District 117 Has Budget Deficit for FY20

By Benjamin Cox on September 30, 2019 at 8:20pm

Jacksonville School District 117 budget has passed with deficit spending for the fiscal year 2020 school year. Chief Financial Officer Jamie Hadjan gave a detailed presentation of all revenues and expenditures to the school board. Hadjan broke down all of the revenues that the board is likely to receive for FY 2020

“We are very conservative with our revenues. The parameters of the budget were as follows: 98% of property tax, so our property tax was $20,084,706 – 98% of that is 19,683,012. We get that in three payments. We have received the first installment in July. We have already received one for September, and we’ll receive the final payment in December. 85% of [Evidence-Based] Funding. Our EBF is $10,714,901. Again, we don’t put all of that into the budget because of conservative budgeting so I put into the budget $9,107,666. MCATs, our mandated categoricals, there is a possibility of 5 payments in FY19-20. We could get the one from the previous year, which we already received one of those in August. If we would get all four from the state in FY19-20, the state would be caught up. For budgeting purposes, I only used 4 of those payments, because that is the cycle that we have been in with the state for awhile.”

Hadjan then went on to explain increases in expenditures for the district for the year. “Our expenditures, I increased to reflect new positions and raises of approximately 3%. 2.1% increase for our health insurance costs. It’s the lowest premium renewal I can remember since maybe the first year we switched over to Troxel. No increase on vision. No increase on dental, although dental is not a benefit that we pay but for our employees, that’s great news. I did increase for supplies and purchased services just in case to prepare for the unexpected. Our bond payments, from what I’m showing in revenues, is just shy of what we are going to have to pay. Again, this is an estimate. It could be higher; it could be lower. We have a balance built up, so we should be okay this year. In the capital projects fund, what is in there is what’s left of the 2017 bond sale. The funds may be depleted this year as we finish out our remaining projects. Any funds that are still available will be utilized for future projects, but all 2017 bond funds need to be utilized by September 30, 2020 as the date I’m using. Actually, October 26th, 2020 is the real date, but I don’t want to go that far out. I want to get it paid in September and be done. That’s the three year window that we have to spend those bond funds.”

Two of the remaining projects for the capital fund will be replacing roofs out the Field House at JHS and the District Office. Hadjan gives the total deficit and says that it is not a cause for alarm. “We are showing again that we are in deficit spending, but the amount is not great enough to require a deficit reduction plan. To require a deficit reduction plan, our revenues minus the expenditures would have to be greater than one-third of our FY20 year-ending balance to require a deficit reduction plan. We watch when we’re budgeting to make sure that we don’t have to trigger that process.” The overall budget deficit total is $3,803,110 with District 117 having a total ending fund balance of $20,309,230.

Hadjan says that if the district continues to budget and spend conservatively and if increased revenues from sales taxes and the state happen, the district will continue to have enough money in the bank in case a true deficit does occur at the end of the year. The FY20 budget passed in the special meeting without contest, as well amendments to other treasurer salary reports and a change on the 2019-2020 school calendar. The error on the calendar had April 5th marked as a day of non-attendance, which was incorrect. The amendment corrects the mistake moving forward. The next regular meeting for District 117 will occur on October 16th.