of students, instead, at a salary $30,000 lower than that of an assistant principal. One key difference in the role is that a dean does not take part in teacher evaluations.

In addition, the district offered a retirement incentive for teachers last year, which eight staff members took advantage of. This initiative saved money because the retiring teachers were at high salary levels and were replaced by teachers with less seniority and lower pay rates.

A public hearing on the budget will take place May 6 at 5:30 p.m., at the Carmel High School library on Fair Street, with voting by district residents taking place Tuesday, May 20.