Proposed FY '26 Manchester schools budget comes in at $246 million

Yahoo

10-02-2025

Feb. 9—Manchester school officials are set to raise the curtain this week on their tax-cap-compliant Fiscal Year 2026 budget proposal of $246 million.
The budget proposal appears on the agenda for this week's meeting of the Finance and Facilities committee on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at City Hall. From there, the budget will head to the full school board for discussion and a public hearing later this month, before being sent to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen for consideration.
Superintendent of Schools Jennifer Chmiel has proposed $246,050,206 for the tax-cap-compliant budget, plus $6.3 million for the school food and nutrition budget and $6.6 million for Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) projects.
City and school budgets for the next fiscal year can increase by 4.27%.
Sharon Wickens, the city's finance director, has notified aldermen of the official tax cap number, which is based on the three-year average change in the Consumer Price Index.
The Fiscal Year 2025 tax cap allowed for a 3.43% increase, but the actual tax rate came in at 3.82%.
The state Department of Revenue Administration set Manchester's final tax rate for fiscal year 2025 at $19.58 per $1,000, up 72 cents from last year's $18.86 per $1,000, according to Wickens.
Manchester operates under a cap on property taxes established by a voter-approved amendment to the city charter. Generally referred to as a tax cap, the provision limits the total amount of money raised from property taxes, rather than the tax rate itself.
The cap limits the city's tax revenue to the average increase in the federal consumer price index, or CPI, during the three previous calendar years, plus the value of new construction.
According data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the three-year average used in preparation for the fiscal year 2025 budget works out to 4.27%.
Under the city charter, the mayor must propose a city budget within the tax cap limitations. Aldermen have the ability to override the cap.
The budget supports 11,865 Manchester School District students in addition to services at charter and parochial schools.
The Fiscal Year 2026 school budget proposal contains $112,136,883 in salaries (a $10.7 million increase over last year), including $203,359 for Superintendent Chmiel, $155,017 for Assistant Superintendent Nicole Doherty, $128,068 for Athletic Director Christine Pariseau Telge and $119,911 for Amadou Hamady, executive director of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice.
The budget also contains $11.3 million in transportation costs (a $3.7 million decrease from last year, due to transition to in-house home to school busing, $11.7 million in debt service, and $9.7 million to cover a $320,000 increase in costs for city services (including a 3% increase in costs for the Aramark custodial services contract and 5% increase for school resource officers from Manchester police.
The $6.6 million in CIP projects includes $300K for playground replacement, $1.2 million for the purchase of 11 buses, and $250K for information technology network infrastructure costs.