Balanced budget presented to U46 board as questions linger

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Updated: October 19, 2011 3:54AM

ELGIN — Several unknowns still hang ominously over the figures, including unfinished labor talks and the iffyness of the state’s school funding. But the administration of Elgin School District U46 on Monday presented the board of education with a proposed budget for the 2011-12 school year that actually sees $11 million more coming into U46 coffers than going out.

Chief Operations Officer Jeff King and Director of Financial Operations Dale Burnidge told board members they expect revenues and other financing sources to total $487.3 million, while expenditures are projected at $476.3 million.

That would drop the amount of money the operating funds are in debt to the district’s other funds, such as working cash and capital projects, by another $11 million. In the school year that ended in June, that debt was lowered from $42.5 million to $21.6 million, but only at the cost of cutting some 400 jobs.

Burnidge said the new budget includes “no significant changes in the number of full-time employees.”

“There remain several unknowns that will affect our budget,” King said. “The continuing struggle the state of Illinois has in reimbursing school districts, and the possibility that payments for specific programs like transportation could be further reduced, will impact our tentative budget.”

Burnidge noted that the state already owes the district $9 million in reimbursement from the school year that ended in June.

Employee costs

Closer to home, he noted that the district continues negotiations with its six labor groups.

The largest spending increase is expected to come in the cost of employee benefits, which are projected to increase by $7.5 million. King said that is mostly due to rising employee health care costs, which the district pays for itself through a self-insurance program managed by UnitedHealthcare.

For the upcoming school year, U46 administrators project a $1.7 million increase in General State Aid. In 2010, the Illinois General Assembly passed legislation that changed the way the state calculates how per-pupil funding is provided to the district.

On the other hand, federal funds received are expected to drop from $43.9 million last year to $29.7 million in 2011-12. According to King, the federal government has provided school districts additional funds in recent years as part of the federal stimulus package, including last year’s EduJobs bill and 2009’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. However, those economic stimulus projects have now expired, leaving only more traditional sources of federal aid to local school districts.

The tentative Fiscal Year 2012 budget can be examined on the district’s website, www.u-46.org.

The board will hold a public hearing on it at 7 p.m. Sept. 12 at the U46 Educational Services Center, 355 E. Chicago St., Elgin.

Board members expect to vote on the budget Sept. 26.