The FY26 budget was officially approved by the District 117 School Board at Wednesday night’s meeting. Superintendent Steve Ptacek has express concerns over the budget. He says the budget is always a concern, but the good news is there are some factors that can help balance it out, and that there will still be substantial funds in the district’s fund balance.
Ptacek added that there was some more positive news saying, “The sales tax has been great this year. The best sales tax money we’ve received since the sales tax was passed back in November of 2014.” He says the sales tax is a very limited fund. “It can only pay for buildings and ground improvements, and we’re using it to pay for the bond payments for all of our school construction.”
He says there has not been any property tax payment on the school construction, and that its all been done with sales tax money. “The positive news is that we are going to be generating more sales tax than our bond payments, which will then allow us to use that excess as another source for another bond,” Ptacek says.
The school superintendent also pointed out that some sources of sales tax revenue like the new Marshall’s that recently opened in Jacksonville, have yet to be included in those positive sales tax numbers.