The Grecians are facing the very real prospect of the drop to the Football League's basement division, as they sit five points from safety with two games left to play.
Chorlton has admitted the Devon club is preparing itself for life on the bottom rung of the ladder, and he explained how much that could affect Exeter financially.
"At the moment we are looking at two budgets - staying up and staying down," he told the Western Morning News. "The big issue with going down is that the sum from the Football League goes down by £380,000.
"That wouldn't just come out of the manager's budget. We would have to look at all possibilities, but you have to make sure your income meets your expenditure. The budget comes from three areas. It comes from money from the Football League television and solidarity payments, commercial and gate.
"Our gate this year is 1,000 less than it was last year. If we were doing well, or do well in the future, we could have gate twice the size and, illogically, that makes a difference, so it's a chicken and egg thing here."
